Part 1

Why annotate?

Because it helps you read actively! Unlike highlighting, which is a passive activity, annotating helps you to stay focused and involved–and it saves time later.

Instructions

Highlight and write notes in the margin of Between the World and Me. Mark at least two or three notes per page. Focus on these questions:

• What genuine questions come to mind when you read?
• What parts drew you in?
• Are there parts of the piece that confuse you?
• What parts require specialized knowledge? (Perhaps historical references or personal references?)
• Were there any points or turns of phrase that impressed you, or sections you found yourself rereading with appreciation?

Part2 Asking Questions on Coates

Purpose

Asking your own questions helps you become a more curious, engaged, and self-directed learner.

Instructions

Do all four steps. (Just like we did in class!)

Step 1: Ask Questions

• Read Between the World and Me. Notice any questions that come to your mind as you read.
• Write at least ten questions, especially on how Between the World and Me is written.

Step 2: Categorize Your Questions

• Reread your questions.
• Mark closed-ended questions with a C and open-ended questions with an O .

Closed-ended questions can be answered with “yes” or “no” or with one word.

Open-ended questions require an explanation and cannot be answered with “yes” or “no” or with one word.

Step 3: Change two questions from one type to another.

• Go back to your list of questions.
• Change one closed-ended question into an open-ended, and change one open-ended question into a closed-ended one. Add the two new questions to the bottom of your list.

Step 4: Prioritize Your Questions

• Highlight the three most important questions on your list–the questions that feel most meaningful TO YOU. Let’s call these “priority questions.”

(Ask yourself: What questions might generate a good paper about the writing in Between the World and Me?)

Step 5: Reflect

Tell me:

• What was your reason for selecting these three “priority” questions?
• Did your “priority” questions come at the beginning of the list? At the end? Or in the middle? (There’s no right answer! I want you to become aware of YOUR OWN process.)
• How did it feel to do this exercise?

Part3 Reading Coates as a Writer

The purpose of this assignment is

• To listen carefully to a text, and to summarize and quote its ideas (Learning Outcome #3!)
• To become a more powerful reader of academic texts, prepared to take part in the conversations of the disciplines you study

Task

For this project, I’d like you to continue the work we’ve begun, reading the selection from Ta-Nehisi Coates’s Between the World and Me.

Start by reading the selection from beginning to end, marking key moments. Next, read the piece again, paying attention as a writer to how Coates phrases and organizes his ideas. Take notes in the margins.

As you prepare, ask questions about how Сoates writes. What genuine questions come to mind when you reread? What parts drew you in? Are there parts of the piece that confuse you, or parts where you don’t know enough about one area of history or specialized knowledge to follow his argument? Were there any points or turns of phrase that impressed you, or sections you found yourself rereading with appreciation?

Having read Between the World and Me as a writer, identify one of the significant choices Coates makes when he composes his piece, and then write an essay about that choice. As you write, quote or summarize specific passages from Coates to help your readers see what you find meaningful about how he writes as well as what he writes.