Serial Revisited

Cathy and I taught Serial, using what I wrote on this post as a guide. I wanted to share one of my student's argument whiteboards and one of Cathy's students.

The first example is from my class. My students were relatively new to argument whiteboards. As you can see, this student is using some justification, but it's still not fully developed. In fact, she has a little more summary than I would hope to see. While I think she chose a question that is definitely worth considering and her ideas are good, I am not sure she has sufficient explanation to justify her claim.

Cathy's student is one who had worked with argument whiteboards for over a year.

The second part of the example shows the more complex thinking with positing of what MIGHT be the case. The question she examined is entirely debatable and moot, and yet the evidence is not quite strong enough to make a solid case which makes this an interesting exercise in justification.

Serial

Okay. I absolutely admit it. I'm a Serial addict. I've loved This American Life for years and I'm loving the longer format of Serial. I won't retread all of the ground that the internet has already covered this week about how great this is (see Reddit, Slate, Vox, and pretty much any pop culture blog).

One of the things I am most struck by is that Sarah Koenig's reporting is how her journey maps onto the learning. Without fail, she talks about how she is constantly probing, looking for information that will confirm or debunk what her theories are. She exists in a state of confusion

ETA I originally started this post in November and never finished. Today the last episode of Serial was posted and I am now ready to think about teaching it. Instead of trying to sell you on why you should listen or teach this, I am going to just create a link repository of commentary I want to come back to with my students.

About the Justice System

• Serial's Big Confession My favorite explanation of why this podcast is an indictment of the justice system.
• Matt Thompson weighs in on the Justice System component
• WaPo on how Serial should have gone further in showing what's really wrong with criminal justice

Is Serial Racist?

• The Awl article that started the debate about white privilege and SK's perceived prejudice in journalism.
• The Atlantic pushes back against that claim and addresses is point by point.

Parody

• Sesame Street got into the Serial/Cereal action

Narrative Work

• An opinion piece from the Boston Globe positing why the narrative works so well. In fact, this captures what I was trying to say back in November.
• Linda Holmes on what is really an ending as it pertains to Serial

A benign review NYT Review of the ending.

Slate's podcast about Serial on the ending. Mike Pesca earlier interviewed SK and asked her not to have a lame ending and he weighs in on what he thinks about the ending. I definitely agree that it was a very satisfying ending which is tricky in a serialized nonfiction piece.

Anyhow, if you are so inclined and you have links to think pieces that you think would make good fodder for students, please comment with ideas on other companions to this for my class.

Recommendation: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

In 2010, Rebecca Skloot published The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks to critical accolades. This narrative nonfiction examines the story of the HeLa cells which are cells that have revolutionized biological testing, been the basis of at least 60,000 scientific studies because these cells dynamically thrive in a laboratory environment. According to the New York Times, if you have taken a pill stronger than aspirin, than you've benefited from the HeLa cells.

The cells originated from a tumor that Henrietta Lacks, an African-American woman from Baltimore Maryland, who was diagnosed and eventually died from cervical cancer, had biopsied. Lacks had never given permission for her cells to be cultured and grown and she had never benefited from the growth and sale of these cells.

Skloot covers a remarkable amount of history and science in this book in a way that is conversational (at times) and completely accessible. While I am widely read, my understanding of genetics, cell replication and biological research is limited to what I learned in high school. I was able to follow the science without any problem because I was deeply engaged in a sympathetic portrait of the Lacks family dealing with poverty, segregation and racial politics.

Dwight Garner, in his New York Times review captures the force of both the writing and the story when he states

I put down Rebecca Skloot’s first book, “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks,” more than once. Ten times, probably. Once to poke the fire. Once to silence a pinging BlackBerry. And eight times to chase my wife and assorted visitors around the house, to tell them I was holding one of the most graceful and moving nonfiction books I’ve read in a very long time.

Another interesting aspect is that Skloot herself is a piece of the story. She took 10 years to research and write this book and the reader definitely is aware of her telling the story. In some ways she resembles narrators such as Nick in The Great Gatsby, a steady but sympathetic voice. The Lacks family initially accuses her of essentially writing her book on their backs, but she convinces them to allow her to tell the story, which she does with extreme sensitivity, bordering on bias.

You finish this book with an understanding that this has been Skloot's labor of love. It is moving and shocking in ways both large and small.

For an excerpt, click.

If you are a teacher who is looking for resources visit the Faculty Lounge for links and ideas.