Activities today:
- Finish reading “One Good Man” (Alexie)
- Use the “questions” template for notes
- Skim “The Narrative Construction of Reality” (Bruner)
- Skim and use the notes from week 1
- Briefly look over “Two-eyed seeing” articles (we will get to this later)
- Go over in detail the packet of readings for the synthesis essay
- Opening discussion on narrative theory and opening discussion on “The Narrative Construction of Reality” (Bruner)
Learning goals today:
- I will know how to use articles to find passages and quotes that I can connect to what I do know (so I can participate in a class discussion).
- I will know how to pay attention to all of the details and to all of the key ideas, including by taking notes, following each step, asking questions, and paying attention.
- I will know how the short story reports fit into the overall course plan, especially if I am aiming to achieve high school level reading (50-65).
- I will know how the synthesis essay fits into the overall course plan, especially if I am aiming to achieve pre-university level reading (75-100). Related, I will know how the synthesis essay fits into the textual analysis essay.
- I will see a connection between the readings in the gray duo tang and the synthesis essay and/or the textual analysis essay. I also know that Harold Johnson is a good place to start (and for students aiming for high school level reading a good place to perhaps stop and stay).
- I will how to read a text that is above my current level, I will know how to skim a text and use connections, I will know how to question and probe, and I will know how to discuss something that I am uncertain or unclear about. I will learn how to “be comfortable” with not knowing. And with this, I will know how to use what “I do know” to learn how to read.
- I will gain experience working in the format of a class discussion at the pre-university level. Specifically, I will:
- Read ahead by skimming and finding things of interest.
- Take notes and write reflections.
- Be prepared to “just wing it” when asked to discuss something new or difficult, always bringing it back to “what I do know” and always bringing it up to “what I will know next”.
- Break things into steps and chunks.
- Focus on vocabulary.
- Use the structure of the text to start to “get it”.
- Volunteer what I know…
- Risk being wrong when I am uncertain.
- Recognize that these discussions are HOW to learn to read at advanced levels (that is why we do them in high school, college, and university)
- I will learn the format for how to speak in a discussion on a difficult text:
- Find a passage
- Tell the others where it is
- Read it
- Explain, question, or connect
- Dig in deeper
- Again: Say something (say what you DO know, say what you DON’T know, say SOMETHING… ANYTHING)
Key concepts:
- The synthesis essay is one section of the textual analysis essay
- The textual analysis essay will include a section on your theory of narrative (a synthesis)
- Your theory of narrative will include Indigenous perspectives and may also include Western or other non-Indigenous perspectives
- Students focused on high school level work should focus on the short story reports
- Students focused on high school level work should participate in discussions but not worry if they understand all of it (focus on what you do know, what you do care about, what you bring to the table)
- Students focused on pre-university level work should focus on the development a theory of narrative
- Your theory of narrative should have a trunk, branches, and ornaments and it should have roots
- A theory is simple to come up with; the challenge in convincing the reader why your theory matters and in explaining the details of it (applications, development, support, significance)
Summary:
Today was the last lesson on why you will write the short story reports (to learn to read) and why you are writing the textual analysis essay (to learn to read). It is also the last overview of how to write the textual analysis essay in terms of how the synthesis essay fits into it and how the related readings connect to this. Next you will do the reading to prepare for the essay and then you will draft, revise, and edit the essay. Through this process you should understand how the big ideas of Sara Florence Davidson, Lee Maracle, Leslie Silko, Brian Maracle, Harold Johnson, Jerome Bruner, Lev Vygotsky, Antonio Gramsci are connected to narrative, the basis for your own theory (synthesis) of narrative. One final note: We discussed how Harold Johnson’s passage is the most accessible and directly useful for most students in this class (so you may want to focus on his writing).
