Methodology Discussion Most of class will be spent in discussion.

These are complex texts, and it will be important for students to test out their ideas and interpretations and hear from all the minds in the room. As the teacher, my role is to maximize the usefulness and depth of the discussion. This might be accomplished through the following means on any given day: Providing background information on authors, terms, historical context, and related texts (or providing time and resources for students to answer their own questions about context). Asking questions that will encourage close reading, bring out debate, help students see patterns, provoke comparisons, and generally peel back the layers of the narratives we read together. Giving students time to think through a particularly complicated question in a quickwrite or partner conversation before turning to whole-class discussion. Modeling textual interpretation by offering my own readings of a text or passage, while emphasizing the process that leads to a particular interpretation. Students often think analysis springs ready-made from a teachers brain; in fact, it is most often the result of several rereadings, questions, confusion, and complications. Scaffolding discussion of multiple facets of a text by breaking students into small groups, assigning each a topic or question to consider, and then having the groups share their thinking with the whole class. Ensuring students engagement with and recall of the text by giving guiding questions for the nights reading, requiring each student to come ready to discuss a passage of her choice, and/or assigning a portion of the class to jumpstart our discussion with issues or passages they found important or confusing. Writing Writing literary critical essays provides readers with opportunity to examine some area of a text in-depth and, through constructing a sound argument, to own some of the key knowledge of the class (rather than simply rent it from the teacher). To ensure this kind of engagement throughout the course, I will assign a brief (2-4 page) comparative essay for each of the five major units. These essays must engage some element of the two primary texts, but they will not require extensive outside research. We will brainstorm possible topics in class, but students will ultimately be responsible for finding their own thesis. To scaffold this process, I will provide time (usually 1-2 class periods) for students to begin these essays in class. This will allow students to conference with me and with each other as they work through the difficult stage of finding a specific, debatable main argument that goes beyond simply describing the two texts. Additionally, I will give extensive feedback but no grade on the first short paper. This will provide me with a

baseline from which to evaluate each students progress in writing as well as acquainting students with my expectations for their writing. The rest of the papers will receive comments and grades. Any student can revise any paper for a new grade up until we begin the final project. (This will be especially encouraged for students receiving grades lower than B-.) My rationale for this policywhich I use in all my classesis drawn mainly from Carol Dwecks work on growth vs. fixed mindsets. Allowing revision puts the emphasis on continual learning and helps combat the idea that certain students are naturally good at or not good at English or writing. Other brief or informal writing assignments (quickwrites, preparation of discussion questions, close readings, reading journals) will either be ungraded or receive grades for completion. Final Research Project & Presentation One of my primary goals for the course is to equip students with a lens through which to analyze contemporary culture in terms of tensions and questions that have challenged America since its inception. The final project of the course asks them to do just that: to take the dream/nightmare tension from one of our units (on social & economic mobility, American exceptionalism, women & the family, attitudes toward the other, or perception & misperception) and apply it to a 20th or 21st century moment or topic. There are two components to this project: writing and presentation. The 8-10 page paper requires students to conduct research, select from and synthesize their findings, and extend those findings with arguments of their own, all the while applying the analytical techniques they have learned in the class. Too often, final projects end there: with submission of a paper to the teacher, who becomes not only the sole benefactor of students thinking but also the sole evaluator of how theyve done. Much greater benefits can be had when students present their research to each other: that way, everyone learns and thinks about a wide variety of projects. Lest we be deluged with PowerPoints that simply rehash the main points of students papers, I have chosen to frame the presentation portion of the final project as leading class. This will help students think about how to connect their topic to our collective prior knowledge. They will also need to hook their classmates on some engaging aspect or question contained within their inquiry. They might choose to show some intriguing images or a film clip to prompt discussion. They might pull out a passage from one of the texts weve read together and put it side by side with a passage from their reading to show how their topic bridges different historical moments. It is fitting that class end with students teaching: this will be the measure, for them and for me, of my success at inculcating the essential questions and analytical skills of the course.