As we move toward the second half of the semester, we’re
going to get away from discussing texts that I’ve chosen and start looking at
texts that you’ve found. These texts can include articles that you’ve stumbled
upon, interesting passages from books, or even videos that you find
particularly intriguing or worthy of discussion. The only thing I ask is that
you refrain from bringing politics or religion into the mix. I make this
request because the purpose of this exercise is not to incite debate but to practice
synthesis—that is, to take seemingly different and arguably incompatible pieces
of information and to use them to support a single idea.
With any luck, one benefit of this exercise will be that you
work on what Pagan Kennedy might refer to as your “string gathering” skills. In
other words, you’ll get better at keeping an eye on the news and other sources
of information in order to stay informed around the world around you while
simultaneously thinking about how all of that information fits together. One
way to do this might be to follow a variety of news sources on Twitter (e.g., Reuters
News Agency, NPR, New York Times, Washington Post, Wired, Rolling Stone, or any other publications you
might find interesting) and watch out for anything that grabs your attention.
Alternately, you might check the headlines of a single publication like the New York Times or listen to local NPR
affiliate WHYY (90.9 FM) daily to learn about what’s going on in the world and
share it with the class.
However you choose to gather your string, keep looking for
information that makes you stop and think, “Wow… That’s really interesting!”
When that happens, save the link (or scan the information if it’s in print) so
that you can share it with the class when your turn comes around. Though I’m
assigning students with specific weeks and deadlines for sharing their links
and articles, my advice is to start gathering your string now so that
you don’t have to scramble to find something at the last minute to share with
the class; it’s better to give yourself a few possibilities to choose from
rather than forcing yourself to go with the first and only thing you find.
(The schedule appeared here; for each week, I listed five students who had to send me links to articles. The results of this assignment can be found in my post "Building a Machine Made of Words.")
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