Lesson 2
We will begin planning for the Culminating Task.
Lesson Goals
Can I identify task expectations and develop an appropriate plan for accomplishing the established outcome?
Texts
Core
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- Chapter 4, excerpt from Hillbilly Elegy, J.D. Vance, HarperCollins Publishers, 2016
- “How to Tame a Wild Tongue,” excerpt from Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza, Gloria E. Anzaldúa, Aunt Lute Books. Reproduced with permission from the estate of Gloria Anzaldúa., 1987
- “Mother Tongue,” Amy Tan, Threepenny Review, Reprinted by permission from Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency., 1990
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- “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
- “‘Where I’m From’: A Crowdsourced Poem That Collects Your Memories of Home,” Casey Noenickx, Kwame Alexander, and Rachel Martin, National Public Radio, August 28, 2019
Materials
Tools
Reference Guides
Question Sets
Editable Google Docs
Activity 1: Read
We will review the Culminating Task and make plans for its successful completion.
Review the Culminating Task Progress Tracker.
Where do you think you will excel on the Culminating Task?
Where will you need additional help?
Activity 2: Read – Write
We will talk about our community with a partner.
Step 1
Refer to your rhetorical analysis of James Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time and your "Where I’m From" poem.
Your work with The Fire Next Time might help you determine effective ways to engage with your reader using various stylistic methods.
The community you selected for your "Where I’m From" poem could also be useful for the piece you will write for the Culminating Task. Consider the details you included in that poem and the ways those may translate to another piece of writing, potentially about the same community.
Step 2
After reviewing your work and thinking about what you have learned in this unit, write down ideas for what you might want to write about for the Culminating Task.
Share your ideas with a partner, considering the following questions:
What community do you think you want to write about?
Talk about your community to your partner—share what you think is important, a story, how it makes you feel, or why it’s important to you. Listen to and answer questions about your community.
What message do you want outsiders to understand about your community?
Activity 3: Write
We will determine what we liked, stylistically, about how different authors wrote their messages.
Think about the texts you read in this unit. Which texts had styles that resonated with you? Refer to your notes in the "Writer’s Rhetorical Toolbox" section of your Learning Log.
Choose two texts that were written in a style that resonates with you, and respond to the following questions:
What did you like about these authors’ styles of writing?
What style do you want to try in your writing?
Activity 4: Read
We will review our notes on the texts in this unit and determine which methods we will use in our own writing.
Review the notes you took in this unit. In particular, review your reflections at the end of each section, where you determined which stylistic strategies will be useful to adapt to your own writing.
Possible stylistic strategies include the following:
personal experiences, similar to J.D. Vance’s Hillbilly Elegy
insightful dialogue between characters to make a specific point, similar to Amy Tan’s "Mother Tongue"
manipulation of time, going back and forth between past and present, similar to James Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time
use of different languages, similar to Andaluza’s "How to Tame a Wild Tongue"
experimentation with form, similar to Fatimah Asghar and Elizabeth Acevedo
imagery, similar to Amy Tan, Gloria Andaluza, James Baldwin, and J.D. Vance
inclusion of facts, similar to Robert Putnam
usage of parentheses and collective personal pronouns, similar to Robert Putnam
repetition of key words and phrases, similar to James Baldwin and Amy Tan
punctuating an important point by pairing a long sentence with a short one, similar to James Baldwin, Amy Tan, Gloria Andaluza, and J.D. Vance
Make some notes about which specific strategies you will incorporate into your own writing.
Activity 5: Write
We will answer questions to help us determine the controlling idea of our Culminating Task.
Using all of your planning notes from the previous activities, respond to the following questions in your Learning Log:
What community are you planning to write about? Why did you choose this community? Why are you passionate about this community and want others to know about it?
What message would you like to convey to outsiders about your community? This is the controlling idea of your Culminating Task.
How will readers understand the value and legitimacy of your community?
What personal stories can you bring to your writing to better illustrate your ideas and support your message for your reader?
How do you want your audience to feel when reading your piece? How will you elicit that response from your reader? Think of specific words and phrases you can use that connote the desired emotions.
What essential facts does your reader need to know about your community? How will you weave that information into your writing? Consider the importance of these facts and plan accordingly.
What format, or genre, is most appropriate to convey your message? Review the texts in this unit and identify what form your writing will take: poetry, prose, informational, a letter, narrative, or a combination of several styles.
Activity 6: Discuss – Listen
We will discuss our plans for the Culminating Task with partners.
Meet with a partner to share and discuss your ideas for completing your Culminating Task and the answers to the guiding questions. It may be beneficial to work with someone who is not writing about the same community so they can offer suggestions on the clarity of your message.
Listen to your partner. Ask questions about their community that you would want to know the answers to, as an outsider learning more.