Say/Do- Week 3

Formal Analysis

Robert Hand

EDSE 786

Styslinger

10/08/2012

Say/Do: Formal Analysis

Say:

In Pathways to the Common Core, the authors state that a specialized curriculum for “speaking and listening” is not required. The authors seem to view that portion of the Common Core dismissively. This is understandable; any lesson plan I ever create – perhaps outside of a workshop – will include speaking and listening. It is impossible to build an interpretive community without doing so.  In “The Chicken and the Egg”, Styslinger and Pollock further describe how Socratic circles give students opportunities to respond to text. They can simultaneously build upon the class interpretive community and allow students to respond to literature. Despite the student-centered pacing of classroom discussion in a Socratic circle, it is a highly efficient way of approaching literature.

Copeland’s Socratic Circles expounds upon the worth of Socratic circles. Just as we focus on teaching writing over assigning writing, we want to teach students how to learn from literature. Our goal should be to help them become avid readers. A proper interpretive community gives students opportunities to truly engage with text; a teacher-led class session involving only guiding questions is a façade of discussion. Probst points out that student answers should not be evaluated during  the discussion. Indeed, it is suggested that teachers only participate rarely. Through Socratic circles, students’ voices are valued and students are given opportunities to be creative. Obviously, they are better methods of engaging students.

            The authors of Adolescent Literacy describe how having students participate via authentic class discussions (versus recitations) helps to maintain high standards for students. I already agree with and practice much of what is said in the chapter, but it is good reinforcement. The authors discuss what kind of talk constitutes valuable classroom discussion. Debates are too rigorously structured and competitive. A “bull session” is essentially an informal discussion, and is usually inappropriate for students. Clearly , teachers should strike a balance by preparing  students  for discussion. Through synergistic texts, annotating texts, and freewriting, students can prepare to engage in more thoughtful discussion. With this preparation, students could engage in a Socratic circle. A Socratic circle is a good balance of student input and constructive guidance.

Do:

The following is a modified lesson plan to include a Socratic circle.

Lesson Plan

Instructor And Room #: Mrs. Lee Green Hall	Date & Length:  9/28 60 minutes	Subject and Block/Period: ELA 3 & 4 period	Topic: Harlem & An Introduction to Walter Dean Myers’s Bad Boy
Student Objectives:        Students will -          Determine the central idea behind a poem and a news article, synthesizing a basic understanding about social inequality and conflict in Harlem. -          Understand new vocabulary words, related to social inequality and conflict resolution. -          Discuss personal connections and findings supported by evidence for both works. -          Begin reading Bad Boy, a work by Walter Dean Myers.			Common Core -          RL.8.4: Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including analogies or allusions to other texts; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone. -          RL.8.5: Compare and contrast the structure of two or more texts and analyze how the differing structure of each text contributes to its meaning and style. -          RI.8.2: Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text, including how it is conveyed through particular details; provide an accurate summary of the text distinct from personal opinions or judgments. -          SL.8.1: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one and in groups) on grade 8 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly
Items to Display as Agenda:  -          Admit Slip: “Harlem” -          Article: “Commerce and Conflict…” -          Socratic Circle -          Introduction to Bad Boy
Purpose: -          In my previous lesson, I stressed the importance of setting on character development. In this lesson, I will preface Bad Boy with an introduction to Harlem. By giving students an idea about the social inequality and racism in Harlem, I will prepare students to see how such a setting has an impact on Myers in his memoir. Ultimately, this will help them to make more meaning of the work. Interpreting settings and how they impact people is an important real-world skill.
Lesson Procedures: -          Students will log on to Edmodo and access “Admit slip” based on Langston Hughes’s “Harlem”. We will read through the poem once as a class. Students will then independently reread the poem, and write their reactions to it by answering the questions on the admit slip. -          I will ask students to share their reactions to the poem, and we can begin discussing it. -          After a brief discussion, I will have students access the edited version of “Commerce and Conflict Resolution in Harlem” article on Edmodo. We will read the entire article through as a class. I will pause after paragraphs containing bold words (words that students may be unfamiliar with), in order to give definitions as needed. I will briefly re-summarize the article and ask students to skim through the article again, and to highlight what they consider to be the most important sentence in the article. Students will share these, and we will discuss our findings. -          Socratic circle -  opening question: Highlight the similarities between Hughes’s “Harlem” and the article. How do they give each other meaning? -          Introduce Bad Boy. Explain that the memoir takes place in Harlem, and that this setting has a major impact on the narrator. -          Have students access supplementary graphic organizers on Edmodo. Explain the purpose of these documents and – if time permits – allow students to begin reading.
Assessments and Assignment: -          I will ask students to e-mail me their Admit Slips, and I will frequently make informal checks for student participation.

Admit Slip

“Harlem”

By Langston Hughes

What happens to a dream deferred?

      Does it dry up                              

      like a raisin in the sun?                             

      Or fester like a sore—                  

      And then run?                  

      Does it stink like rotten meat?

      Or crust and sugar over—

      like a syrupy sweet?

      Maybe it just sags

      like a heavy load

Or does it explode?

_______________________________________________________________________

1.      Write down your first impressions of this poem. How does Langston Hughes’s language make you feel?

2.      What do you think the narrator means by a “dream deferred”?

3.      The title of this poem is “Harlem”. What do you know about Harlem? How do you think the narrator feels about Harlem?

