A winner of the James F. Slevin Assignment Sequence Prize, this sequence originates from English 1111, Writing Across Cultures: Metamorphosis—Identity and Change. The sequence asks students to answer the deceptively simple question "Who are you?" by integrating their own experiences with their responses to course texts into an articulation of their own understanding of the nature of identity. Four essays—"How Are You Not Yourself," "Performing Self," "Performing Other," and "Who Are You"— encourage students to explore the concepts of "self" and "other," first through a personal essay, then through detailed engagement with critical, literary, and filmic texts. The final essay returns to the personal mode of the original essay while also asking students to integrate the knowledge they’ve gained through writing more traditional analytic essays. Pre-writing, responding to study questions, visual analysis of films, and in-class debates are some of the varied preparatory activities, for many of which worksheets are provided. 21 page pdf

personal writing; study questions

learning object