I graded the second set of papers for the class. The most significant challenge that the students demonstrated was the ability to give detailed explanation and justifications for their educational decisions. I think that some of the students simply did not read the secondary material. I think that some of them are not really at the level of analysis and argumentation that they should be at this level. There was a marked gap between the achievement level of the Middle Grades Education students and the Secondary English Education students. It seems like the MGED students just aren't used to applying a theoretical lens to their own work. I felt challenged by grading the papers for a class that I didn't design. There's something interesting about working in someone else's classroom. I felt more pressure to maintain Dr. Insenga's standards. While that was challenging for me, I think it also helped me keep a high standard for my own work.
One student was shocked by her grade, and is contesting it. I met with her to discuss her grade. Below is the email that I sent Dr. Insenga summarizing our meeting and detailing the situation.
*********************************************************************************
Dr. Insenga--
I talked with ________ after class about her paper. She was shocked to get a C+ and told me that she cried. She basically wanted me to change her grade. I went through the paper and explained my reasoning--mostly that she didn't give detailed justifications or demonstrate a clear understanding of the theory. I also noted a few qualities on the rubric that justifies a B that I thought her paper just didn't demonstrate--essentially why I couldn't confidently grade that paper a B. I explained that I cannot change her grade, and I suggested that she make an appointment to talk with you. She explained that she didn't feel prepared for that type of pedagogical justification. She suggested that she wasn't prepared due to lack of in class modeling. She also explained that she's never written a paper like this or taken an English class since composition. I suggested then that maybe a C+ was pretty good given those circumstances. At that point I told her that she was doing the right thing in coming to talk with me and that she has legitimate concerns and reaffirmed that she should talk with you.
She mentioned also that you and I were saying different things, which she didn't give particular evidence of or explain very clearly. I'm not really sure what's going on there, but that worries me a bit.
Also, I do think that I gave you __________'s paper.
Whew! I'll stop by on Wednesday to chat.
Jessica
**********************************************************************
and Dr. Insenga's response:
**********************************************************************
Hi, Jessica--
You did the right thing in explaining that we cannot just change grades, despite the fact that someone is upset.
I never spoke to ________ about a draft, and she only asked me questions after class.
Regarding her feeling unprepared: she is certainly doing well to justify in her Anatomy of a Lesson Plan assignments, so I am unsure if that is a valid reason for her upset. I'll need to look at her work to talk further about any specifics.
In short, she should come see me. However, no grade change will be possible for her.
Thanks for keeping me in the loop, here. It sounds like you handled it quite well.
See you soon.
ai
*******************************************************************************
It does seem that in this classroom with two instructors, some students tend to create a gap between the teachers. A few students seem to turn my words against Dr. Insenga's or vise versa. For that reason, maintaining close contact with Dr. Insenga has really helped.
20 April 2010
ENGL 3400 April 12
We actually did the roundtable discussion in class on Monday April 12. Below is a list of the readings that I thought connected in some thematic way to the novel.
********************************************************************************
Yellow Horse Brave Heart, Maria. “The Historical Trauma Response Among Natives and its Relationship to Substance Abuse: A Lakota Illustration.” Journal of Psychoactive Drugs. 35.1 (2003): 7-14.
Adams, David Wallace. “Classroom.” Education for Extinction: American Indians and the Boarding School Experience. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 1995. 136-163. Print.
Hayden Taylor, Drew. “Indian Love Call.” Me Sexy. Ed. Drew Hayden Taylor. Vancouver, British Columbia: Douglas & McIntyre, 2008. 20-32. Print.
O’Brien, Sharon. “Federal Indian Policies and the International Protection of Human Rights.” American Indian Policy in the Twentieth Century. Ed. Vine Deloria, Jr.
Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1985. 35-62. Print.
Deloria, Jr., Vine. “The Disastrous Policy of Termination.” Custer Died for Your Sins. Norman, OK: Univ. of OK Press, 1988. 54-77. Print.
Deloria, Jr., Vine. “Indians Today, the Real and the Unreal.” Custer Died for Your Sins. Norman, OK: Univ. of OK Press, 1988. 1-27. Print.
Deloria, Jr., Vine. “Anthropologists and Other Friends.” Custer Died for Your Sins. Norman, OK: Univ. of OK Press, 1988. 78-100. Print.
