Day 6: Portraits of Home
Reading Assignment: Joyce Carol Oates, They All Just Went Away
In class:
- Try having a student-led discussion on Oates, bringing in Sedaris, Mann, Alison, Sexton. Students can also spend some time in class looking at and discussing the Edward Hopper painting that accompanies Oates’ essay in Convergences.
Teaching Notes:
Oates’ essay explores issues of families, homes, and houses, and raises questions about violence and community accountability. The discussion of Oates can raise issues of gender, and gendered violence; a student-led discussion can also be used to encourage students to develop connections between Oates and previous readings. Surrendering your authority in the classroom can be really frightening, but in my experience, students benefit from periodic opportunities to direct their own discussion and ask and answer their own questions. I establish guidelines, then sit back and listen. They learn to fill their own silences and talk to one another rather than to me.
Days 7, 8, 9, 10: Speeches
No Reading
In class:
Students deliver their speeches and fill out peer feedback forms for one another. This will take 3 or 4 class periods, depending on how long speeches are. Allowing 4 days means you can feel a little less frantic about the pace of each day; allowing 3 days means one less class period is devoted to speeches. |
