I’d like you to imagine how you’d teach your writer to a class of students. Accordingly, you will write your own version of a teaching prep for a day.
This may be in a different format than an essay, using more of an outline or bullet points. Think of what you’d want your students to know about this writer: present the major themes of the writer’s work, thinking of the social, cultural, religious, economic context of the writer’s life–including, of course, issues of objectification (racism, classism, sexism). What were the writer’s goals? In what form did the writer choose to present ideas–as poetry, fiction, non-fiction prose, as diary entries, as political pamphlets or speeches? Was the writer professionally rewarded in his/her lifetime for this work? How? Then, as any literature educator would, lead your students through an explication of selections of the actual writing–just as we’ve done in our class. Remember, by the time this project will be due, you will have already completed your Annotated Bibliography, which will have further prepared you to follow your own best instincts as an educator-for-a-day. In fact, you may wish to include some of what other scholars wrote about your writer in your own class preparation.
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