Planning Grid for American Popular Narratives

UnitLearning ActivityCognitive Apprenticeship NotesNineteenth-century popular narrativesRead and discuss the Jenny Lind module, an on-line presentation that included a narrative about how I did the research and a copy of my article analyzing how Lind's popularity was made possible by public discourse that promoted a popular narrative about Lind.Modeling - showing students not only the product of my own research but also the processWorking with a group, use on-line resources to develop an explanation for why Uncle Tom's Cabin was so popular. Each group was assigned to focus on one element of the problem: the text itself, the way people used the text, and the historical context in which the text appeared. Very carefully scaffolded - I provided all of the primary materials, offered questions to guide students through the process, and created a structure for their work.Popular Genre FictionIn groups, develop an argument using multiple kinds of sources to explain why one of two popular genre novels was so popular. Use ideas from the theoretical readings we've done to shape your analysis, and locate some primary and secondary resources to support your analysis. Still well scaffolded, but students took more responsibility for locating resources and developing questions. I provided very detailed instructions about how the groups should proceed, and I provided explicit instructions on locating specific kinds of sources. I also provided a lot of direct coaching. Students developed research questions, but I reviewed them and suggested revisions and refinements.Films as popular narrativesAgain working as part of team, develop your own theory about how popular narratives affect the culture. Apply your theory to two popular films. Fading -- I provided the least guidance in this section of the course. I suggested a few resources and required students to use at least some critical articles. My grading rubric suggested the key concerns of the assignment, but students had to figure out for themselves how to approach the assignment, what kinds of resources would be most helpful, and how to move from analysis to the more abstract task of theorizing.Individual ProjectIndividually, choose one popular narrative and develop an analysis of either why it was popular or how it affected American culture at the time. A series of short writing assignments provided a kind of scaffolding (by breaking the project down into smaller, more manageable steps and requiring students to complete developmental steps, instead of trying to write a paper at the end), as well as opportunities for coaching, since I offered comments and progress grades on all of these. This project required students to use individually all the skills we were using in the group projects, and to work independently.