Deloria, Jr., Vine. “Indian Humor.” Custer Died for Your Sins. Norman, OK: Univ. of OK Press, 1988. 146-167. Print.
Deloria, Philip. “Counter Culture Indians and the New Age.” Playing Indian. New Haven, CT: Yale Univ. Press, 1998. 154-180. Print.
Smith, Paul Chaat. “On Romanticism.” Everything You Know About Indians is Wrong. Minneapolis, MN: Univ. of MN Press, 2009. 13-27. Print.
Smith, Paul Chaat. “Land of a Thousand Dances.” Everything You Know About Indians is Wrong. Minneapolis, MN: Univ. of MN Press, 2009. 37-42. Print.
Smith, Paul Chaat. “Americans without Tears.” Everything You Know About Indians is Wrong. Minneapolis, MN: Univ. of MN Press, 2009. 69-78. Print.
LaDuke, Winona. “Life of a Powwow Emcee: Vince Beyl, the Man behind the Microphone.” The Winona LaDuke Reader. Sillwater, MN: Voyageur Press, 2002. 181-185. Print.
Hofmann, Sudi. “Pushing Some Buttons: Helping Students Understand the American Indian Mascot Issue”
http://www.aimovement.org/ncrsm/pushingsomebuttons.html
Teters, Charlene. “American Indians are People, not Mascots”
http://www.aimovement.org/ncrsm/index.html
***********************************************************************************
And here are the discussion questions that I created to link the secondary readings with Alexie's Absolutely True Diary
*****************************************************************************
Why might Alexie consider reservations “death camps”? Consider policy.
What does Mr. P refer to when he talks about killing Indians? Why is he so upset?
Discuss the significance of Ted’s collecting Indian artifacts. Why does the group laugh at him?
Why might Alexie make a point to emphasize that Ted’s “expert” was completely wrong?
Who does Alexie think are the experts? How is this a political statement?
How does Alexie revise the romanticized image of the Native American? Or does he?
Discuss Alexie’s use of humor. What purpose does humor serve in The Absolutely True Diary?
Discuss the character to whom your article seems most applicable. How might your article inform or change the way we read this character and his/her decisions?
Give an example of how your article complicates our opinion of a character.
Why might Alexie give both basketball teams racialized names? Consider the significance of the team members’ race. How does Alexie stage Arnold as a mascot? Why might he do this?
Why might Arnold’s dad spend Christmas getting drunk?
Consider Arnold’s drawing of the romance novel that he imagines Mary writing. What sort of racial stereotypes and expectations does Alexie illustrate? How does the novel challenge or affirm this type of representation? Consider romantic relationships in the text.
Why might Alexie stage Arnold’s beating by the three drunken triplets at the annual powwow? Consider the combination of tradition and ceremony with alcoholism and violence.
How much control over their lives and futures do people on the reservation have? How does the novel suggest people do take control of their lives and futures? How does your article relate to concepts of control and freedom?
********************************************************************************
Overall, the discussion went well. Next time I would spend more time setting it up, making it clear that students lead the discussion. It was a challenge for me to not jump into the conversation.
********************************************************************************
Yellow Horse Brave Heart, Maria. “The Historical Trauma Response Among Natives and its Relationship to Substance Abuse: A Lakota Illustration.” Journal of Psychoactive Drugs. 35.1 (2003): 7-14.
Adams, David Wallace. “Classroom.” Education for Extinction: American Indians and the Boarding School Experience. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 1995. 136-163. Print.
Hayden Taylor, Drew. “Indian Love Call.” Me Sexy. Ed. Drew Hayden Taylor. Vancouver, British Columbia: Douglas & McIntyre, 2008. 20-32. Print.
O’Brien, Sharon. “Federal Indian Policies and the International Protection of Human Rights.” American Indian Policy in the Twentieth Century. Ed. Vine Deloria, Jr.
Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1985. 35-62. Print.
Deloria, Jr., Vine. “The Disastrous Policy of Termination.” Custer Died for Your Sins. Norman, OK: Univ. of OK Press, 1988. 54-77. Print.
Deloria, Jr., Vine. “Indians Today, the Real and the Unreal.” Custer Died for Your Sins. Norman, OK: Univ. of OK Press, 1988. 1-27. Print.
Deloria, Jr., Vine. “Anthropologists and Other Friends.” Custer Died for Your Sins. Norman, OK: Univ. of OK Press, 1988. 78-100. Print.
