John Steinbeck, “Cannery Row”

“Cannery Row is the gathered and scattered, tin and iron and rust and splintered wood, chipped pavement and weedy lots and junk heaps, sardine canneries of corrugated iron, honky tonks, restaurants and whore houses, and little crowded groceries, and laboratories and flophouses.” John Steinbeck, Cannery Row (1945)     Have you used this sample in…

Coates, “Between the World and Me”

“I write you in your fifteenth year. I am writing you because this was the year you saw Eric Garner choked to death for selling cigarettes; because you know now that Renisha McBride was shot for seeking help, that John Crawford was shot down for browsing in a department store. And you have seen men…

JFK, “Ask Not…”

“Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.” John F. Kennedy, 1961     Have you used this sample in your class?  Please tell us how it went; what did you discuss? What activities did you do? How did students respond? Comment below!