Sweating the Small Stuff
Permanent Link(s)
Author
Rosenberg, Aaron
Description
A winner of the Knight Award for Writing Exercises and Handouts, this work originates from English 1111, Writing Across Cultures: Underworlds and Afterlives. This exercise is designed to counter the tendency to write about the "big picture" by offering students a chance to write a short, low-stakes assignment on something "minor." Students deliberately choose an aspect of the work—in this case, Joyce's "The Dead"—which might have been overlooked upon first reading, and make an argument about its inherent significance. Often, this process leads to surprising insights and more engagement with the text in subsequent class discussions. Besides helping students limit their arguments, the exercise has the added benefit of teaching them how to "close read" the evidence they choose to include in future essays. By concentrating on "minor" elements such as word choice and figures of speech, they are required to pay close attention to details. 4 page pdf
Date Issued
2013
Type
learning object