Lesson Objectives
By the end of this lesson, students should be able to demonstrate an ability to create claims that are based on evidence provided in video interviews/lectures. This lesson is built upon students already demonstrating an ability to identify evidence-based claims; this lesson is intended to develop students’ ability to create claims based on specific evidence.
Materials Needed
- Projector/screen
- Device to project to screen
- Internet connection
- Optional: printouts of a Venn Diagram or Compare and Contrast Chart
Pre-class student work:
- Students should watch and create notes about the video “Dr. Michelle Liu on What Asian American Studies, Literature, and Art Teaches Us During COVID-19” (~21 minutes) before class.
- Students should watch (or review, if they have completed the “Claim Identification and Development lesson) and create notes about the video “Prof. Douglas S. Ishii on Crazy Rich Asians, Critical University Studies, and Queer of Color Theory” (~24 minutes) before class.
Lesson Plan (45 minutes)
Warm Up: Compare / Contrast (15 minutes)
Description
Put students into small groups (3-4 work well)
Provide student groups with a way to quantify how they are comparing and contrasting. A printable Venn Diagram works well, or a Compare and Contrast Chart (both of which could be drawn on the board instead of printed).
Briefly explain how to use/read a Venn Diagram or the Compare/Contrast Chart.
Ask student groups to compare and contrast items, concepts, or ideas that you choose by filling in the worksheets. These concepts or items could be related to a previous lesson; a large concept or theme in the class; an aspect of a reading; something silly, fun or related to pop culture; or specific scenes from the videos.
If choosing to use the videos for this warm-up activity, these sections could be used to spur a conversation on intersections between Asian American Literature troubling perceptions of progress (Dr. Liu’s video) and Trans Pacific Studies (Dr. Ishii’s video):
- Dr. Liu talks about narratives of progress and Asian American Literature (~9:00-11:40)
- Dr. Ishii talks about Trans Pacific Studies (~7:10-9:22)
Ask for one group to share what they compared.
Ask the entire class how the comparison can be written as a claim, and work together to change the language of the comparison so that it becomes a claim. Write this process on the board.
As a class (or if time allows, ask student to briefly confer as a small group), come up with specific evidence that supports the claim.
Ask a different group to share the evidence they found.
Ask another group to share what they contrasted.
Ask the entire class how the contrasted item/concept can be written as a claim, and work together to change the language so that it becomes a claim. Write this process on the board.
As a class (or if time allows, ask student to briefly confer as a small group), come up with specific instances / evidence that support the claim.
Ask a different group to share the evidence they found.
Rationale
This warm up is a way to activate students’ thinking about comparing and contrasting with the intention of creating a list of likenesses and differences. This helps provide students with a strategy they can apply to the process of building their own evidence-based claim.
This exercise may be the first time some students have interacted with a Venn Diagram.
By comparing and contrasting as discrete and unique ways to interact with a text, instructors can steer the discussion toward the different ways students can interact with ideas that are alike and ideas that are dissimilar.
By working as a class through the process of creating a claim (and writing the process on the board), instructors can provide students with a visual cue they can refer to throughout this lesson as they create their own evidence-based claims.
Solo Work (10 minutes)
Description
Show these portions of the videos to the class (unless you showed these portions during the warm-up activity), which can be used to spur a conversation based on the intersection of Asian American Literature troubling perceptions of progress (Dr. Liu’s video) and Trans Pacific Studies (Dr. Ishii’s video):
- Dr. Liu talks about narratives of progress and Asian American Literature (~9:00-11:40)
- Dr. Ishii talks about Trans Pacific Studies (~7:10-9:22)
Ask students to remain in their small groups, but work independently to apply the warm-up task to concepts and deas in the videos. Students could create a new Venn Diagram or Compare and Contrast Chart, or they could free write their thoughts.
Possible guiding questions:
- What arguments being made by Professor Liu are similar to arguments made by Professor Ishii?
- What arguments are different?
- Choose one idea / aspect / concept that is similar and one that is different. Fill in your chart/diagram or free write about the similarities and differences.
Ask students to share their diagrams/charts/ideas with their small group. Together, they choose one comparison and one contrast and work toward creating an evidence-based claim.
Ask the groups to choose one student to present their group’s claims to the class.
Rationale
By asking students to identify sections / ideas / concepts from the videos that can be compared and contrasted, students completing the first step in creating an evidence-based claim.
Small-group Discussion (10 minutes)
Description
Ask students to share their diagrams/charts/ideas with their small group. Together, they choose one comparison and one contrast and work toward creating an evidence-based claim.
Ask the groups to choose one student to present their group’s claims to the class.
Class Share (5 minutes)
Description
Ask each group to share the claim that they created for the comparison and contrast that they found.
Rationale
This is an opportunity to briefly introduce students to synthesizing. Ask students to keep their diagrams / charts because they will revisit them in a future lesson based on ways to put comparisons and contrasts together into a persuasive evidence-based claim.