Final Twitter Assignment

1. What is the one thing from this class you hope to remember once you graduate?

2. What was your favorite text we read and why?

Extra Credit Tweet

1. How has this class changed your thinking about urban violence?

One more survey....

Taking this survey will get you 10 quiz points. Send me a screen shot of the final thank you page if there is one.

https://lagccir.co1.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_3wmojub2sRJG8y9&Q_JFE=0

Class Cancelled Tomorrow (6.27)

Class: My son has a fever and needs to stay home tomorrow from daycare. I thus can't make class. On the bright side, this gives you some extra time to finish the novel.

If you're interested in your grade on the paper, email me. Otherwise, I'll have it for you Monday.

I'm aware I didn't post a Twitter assignment last week. That was intentional. Look for a new Twitter assignment tomorrow. 

Take this Survey

For one extra credit point on your final course grade... Send me a screen shot of the last 'you've finished' page when the survey is done for credit.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/BuildingNewComp_Spring2015 

Questions

Submission: How does fear affect or change racial identity for those who have been traumatized by white supremacist culture?

Revision: What role does "fear" and "mutual fear" play in understanding riot culture in James Baldwin's The Fire Next Time and Walter Mosley's Little Scarlet? How does fear and/or mutual fear explain the origins for rioting and racial violence, and also how people understand riots and racial violence that occurs as a result of rioting?

Answer this question in a 2-3 sentence, tentative thesis statement where you define what you mean by fear and/or mutual fear, and the meaning, or relationship, of the textual examples you plan to use to explore this idea. Then, in at least three supporting paragraphs, use manageable quotes from both course texts to support the claims you make in your thesis, making sure that you explore passages from both texts. In at least one paragraph, perhaps the conclusion, be sure to explicitly compare and contrast how these two texts converse with one another about the theme at stake (fear, and/or mutual fear). More points will be awarded to students who examine passages that reflect their personal reading of the texts (in other words, students will receive increase their chances of excellence if they don't simply summarize class discussions about passages we discussed as a group).

Submission: Are riots - and/or the use of social violence-- regressive or progressive? Can rioting use strategic violence as a vehicle for social change? Does justice actually follow rioting? Can rioting be used for positive means?What new problems or challenges might arise from the use of rioting and/or social violence?

Revision: In what ways do the texts The Fire Next Time and Little Scarlet demonstrate how riots communicate a search for social justice through strategic violence? To what extent does rioting achieve justice for rioters, and to what extent does it create a new set of problems for communities to solve?

Answer this question in a 2-3 sentence, tentative thesis statement where you define what you mean by social justice and strategic violence, and the meaning, or relationship, of the textual examples you plan to use to explore this idea. Then, in at least three supporting paragraphs, use manageable quotes from both course texts to support the claims you make in your thesis, making sure that you explore passages from both texts. In at least one paragraph, perhaps the conclusion, be sure to explicitly compare and contrast how these two texts converse with one another about the theme at stake (social justice and strategic violence). More points will be awarded to students who examine passages that reflect their personal reading of the texts (in other words, students will receive increase their chances of excellence if they don't simply summarize class discussions about passages we discussed as a group).

Revision: In what ways do both Baldwin's The Fire Next Time and Mosley's Little Scarlet depict the role of anger and frustration as a root motivation for rioting? How do both authors 'work through' those emotions and construct an alternative framework for adapting to injustice?

Quiz 9

Little Scarlet

This quiz is open book or open note IF the student can demonstrate he or she did the reading; they can prove this through annotations, highlights, and/or notes. 

In the pages we read for today (50-148), we encountered even more situations were some of the big themes, or ideas, that we've been discussing in class arose. Select a passage or scene from the text (or from memory) that you believe exemplifies the importance of a 'big idea' we could bring into our class discussion. What happened in the scene, and why is it so significant? What is the 'big idea' behind the scene that you believe might also speak to some of the ideas or themes we've been discussing in this course? In short, how can we connect a scene from the novel involving Easy to some idea from Baldwin's The Fire Next Time? The Harlem riots? 1877?

Twitter Assignment #8

1. Relate your idea you conceived in class and how one passage from the novel exemplifed it.

2. Return to the Tweets about Baldwin and reply to one by connecting an idea from Baldwin to an idea or scene from Little Scarlet.

EXTRA CREDIT TWEET

1. What are the words you would use to describe Easy as a character?

PR

Peer Review Guidelines

1. Move into your PR groups. Determine what paper will be read and discussed in what order. Budget 15 minutes per person and no more.

2. The readers all read the paper.

3. Give written feedback that offers specific praise and criticism based on whether or not the essay meets the assignment.

4. Put your name on this feedback and give it to the writer.

5. Keep your written feedback and staple it to your final draft.

Writing Feedback Directions 

1. Open with a general statement about the essay's relationship to the assignment. Be clear about which parts fulfill the assignment and which parts need improvement. When you make a specific, concrete suggestion for improvement, try couching it in a qualifier: "You might try..." or "Why don't you add..." or "Another way of writing the lead might be..."

2. Present comments so the writer knows which problems with text are most important and which are of lesser importance.

3. Pose at least two questions that ask for clarification or that seek other possible views or more information on the subject.

Attach written suggestions from your peers to your final drafts for full peer review credit.

Twitter Assignment #7

1. Find a Tweet by a classmates about a passage they liked in the Baldwin. Go to the passage, if you're unfamiliar with it, and re-read it. Then reply to the Tweet by giving one of your thoughts about it, or by asking a question.

2. Tweet the biggest challenge of composing the second essay for you.

EXTRA CREDIT:

3. State a relationship between Baldwin's conception of "the man with nothing to lose" and 2Pac's conception of a person with "Nothing to Lose."

Class Agenda 5.6

Malcolm X

MLK

In-class writing exercise.

1.      In a follow-up to our class Monday, let’s practice writing the kinds of strategies we need to use for close-reading individually.

First, the basics:

-          find a manageable quote you believe supports a theme from the text you find interesting, and which bring forward new possible meanings for our study of riot culture, or the psychology of communities that might participate possibly in rioting (in this case, maybe the 1964 Harlem Riots or later riots of the 1960s). 

- place your manageable quote into an integrated sentence

-      tin a sentence, then write a paraphrase for this quote

Now, write at least three sentences that explain the significance of the quote using thse strategies

- 1) explain the significance of each major word or phrase from the quote, and, if possible, explain the relationship between the words (imagine the words are ideas)

- 2) connect the quote to another short passage in the text, and explain the meaning of the quote’s relationship to that passage

- 3) connect the quote to another passage in another class text, and state their  relationship

- 4) explain how the quote helps us understand the culture of rioting

Tupac

Lyrics 

Extra Credit Twitter Assignment

Looking to make-up some points? Tweet the following assignment worth an extra three tweets. That's more than one week's worth of points - this translates to 1-2 points on your final course grade. Not bad.

The question to answer? Tweet your response to this:

Would you most like to discuss Baldwin's reflection on the church, his family, on Harlem, or on black racial identity/psychology? Pick a theme, find a passage about it, and Tweet the theme, a quick paraphrase of the passage, and the page number before Wednesday's class at 6pm.

Class Agenda

1. Discuss Baldwin article
2. Quotation activity ("My Dungeon Shock")
3. Discuss The Fire Next Time