Week 2: Understanding the term “Education Narrative”
No Class Monday – Labor Day
For Wednesday:
Texts:
- Read “Learning to Read” by Malcolm X.
- Read “Chapter 7” from the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass.
- Review “Double-Entry Reading Journals” (Butte College).
- Watch “Understanding Genre Awareness.”
Writing:
- Douglass’ and Malcolm X’s Techniques: Choose one technique each author used to get his ideas across. Was it effective? Why or why not?
- Create a “double-entry journal”: in the left hand column, write the quotes. Then in the right hand column, explain why it reminds you of your own learning experience (whether that experience was in an actual school setting or elsewhere).
| Direct Quote: Pick one quote from each of the readings we did for homework. Choose a quote that reminds you of an experience that you have had. It doesn’t have to be exactly the same–just be sure to pick quotes that you relate to in some way. | Thoughts/Reflections: Reflect on why you chose this quote. How/why does it remind you of your own experience? |
| Malcolm X Quote | |
| Douglass Quote |
- Then, fill in the following chart for both the Douglass reading and the Malcolm X reading
Chart for Douglass (this can be changed for Malcom X or any other reading).
| Speaker | Who is Douglass? |
| Occasion | What is the context for this piece? (clue: it is a slave narrative) |
| Audience | Who is this piece for? |
| Purpose | What is the reason for writing this text? |
| Subject | What is the focus here? |
| Tone | How would you describe Douglass’s language? |
When you are done, please upload your writing for all 3 prompts (techniques question & 2 charts) in your Google folder.
Malcolm X used a technique of combining the ideas of the Authors he has read and his own ideas. He mixed his own thoughts or the thoughts that came up it the analysis of the books read. “Book after book showed me how the white man had brought upon the world’s black, brown, red, and yellow peoples every variety of the suffering of exploitation.”(4) This technique is really powerful in delivering the ideas to the reader because even if the reader doesn’t understand the wording of Malcolm X, the reader can visit the book that has originally inspired Malcolm X for these ideas.
Direct QuotePick one quote from each of the readings we did for homework. Choose a quote that reminds you of an experience that you have had. It doesn’t have to be exactly the same–just be sure to pick quotes that you relate to in some way.
Thoughts/ReflectionsReflect on why you chose this quote. How/why does it remind you of your own experience?
Malcolm X Quote: At one-hour intervals at night guards paced past every room. Each time I heard the approaching footsteps, I jumped into bed and feigned sleep. And as soon as the guard passed, I got back out of bed onto the floor area of that light-glow, where I would read for another fifty-eight minutes until the guard approached again.
Reflection: When I was a kid, I liked to read encyclopedias, especially the ones about animals and dinosaurs. I could read them for hours non-stop, unfortunately I had a bedtime at 9p.m because of school, and I would sneak a flashlight and hide them under pillow after my mom would check that I am asleep I would take the book out and read it.
Douglas Quote: The plan which I adopted, and the one by which I was most successful, was that of making friends of all the little white boys whom I met in the street. As many of these as I could, I converted into teachers. With their kindly aid, obtained at different times and in different places, I finally succeeded in learning to read.
Reflection: After school I would go outside with my friends, we would play games such as tag or hide seek, share food with each other and share knowledge between ourselves, one of my friends knew how to play checkers and he taught it to us and then we had a competition with a prize of snacks.
Douglass’ Technique: One technique that Douglass used to get his ideas across was vivid and descriptive storytelling. He painted a vivid picture of the horrors of slavery through his detailed descriptions of the physical and emotional abuse he endured. For example, he wrote, “I have often been awakened at the dawn of day by the most heart-rending shrieks of an own aunt of mine, whom he used to tie up to a joist, and whip upon her naked back till she was literally covered with blood.” This technique was effective because it allowed readers to emotionally connect with his experiences and understand the brutality of slavery.
Reminds me of my own learning experience: This reminds me of my own learning experience because I have found that vivid and descriptive storytelling is an effective way to engage and captivate an audience. When I am learning something new, I often remember and understand it better when it is presented in a vivid and engaging manner. It helps me to visualize and connect with the information on a deeper level.
Malcolm X’s Technique: One technique that Malcolm X used to get his ideas across was rhetorical questioning. He often posed thought-provoking questions to his audience to challenge their beliefs and make them critically think about the issues he was addressing. For example, he asked,
“Who taught you to hate the texture of your hair? Who taught you to hate the color of your skin? Who taught you to hate yourself from the top of your head to the soles of your feet?” This technique was effective because it forced his audience to confront their own prejudices and reflect on the societal factors that shaped their beliefs.