Inquiry Essay Assignment

This is your opportunity (challenge?) to do some longer form writing in the class. I'm envisioning this as a personal essay (3-5 double-spaced pages; i.e., in the neighborhood of 1000 - 1500 words) in which you deal with a particular aspect of 21C. Challenges -- maybe an offshoot of one of your blog posts, maybe something we've covered in class that you want to think about more deeply, maybe an area we don't cover that you're interested in on your own.

I'm not thinking that this is a "school" essay, per se. What we want is an extended, insightful consideration in written form that focuses on some class-related issue you care about. The details are negotiable. At some point in the next month or so, we'll spend a class period sharing your preliminary ideas for how to approach this assignment. With that said, here are some ready-made approaches that might yield an interesting inquiry essay:

1. Write about an important way your own cultural identity (or one of them) influences your personal approach to some aspect of human health and disease. (Food consumption is one that jumps out and screams, "Pick me!" but there are lots of others.) Talk to other members of that cultural group. What do they think? How does their opinion influence yours? In order to really make this compelling, you'll want to paint a vivid picture of the culture itself. Think about using the tools of narrative and description to help your reader empathize with you.

2. Write an open letter to Al Gore. Write in your own voice, citing examples and anecdotes from your own life, explaining 1) why you care about climate change, 2) what you think the role of a public figure like him should be in tackling the problem, and 3) what you think your role as a high school student in Birmingham, Alabama is and/or should be.

3. Write an essay about the way(s) -- positive and/or negative -- your cultural/intellectual identity is shaped by the media you consume. Use your media log as a springboard.

These are just suggestions. We'll probably add a few of these in the next couple of weeks. You can ignore them or tweak them to suit your purposes. If you feel completely stuck, come talk to us sooner rather than later.