Deloria, Jr., Vine. “Indian Humor.” Custer Died for Your Sins. Norman, OK: Univ. of OK Press, 1988. 146-167. Print.
Deloria, Philip. “Counter Culture Indians and the New Age.” Playing Indian. New Haven, CT: Yale Univ. Press, 1998. 154-180. Print.
Smith, Paul Chaat. “On Romanticism.” Everything You Know About Indians is Wrong. Minneapolis, MN: Univ. of MN Press, 2009. 13-27. Print.
Smith, Paul Chaat. “Land of a Thousand Dances.” Everything You Know About Indians is Wrong. Minneapolis, MN: Univ. of MN Press, 2009. 37-42. Print.
Smith, Paul Chaat. “Americans without Tears.” Everything You Know About Indians is Wrong. Minneapolis, MN: Univ. of MN Press, 2009. 69-78. Print.
LaDuke, Winona. “Life of a Powwow Emcee: Vince Beyl, the Man behind the Microphone.” The Winona LaDuke Reader. Sillwater, MN: Voyageur Press, 2002. 181-185. Print.
Hofmann, Sudi. “Pushing Some Buttons: Helping Students Understand the American Indian Mascot Issue”
http://www.aimovement.org/ncrsm/pushingsomebuttons.html
Teters, Charlene. “American Indians are People, not Mascots”
http://www.aimovement.org/ncrsm/index.html
***********************************************************************************
And here are the discussion questions that I created to link the secondary readings with Alexie's Absolutely True Diary
*****************************************************************************
Why might Alexie consider reservations “death camps”? Consider policy.
What does Mr. P refer to when he talks about killing Indians? Why is he so upset?
Discuss the significance of Ted’s collecting Indian artifacts. Why does the group laugh at him?
Why might Alexie make a point to emphasize that Ted’s “expert” was completely wrong?
Who does Alexie think are the experts? How is this a political statement?
How does Alexie revise the romanticized image of the Native American? Or does he?
Discuss Alexie’s use of humor. What purpose does humor serve in The Absolutely True Diary?
Discuss the character to whom your article seems most applicable. How might your article inform or change the way we read this character and his/her decisions?
Give an example of how your article complicates our opinion of a character.
Why might Alexie give both basketball teams racialized names? Consider the significance of the team members’ race. How does Alexie stage Arnold as a mascot? Why might he do this?
Why might Arnold’s dad spend Christmas getting drunk?
Consider Arnold’s drawing of the romance novel that he imagines Mary writing. What sort of racial stereotypes and expectations does Alexie illustrate? How does the novel challenge or affirm this type of representation? Consider romantic relationships in the text.
Why might Alexie stage Arnold’s beating by the three drunken triplets at the annual powwow? Consider the combination of tradition and ceremony with alcoholism and violence.
How much control over their lives and futures do people on the reservation have? How does the novel suggest people do take control of their lives and futures? How does your article relate to concepts of control and freedom?
********************************************************************************
Overall, the discussion went well. Next time I would spend more time setting it up, making it clear that students lead the discussion. It was a challenge for me to not jump into the conversation.
05 April 2010
Native Lit Syllabus
This is the comprehensive Native Lit reading list from UNM phd student:
************************************************************************************
Fiction, Poetry, Drama, Ethnography, Nonfiction, & Other
Alexie, Sherman. The Toughest Indian in the World, Ten Little Indians, The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, Reservation Blues, Indian Killer
Allen, Paula Gunn. The Woman Who Owned the Shadows
Anderson, Karen. Chain Her By One Foot: The Subjugation of Native Women in Nineteenth-Century New France
Apess, William. A Son of the Forest and Other Writings
Boudinot, Elias. Cherokee Editor
Brant, Beth. Food and Spirits: Stories
Broker, Ignatia. Night Flying Woman
Callahan, S. Alice. Wynema: A Child of the Forest
Deloria, Ella. Speaking of Indians
Eastman, Charles. Indian Boyhood and From Deep Woods to Civilization
Erdrich, Louise. Four Souls, Tracks, Love Medicine, The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse
Gansworth, Eric. Mending Skins
Geronimo. His Own Story: The Autobiography of a Great Patriot Warrior
Glancy, Diane. Claiming Breath
Harjo, Joy. In Mad Love and War, A Map to the Next World.
