October 19, 2005
Short Skit exercise
Short Skit exercise
by Michael Dwyer
I've never had any problems with my students actually doing readings. Most of the time, there is even a good amount of understanding about individual readings, as well. The problem in my class has always been one of getting my students to put sources "in conversation". This is an exercise I adapted from "dialogue-writing" assignments that has been both very productive, and a lot of fun.
* I assign 4 different readings. This year it was Williams' Life on the Color Line, Marable's "What We Talk About When We Talk About Race", Lopez's "White byLaw," and William Upski Wimsatt's Bomb the Suburbs. I divide the class in 3 groups, and assign each group a particular text to focus on, and "be ready to present a 10 minute summary/analysis to the class".
* In the next class, I say, "Okay, forget about the presentations." I divide the class into fours again, only this time constituted of one "expert" on each one of the readings.
* Then I tell them to create a short, one act play in which the four authors of the text are engaged in some sort of discussion. What we don't want are four monologues--we want the authors to respond to one another's points, even clown on one another. We're looking for conflict. This skit must also include a fifth character--this character must enter the conversation halfway through, and must also be given the last line.
* These skits aren't only to be written--they're performed, in class. Each member plays the author that they are an "expert" on, and I will play the fifth character. Anything else goes--time, place, bad jokes about my beard, whatever.
* We have a lot of fun presenting these, but after the last one is done, I drop this on them: We've just enacted the precise way you should interact with sources in your papers. You ARE the fifth character--you come in to an already existing conversation, listen to the disparate views, and make the final judgment.
This activity is a lot of fun--they can be goofy, laugh at one another (and, most importantly, at me), but they also come up with some great insights into how sources would interact. It takes up a full class period, but it's always been worth it.
Posted by gr at 11:03 AM | Comments (0)
Bomb the Suburbs exercise
Bomb the Suburbs exercise
by Michael Dwyer
Also, I'm attaching a selection from Bomb the Suburbs. It's one of the more famous independently-produced books to come out of underground hip hop. It was published in 1994, so some of it is dated, but it's still worthwhile. Wimsatt, a white son of a U Chicago professor who fell in love with the Chicago graff-writing & breakdancing scenes, is an interesting counterpoint to Williams. He's currently an activist, and the author of NO MORE PRISONS (which can be seen spraypainted nationwide).
Download Bomb the Suburbs excerpt.
Posted by gr at 10:09 AM | Comments (0)
September 10, 2004
A Change is Gonna Come: A Community Writing Project in the ‘Soul of Syracuse’ (Proposal)
A Change is Gonna Come: A Community Writing Project in the ‘Soul of Syracuse’ (Proposal)
Project Overview: As one of several working groups connected with the SU Writing Program’s Diversity Grant, I am proposing to use Chancellor Nancy Cantor’s inauguration theme, “The Soul of Syracuse” as the basis for a writing course that I would lead simultaneously as WRT 105 and a writing/reading/discussion group at a site in one of Syracuse’s neighborhoods. The major goal of this course is to establish dialogue between SU students, faculty, staff, and Syracuse residents outside of the usual limits imposed by service learning or literacy programs. Other goals include examining the soul era in American music and culture, exploring Syracuse’s past, present, and future, and discovering the potential and power of writing in people’s lives in both academic and non-academic genres.
Activities: While offered as two separate “courses” in separate locations (one on campus and one in the community), the work of the courses will be rooted in structured opportunities for SU students and community members to come together, write together, and learn together. In addition to the usual class discussions and writing workshops, the courses will offer:
- 3 technology workshops on topics including creating webpages in Dreamweaver and creating multimedia projects using PowerPoint and iMovie/iPhoto
- 2 Open Mic nights that would allow participants to showcase their writing for a wider audience
- An informal “Soul of Syracuse” awards program that will allow participants to both learn more about local communities, and to recognize those individuals and institutions that have been integral to those communities.
These activities will take place both on campus and off to encourage greater connection between SU students and community members. On campus activities will be held in the SU Writing Program computer clusters and Jabberwocky Lounge. Off campus activities (including the weekly writing/discussion group meetings) at “The Groove” restaurant, located on South Salina Street.
