Month: May 2017

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Working With Archives in the Literature Classroom

This summer, I am teaching an American literature survey curse through 1865. While I have taught this course multiple times, I have been contemplating and incorporating new assignments into the classroom the past couple of times I have taught it. One such assignment calls for students to use digital archives of the Freedom’s Journal to find a an article, summarize it, then tell their … Read More Working With Archives in the Literature Classroom

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The Facade We Sometimes Wear

As a student, I would always sit in class amazed when during a lecture professors would start to rattle off various authors and works that related in some way to the topic we were covering that particular day. I never thought I would be able to reach that same level of knowledge; however, I regularly catch myself in classes doing the same thing that … Read More The Facade We Sometimes Wear

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MLB: the South, the North, and the World

On Monday, Baltimore Orioles center fielder Adam Jones, who is African American, took to the field at Fenway Park in Boston and fans in the crowd hurled racist slurs at him and one fan even threw a bag of peanuts at him as he stood in the outfield.  The incident sparked outrage throughout the sports community, as it should. I have written about African … Read More MLB: the South, the North, and the World

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“Why can’t we read this story as a universal text?”: Questions from the Classroom

Recently, I taught Louise Erdrich’s “The Red Convertible.” The story focuses on two Chippewa brothers, Henry and Lyman, and their relationship after Henry returns from the Vietnam War. During our discussion of the story in class, someone asked a question about the text and some of our previous readings that caused me to think well past the end of our session. The student posed … Read More “Why can’t we read this story as a universal text?”: Questions from the Classroom