Hogan, Linda. Mean Spirit, Solar Storms, Dwellings, The Woman Who Watched Over the World
Johnson, E. Pauline. The Moccasin Maker
Jones, Stephen Graham. Bleed Into Me
King, Thomas E. Medicine River; Green Grass, Running Water; One Good Story, That One
Linderman, Frank B. Pretty Shield
Maracle, Lee. I am Woman
Mathews, John Joseph. Sundown
Momaday, N. Scott. The Way to Rainy Mountain, House Made of Dawn, The Ancient Child, The Man Made of Words
Morris, Irvin. From the Glittering World: A Navajo Story
Mourning Dove. Cogewea
McNickle, Darcy. The Surrounded, Runner in the Sun, Wind from an Enemy Sky
Occom, Samson. Sermons and Oratory
Ortiz, Simon J. Woven Stone
Reichard, Gladys. Spider Woman: A Story of Navajo Weavers and Chanters
Riggs, Lynn. The Cherokee Night and Other Plays
Silko, Leslie Marmon. Storyteller, Ceremony, Almanac of the Dead, Yellow Woman and a Beauty of the Spirit
Smith, Andrea. Conquest
Standing Bear, Luther. My People the Sioux
Tecumseh. Oratory
Tapahonso, Luci. Blue Horses Rush In, Sáanii Dahataal, The Women Are Singing : Poems And Stories
Tohe, Laura. No Parole Today
Ward, Nancy. Oratory
Watts, Eva Tulane. Don’t Let The Sun Step Over You
Welch, James. Fools Crow, Winter in the Blood
Winnemucca, Sarah. Life Among the Piutes
Vizenor, Gerald. Hotline Healers
Zapeda, Ophelia. Ocean Power: Poems From The Desert
Zitkala Sa. American Indian Stories, Old Indian Legends
Critical Work, Anthologies & Other:
Allen, Paula Gunn. Voice of the Turtle: American Indian Literature 1900-1970, The Sacred Hoop, Studies in American Indian Literature
Battiste, Marie. Reclaiming Indigenous Voice and Vision
Cook-Lynn, Elizabeth. New Indians, Old Wars, Why I Can’t Read Wallace Stegner
Deloria, Philip. Indians in Unexpected Places
Deloria, Vine. The World We Used to Live in: Remembering the Powers of the Medicine Men, God Is Red, Custer Died for Your Sins, Red Earth, White Lies
Green, Joyce. Making Way for Indigenous Feminism
Harjo, Joy and Gloria Bird. Reinventing the Enemy’s Language
Kilcup, Karen. Native American women's writing c. 1800-1924 : an anthology
Klein, Laura F. and Lillian A. Ackerman. Women and Power in Native North America
Lincoln, Kenneth. Native American Renaissance
Mihesuah, Devon. Indigenous American Women: Decolonization, Empowerment, Activism
Nabakov, Peter. Native American Testimony
Owens, Louis. Mixedblood Messages, Other Destinies
Pesantubbee, Michelene. Choctaw Women in a Chaotic World
Povinelli, Elizabeth. Cunning of Recognition
Purdy, John (ed). Nothing But The Truth
Sarris, Greg. Keeping Slug Woman Alive
Shoemaker, Nancy. Negotiators of Change: Historical Perspectives on Native American Women
Walker, Cheryl Indian Nation: Native American Literature and Nineteenth-Century Nationalisms
Warrior, Robert. The People and the Word
Weaver, Jace. American Indian Literary Nationalism
Womack, Craig. Red on Red
Vizenor, Gerald. Native American Literature, Manifest Manners
Articles:
All of the articles from Denetdale, Archuleta, Alemán, and Brandon classes (quite extensive)
***********************************************************************************
Now I guess my goal is to see how much we have and how much we don't.
