Monday, October 21, 2013

The Amy Tan Blogs, Take 1 (Traditional Remedial)


A traditional remedial teacher....

A traditional remedial teacher would use “Mother Tongue” as a sample essay for a possible narrative essay writing assignment. As pre-reading, students would be given some basic biographical information about Amy Tan and told what the reading is about. While reading, students would be told to underline interesting ideas and to notice how it’s a narrative essay (this would be assigned as part of a larger unit on personal narratives, probably with a text book explaining what a narrative is and how to write one). Post-reading, the instructor would ask the students what they liked about the essay and students might briefly discuss favorite points and how it reminds them of their own educational experiences. This discussion will be brief because the point of the reading is to see an example of narrative. 

Following this very brief class discussion, students will be assigned to write their own narrative paper, a la Amy Tan, describing something about their parents and upbringing that they remember vividly and how it affects them now. After some brief in-class outlining, students will write a draft. A peer review at the following class period consists of a checklist students work through with a partner to make sure the paper follows the correct format. There may be an accompanying lecture on noun-phrase-appositives, and students are asked to include 3 noun-phrase-appositives in their final draft. Two weeks is given between assigning the reading and turning in a final draft of the essay. 

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