Outcomes: This project will contribute to the Writing Program’s short and long term diversity goals in the following ways:
- Publicity for the Writing Program and SU outside the university
- Establishing multicultural dialogue both on campus and off
- Introduction of African American and multicultural course content to Writing Program courses, including syllabi, assignments, and activities to be posted to the Diversity Grant’s website
- Offering a post-course roundtable and/or other professional development activities by working group members to share experiences with other instructors who might create similar projects
- Contributing to Writing Program and disciplinary knowledge on diversity issues and community writing projects through a collaboratively-written article. Working group members will present this article at a regional or national conference and submit it for publication by a peer-reviewed journal.
The texts for this course include:
- Neal, Mark Anthony. What the Music Said: Black Popular Music and Black Public Culture
- Dyson, Michael Eric. Mercy Mercy Me: The Art, Loves, and Demons of Marvin Gaye.
- Werner, Craig. Higher Ground: Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, Curtis Mayfield, and the Rise and Fall of American Soul
Posted by mryonker at 11:59 AM | Comments (0)
September 21, 2003
Race
Race
Adam Banks
WRT 205—Spring 2004
Writing Race and Culture in Contemporary America
Forget all the rules and formulas you heard about writing. Good writing is passionate, thoughtful, ethical; clear about its purpose, willing to wrestle with all the complexities of context and the conventions you need to respond to. It is sensitive to audience, and aware of all the tools, tactics, and strategies you have at your disposal to achieve that particular purpose for that particular audience at that particular time. Analytical and expressive, selfish and selfless, arrogant and humble. It can come easily at times and take place at the point of utter struggle. You have to think deeply and feel deeply; let this course push you in both of those directions.
Course Overview:
While we will use race and culture as subject, this course is a writing course that will focus on analysis and argument. You will write frequently and in a wide range of situations-some formal, some informal. All of these opportunities will push both your critical thinking and rhetorical sensitivity, all while examining the ways race and culture still matter in contemporary America.
Course Texts:Boyd, Herb. Race and Resistance: African Americans in the 21st Century. Cambridge: South End Press, 2003.
Morgan, Joan. When Chickenheads Come Home to Roost. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2000.
McGruder, Aaron. A Right to Be Hostile. New York: Three Rivers Press, 2003.
Curry, George. The Best of Emerge Magazine. New York: Ballantine, 2003.Assignment #4 The Intellectual Mixtape:
Overview: Your job in this assignment is to become a kind of DJ, or DG-digital griot-and put together a mix CD (or for the technologically challenged and oldheads like myself, a mixtape) that works as a soundtrack for the ideas we've worked with in the course so far. Just like a good soundtrack to a movie would match the content, and at times, the style of its film, your mix CD should include songs that work with, speak to, challenge, or summarize the ideas and texts we've used so far. Like a sountrack, or any other CD, yours will also come with liner notes that introduce the music and explain the connections between the songs you choose and the texts and ideas we've read and discussed this semester.Format: Your CD should have at least 10 songs on it (10-12 would be ideal, but in some cases more might be appropriate), should be labeled, and must have a title. You may make this CD a personal response to the readings as well, so you are free to choose any kind of song you want; genres, artists, traditions are up to you. Your "liner notes" should be around three pages (somewhere around 750 words). These notes may take a more personal approach, focusing on your responses to the texts and your growth, or they may be more analytical. That choice is up to you.
Evaluation: I will not grade the songs you select for this CD. What I will grade is the degree to which the CD as a whole reflects thoughtfulness and engagement with the texts we've read and the discussions we've had in class. Given the range of things we've read, I will look for a range in the songs you select. I will also look for the compilation to be coherent in some way-in other words, I will look to see how the collection of songs works as a whole. Are the songs connected? Is there some idea or set of ideas that brings them together? I will also look for creativity and thoughtfulness, both in the CD and the introduction you write. I also expect your liner notes to reflect the ideas about writing that we've introduced in the course.
Posted by mryonker at 07:59 PM | Comments (0)