************************************************************************************
Fiction, Poetry, Drama, Ethnography, Nonfiction, & Other
Alexie, Sherman. The Toughest Indian in the World, Ten Little Indians, The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, Reservation Blues, Indian Killer
Allen, Paula Gunn. The Woman Who Owned the Shadows
Anderson, Karen. Chain Her By One Foot: The Subjugation of Native Women in Nineteenth-Century New France
Apess, William. A Son of the Forest and Other Writings
Boudinot, Elias. Cherokee Editor
Brant, Beth. Food and Spirits: Stories
Broker, Ignatia. Night Flying Woman
Callahan, S. Alice. Wynema: A Child of the Forest
Deloria, Ella. Speaking of Indians
Eastman, Charles. Indian Boyhood and From Deep Woods to Civilization
Erdrich, Louise. Four Souls, Tracks, Love Medicine, The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse
Gansworth, Eric. Mending Skins
Geronimo. His Own Story: The Autobiography of a Great Patriot Warrior
Glancy, Diane. Claiming Breath
Harjo, Joy. In Mad Love and War, A Map to the Next World.
Hogan, Linda. Mean Spirit, Solar Storms, Dwellings, The Woman Who Watched Over the World
Johnson, E. Pauline. The Moccasin Maker
Jones, Stephen Graham. Bleed Into Me
King, Thomas E. Medicine River; Green Grass, Running Water; One Good Story, That One
Linderman, Frank B. Pretty Shield
Maracle, Lee. I am Woman
Mathews, John Joseph. Sundown
Momaday, N. Scott. The Way to Rainy Mountain, House Made of Dawn, The Ancient Child, The Man Made of Words
Morris, Irvin. From the Glittering World: A Navajo Story
Mourning Dove. Cogewea
McNickle, Darcy. The Surrounded, Runner in the Sun, Wind from an Enemy Sky
Occom, Samson. Sermons and Oratory
Ortiz, Simon J. Woven Stone
Reichard, Gladys. Spider Woman: A Story of Navajo Weavers and Chanters
Riggs, Lynn. The Cherokee Night and Other Plays
Silko, Leslie Marmon. Storyteller, Ceremony, Almanac of the Dead, Yellow Woman and a Beauty of the Spirit
Smith, Andrea. Conquest
Standing Bear, Luther. My People the Sioux
Tecumseh. Oratory
Tapahonso, Luci. Blue Horses Rush In, Sáanii Dahataal, The Women Are Singing : Poems And Stories
Tohe, Laura. No Parole Today
Ward, Nancy. Oratory
Watts, Eva Tulane. Don’t Let The Sun Step Over You
Welch, James. Fools Crow, Winter in the Blood
Winnemucca, Sarah. Life Among the Piutes
Vizenor, Gerald. Hotline Healers
Zapeda, Ophelia. Ocean Power: Poems From The Desert
Zitkala Sa. American Indian Stories, Old Indian Legends
Critical Work, Anthologies & Other:
Allen, Paula Gunn. Voice of the Turtle: American Indian Literature 1900-1970, The Sacred Hoop, Studies in American Indian Literature
Battiste, Marie. Reclaiming Indigenous Voice and Vision
Cook-Lynn, Elizabeth. New Indians, Old Wars, Why I Can’t Read Wallace Stegner
Deloria, Philip. Indians in Unexpected Places
Deloria, Vine. The World We Used to Live in: Remembering the Powers of the Medicine Men, God Is Red, Custer Died for Your Sins, Red Earth, White Lies
Green, Joyce. Making Way for Indigenous Feminism
Harjo, Joy and Gloria Bird. Reinventing the Enemy’s Language
Kilcup, Karen. Native American women's writing c. 1800-1924 : an anthology
Klein, Laura F. and Lillian A. Ackerman. Women and Power in Native North America
Lincoln, Kenneth. Native American Renaissance
Mihesuah, Devon. Indigenous American Women: Decolonization, Empowerment, Activism
Nabakov, Peter. Native American Testimony
Owens, Louis. Mixedblood Messages, Other Destinies
Pesantubbee, Michelene. Choctaw Women in a Chaotic World
Povinelli, Elizabeth. Cunning of Recognition
Purdy, John (ed). Nothing But The Truth
Sarris, Greg. Keeping Slug Woman Alive
Shoemaker, Nancy. Negotiators of Change: Historical Perspectives on Native American Women
Walker, Cheryl Indian Nation: Native American Literature and Nineteenth-Century Nationalisms
Warrior, Robert. The People and the Word
Weaver, Jace. American Indian Literary Nationalism
Womack, Craig. Red on Red
Vizenor, Gerald. Native American Literature, Manifest Manners
Articles:
All of the articles from Denetdale, Archuleta, Alemán, and Brandon classes (quite extensive)
***********************************************************************************
Now I guess my goal is to see how much we have and how much we don't.
