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Doubting & Believing Games
Peter Elbow introduced the “doubting” and “believing games” in the 1970s to make critical thought conscious and easily practicable. As Elbow described it in his 2008 address to the CCCC, the doubting game is “the disciplined practice of trying to be as skeptical and analytic as possible with every idea we encounter. By trying hard…
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What is a thesis?
I recommend using this in tandem with the following resource: https://louis.pressbooks.pub/englishcomp2/chapter/5-5-connecting-thesis-and-argument/ The chapter by Amy Guptill does an excellent job of explaining the difference between a complex thesis and the kind of simple thesis students used in high school. What is a thesis? Editable version:
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Billy Collins Poem
This is a brilliant poem for opening discussion on literary analysis or on meaning-making more generally. Called “the most popular poet in America” by the New York Times, Billy Collins won fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Guggenheim Foundation, and the New York Foundation for the Arts. He was also a Lehman…
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“Accents” by Denice Frohman
A native New Yorker and former Women of the World Poetry Slam Champion, Denice Frohman writes about the intersection of race, gender, and sexuality. This poem, “Accents,” is a beautiful ode to her mother’s Puerto Rican accent. Not only does this performance pair well with resources that discuss language prejudice, but it can also serve…