PLC: Wednesday 24 February: "On Self-Respect" by Joan Didion

[ReneeTLC]

Renee and Robin plan to discuss Joan Didion during Wednesday’s PLC.  Since we will focus on "On Self-Respect,” her short but powerful essay (1961), we hope you’ll have a chance to read (or reread) it before our meeting.  If you have taught it, we’d love to hear your experience. Robin will talk about teaching it along with The Scarlet Letter.  Other pairings?

It’s such a rich essay for a close reading – and during this last year much has been written about its enduring appeal – that we’ll spend some time with textual analysis. But we’re going for a bigger picture here as well to explore how and why it might appeal to our students at this moment in their lives. Also, we’d like to extend further to discuss doing individual author studies: why and how to do it? What form it should take? How to assess it?  

If you have a chance to respond to this message to share (1) your own ideas for pairings or teaching Didion and/or (2) your suggestions for individual author "projects" -- that would be great. We'll put those together to use in our break-out rooms.

We’re looking forward to another hour of sharing and synergy!

Renee and Robin

https://www.vogue.com/article/joan-didion-self-respect-essay-1961