ENGL 3400 April 5
Today I discussed Dr. Carolyn Kyler's Roundtable Pedagogical Device with the class. She presented this method at the College English Association 2010 Conference in San Antonio. I explained the activity & created a handout applying this method to Sherman Alexie's The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian Here is my handout
*******************************************************************************
Using the Round Table Model to teach cultural context for Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian
Readings that would be put in a hat and drawn by students:
1.Chapter 5 “Classroom” of Education for Extinction: American Indians and the Boarding School Experience by David Wallace Adams
2.“Indian Education” from The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven by Sherman Alexie
3.“Indian Love Call” in Me Sexy by Drew Hayden Taylor: Native Americans and the romance novel
4."The historical trauma response among natives and its relationship to substance abuse: A Lakota illustration." Journal of Psychoactive Drugs by Maria Yellow Horse Brave Heart
5.“Federal Indian Policies and the International Protection of Human Rights” by Sharon O’Brien in American Indian Policy in the Twentieth Century edited by Vine Deloria, Jr.
6.“The Disastrous Policy of Termination” in Custer Died for your Sins by Vine Deloria, Jr.
7.“Anthropologists and Other Friends” in Custer Died for your Sins by Vine Deloria, Jr.
8.“Indian Humor” in Custer Died for your Sins by Vine Deloria, Jr.
9.“Indians Today, the Real and the Unreal” in Custer Died for your Sins by Vine Deloria, Jr.
10.“Counter Culture Indians and the New Age” in Playing Indian by Philip Deloria
11.“On Romanticism” in Everything You Know about Indians is Wrong by Paul Chaat Smith
12.“Land of a Thousand Dances” in Everything You Know about Indians is Wrong by Paul Chaat Smith: Native Americans and representation in film
13.“American Indians are People, not Mascots” by Charlene Teters http://www.aimovement.org/ncrsm/index.html
Student Preparation
Reading: Read the assigned section of Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian (1-151) and your assigned article. Take notes of points you may want to raise.
Written Work: Prepare a two page written response to your article that includes the following:
1.Describe purpose of your article. What does it objectively communicate?
2.How is this purpose important to the primary text?
3.What sorts of complexities might your secondary text reveal about a character(s) perspective?
4.How does Alexie stylistically communicate these complexities?
5.How does your article’s issue or topic affect Arnold?
6.Does the primary text suggest any argument about the main issue of your secondary text? For example, does Alexie embed an argument about Indian humor in this text? (If your were reading “Indian Humor”)
Roundtable Questions
1.Why might Alexie consider reservations “death camps”?
2.Discuss Arnold’s educational experience in terms of cultural dominance.
3.How is education a negotiation of cultural power?
4.Discuss the significance of Ted’s collecting Indian artifacts.
5.How does Alexie revise the romanticized image of the Native American?
6.What are interracial relationships like in Alexie’s text?
7.Discuss Alexie’s use of humor. What purpose does humor serve in The Absolutely True Diary?
8.Discuss which character to whom your article seems most applicable.
9.Give an example of how your article informs a character(s) perspective.
*************************************************************************************
The discussion went well. We talked about how to modify this for different class and grade levels. I think this would be a particularly applicable model for the ENGL 1102 classroom wherein I teach research skills. A few students--Heather, Jess--came up with a graduated method where the provided list of secondary texts really introduces students to the use of research. The second roundtable day could focus on the process of creating that list--a library day--where I model and we all practice doing the actual research. Finally, on the last roundtable day students would find their own articles to bring to the discussion. I want to do this. It seems like such an effective tool for introducing composition students to confident research.
We are going to actually do this activity on Monday next week. Tomorrow I'll photocopy all the articles and prepare for the distribution of reading assignments on Wednesday. Also, I'll give Dr. Insenga a copy of the secondary sources and discussion questions on Wednesday.
I also prepared discussion questions for a talk on exploring Alexie's representation of the reservation, which we didn't have time for. I might be able to open this discussion on Wednesday. Here is a copy of my discussion planning:
*************************************************************************************
April 5, 2010
Discuss “The Roundtable”: Present concept
Applied to Alexie text
What sort of purpose does it serve?
Could this be modified for a lower level classroom?
How low could we go with this?
How might it be different?
What types of texts might be on the list?
Is there a way to modify the reading list to go even lower, like middle school?
