Course Preview: The Four Questions.

In 1963, James Baldwin delivered an address titled, “The Artist’s Struggle for Integrity,” at the Community Church in New York where he offered “…the poets (by which I mean all artists) are finally the only people who know the truth about us. Soldiers don’t. Statesmen don’t. Priests don’t. Union leaders don’t. Only the poets.” In Language Arts, we will activate students as artists to draw out and effectively communicate said truth by analyzing poetry, fictions, historic accounts, cinema, etc. They will be challenged to originally respond to four questions posed two years prior (1961) by W.E.B. DuBois: What does integrity do in the face of adversity / oppression? What does honesty do in the face of lies / deception? What does decency do in the face of insult? How does virtue meet brute force? This course was co-created by Kiri Harris and myself for Greene Street Friends School 8th Grade Language Arts.

Quarter 1: What does integrity do in the face of adversity / oppression?

Whole Class Novels:

• The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie
• Witness, by Karen Hesse

Identity in Contemporary Fiction | Book Group Novels (choice):

• Darius and Twig, by Walter Dean Myers
• The Skin I’m In, By Sharon Flake
• Under a Painted Sky, by Stacey Lee
• Eleanor and Park, by Rainbow Rowell
• The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, by Mark Haddon

Quarter 2: What does honesty do in the face of lies / deception?

Whole Class Novels:

• Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, by Benjamin Alire Saenz
• Boy 21, by Matthew Quick

Race and Rights in Historical Fiction | Book Group Novels (choice):

• The Rock and the River, by Kekla Magoon
• The Lions of Little Rock, by Kristin Levine
• March, by Andrew Aydin, John Lewis
• The Secret Life of Bees, by Sue Monk Kidd
• To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee

Quarter 3: What does decency do in the face of insult?

Whole Class Novels:

• The Girl Who Fell From the Sky, by Heidi W. Durrow
• The Boy in the Striped Pajamas: A Fable, by John Boyne

World Wars and the Holocaust in Historical Fiction | Book Group Novels (choice):

• Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, by Jamie Ford
• The Book Thief, by Marcus Zusak
• The Diary of Anne Frank, by Anne Frank
• The Berlin Boxing Club, by Robert Sharenow
• Maus, by Art Spiegelman

Quarter 4: How does virtue meet brute force?

Whole Class Novels:

• Persepolis, by Marjane Satrapi
• Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck

The Individual and Society in Fiction / Science Fiction | Book Group Novels (choice):

• The Lord of the Flies, by William Golding
• The Islands at the End of the World, by Austin Asian
• Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury
• Students may choose additional novels along the same theme

This course draws it framework from recent points emphasized by Cornel West. West referenced the four questions once posed by W.E.B. DuBois as a necessary call-to-action in response to the interlocking oppressive, dehumanizing structures, policies, and behaviors in this critical time. Hear it from him:

Like what you’ve read? Be sure to follow Christopher Rogers for more on integrity and innovation in the Language Arts classroom, and The Synapse for more authentic voices in Education!