Page 127 - The Language of Composition 4e Teacher Edition Sample.indd

“No,” Mom would reply. “Democrats help 35 It wasn’t that I’d been wrong to be suspicious 4
people, and Republicans help people help of government programs, I realized, but that I’d
themselves.” been wrong to believe in the American Dream. chapter 4
People on welfare were presumed “lazy,” They were two sides of the same trick coin — one
and for us there was no more hurtful word. promising a good life in exchange for your labor
Within that framework, financially comfortable and the other keeping you just alive enough to
liberals may rest assured that their fortunes go on laboring. Other Voices / Sarah Smarsh
result from personal merit while generously My mother and other family members 40
insisting they be taxed to help the “needy.” would soon make similar shifts just by following
Copyright (c) 2023 Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers. Uncorrected proofs have been used for this sample chapter.
Impoverished people, then, must do one of two the news and seeing cracks in the political mes-
things: concede personal failure and vote for the sages they had received. Without need for a col-
party more inclined to assist them, or vote for lege class, many abandoned their short-lived
the other party, whose rhetoric conveys hope conservatism for progressive views.
that the labor of their lives is what will compen- As college experiences took me outside my DIFFERENTIATION
TION
DIFFERENTIA
sate them. It’s a hell of a choice, and initially I home state, I realized that Kansas as a whole
Distributed by Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers. Strictly for use with its products. Not for redistribution.
made mine based on my mother’s ideas at the suffered from a disconnect with power that was Connections to Self
Connections to Self
time. My liberal peers were no different in that similar to what I experienced on the farm. The
ou could ask students to consider if they
Y
respect, for the most part having shown up on broader country viewed states like mine as You could ask students to consider if they
agr
ee with Smarsh’
s claim at the end of
campus with their parents’ beliefs. unimportant, liminal places. They yawned agree with Smarsh’s claim at the end of
paragraph 36 that young people often
paragraph 36 that young people often
A sociology course the spring of my junior while driving through them, slept as they flew
adher
e to the political views of their par
year dismantled my political views about fiscal over them. adhere to the political views of their par- -
ents. Ask them if that claim applies to
ents. Ask them if that claim applies to
policy. Study after study that I found in my If you’re cast as a stereotype enough themselves, and if so, do they feel they
themselves, and if so, do they feel they
research for the class plainly said in hard num- times — as a poor person, as a female, as the have made that choice consciously (with, in
have made that choice consciously (with, in
bers that, if you are poor, you are likely to stay native of a place most people have never AP ®
AP Language terms, sufficient evidence)
poor, no matter how hard you work. As I exam- been — you might feel who you truly are fortify or cir
or circumstantially or vicariously? Does the cumstantially or vicariously? Does the
ined the graphs over and over, my heart sped up in opposition to it. Where the shame I some- claim apply to their siblings and/or their claim apply to their siblings and/or their
with shock and anger. On the matter of my own times felt as a child in poverty had once been, as peers? Regardless of their responses, they esponses, they
peers? Regar
dless of their r
country’s economic system, for all my family a young woman in a new setting I felt a quiet could play “the believing game” and could play “the believing game” and
wisdom about what something ought to cost pride about that place thought forgettable or explain why the claim may often be valid.explain why the claim may often be valid.
and who was peddling a con, I had been sold a populated by trash.
bill of goods. We were the “breadbasket”; I’d helped har-
The people I’d grown up with were missing vest the wheat that fed the world. Wichita was
TION
DIFFERENTIA
that information. But the liberal people I met the “air capital”; my grandmothers had assem- DIFFERENTIATION
in college often were missing another sort of bled warplanes there in the same factories Inquiry y
Inquir
information: what it feels like to pee in a cup to where my aunts and uncles now worked. We
Smarsh’s reference in paragraph 37 to her
qualify for public benefits to feed your children. were in “tornado alley”; we had ridden out Smarsh’ s r efer ence in paragraph 37 to her
sociology class and the studies and graphs
A teenager’s frustration when a dilapidated storms in trailers and farmhouse basements and sociology class and the studies and graphs
esear
ch quest
ead could be used as a r
she r
textbook is missing a page and there’s no com- lived to describe the softball-size hail and the she read could be used as a research quest
for students. Y
ou could ask them to find
puter in the house for finding the lesson online. hay straw driven by the wind into a tree trunk. for students. You could ask them to find
evidence that supports her claims her
e, or
The impossibility of paying a citation for expired Whether or not I got a college degree, evidence that supports her claims here, or
you could have them discuss how they
auto insurance, itself impossible to pay despite those experiences would always be my first you could have them discuss how they
might research that information. You could
50 hours a week holding metal frying baskets education. might r esear ch that information. Y ou could
also ask them to decide whether the graph
at KFC. 2018 also ask them to decide whether the graph
on page 231 is the sort she r efer ences in
on page 231 is the sort she references in
paragraph 37, or if it shows something
paragraph 37, or if it shows something
233 else.
else.
05_sheatlc4e_40925_ch04_170_315.indd 233 12/10/22 2:35 PM
DIFFERENTIATION
Scaffolding
In paragraph 42, Smarsh refers to her new- most proud of. Although paragraph 24 lists
found “quiet pride,” which connects to the three prominent characteristics of Kansans,
essay’s title (she also refers to her own pride those have not been the essay’s focus. You
in paragraph 23, when she refused the money could have students review the essay and list
from her cheerleading coach). You might ask evidence of Smarsh’s “country pride.” You
students to examine the essay’s line of rea- might ask students to pay attention to her
soning to show how she arrives at that sense tone as they review the essay: how does she
of pride, and to define, precisely, what she is imply her pride throughout the essay?
Other Voices / Sarah Smarsh 233
05_sheatlcte4e_46921_ch04_170a_315_2pp.indd 233 1/20/23 7:48 PM