Concepts of Reservation: geographic reservation
Let’s look at the language Alexie uses when he describes the reservation:
30: “My reservation which is located approximately one million miles north of Important and two billion miles west of Happy”
33: The world’s smallest reservation drawing
43: picture of reservation: road sign says hope: geographic location & mental location
“you have to leave this reservation [. . .] No, I mean you have to leave the rez forever”
“You’re going to find more and more hope the farther and farther you walk away from this sad, sad, sad reservation”
Why does Mr. P tell Arnold to leave the reservation? Everyone has given up.
So leaving the reservation also means leaving desperation.
The language that Alexie uses when describing the reservation: hope, happy, sad.
Do those describe geography? What does this language really describe? Mental interiority. How does this language change our ideas about where the reservation is?
So Arnold’s leaving the reservation is also a mental journey, or a developmental one.
So since Arnold’s move away from the reservation is a developmental move, then how does art and literature fit in to his journey?
A tool for change.
What sort of a case does Alexie make about reading and creativity for adolescent readers?
6: So I draw because I feel like it might be my only real chance to escape the reservation.
Drawing and literature / poetry:
95: Reading: “Wow, this dude was a poet. My cartoons weren’t just good for giggles; they were also good for poetry. Funny poetry, but poetry nonetheless. It was seriously funny stuff.”
How might we link this text’s argument about literature with what we already know about adolescent development?
If students were to see themselves in this text, what might Alexie be persuading them of?
Using this theme,
Could we bridge to Blake’s “London”?
Could we bridge to The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass?
London
by William Blake
I wander thro' each charter'd street,
Near where the charter'd Thames does flow,
And mark in every face I meet
Marks of weakness, marks of woe.
In every cry of every Man,
In every Infant's cry of fear,
In every voice, in every ban,
The mind-forg'd manacles I hear.
How the Chimney-sweeper's cry
Every black'ning Church appalls;
And the hapless Soldier's sigh
Runs in blood down Palace walls.
But most thro' midnight streets I hear
How the youthful Harlot's curse
Blasts the new born Infant's tear,
And blights with plagues the Marriage hearse.
*********************************************************************************
I will grade papers this weekend mostly and plan to meet with Dr. Insenga before I return them. That will hopefully be on Monday April 12. Wednesday would put me at two weeks past the due date, and I consider that my absolute latest.
*******************************************************************************
Using the Round Table Model to teach cultural context for Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian
Readings that would be put in a hat and drawn by students:
1.Chapter 5 “Classroom” of Education for Extinction: American Indians and the Boarding School Experience by David Wallace Adams
2.“Indian Education” from The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven by Sherman Alexie
3.“Indian Love Call” in Me Sexy by Drew Hayden Taylor: Native Americans and the romance novel
4."The historical trauma response among natives and its relationship to substance abuse: A Lakota illustration." Journal of Psychoactive Drugs by Maria Yellow Horse Brave Heart
5.“Federal Indian Policies and the International Protection of Human Rights” by Sharon O’Brien in American Indian Policy in the Twentieth Century edited by Vine Deloria, Jr.
6.“The Disastrous Policy of Termination” in Custer Died for your Sins by Vine Deloria, Jr.
7.“Anthropologists and Other Friends” in Custer Died for your Sins by Vine Deloria, Jr.
8.“Indian Humor” in Custer Died for your Sins by Vine Deloria, Jr.
9.“Indians Today, the Real and the Unreal” in Custer Died for your Sins by Vine Deloria, Jr.
10.“Counter Culture Indians and the New Age” in Playing Indian by Philip Deloria
11.“On Romanticism” in Everything You Know about Indians is Wrong by Paul Chaat Smith
12.“Land of a Thousand Dances” in Everything You Know about Indians is Wrong by Paul Chaat Smith: Native Americans and representation in film
13.“American Indians are People, not Mascots” by Charlene Teters http://www.aimovement.org/ncrsm/index.html
Student Preparation
Reading: Read the assigned section of Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian (1-151) and your assigned article. Take notes of points you may want to raise.
Written Work: Prepare a two page written response to your article that includes the following:
1.Describe purpose of your article. What does it objectively communicate?
2.How is this purpose important to the primary text?
3.What sorts of complexities might your secondary text reveal about a character(s) perspective?
4.How does Alexie stylistically communicate these complexities?
