Monday, October 21, 2013

The Amy Tan Blogs, Take 4 (Facts, Artifacts, Counterfacts)


a teacher who aligns with Facts, Artifacts, and Counterfacts...

A Facts, Artifacts, and Counterfacts course would use “Mother Tongue” as part of a larger unit on the many and diverse functions of language in the students’ lives. Students will read “Mother Tongue” as a counterpoint or parallel to a novel they are reading that involves immigrant speakers and multi-generational dialogue. While reading, students will take close annotations and keep a dialectical journal of their observations.

Before coming to class, each student will write a short response to the essay that ties their own observations to the novel and to the larger course inquiry. A few representative examples of this mini-essay will be shared with the class to prompt class discussion. Students will then be assigned to write a narrative essay that explores their own uses of English and how their mastery of various kinds of language has evolved from childhood to now and is—perhaps as a result of this class—still evolving. This essay will itself evolve into a larger project as the course continues, involving several one-on-one conferences with one of the class instructors and a few rounds of peer review and revision. 

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