from ENGL110: Writing Identities, General Section themed around writing as identity formation, Brett Seekford - see full syllabus here. 

Brett has provided both in-person  and zoom versions of this class activity, below. 

Academic Synthesis: Acting It Out (in-person version)

In your peer groups, read the following articles on the issue of political correctness:

• Bari Weiss, “We’re All Fascists Now,” The New York Times
• Jessica Valenti, “‘PC Culture’ isn’t about your freedom of speech. It’s about our freedom to be offended,” The Guardian

Afterward, two group members need to volunteer to represent each author’s point of view while the third member will be the great synthesizer, putting these two disparate perspectives together and offering his or her own response.

Groups will perform their roles for the class. Feel free to practice your roles once or twice. You may even choose to write a short skit if you find it easier to follow a script.

Your groups will be responding to the following claim:

College campuses cultivate oversensitivity among students and therefore detract from a sense of cohesion among peers on campus.

Academic Synthesis: Acting It Out (Zoom version)

In your new peer groups, efficiently read the following articles on the issue of “political correctness”:

• Bari Weiss, “We’re All Fascists Now,” The New York Times
• Jessica Valenti, “‘PC Culture’ isn’t about your freedom of speech. It’s about our freedom to be offended,” The Guardian

To think about this topic and use academic synthesis to engage the authors’ central claims, two group members need to volunteer to represent each author’s point of view à la a Lincoln-Douglas debate while the third member will be the great synthesizer, putting these two different perspectives together and offering their own response out of the conversation that they construct.

For groups of four, two people should collaborate on writing the concluding synthesis part of the skit. One of the synthesizers should read the section where the two articles are being synthesized while the other synthesizer should read the response. This activity is a collaborative effort across the board, though; everyone should be sharing their work with each other to foster a coherent sense of dialogue.

To prepare, write a brief skit with your group that you’ll perform for the class. Using Zoom, record your performance of the skit—or “debate”—and upload it to the Canvas discussion board for the class to view. We will discuss them at the beginning of class on Thursday, April 23^rd. Please also view the other groups’ videos and comment individually with your thoughts on the strengths and weaknesses of the attempts at synthesis on at least one post. Students in the past have found it incredibly helpful to hear and see synthesis happening off the page.These skits are due on the Canvas discussion board at the end of class on April 21^st.