5.How does your article’s issue or topic affect Arnold?
6.Does the primary text suggest any argument about the main issue of your secondary text? For example, does Alexie embed an argument about Indian humor in this text? (If your were reading “Indian Humor”)
Roundtable Questions
1.Why might Alexie consider reservations “death camps”?
2.Discuss Arnold’s educational experience in terms of cultural dominance.
3.How is education a negotiation of cultural power?
4.Discuss the significance of Ted’s collecting Indian artifacts.
5.How does Alexie revise the romanticized image of the Native American?
6.What are interracial relationships like in Alexie’s text?
7.Discuss Alexie’s use of humor. What purpose does humor serve in The Absolutely True Diary?
8.Discuss which character to whom your article seems most applicable.
9.Give an example of how your article informs a character(s) perspective.
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The discussion went well. We talked about how to modify this for different class and grade levels. I think this would be a particularly applicable model for the ENGL 1102 classroom wherein I teach research skills. A few students--Heather, Jess--came up with a graduated method where the provided list of secondary texts really introduces students to the use of research. The second roundtable day could focus on the process of creating that list--a library day--where I model and we all practice doing the actual research. Finally, on the last roundtable day students would find their own articles to bring to the discussion. I want to do this. It seems like such an effective tool for introducing composition students to confident research.
We are going to actually do this activity on Monday next week. Tomorrow I'll photocopy all the articles and prepare for the distribution of reading assignments on Wednesday. Also, I'll give Dr. Insenga a copy of the secondary sources and discussion questions on Wednesday.
I also prepared discussion questions for a talk on exploring Alexie's representation of the reservation, which we didn't have time for. I might be able to open this discussion on Wednesday. Here is a copy of my discussion planning:
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April 5, 2010
Discuss “The Roundtable”: Present concept
Applied to Alexie text
What sort of purpose does it serve?
Could this be modified for a lower level classroom?
How low could we go with this?
How might it be different?
What types of texts might be on the list?
Is there a way to modify the reading list to go even lower, like middle school?
Concepts of Reservation: geographic reservation
Let’s look at the language Alexie uses when he describes the reservation:
30: “My reservation which is located approximately one million miles north of Important and two billion miles west of Happy”
33: The world’s smallest reservation drawing
43: picture of reservation: road sign says hope: geographic location & mental location
“you have to leave this reservation [. . .] No, I mean you have to leave the rez forever”
“You’re going to find more and more hope the farther and farther you walk away from this sad, sad, sad reservation”
Why does Mr. P tell Arnold to leave the reservation? Everyone has given up.
So leaving the reservation also means leaving desperation.
The language that Alexie uses when describing the reservation: hope, happy, sad.
Do those describe geography? What does this language really describe? Mental interiority. How does this language change our ideas about where the reservation is?
So Arnold’s leaving the reservation is also a mental journey, or a developmental one.
So since Arnold’s move away from the reservation is a developmental move, then how does art and literature fit in to his journey?
A tool for change.
What sort of a case does Alexie make about reading and creativity for adolescent readers?
6: So I draw because I feel like it might be my only real chance to escape the reservation.
Drawing and literature / poetry:
95: Reading: “Wow, this dude was a poet. My cartoons weren’t just good for giggles; they were also good for poetry. Funny poetry, but poetry nonetheless. It was seriously funny stuff.”
How might we link this text’s argument about literature with what we already know about adolescent development?
If students were to see themselves in this text, what might Alexie be persuading them of?
Using this theme,
Could we bridge to Blake’s “London”?
Could we bridge to The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass?
London
by William Blake
I wander thro' each charter'd street,
Near where the charter'd Thames does flow,
And mark in every face I meet
Marks of weakness, marks of woe.
In every cry of every Man,
In every Infant's cry of fear,
In every voice, in every ban,
The mind-forg'd manacles I hear.
How the Chimney-sweeper's cry
Every black'ning Church appalls;
And the hapless Soldier's sigh
Runs in blood down Palace walls.
But most thro' midnight streets I hear
How the youthful Harlot's curse
Blasts the new born Infant's tear,
And blights with plagues the Marriage hearse.
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I will grade papers this weekend mostly and plan to meet with Dr. Insenga before I return them. That will hopefully be on Monday April 12. Wednesday would put me at two weeks past the due date, and I consider that my absolute latest.
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