Page 158 - The Language of Composition 4e Teacher Edition Sample.indd

He begins leaping between two spots in flasks. I now understand that what I write on
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front of the class. “The molecule doesn’t jump the page is only a shadow of the microscopic
DIFFERENTIATION Identity from one resonance structure to the other,” he universe contained in every vial. I understand
says, hopping back and forth, back and forth. that my notebooks are only one way of knowing
Collaborative Learning “It’s not oscillating between different bonding my molecules. Mixing them together with
As with the word “resonance,” Remmel arrangements. Instead,” he says, scooting to a heat and vacuum in round-bottomed flasks is
plays with the meanings of “reform” in point between the two spots, “the resonant bond another. I am learning to practice different
paragraphs 58, 59, and 61. You could have is something uniquely in between.” ways of knowing so that I can make the bonds
students highlight those words and write He draws the molecule on the board with a move and break and reform.
Copyright (c) 2023 Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers. Uncorrected proofs have been used for this sample chapter.
definitions for each of the three appear- new shorthand where dashed lines represent the I am starting to understand that perhaps I also
ances, using context clues first. They could resonant electrons. deserve the same tender consideration I give to
then look up a definition of the word, one O R the molecules in my flasks. Perhaps I need to
that is complex enough to cover nuances, practice different ways of knowing myself so
and choose which parts apply to which H 2 N C that I too can move and break and reform.
usage. They could then discuss the mean- N CO 2 H • • •
Distributed by Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers. Strictly for use with its products. Not for redistribution.
ing of “reform” in the context of identity R H
formation. During week six of the pandemic, I am watching 60
He tells us that this type of resonance is a 55
sweet spot between the rigidity of double bonds the birds out my window when Mom tells me my
9
and the flexibility of single bonds. Resonance abuelo is dying of cancer. I didn’t know him
allows our proteins to build the molecular growing up. He mostly speaks Spanish and now I 10
machines that make our bodies work. wish that I had paid more attention at Mass. Lito
does not like to talk much, but he likes it when I
• • • sing. I learn mariachi songs and serenade him
over FaceTime. He tells me bits and pieces of his
At twenty-five, I have finally found the word to
tell the five-year-old at the pool. “You are nonbi- childhood memories from Mexico, but he does
8
nary, little one,” I soothe the weeping child of not like to dwell on the past. He came to the US as
my memory. “You are not a boy like your a teenager and never looked back. Lito lets me
practice my Spanish and never interrupts. I try to
brother, but you are not a girl either. I’m sorry speak Spanish to my mother on the phone too,
that Mama doesn’t understand.” but she always responds in English.
Mom will not use my pronouns. She insists
I would be so pretty if I just grew my hair out But that is mostly okay. My mother has made
again. My hair was the core of my sense of beauty her own choices about her language. I am also
(my glory, if you will), so it was a relief to shave it free to make mine: I choose to practice with my
all off. She says I will always be her daughter, but Lito in his native tongue, even if I can only manage
broken phrases for now. If I keep practicing, maybe
she doesn’t yet see that I never was. I can learn to reform them into something new.
But that is mostly okay. Because I am in
DIFFERENTIATION graduate school now and my life is all about • • •
chemistry. I have notebooks filled with line
Speaking and Listening structures that describe colorful liquids in I don’t remember when the pandemic started
Remmel repeats the sentence “But that is anymore, but I am twenty-eight and the census
mostly okay” to begin paragraphs 58 and 61, has come in the mail. I may choose one sex.
both times in reference to their mother. You 8 A person who does not identify exclusively as a man or a woman. And though I can now check a box for Mexican
might lead the class in a discussion of the Nonbinary people may identify as being both a man and a woman, 9
tone of those statements and the effect of somewhere in between, or as falling completely outside these 10 Spanish for grandfather — Eds.
Spanish for Grandpa. — Eds.
categories. — Eds.
the qualifier “mostly.” Why didn’t Remmel 264
write “But that is okay”? How would the
tone differ if they did not include those
statements? Y
statements? You could steer the discussion
ou could steer the discussion
to a larger analysis of the essay’s tone, too.
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264 chapter 4 / Identity

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