Identity & Belonging Reading Groups, 2018

You are in a reading group with members of your class and members of our other 11th Grade
English class. You are responsible for the following:

- Divide your book into four equal parts so that when you come in each Monday (on MLK
Day, by Monday night), you have completed another fourth of the book. ​This means you
must finish reading your book by Monday, February 5.

- Two days a week, you will meet in your group for designated discussion time.
After each of these meetings, one group member will post your discussion notes
to the Google Site.

- One group member should post a reading calendar to the group’s Google Site.

- Your first post -- discussing your initial thoughts on the book -- must be posted within 24
hours of your first book group meeting. It must be at least 50 words long.

- Each week you must post to your Google Group at least three times.

- At least one of your weekly posts must focus on a specific section of the text and
do close reading or analysis. This post must be at least 200 words long and cite at
least one specific moment from the text. It ​must be posted by Tuesday (for A
band)​ ​or Wednesday (for E band)​. Some questions that can help for this type of
post:

- What different things does this section of the text reveal? Why do these
things matter?
- What do you notice about the writing? How do the choices the author
made influence the meaning and the experiences of readers?
- How can the text be analyzed with literary lenses?
- What issues or themes are emerging in the text?

- Your other posts must be at least 50 words long. They can be original posts or
responses to others. You can build on or question ideas raised by others, connect
the text to other sources (and give us links to articles or videos,) connect the text
to your personal experience or write in another way that inspires you.
 - It is fine to post things like “Good point!” or “I agree,” but these ​do not​ count for
your weekly posts.

Model Posts:

- Examples of a close-reading post (at least one per week):

- “In pages 73-75 the scenery of a rape takes place. The book, personally begins to
feel like it’s grown in darkness. From the prayers and evidence of God being
shown to the description and language James Baldwin uses to transition from
Florence’s prayers. To then the scene about Deborah and how Gabriel’s mother
and father reacted at the time. Resulting in a scene about their own background
back in the existence of slavery. In my opinion, I think the book sheds a much
larger issue on how being Black in America has developed almost. The stories
and lessons we’ve learned either in school or by our family has came along and fit
into a timeline of almost 2-3 pages. Not fully sufficing for all of
African-American history but some of it in a nutshell. I think this text could be
analyzed through the formalist literary lens. There are common pieces throughout
the text, especially in the beginning of the second part, that cultivate similar parts
from the Bible or reference religious figures.”

- “In pages 139, in the first paragraph the text opens in a flashback conversation
between Deborah and Gabriel. It is about Ester and if he invited her to the church
to hear his sermon. Ester has the characteristics described in the book as what was
being considered as a well-manner family. Primarily because of their absence in
church. Also because they aren't as involved as the average church member
would've been. Such as participating in and around the church other than just
hearing the sermon for the day. When I make a connection to the book think
directly to Ester; I tend to think of negative stereotypes we associated with certain
attributes today. It's stated through the thoughts of Gabriel that she is symbolic to
‘desire, scorn, associated with flame; eternal fires of hell.’ (pg .132)
So with this inference of her character through the thoughts of Gabriel it is
seemingly just to find Ester as a type of female with slim chances to not be a
noteworthy stereotype. Nevertheless less to be a considerable ‘sinner.’ Which
could apply not only to that time period but today.”

- Examples of a 50-word post (at least two a week):

- “Personally, I think faith can rely in both hands of either been seen or not seen. It
does matter how much you belief you put into although. I agree with Luke and
Kayla, I do think that your level of faith determines if you need to see what you
have faith in or don't. While also staying steady in the idea that faith shouldn't
have so much thought into it but moreso of your heart and confidence.”

- “It makes me think about how sometimes we let others' perspective of us really
hold a large impact on how we feel about our own selves. Much in agreement
with Siawale; I see her as a pessimist. With Florence is the truth in the world, not
hidden much behind the institution of the church or religion. Mainly because of
her background and experiences.”