Final Project Post #1

TORDA'S FALL 2026 TEACHING SITE

Final Project Post #1

4/1/2025

Use this space, one post per group, to provide a brief synopsis of your anchor article (the one you all have to read. Include the title of your article (you don't have to include a full citation here).

1. Include one or two sentences of argument: what is the main argument of your article, what is it trying to convince readers.
2. Include one or two sentences of methodology: how does/do the author/authors prove that argument? Is it a lit review? A survey? Interviews? An experiment? Archives?
3. Include one or two sentences about the significance: why does this argument seem to matter--to the author first and foremost. Why do they want us to care about what they are saying?

If you can produce these 3 to 6 sentences, you will have written a strong annotation for your article. And you will have a good model for how to write the annotations for the individual articles you will read.

8 Comments

Caitlin Kelly

4/1/2025 05:28:48 pm

Democratizing American Literature
· “Counter to the dominant narrative of US history that the United States began in 1776, the [1619] project argues that the legacy of slavery, dating back to the late 1500s and early 1600s, is the authentic origin of our country’s history. This article asserts that texts ought be re-examined by considering the author’s voice, the reason for the characters’ marginalization, and by evaluating the text for agency to those relegated to the margin.”

4/8/2025 01:59:35 pm

So you've started with a quote, which I would say is fine, but you need to contextualize it. Why this quote? How is it related to the article you are annotating? What is the relationship between that opening quote, which comes from the article? and the second sentence, which is what you are saying is the argument. Can explaining that relationship help you to articulate the significance of the argument?

Emily Graham

4/1/2025 05:38:03 pm

Emily Graham, Megan Johnson, Gabby Sleeper

1. In her paper, “Shifting the Conversation around Teaching Sensitive Topics: Critical Colleagueship in a Teacher Discourse Community,” Boyd found that through critical colleagueship, teachers were able to support one another when discussing the teaching of sensitive topics and generate new ideas.
2. The study was conducted through the use of a book club (or discourse group). The book club was composed of 19 secondary education teachers who were predominantly white women, and all of whom came from rural school districts in the Pacific northwest. The discussions of these discourse groups were then analyzed based on recurring themes.
3. This argument is essential to the authors as it provided an impetus for further defining what it means to be a colleague and an effective educator when it comes to teaching sensitive topics in YA books. Through the experiences of the book clubs, particularly in relation to the openness it fostered, a significant takeaway about teaching sensitive topics was revealed: educators must be able to share freely about topics. This article also implies that more work is to be done in this area in terms of professional development for educators.

4/8/2025 02:10:02 pm

Consider that the citation will appear with the annotation. So why waste all that space with repeating the title? Why not start with Boyd found? And is found the right verb? Boyd doesn't argue for? To use found I think you need to indicate, in that opening sentence, that what the article is really doing is reporting on the results of a study to determine the role critical colleagueship plays in successfully teaching sensitive topics. It would be helpful to explain what critical colleagueship is--a one sentence definition. I think that the sentence about methodology works pretty well. I you might want to be more specific about what she learns. what about critical colleagueship makes it work so well. What do you mean by generate ideas? Significance looks pretty good, again, could use more precise language. Overall going in the right direciton.

Devon Melo

4/1/2025 05:38:53 pm

“Bullying always seemed less complicated before I read”

Argues that young adult literature (YAL) can be a powerful tool in helping adolescents develop a more nuanced and critical understanding of bullying by challenging oversimplified roles of bully, victim, and bystander. Additionally, by engaging with YAL fosters critical civic empathy, enabling students to recognize the complex social dynamics of bullying, understand their own potential complicity, and consider ways to disrupt harmful behaviors.

The methodology of this study was a qualitative, summer book club with 4 white students, 2 boys and 2 girls aged 13.

The significance of this study is to fill the research void on this topic, assist educators in the classroom with teaching contemporary YAL books, and gaining insight into student perspectives on the complexities of these “roles.” A limitation of this study is the small population, white, and only English-speaking students.

4/8/2025 02:15:02 pm

Argument statement is strong. I think you could add a line or two about the methodology. For instance; what books did they read? Waht was the structure of the book club that made it possible to discuss bullying? I would argue that the piece tells us about bullying, sure, but, in terms of YAL, the article makes a case way beyond teaching lessons about bullying, right? What does it tell us about the how the genre can/does work in a classroom?

Are you identifying this limitation (your critique) or does the author identify it. For the purposes of annotation, that distinction is important. Not totally relevant if it is your critique (for the annotation).

Kaitlynn D, Marissa S, Sadie P, Megan L

4/1/2025 05:42:56 pm

“But Why Does It Have to Be Political? By Brian Atteberry

Even if stories aren’t made to be political, once they focus on diverse representation, it is seen as a political act. All stories need to be political because we live in a society where injustice reigns in every form. The methodology for this article is a summary of other articles that are in this journal edition, and how those forms of media discussed are deemed “political.” They all discuss varying diverse representations in media as well as revisiting older texts and materials to make them more currently-relevant to our society.. Stories are uniquely able to offer alternative possibilities in the face of injustice - it’s our responsibility to be political within our reading/writing/storytelling. It is necessary to read, write, and teach diverse and inherently political texts for the betterment of society.

4/8/2025 02:22:24 pm

What if you started this with Attleberry argues? That provides a context for that opening sentence that is missing. We don't know why you are saying this. Are you contextualizing the argument in the article or are you stating the argument? This could be your opinion and not the article the way it written. Literature review instead of summary is more appropriate here. I don't understand the sentence that starts "They all discuss" Do you mean here that the authors of the article you are annotating identifies the ways each of the articles do something related to media? What is the "they" in that sentence? Again with your significance. Would you say this is your opinion or the opinion of the author about why this discussion is significant. That distinction is important. It feels like you are suggesting another argument--that we are obligated to be political. Again, is that the articles opinion or yours? And if it is the point of the article, move it earlier. You use stories and media interchangeablyl. Are they the same in the article?

Final Project Post #1

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