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2016 Midterm2
(assignment) |
LITR 4340
 American Immigrant Literature Model Assignments |
|
Austin Green
Student Teachers
I decided to again start my midterm essays by completing the Web
Highlights portion. I like to do this section first to both better cement my
understanding of the requirements of the other sections of the midterm, as well
as to get an idea of how others viewed the same information we were taught. Each
class can have a very different reaction to the readings, so I’m always curious
to see what new thoughts or views I can find by reviewing the essays previous
classes have written.
I am confident in my understanding of the first part of the midterm 2
essay, but I wanted to use this assignment to double check against a previously
completed assignment to be sure I was heading in the right direction. I selected
Tracie Estrada’s essay based solely on the title “New
World Immigrants Create a New Narrative.” Right away I could tell we had a
similar idea on how to construct the paper. I was a little sad the title was
used, because I thought it fit what we had learned since the first midterm
perfectly, and I hadn’t thought of it. She discusses similarities and
differences New World immigrants have compared to immigrants and minorities we
have previously read about. I really liked how she brought an example of New
World immigrant views from one of the readings we did earlier in the semester,
“The English Lesson.” I was planning on focusing my paper on the readings we
completed since the midterm, so it was a pleasant surprise to see this student
reach further back than needed.
Feeling happy with the details uncovered in the first web highlight, I
decided to then review two Research Report Starts to hopefully get a better feel
for that assignment. Browsing over
the titles, I decided to first read
Jo
Ann Pereira’s “What Do You Do for a Living?” The report opened with a great
explanation of where our author was in terms of experience with immigrant
literature coming into the class, and let us know what the topic was, as well as
why they were writing about it. I’m not sure this personal narrative style was
what was intended for the assignment, so I was curious to see if it appeared in
the next Start I reviewed. Regardless, I enjoyed the introduction, and the topic
was interesting. The reading continues with facts of immigrant job opportunities
but feels a little jumbled. I think focusing on one specific group may have
helped the paper, instead of being so broad. Something I will definitely keep in
mind for my own Research Report Start.
I was surprised and a little bit happy to see the personal narrative
style mentioned previously appear in the next Research Report Start I read.
Cassandra Rea’s “Anzia Yezierska: A Diamond in the Rough” starts out much like
Jo Ann’s essay. We get some background information explaining not only what the
topic was, but why it was chosen. We also then get a nice sentence explaining
where she did her research, along with a really fun fact about her topic, “Anzia’s
birth is not certain due to reasons that she kept changing it to modify her age
within the Literature world to not seem so old.” Something you would not be able
to get away with today. It instantly made me want to read the rest of the essay
though. I wanted to know more about the person who thought to do this. Sometimes
the story of the author behind the works is boring, but this was not one of
those cases. It was also really interesting to hear about reviews her work
originally received, which is something I will always find worth reading about.
It’s easy to raise literature we are learning about in a class above other
writing. Regardless if I personally like a “classic” work or not, I will always
be interested in how it was initially perceived.
I ended up being really happy with the Web Highlights I selected for this
assignment. I feel like I was able to find plenty of ideas to help me out on my
own essays.
