Students are writing a compare/contrast essay, comparing the way autistic people think to how neurotypical people think. Main sources are their required book, How to be Human by Jory Fleming, and thier own experiences. They are also to do a little outside research. I visited the class and showed them Gale eBooks, which has articles under Neurodiversity, Austism Spectrum Disorder, and Asperger's Syndrome, most of which are a little technical for these students. Here's one that I think is particulaly accessible:
https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CX8314400039/GVRL?u=modestojc_main&sid=bookmark-GVRL&xid=721d8d27
Note that the instructor gave them a detailed handout on 3/21 that lists several areas of difference between autistic and neurotypical people for them to consider writing about.
--Susan
The first essay is on Language and Identity, in response to an article and a textbook chapter. Prompt, article, and chapter are below. Also included is a Google doc with additional (optional) outside sources for students.
Students are also assigned an essay on the forms of oppression:
Forms of Oppression essay
Tab in LibGuide: Identifying Forms of Oppression (this is the only part of this Guide that Sara's class is using)
See LibGuide for a summary of Iris Marion Young’s framework of oppression
Prompt: In this unit, you will be writing a four-page essay that uses sources of information that are beyond your personal experience. You will refer to the Iris Young article you read and use the concepts of marginalization, exploitation, powerlessness, violence, and cultural dominance to frame your discussion of a current problem that involves various faces of oppression. Use information and/or quotes from the article you read on oppression as well as other outside sources such as articles, books, or interviews to more specifically support your ideas in the body of your essay.
As in all essays for this class, students can use any credible source, including sources in their native language
Students often need help narrowing their topic (domestic violence in Afghanistan vs. violence against women)
Students often need help finding supporting articles that will demonstrate one or more of the concepts noted in the prompt
Students have created a brainstorm for this essay--it may help you understand what they are looking for in the way of help if you to ask to see it. Sara says, "For this assignment, they received feedback on the brainstorm from me in Canvas, so you can ask them to open their assignment in the Week 8 module."
ELIC 140 is being taught by a new instructor this year, and I visited the class to discuss the research process. I think the students will be contacting us. Below is the prompt and the outline template. I included the template because it essentially provides research questions (background info, causes, effects, solutions).
Here are some topics students are writing on:
police brutality in the U.S.
mental health: depression
child marriage in Yemen (and how education can mitigate this problem)
child labor in Afghanistan
narco-traffickers in Mexico
how reducing plastic can help the environment
honor killing in Pakistan
pollution in the ocean
I discussed narrowing topics and showed them Gale eBooks, Global Issues in Context, and the website of Human Rights Watch. They can use credible sources in their native languages (like a local newspaper), but she'd rather they got the practice reading in English.
NOTE: there is no LibGuide for this assignment (yet). I unpublished the existing ELIC 140 guide since the assignments have changed.
Susan
Here is the LibGuide I created for the class. It focuses heavily on giving students ideas for topics and showing the variety of sources they can use.
ELIC 140: https://libguides.mjc.edu/ELIC140
As you can see from the sample articles I list, anything credible is fine. For the most part, scholarly articles in English will be too frustrating for these students.
Students are encouraged to use sources in their native languages (such as newspapers). Films are also fine.
There are four essays for this course.
Here are the essay prompts with some notes:
Unit One: Forms of Oppression
Tab in LibGuide: Identifying Forms of Oppression
See LibGuide for a summary of Iris Marion Young’s framework of oppression
Prompt: In this unit, you will be writing a four-page essay that uses sources of information that are beyond your personal experience. You will refer to the Iris Young article you read in Chapter One and use the concepts of marginalization, exploitation, powerlessness, violence, and cultural dominance to frame your discussion of a current problem that involves various faces of oppression. Use information and/or quotes from the article you read on oppression as well as other outside sources such as articles, books, or interviews to more specifically support your ideas in the body of your essay.
As in all essays for this class, students can use any credible source, including sources in their native language
Students often need help narrowing their topic (domestic violence in Afghanistan vs. violence against women)
Students often need help finding supporting articles that will demonstrate one or more of the concepts noted in the prompt
Students have created a brainstorm for this essay--it may help you understand what they are looking for in the way of help if you to ask to see it
Unit Two: Bystanders
Tab in LibGuide: The Bystander Effect
See LibGuide for source article to be summarized
Prompt: In this unit, you will be writing a 4-page summary-response essay. Your summary will be on the reading “We Are All Bystanders.” Your response will be on: the reasons why you think people intervened OR did not intervene in a specific difficult or emergency situation.
As in all essays for this class, students can use any credible source, including sources in their native language
Students often need help picking a specific bystander situation to write about. See LibGuide for articles that may help.
Searching “bystander” on Google brings lots of results where the term “bystander” is used not as it is in this topic, but as an innocent victim (“the shooter wounded several bystanders”).
Unit Three: Solutions to Oppression
Tab in guide: Solutions to Oppression
See LibGuide for summary of Morton Deutsch’s power and persuasion strategies for overcoming oppression
Prompt: In this unit, you will be writing a 4-page summary-persuasive response essay. Your summary will be on the reading by Morton Deutsch on solutions to oppression. Your persuasive response will be on: specific strategies (solutions) you think people should employ to a specific problem of oppression with an acknowledgement of and response to limitations of these solutions. Use outside sources to support your ideas.
As in all essays for this class, students can use any credible source, including sources in their native language
Students sometimes need help picking a topic. LibGuide is full of suggestions.
Unit Four: Armed Resistance vs. Non-Violent Resistance
Tab in Guide: Armed Resistance vs. Non-Violent Resistance
Prompt: In this unit, you will be writing a 4-page summary-argumentative response essay. Your summary and response will focus on one of the readings from this unit, but you are free to use all the readings as well as your own research as outside source material. In your essay, you will agree or disagree with the author with regard to your position on armed resistance or non-violence within the context of a specific situation or conflict. Your summary argumentative response will include: specific reasons for your position. Draw from the article and other outside sources to support your claim and reasons. Be sure to also include counter-argument and response.
This essay requires more outside sources than the previous ones. Students may need help picking a topic, finding sources, citing sources