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A 10:002 or 10:003 Unit ~ The Myth of the Model Family

Schedule
Formal Assignments

Week 6

Day 1:

Discuss: More advertising strategies; more class analysis of print ads on overheads. (Or begin student speeches.)

Notes: This day is good for last-minute questions about the speeches. Another option is to start speeches on this day: some classes will take four days to get through a round of speeches, and in the interest of fairness you want everybody’s speech to happen in the same week.

Day 2:

Student speeches

Notes: In addition to the notes I take, I also have three students respond to each speech given. Their comments frequently become part of the written feedback I give.

Day 3:

Student speeches continue

Day 4:

Student speeches continue

Week 7

Day 1:

Discuss: claims, reasons, and evidence

Assign: John Naisbitt with Nana Naisbitt and John Phillips, “The Military-Nintendo Complex” (student presentation).

Reader response question: Naisbitt et al claim that the Columbine shooters were influenced by video games. List the seven pieces of evidence they give in support of that claim.

Notes: A claim is a statement that states a clear position on something controversial: for example, “Cheerleading is a sport.” (Note the clarity of the position. Note the inherent controversy, about whether cheerleading is or is not a sport.)
A reason is anything that provides a “because”: Because cheerleaders spend as much time working in the gym as do basketball players.
Evidence is anything that helps prove the reasons: We know cheerleaders put in as much gym time as basketball players because Stephanie, who’s a cheerleader, attended three-hour practices while the basketball team was done with their practices in 90 minutes.
Why bother learning these? Because wobbly claims, reasons, or evidence make the whole argument wobbly.
Frequently, arguments break down when someone tries to go right from a claim to evidence: Cheerleading is a sport because Stephanie practiced for three hours and the basketball guys only practiced for ninety minutes.
Or arguments will be weak because they’re just claims and reasons without evidence: Cheerleading is a sport because cheerleaders practice longer than basketball players. (Anybody want to try to win an argument with that?)
Or arguments will be unclear because the claim is unclear: “Cheerleading!”
Or they derail because the claim doesn’t address anything controversial: “Child abuse is horrible.” (Anybody gonna take an opposing side?)
This is a fun day—challenge the class to come up with a claim and support it with reasons and evidence. Funny claims work well, and you’ll need to provide them if no one else is: Having a cold is worse than having the flu. Our class should adopt a whale. We will all be smarter if we get a day off next week.

Day 2:

Student-led discussion of Naisbitt et al

Note: This piece was not anybody’s favorite, really. But it’s a stunning example of how to structure claims, reasons, and evidence.

Day 3:

This space available. In the event that you need a day to catch up, or to follow up on some interesting little tidbit that arose during class discussion, here’s your day. Or continue to provoke your students with challenging ideas about families: the public library has interesting films about gay and lesbian families, multigenerational family living in China, people who become single parents by choice, or other flavorful topics.

Day 4:

Summarize this unit with a big map of the ideas about family. How do these ideas connect or contradict each other? Why is that? Once again, what’s at stake—why does it matter that certain families are legitimized and others aren’t? How do questions of power figure in?

Notes: This kind of summary is important, I think, in bringing closure to a unit. It helps students think about the information we’ve covered, how (and where and why) it contradicts, who sees things similarly, who sees things differently. About the role of “normalization,” and who gets to author those norms. About the political implications of fulfilling or defying the official public definition of family.
Again, the map is a good way to clarify visually the complexity of developing positions on ideas, the sloppy delight of trying to move humans’ opinions, trying to connect with them mentally and emotionally and with respect to the traditional patterns they respect.

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