Lesson 4

Lesson Goals

Texts

Core

• • “A Quilt of a Country,” Anna Quindlen, Newsweek, 2001
  • “The 14th Amendment and the History of Birthright Citizenship in the U.S.,” Ari Shapiro and Martha Jones, National Public Radio, Inc., October 30, 2018
  • “What Makes an American,” Raoul de Roussy de Sales, The Atlantic Media Co., 1939

Materials

Question Sets

• What Does It Mean to Be an American?: Section 4 Question Set

Editable Google Docs

• What Does It Mean to Be an American?: Section 4 Question Set

Activity 1: Write

We will edit our reflective narratives for spelling and grammar.

Conduct a spelling and grammar check for accuracy.

When the computer prompts you with a red or blue line, indicating that there is an error, how do you know what fix is the right fix? Hint, it will not always be the first choice.

Activity 2: Read

We will edit our reflective narratives to include a rhetorical device.

The following sentences come from “A Quilt of a Country,” “What Makes an American,” and “The 14th Amendment and the History of Birthright Citizenship in the U.S.”

As you read each sentence, think about the following questions:

1. What do you notice about the sentence?

2. What else do you notice?

3. What is the effect of this sentence on the paragraph or text as a whole?

   What is the point of this splintered whole? (“A Quilt of a Country,” Paragraph 4)

   What is the point of a nation in which one part seems to be always on the verge of fisticuffs with another, blacks and white, gays and straights, left and right, Pole and Chinese and Puerto Rican and Slovenian? (“A Quilt of a Country,” Paragraph 4)

   Sound familiar? (“A Quilt of a Country,” Paragraph 7)

   Where is America? (“What Makes an American,” Part 7)

   To begin with, it took me some time to formulate to myself an answer to the very simple questions: “What makes an American? How does it feel to belong to this nation?” (“What Makes an American,” Part 2)

   Well, the first thing that comes to mind is that citizenship has really for all our history been a very contested question. Who is in? Who is out? Who belongs? Who does not? (“The 14th Amendment and the History of Birthright Citizenship in the U.S.”)

Discuss the following sentences with a partner or with the whole group:

1. What do you notice about each example sentence?

2. What do they have in common?

3. What effect do they have on the text?

4. Why might an author write sentences such as these?

These sentences are rhetorical questions—questions asked to create dramatic effect or to make a point rather than get an answer. These kinds of questions can be useful because they engage readers, getting them to think about the writer’s main points.

With a partner, write a rhetorical question about your pathway topic. One way you might edit your reflective narrative is by adding a rhetorical question. Scan your narrative for a good place to add it in.

Activity 3: Write

We will edit our reflective narratives to vary internal punctuation.

The following sentences come from “A Quilt of a Country,” and “What Makes an American.” As you read each sentence, think about the following questions:

1. What do you notice about the sentence?

2. What else do you notice?

   The Brooklyn of Francie Nolan’s famous tree, the Newark of which Portnoy complained, even the uninflected WASP suburbs of Cheever’s characters: they are ghettos, pure and simple. (“A Quilt of a Country,” Paragraph 3)

   After living ten years in America, I still ask myself: Where is America? (“What is an American,” Section 7)

   To begin with, it took me some time to formulate to myself an answer to the very simple questions: “What makes an American? How does it feel to belong to this nation?” (“What is an American,” Section 7)

Each of these sentences uses a colon (:). You are probably familiar with colons. They appear in time (9:15); they are used in math to indicate a ratio (1:4); they are used in biblical references to separate chapter from verse (Genesis 1:31); and they are used to introduce a list (Please get these items from the store: eggs, milk, chocolate, and rice).

The colons in the above sentences are being used differently from what you are already familiar with. With a partner or small group, try to figure out how the colon is functioning in the example sentences.

Think about the following questions:

1. Examine what is in front of the colon. What do you notice?

2. Examine what is behind the colon. What do you notice?

3. How is the colon functioning in the sentence? What is it doing?

Did you know that colons can also be used to separate two independent clauses? A colon can introduce a second independent clause (another sentence).

Here are some hard-and-fast rules about how to use a colon to separate independent clauses:

• A colon must always follow an independent clause (a complete sentence). It never follows a fragment.

• A colon is used after an independent clause (a complete sentence) to introduce something that illustrates, clarifies, or amplifies what is in front of the colon.

With a partner, write a sentence that uses a colon to connect to independent clauses (complete sentences). Remember, the second sentence illustrates, clarifies, or amplifies the first sentence. You can either write a new sentence, or combine two existing sentences from your drafts.

One way you might edit your reflective narrative is by adding a colon to join two independent clauses (complete sentences). Scan your narrative for a good place to join independent clauses and add in the colon.

Activity 4: Write

We will finish our reflective narratives for homework.

Finish making final revisions and edits to your reflective narrative for homework, and turn it in to your teacher during the next lesson.