Course ActivityEnglish 12 A

Discussing Literature and Government

This activity will help you meet these educational goals:

Common Core State Standards—You will initiate and participate effectively in a collaborative discussion (SL.1).

Introduction

In this course activity, you will participate in a peer discussion about how literary or other artistic pursuits and governmental, religious, political, or social structures affect one another. Afterward, you will summarize the discussion and how it helped shape your thinking about your original ideas.

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Directionsand Analysis

Task: Peer Discussion and Summary

Your Discussion Process

For this task, you’ll need to work as part of a pair who can meet for a face-to-face discussion. Your teacher will identify a process for this task that fits your learning situation. For instance, if you’re working primarily on your own in this course with no on-site classmates (self-paced course) the process will be a little different than if you are learning with one or moreother students in the same building and on the same schedule (group-paced course). Discussions in those two cases are outlined below.

Self-paced course

  • You will find one other person to participate in this discussion with you. This person could be a classmate from another course, a friend, or a sibling. This person should be roughly your age, if possible, so you can have a thoughtful discussion with a peer. You will set a time and place for the discussion and share Discussion Guidelines for your partner to read prior to the discussion.
  • You will be the only presenter for this discussion. You will also play the role of facilitator.
  • You will present your thesis and then discuss it with your peer.
  • Your invited group memberis only required to be an active, thinking participant. Except for reading through the Discussion Guidelines ahead of time, this peer does not have to prepare for the discussion beforehand or do any follow-up afterwards.
  • Since you will be presenting and facilitating during the discussion, you may want to ask your peer to take brief notes for you on key points that come up during the discussion. These notes will help you compose your Discussion Summary.
  • Since there is only one thesis to discuss, plan to spend at least 30 minutes presenting and discussing your thesis.

Here’s an outline of the whole process for this task:

  1. You will formulate a thesis and outline a set of points that support your thesis. This may include some initial research.
  2. Depending upon your learning situation, you may need to organize the discussion group, place, and time.
  3. Read the Discussion Guidelines for how to conduct, facilitate, or participate constructively in a discussion with your peers.
  4. The group meets to discuss the theses for your learning situation:
  • The discussions should be fair, democratic, and orderly. Each member of the group should have an opportunity to express his or her views; all members should actively contribute to the discussion. Group members should show respect for others' views and make their points politely.
  • The goal of the discussion is to gather opposing viewpoints and additional perspectives that would support or oppose your thesis. Each participant should come to the discussion prepared to help the presenter deepen his or her understanding of the topic.
  1. After you've discussed your thesis, you will complete the Discussion Summary section below and submit it to your teacher.

Proposing a Thesis

You will form a thesis about how literary or other artistic creations and governmental or other social bodies affect one another. You will bring your thesis, along with support, to your peer discussion. You might present a thesis about good or bad ways in which these two entities interact or about how you think they should interact.

Use these ideas to help you formulate your thesis.

  • Your thesis can focus on one or several genres. (Note, for example, that drama is much more public than other forms of literature, so you might want to handle it differently.)
  • You can draw from the literary historical examples you've encountered in this course or elsewhere, as well as from any personal experience in which you have seen laws or market forces limit the publication of texts or the presentation of live performances.
  • You might also incorporate current issuesaround public displays of visual art or the advantages and disadvantages of government-supported art.
  • You could choose to explore whether (or how directly) cultural history changes the shape of literature or other forms of artistic expression, or discuss the role that literature and art in general play in people's lives.

Discussion Summary

  1. Record the names of the discussion participants below. If you organized the discussion, record how you know the other person and summarize how you chose and invited him or her and how you organized the time and place for the discussion.

Type your response here:

  1. Record the thesis and supporting statements that you shared with your peer.

Type your response here:

  1. During the discussion, what main points did your peer make supporting your thesis, opposing your thesis, or raising new questions or related observations and thoughts?

Type your response here:

  1. Describe the discussion of the theses. How balanced was the participation? What would you change if you could do it again? What insights did you gain about your thesis from discussing it with others? What did you learn from discussing your peer’s thesis?

Type your response here:

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Resources

Document any references you used for this project below. At minimum, include a title and URL for any Internet resource:

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Evaluation

Your teacher will use this rubric to evaluate the completeness of your work as well as the clarity of thinking you exhibit.

Task: Peer Discussion and Summary

Criteria
Distinguished
(4 points) /
  • The learner begins the discussion with a clearly stated thesis and strong support, both of which reflect a thoughtful, creative perspective on the topic.
  • The learnercommunicates his or her thoughts respectfullyand encourages participation by others.
  • The learner thoroughly summarizes how the discussion shaped his or her initial thesis.
  • The learner thoroughly summarizes the quality of the peer discussion.

Proficient
(3 points) /
  • The learner begins the discussion with a somewhat clearly stated thesis and support, both of which reflect a clear perspective on the topic.
  • The learnercommunicates his or her thoughts clearly and does not disrupt participation by others.
  • The learner adequately summarizes how the discussion shaped his or her initial thesis.
  • The learneradequately summarizes the quality of the peer discussion.

Developing
(2 points) /
  • The learner begins the discussion with a thesis and support.
  • The learnercommunicates his or her thoughts but fails to encourage the participation of others.
  • The learner vaguely summarizes how the discussion shaped his or her thesis.
  • The learnervaguely summarizes the quality of the peer discussion.

Beginning
(1 point) /
  • The learner's initial thesis and support are unclear.
  • The learnerdoes not effectively communicate his or her thoughts or encourage participation by others.
  • The learner does notsummarizehow the discussion shaped his or her thesis.
  • The learnerdoes not summarize the quality of the peer discussion.

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