Equity Analysis
Part I: due in class by 5:15 p.m. on W 10/14/15Part II: due on blog (posted response) by 5:00 p.m. on F 10/16/15
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Goal and Context
The overarching goal of an "equity analysis" is to trace the concept -- equity -- throughout relevant documents, becoming attuned to its definition(s), its variances, its complications, and its potentialities. In doing so, you position yourself as both a writer concerned with it and a scholar of issues related to it. The particular occasion guiding this equity analysis will be some recent revisioning of several position statements authored by special task forces of the NCTE, the AWP, and the CCCC. Position statements like these are often invented or revised in response to funding encroachment on schools; perceived or actual "crises" in secondary education or (believe it or not) in information security; current developments in civil rights movements; and state or national political agendas for higher education, among other concerns.Part I: The Analysis
In much the same way as you traced your term/concept in TiRP #3, I will ask you to trace "equity" throughout at least two (2) publicly accessible documents from at least two (2) of the organizations reflected here:
AWP Position Statements [I have included links below, since the documents are embedded]
- "Advocacy Overview"
- "Bylaws"
- "History"
CCCC Position Statements
- Guidelines for Ethical Conduct of Research
- National Language Policy
- Students' Right to Their Own Language
- Teaching Second Language Writing and Writers
- Disability Policy
- Faculty Work in Community-Based Settings
- Student Veterans in the College Composition Classroom
- Teaching, Learning, Assessing Writing in Digital Environments
NCTE Position Statements
- Resolution on the Dignity and Education of Immigrant, Undocumented, and Unaccompanied Youth
- Resolution on the Need for Diverse Children's and Young Adult Books
To help focus your analysis, please also use:
- one reading from Wks 7-8 (Banks, Baldwin, Hartwell, Lu, Anzaldua); and
- one previous reading in the semester that might be relevant.
In other words, use this analysis to try to discover something about "equity" that you may not have realized before, no matter your biases coming into it. Try to critically unpack the term (not just to find it), just as you did with your concept in TiRP #3, and try to challenge your own expectations of how it might appear.
In terms of how to write up the analysis--of how it might look on the page--as before, I'm looking for it to be coherent and to be guided by a claim statement of your own (i.e., some statement explaining what you realized about the status or understanding of "equity"). But folks, I know you know the difference between disinterested claims and interestingly situated claims. Please strive for the latter, not the former.
I'm also looking for you to draw your connections by relying heavily on textual evidence, and for you to move elegantly between making claims and quoting material from the position statements and the readings.
And, I'm looking for it to be well organized, knowing that ultimately you want to make statements that will help your own analysis move forward, since it won't move forward on its own. If ever you are feeling stuck, it's not a bad idea to organize your analysis by sub-concept, by usage, by instance, or by relationship if you are starting to feel like "equity" is too complicated a term to understand.
Finally, I'm looking for some framing--not necessarily a long, illustrious introduction, but some kind of framing statement in the beginning that helps me, as a reader, understand why I'm reading, and some concluding statement at the end that leaves me fulfilled while also wanting more. These will most likely not be vague statements such as "Equity is an important concept in higher education" or explicit statement such as, "In this analysis I will/plan to ..." or "In this analysis I have just finished showing that ..." Framing is subtle and implicit, but it helps a reader to value what s/he will read. Be as creative as you would like, so long as the creativity enhances your good analytical work.
Format
- ~2 pages, single-spaced, word-processed or typed [please bring 2 copies to class]
- Show the intertextuality of your discussion by quoting and paraphrasing using parenthetical or in-text citations throughout your analysis.
- To cite the position statements as analyzable text, you can actually cite them as "A Page on a Website" by following this citation pattern at the Purdue OWL.
- Include a short "Works Cited" list at the end of your analysis with the full MLA citation for all of the readings you use. You'll be able to find the MLA citations on our course reading list in Canvas.
Part II: The Recursive Loop (due 5:00 p.m. on Friday)
Consider this a follow-up to Part I. After discussing your various equity analyses and our readings in Wednesday's class, I'll ask each of you to follow up with a blog post by Friday in which you reflect on your analysis, how it resonated or didn't resonate with others, and what other aspects or themes of equity seemed to emerge from the discussion. Same evaluation criteria as before:
- quality and completeness -- several screens' worth
- content -- fairly public so, interesting, objective, performative, intertextual
- evidence/justification -- provides specific examples from readings and the position statements to explain or demonstrate your reflection
- coherence and framing -- guided by a discovery statement, subtly (but well) framed
- clarity -- you are writing for a public audience not necessarily in this class
- attribution -- please do it throughout your reflection
- title -- make it interesting
I'm looking forward to both parts of this assignment and am happy to answer questions as you work through them!
-Prof. G
