Is empathy for an enemy possible?

Welcome to the third and final book study in our Great Stories Book Club series! This series has been made possible by a grant from the American Library Association and is being taught in partnership with the Buena Vista Public Library. The theme of this book club series is empathy: what is it, and why is it important? 

The final book in the series is a graphic novel adaptation of Octavia Butler's Kindred, a story about a black woman living in the 70's who gets pulled back in time whenever her ancestor, a white boy in a slaveholding family, is in danger. Should she continue saving him and thus support slave owners, or should she let him die, potentially wiping herself out in the future?

Because this is a fast read, we're going to complete it in one week! Our days will be spent in discussion and READING. You'll earn bonus points for this module: on top of the regular points you can earn for the module, you will earn reading points according to our Reading and Writing guidelines.

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essential questions

• Why is it important to engage with a local library?
• How can we add depth to discussions?

goals

• Students will understand that local libraries are an incredible wealth of resources - from access to free books, to the use of the internet, to a staff ready to help with any question, to comfortable chairs for reading in peace.
• Students will understand that discussions can be meaningful and deep when participants listen to each other, respond instead of reacting, and draw from specific experiences and textual evidence.

activities

INTRODUCE

• Participate in empathy activity
  • Part 1: How would you respond if someone robbed you at knifepoint? How would you feel about the potential attacker?
  • Part 2: Watch StoryCorps video (see below)
  • Part 3: Discuss your reaction - how does it compare with your theoretical reaction? Does it change your feeling of the best way to respond? why or why not?
  • If you are completing this assignment independently, respond to these questions in free writing form, about a paragraph for each (Parts 1 and 3)
• Review syllabus and expectations for the week

EXPOSE

• Participate in discussion: what is empathy? does it matter? can it influence us?
• Read Kindred
  • Keep track of meaningful quotes or illustrations with post-it notes (annotate as needed)
  • [Because this is a graphic novel, there is no audiobook option]
• Participate in orientation to Buena Vista Public Library if you missed the first one
  • Sign up for a library card for a bonus 3 points!

PRACTICE

• Discuss reading with specific topics:
  • Dana and Rufus character analyses
  • Impact of the illustrations on storytelling
  • Instances of empathy (or lack thereof)

CREATE

• Complete reading journal in discussion format
  • Informative: compile a group summary of what has been read so far
  • Persuasive: Choose one of the persuasive questions and find a quote to back up your response
  • Narrative: Debrief reading experience

REFLECT

• Conference with Christine one-on-one about the week and your impressions of the book
• Complete module survey

c-tachs

Reading

• Cite strong textual evidence to support analysis of explicit and implicit meaning of text
• Analyze author’s stylistic choices regarding structure and development of the elements of a story, particularly theme

Speaking and Listening 

• Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions
• Present information, findings and supporting evidence, conveying a clear and distinct perspective
  

resources

Kindred syllabus