South Carolina students connect with Black Boy
Posted on June 29, 2011 | No Comments
Byron Brown, Summer 2010 Wright Connection Institute participant, and his students connect to Black Boy in South Carolina:
During the fall semester of 2010, I had the opportunity to teach Black Boy to my students at Scott’s Branch High School. I teach students who are on poverty level and below actual reading grade levels. We began exploring Black Boy by the teacher writing the word “hunger” on the board. As the leading facilitator in the room, I asked each student to say what comes to mind when they hear the word “hunger.” I wrote each word on the blackboard that the students called: “poverty,” “homeless,” “fatherless,” “struggles” and “deprived” were the popular concepts being stated. Then, I asked what it means to be hungry. Several students answered: “to be without,” “to desire something greater,” and “having an urge for something.” As the teacher, I then said “good” to all the students. I told them that we were going to read about a man who had undergone basically everything they stated. Immediately the students’ interest rose.
Students explore poetry through mp3 players and quilts
Posted on June 10, 2011 | No Comments
Emily Robbins, Summer 2010 Wright Connection Institute participant, utilized new teaching ideas in her Knoxville, TN classroom.
Although I have not had the opportunity to teach any of Richard Wright’s works this year, I have been able to use many of the teaching ideas that were presented at the NEH Institute last summer. As soon as I got home from the institute, I put in a request for a class set of easy-to-use SanDisk Mp3 players. I loved the different lesson ideas presented at the Institute, and I knew that I could build upon those ideas in my own classroom.
For one freshmen English lesson, I taped a guided analysis of how to read and analyze a poem; I also taped myself walking through two student example papers explaining how they were effective at analyzing a poem. When the students walked into the classroom, they were handed an Mp3 player and copies of two student papers, and they were instructed to turn to a poem in their literature books. On the Mp3 player I had taped instructions that would help guide them through the lesson.
The Politics of Art: Loss and Recovery
Posted on May 16, 2011 | No Comments
Below you will find an audio podcast of “The Politics of Art: Loss and Recovery,” a seminar conducted by James A. Miller on July 21, 2010 at The University of Kansas. The seminar was a part of the 2010 NEH-sponsored summer institute entitled Making the Wright Connection: Reading Native Son, Black Boy and Uncle Tom’s Children. Running time – 2 hours 3 minutes.
Art as Life: Narrating Lived Experience
Posted on May 16, 2011 | No Comments
Below you will find an audio podcast of “Art as Life: Narrating Lived Experience,” a seminar conducted by James A. Miller on July 21, 2010 at The University of Kansas. The seminar was a part of the 2010 NEH-sponsored summer institute entitled Making the Wright Connection: Reading Native Son, Black Boy and Uncle Tom’s Children. Running time – 2 hours 37 minutes.
Covering Black Boy: A Visual Literary History of Wright’s Autobiography
Posted on May 16, 2011 | No Comments
Below you will find an audio podcast of “Covering Black Boy: A Visual Literary History of Wright’s Autobiography,” a seminar conducted by Howard Rambsy on July 22, 2010 at The University of Kansas. The seminar was a part of the 2010 NEH-sponsored summer institute entitled Making the Wright Connection: Reading Native Son, Black Boy and Uncle Tom’s Children. Running time – 1 hour 35 minutes.