March 1st Text Understanding Question

Why doesn’t Grant want to get involved with Jefferson and his case?  Discuss your thoughts with evidence from the text.  Please respond to someone else's post after posting your own.

March 1st Text Reflection Question

Read the following quote from Chapter 8:

“And I thought to myself, What am I doing?  Am I reaching them at all?  They are acting exactly as the old men did earlier?  They are fifty years younger, maybe more, but doing the exact same thing those old men did who never attended school a day in their lives.  Is it just a vicious cycle?  Am I doing anything?”(p.62, chapter 8).

Explain the inner conflict that Grant is having about his position as a teacher of the youth in his community.  Be sure tell what all sides of this situation is.  His questions are internal and rhetorical; yet if he asked you these questions, what would you tell him?

Field Trip: Read Across America!

As I previously mentioned, our group has been asked to participate in Read Across America, this Friday, March 2.  We will be reading Dr. Seuss' The Lorax, and talking with students.  If you are interested in going, you must turn in a permission slip.  Please go to the GEAR UP office to pick one up.  The group will leave at 8am and return to school around noon.

This is a great community service project!  To prepare, we will be reading and discussing The Lorax this Thursday during our meeting.  This gives you an extra week if you have not finished A Lesson Before Dying. 

Let me know if you have any questions.  I hope you all are able to participate, and are having a great week!

Monday Blog

Hope that everyone has had a good weekend and has been reading our text.  If you have not done so, please check the resources for A Lesson Before Dying under the section of the blog home page entitled "Articles to Examine."

Please share your thoughts on the following quote that Grant shares:

“I tried to decide just how I should respond to them. Whether I should act like the teacher that I was, or like the nigger that I was supposed to be.” (p.46, chapter 5)

First Discussion Posts!

Please post a reflection on last session and the article, "Last Chance on Death Row" by William Baude.  In your reflection, consider the following questions:  

 

What does justice mean?  Does the meaning of justice change depending on the situation? 

In criminal cases, should people be able to have an unlimited number of appeals?  Why or why not?

Are there times when other factors are more important than fairness?  For example, money or finality?

Welcome, Everyone! (And sorry this is late!)

Welcome to our blog page!  A mighty “thank you” to all who were a part of Thursday's first meeting of the Urban Literacy Circle. It was exciting to engage the topic of capital punishment and all related issues.   We appreciate your openness and willingness to talk freely.  Let us continue in that same spirit!

Please finish reading the article “Last Chance on Death Row” that we read Thursday.  Please begin reading chapters 1-4 of A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest Gaines.  Once you have read this message, please post a comment introducing yourself and briefly discussing where you see yourself in life in 5 years. 

Always check the blog daily, although if you have entered your email address in the top horizontal bar where it says “Email here…” , you should receive notice of any new posts. Thanks and have a great weekend!!