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Lesson 7

We will evaluate the ideas in James Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time.

Lesson Goals

  • Can I use connections among details, elements, and effects to make logical deductions about an author’s perspective, purpose, and meaning in a text?

Texts

Core

  • Digital Access
    • “My Dungeon Shook: Letter to My Nephew on the One Hundredth Anniversary of the Emancipation,” excerpt from The Fire Next Time, James Baldwin, Dial Press, an imprint of Random House, 1962

Materials

Tools

Editable Google Docs

Activity 1: Read – Write

We will use the Evaluating Ideas Tool as we reread the excerpt from The Fire Next Time.

Individually, review the Evaluating Ideas Tool.

Then reread the excerpt from The Fire Next Time. While reading, complete the Key Details section in response to the question below. You will complete the remaining sections after reading.

  1. What is Baldwin’s purpose in writing this letter to his nephew?

Activity 2: Read – Write

We will complete the Evaluating Ideas Tool for The Fire Next Time.

Individually, complete the Analyze Perspectives section of the Evaluating Ideas Tool. This section asks that you consider the details you chose in order to determine what they tell you about the topic and how they provide information to answer the guiding question.

To complete this section accurately, it is important that you make the distinction between language and details. Language refers to characteristics of the words used; consider your overall impression of the language the author uses.

  1. Does it reflect education? A particular profession? Intelligence?

  2. Is it plain? Ornate? Simple? Clear? Figurative? Poetic?

  3. What effect does language have on your mood as a reader?

  4. What does language indicate about the author’s tone?

Details are the facts that are included as well as those that are omitted. Consider what details the author chooses to include.

  1. What do they imply?

  2. What does the author choose to exclude?

  3. What effect do these included and excluded details have on your mood as a reader?

  4. What do these included and excluded details indicate about the author’s tone?

Keep this information in mind as you work through your analysis on the Evaluating Ideas Tool.

Activity 3: Read – Write

We will finish our Evaluating Ideas Tools for The Fire Next Time.

Individually, complete the remaining sections of the Evaluating Ideas Tool. While completing the Evaluate Information and Ideas section, consider the main arguments Baldwin makes in his letter.

  1. Do you find his arguments credible (i.e., do you believe him)?

  2. Does he have the necessary experience to speak on those topics?

When evaluating the accuracy of the information he presents, remember that this letter was initially written and published in the 1960s. The accuracy and relevance of information is directly related to its context.

Evaluate the text by examining and determining the author’s perspective, the tone of the letter, his overall claim and supporting evidence, and the structure used. Note your determinations about these aspects of the text on the back of your paper or in the margins of the text before crafting your response to how those features of the text influence your evaluation of the text overall.