Homework 2.1

READ AND ANNOTATE: “A Talk to Teachers” by James Baldwin. 

 WRITE:  Blog Post (at least 300 words) In “A Talk to Teachers,” James Baldwin writes:  

“I would try to make [the student] know that just as American history is longer, larger, more various, more beautiful and more terrible than anything anyone has ever said about it, so is the world larger, more daring, more beautiful and more terrible, but principally larger – and that it belongs to him. I would teach him that he doesn’t have to be bound by the expediencies of any given administration, any given policy, any given morality; that he has the right and the necessity to examine everything. “

First of all, what do you think of what James Baldwin was saying? What do you think he means when he says “the world is larger?”

Secondly, what do you think you have the “necessity” to examine, or the obligation to learn more about? To put it another way: what do you wish had been taught to you in school that wasn’t? Why do you want to know about these topics?



HW d.2 (Difficulty Paper)

REREAD and ANNOTATE: “Later”

WRITE: Using your plan for re-reading as a guide, re-read (and annotate in a different color than the first time) “Later.” When you’re done, write another 300 words about what you learned from rereading. Again, be specific, quoting from the text! You don’t need to submit this as a post. Instead, follow the instructions below and include in your difficulty paper.

The difficulty paper is 3 parts:

1. 300 words on what you found difficult or confusing (HW d.1)

2. Plan for rereading, which you did today during class, and

3. 300-word reflection after rereading (the prompt above).

Remember the difficulty paper is worth 5% of your grade. You just have to turn all three parts in (by the start of our next meeting) to get those points. Please put all 3 parts together in one document and submit them as a google doc or PDF to the difficulty paper submission folder in the shared Google Drive folder.

Homework d.1

Category: Difficulty Paper

READ and ANNOTATE: “Later”  (in the Later Library on the Procrastination Station– www.yourprocrastinationstation.com).

WRITE: After reading and annotating “Later,” write an Open Lab post of approximately 300 words in which you reflect upon the article. What, particularly, did you find confusing, irritating, boring or otherwise difficult?

Please note: I want you to BE SPECIFIC. Quote from the text directly. That is, if you were particularly dumbfounded by a particular passage—quote that passage, and explain WHY you found it confusing. If the vocabulary was difficult, quote a particularly difficult passage, and try to figure out what the author might have been trying to say. Explain WHY you found their particular word choices difficult. Dig deeply!

My point in asking you to do this is that usually the places you struggle the most are the places you are doing your best thinking. I want you to stay there a while, even if it’s to explain to me why you don’t understand!

Category: Difficulty Paper