________________________________________________________________________

 Commerce and Conflict Resolution in Harlem

By Linda Stamato (edited)

This article was first published in Peace Review 9:3 (1997), 399401

On December 8, 1995, a street vendor, Roland Smith, Jr., entered Freddy's, the discount clothing store on 125th Street in Harlem that he, along with many others, had been picketing for several weeks. He fired a gun, killing several people. He doused the store with a flammable liquid and ignited it. In all, eight people died, including Smith. Others were injured and the store was ruined.

Why did this tragic event happen? It arose from an argument between a Jewish landlord and his African-American tenant. It happened when the tenant's lease renewal was denied, and he sought to reverse that decision. But the roots of the clash lie deeper, embedded in historic resentments, racial and class conflicts, the disappearance of jobs, and political struggles in the community.

To avoid repeating its mistakes, we study history. Even now, the Harlem tragedy allows us to learn. How can the community manage its differences so that competing visions do not explode in violence?

We should revisit what happened in Harlem in the weeks before this tragedy, not only to understand what really took place there, but also to learn what this history exposes. Generations of peoples, Jews and African-Americans among them, have owned and operated stores on 125th Street. Some failed, others have succeeded; some left, others have stayed on. Harlem's stories have been mostly invisible. One of these struggles to succeed would have otherwise remained invisible, too, had Fred Harari -- wanting to expand his business,  Freddy's, not tried to evict Sikhulu Shange.

Shange had been operating Record Shack for two decades, in a space he rented from Harari in a building owned by the “United House of Prayer for All People”, a Pentecostal Church. A series of demonstrations, accompanied by anti-white and anti-Jewish diatribes against Jews in general and Mr. Harari in particular, exploded on that day in December when Smith eventually walked into Freddy's and started shooting.

Why did this tragic event occur? Why didn’t they talk through their differences? Before and during the protests, which began in early November 1995, Shange requested mediation, as well as community support for retaining his lease. As a community fixture for 20 years, Shange had many backers.

But the street protests were also joined by those with political ends, and by those who were Freddy's economic competitors: Morris Powell, a store owner and head of the 125th Street Vendors Association, led the protests not only at Freddy's but also down the street at Bargain World. As an African-American, his call to "buy black" reflects more than simply racial interests. Even after the fire and deaths at Freddy's, for example, Powell led, as scheduled, the protest outside Bargain World, which the Rosen family owned for several generations. Shange discovered that some people wanted to fuel the dispute rather than resolve it. Others, less directly interested and reluctant to "interfere," either watched from the sidelines or looked the other way. Shange received no offers of mediation.

Investigative reports run in The New York Times (December 1995-December 1996) show several opportunities where mediation might have led to a peaceful resolution. The building's owner tried to arrange meetings but key participants would not attend.

Four months after the violence, Freddy's remains closed, a steel door barring entry, decorated with tributes--poems, photographs, and candles dedicated to those who died there. According to his lawyer, Shange's new lease could not have been "arrived at or done without the cooperation of Mr. Harari." Why couldn't this have been done, with the help of a mediator, on time?

The tragic events at Freddy's show Harlem at a crossroads, with visions for its future uncertain, residents at odds with merchants and merchants at odds with one another, some clinging to long-established businesses, others new, fresh contenders for the consumer's dollar. Some still recall the days when African Americans were denied jobs in stores that thrived on their purchases. Battles were waged then, in the 1 930s, and boycotts gradually generated job opportunities for Harlem residents. In the I990s, on 125th Street, though, the cry now was not for jobs but rather for black ownership:” Buy Black!” and “Support the Black Community!” were the slogans.

Against this background, Harlem residents hold uncertain expectations for the future. While the Freddy's attack was obviously racist, problems of economic growth and development-and who is in charge and who profits-also loom large. The descent of Harlem into poverty and misery provides another subtext for this story. Problems of social inequality threaten the fabric of Harlem society, fueled by record-level joblessness.

Remedies such as education, employment, social support, and economic development incentives require state and national backing. Yet local action remains essential. At least part of it must involve "conflict resolution." Without a means to effectively confront differences, particularly over commercial interests, Harlem will not likely begin to grow again.

Mediation was missing in December 1995. We need it all the more today, not only for individual, retail, and commercial disputes but for planning and policy decisions as well.

During hard economic times, when residents struggle with job insecurity and declining wages,  citizen frustrations -- according to Harvard Professor William Julius Wilson -- must be channeled in constructive directions. More than ever before, Wilson believes we need a vision of interracial unity that acknowledges distinctly racial problems but also recognizes common problems that should be addressed with common solutions.

On December 23,1995, Sikhulu Shange issued a statement expressing his grief for the dead, and pleading for help in resurrecting his business:

“Please God, in this season of peace and good will, help me find justice and a fair solution... Help us all learn from this tragic act of madness that will haunt me forever ... Help me rebuild and show that Harlem ... can work out its problems.”

For the survivors of those who died, and for the greater Harlem community, can something positive come from this tragedy? If so, then it rests with those who have devoted their lives and fortunes to commerce on 125th Street, from the Rosens and Hararis to the Baynes and Shanges-who collectively have more than a century invested there. Harlem's civic growth and economic revitalization depends upon its ability to build community and commerce amidst constant change and diversity. Mediation can help Harlem adapt to this change, and deal with these differences.