The Always Running English 98 Writing Project

The Always Running English 98 Writing Project Reading, Writing, and Thinking Critically about Labeling & Identity Grossmont College, Spring 2014

Before Reading • Think back to your high school (or some other pre-college) experience. How did students sort themselves into groups (ethnicity; class; disability; gender; skill or interest, such as academics, music, theatre, sports, cheer, partying, etc.)? • Did you identify with any particular group? • Have there been other “groups” that you have identified with in your life?

Thinking Critically about High School and/or Other Pre-college Groups • Try to describe some of these groups. • What sorts of expectations did members of the group have of each other? • What assumptions did people outside the group make about the group? • To what extent did a person’s “group” influence their education? The types of classes they took? • To what extent did people’s expectation affect their behavior? • Why do people belong to groups?

How and when have you been labeled? How did this affect you? Describe your response. • How do labels affect identity development? Is there a difference between having an identity and being labeled? If so, what is the difference? If not, why not? • What assumptions have you made about particular groups of people? How did these assumptions affect the way you viewed and/or interacted with these individuals?

TED Talk: Chimamanda Adichie's“The Danger of a Single Story” What do you think Chimamanda Adichie believes about labeling people or being labeled?

First Read 1. Read the text once and mark any words, phrases, and/or sentences that you relate to or that you have a question about. Once you have completed your reading, share the words, phrases, and/ or sentences you marked with a partner.

First Read Continued 2. What questions does this text raise about schools, about groups, about identity? As this is an excerpt from a book, what do you think the entire book will be about? Is there evidence from the text that supports your prediction? Share response with partner.

First Read Continued 3. Define the concept of “class differences.” What are the different meanings of the word “class?” List the different ways in which the word “class” is used in excerpt. Share response with partner.

Metacognitive Questions(AKA Thinking about Thinking) • Where in the text did you have a question(s)? How did you answer it (them)? • How did the pre-reading thinking about the effect of group identity help support your understanding of the text? • Was there a place in the text where you were confused? If so, how did you get “unstuck?”

Second Read: Focus on Content(what the text is about) • How might Luis Rodriguez, the author, respond to the “Before Reading” questions about labeling? What in the text makes you think this? • Choose three words that describe Mark Keppel High School. What details in the text support your choice of these words? • Choose three words that describe the narrator of the excerpt. What details in the text support your choice of these words?

Second Read: Content • Review your definitions of “class” and “class differences,” and then list the places where Rodriguez uses the word “class.” What are the different meanings of the word “class?” Why is it important to know that the word “class” has multiple meanings?

Second Read: Content • Briefly summarize the narrative. What do you believe is a main idea or theme of this excerpt? Is it implicit or directly stated?

Possible Summary In “The Outlaw,” an excerpt from the memoir Always Running, Luis J. Rodriguez describes his damaging experience of being labeled a “thug” at Mark Keppel High School in San Gabriel Valley. The school divided students by skin color and class. Mostly white and Asian students represented the upper class, and they were given a good, college-prep education. Mexicans, Hawaiians, Filipinos, and Samoans made up the lower class and were considered stupid. Because he was labeled as part of this lower class and teachers cared mostly about white students, Rodriguez received a poor education and became depressed. Since he was already labeled a “thug” and “stupid,” he found it easier to live up to the label than to fight against the unjust (racist) system. The excerpt shows the dangers of labeling people.

Second Read: Focus on Form(how a text is written) • Where does Rodriguez use description to illustrate the narrator’s environment, class, family, and/or feelings? Share response with partner.

Second Read: Form • Use the following passage as a model for writing a paragraph about an environment (such as your high school) that illustrates a feeling. Use the words in bold to frame your description, but change the non-bold words to describe your place. You may adjust verbs to fit your description. Mark Keppel High School was aDepression-era structure with abrick and art-deco facade and small, army-type bungalows in back. Friction filled itshallways. The Anglo and Asian upper- class students fromMonterey Park and Alhambra attended the school. They weretracked into the "A" classes; they were in the school clubs; they were the varsity team members and letter men. They werethe pep squads and cheerleaders. Example

My First Draft Granite Hills High School was aseries of one story flat-roofed buildings with atypical Southern California peach stucco paint job, sprawled out in the valley beneath the mountains of El Cajon (“the box” or “bin” in Spanish). Typical teenage angst filled itshallways. While most of the high school was white, everyone was not wealthy. The white upper-class students fromthe houses with views attendedthe school. They weretypically in honors classes; they were the ones who drove new tricked-out trucks or Toyota Celicas and could afford to buy the best parking spaces; they werethe ones who wore all the popular name brand clothing and shoes, such as Vans, Dolphin, and OP. They werethe ones who were headed for college, for careers rather than jobs, and they would one day own homes like the ones that looked down on the valley.

Write your paragraph. • Use the following passage as a model for writing a paragraph about an environment (such as your high school) that illustrates a feeling. Use the words in bold to frame your description, but change the non-bold words to describe your place. You may adjust verbs to fit your description. Mark Keppel High School was aDepression-era structure with abrick and art-deco facade and small, army-type bungalows in back. Friction filled itshallways. TheAnglo and Asian upper-class students fromMonterey Park and Alhambra attendedthe school. They weretracked into the "A" classes; they were in the school clubs; they werethe varsity team members and letter men. They werethe pep squads and cheerleaders.

Second Read: Form • What effect does repetition have on the meaning of your passage? • Where else does Rodriguez use a narrative structure that you could mimic?

Second Read: Form • How is this narrative organized? How does it move from idea to idea, paragraph to paragraph? What other writing moves (narration, description, comparison, classification, etc.) does Rodriguez use? • How might developing your understanding of classification, the skill of breaking subjects into categories for the purpose of analysis, improve your skills as a critical thinker?

Second Read: Form • Rodriguez makes frequent use of the semi-colon. Find sentences that use semi-colons. Rewrite the sentences using coordination and/or subordination. How does this change the effect of the sentence? Rodriguez: They were tracked into the "A” classes; they were in the school clubs; they were the varsity team members and letter men. Coordination: They were tracked into the "A” classes, were in the school clubs, and they were the varsity team members and letter men. Subordination: They were tacked into the “A” classes, which included letter men and membership in school clubs and varsity teams.

Second Read: Form • Rodriquez employs intentional fragments. Identify the fragments and rewrite the phrases into complete sentences. How does this change the effect of the sentence? Why might a writer choose to make a fragment? In what writing situations should fragments be avoided? Explain why.

Rodriguez’s intentional fragment: Two skin tones and two cultures. Complete sentence: The school had two skin tones and two cultures.

Now you are ready to write your own Rodriguez-style narrative about the relationship between labeling and identity.

The Always Running English 98 Writing Project