Creating Questions for a Harkness Discussion (Literature Based)
Ask three questions about the text (three per level). These need to be questions that you want to discuss or hear your classmates
discuss. Do not ask questions that you know the answer to just to have something down on paper to turn in.
Level One Question: 1. In the documentary, 13th, they have textual descriptions.
What effect does that have on the audience and the film
For the seminar student, these are not mere recall questions; as a whole?
rather, they establish evidence of basic facts presented in the
author’s proof paragraph. 2. Throughout the film, there is different music being
placed. What mood or tone does the music portray?
Examples:
● What evidence does the author use to support his 3. In the middle of the movie, which people would have
argument that it is man’s responsibility to care for the made a big impact in the world?
land?
● To what does the author compare his boyhood
experience on the family farm in order to further his
argument that man is forever attached to the land?
Level Two Question: 1. What is the primary goal or purpose of the documentary,
13th?
These questions are textually implicit, requiring analysis and
interpretation of specific parts of the text, pointing out what a 2. What emotions or feelings did you feel while watching
specific part of the text actually means, or what language was the film?
used to create the meaning. It’s not about what happened on
page 47 of the novel; it’s more like, “How does the author’s 3. After watching the documentary, does race have a
description of the dying horse on page 47 of the novel create a correlation to prison overcrowding?
tone?”
Examples:
● Why do you think the author relies heavily upon visual
imagery in this passage to convey his love of the land?
● How does the heavy use of repetition contribute to the
effectiveness of the author’s argument that
___________?
● What do you think the author means when he says:
_____?
Level Three Question: 1. Over the time period the documentary covered, were the
laws instituted by the presidents race-driven?
These questions are more open-ended and go beyond the text.
They are intended to provoke a discussion of an abstract idea or 2. What are America’s first steps into addressing the
issue, to connect events/themes in the anchor text to other
problem of prison overcrowding?
texts, other arguments, or to universal issues of
life/society/mankind itself.
3. Do you believe that slavery and the prison system are
Examples: similar?
● How has man’s attitude toward nature has changed over
the last 100 years?
● How has society’s changing perception toward nature
been advantageous? Detrimental?
In one complete sentence, write what the text is about (a This discussion will cover the history of racism in America and
summary of the purpose, message, plot, theme, etc.). possible solutions to overcome it.
For a large portion of the year, a lot of our discussions that we’ve
had has tied to race. The past few have been about the evolution of
racism, specifically in America. We discussed where racism came
Create a textual analysis. This analysis should take into account from and its origins. In different times and places, there’s a new
your previous questions and explore possible answers of your minority that is discriminated against. While our generation may
level two and three questions. (500 words or more) be more progressive than others, there are still many forms of
racism whether we see it or not. Systematic racism is still a huge
issue to this day. There are many faults in the economy and the
criminal justice system, and as a result a handful of minorities are
heavilty affected by it. For example, the race wealth gap. White
people are more likely to earn more money than an African
American. In the documentary, 13th, it talks about how our the
current prison system in the United States is based around racism.
Minorities throughout history have been affected for numerous
decades and it is up to our generation and future ones to put an end
to it. One the discussions our class had revolved around a Native
American writer, Sherman Alexie. In the article we read, we
learned more about Native American culture and the sturggles that
him, his family and ancestors before him had. He illustrated this
through a handul of ways: film, cartoons, and literature. The story
was that his family lived on an Indian Reservation. He talked
about how poor his family was and that he always looked forward
to eating KFC for dinner. He stated that the worst thing about
being poor is not actually starving, but feeling powerless. In the
Native American community, there is a neverending cycle of
poverty that many struggle and sometimes can not get out of. His
only friend, his dog, was terribly sick and he asked his mom if
they could take them to the vet. Because of their lack of money,
they could not afford to go. As a result, the dad shot the dog and
put an end to its misery. Alexie felt powerless and hopeless and
that he had no real control over his life. After that discussion, we
recieved more articles and stories relating to systematic racism.
We even had our own Harkness Discussion solely on systemic
racism. All the articles tied around the main idea of racism,
systemic racism, and inequality. For example, in Between the
World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates, it behins with letters written
to their son. The author talks about the progression of American,
but it’s not progression of all people, it’s white people’s
progression. The documentary we watched in class opened our
minds to the idea that our prison system is similar to slavery itself.
The growing issue of prison overcrowing is a byproduct of racism.
Minorities are overcrowded into prisons. African Americans are
more likely to be put into prison than a white person. African
Americans also are sometimes not given a trial. There have been
many laws that have affected mainly black people.
Remember: This assignment is due at the beginning of the period in which we will discuss a text —not mid-way through. These
responses will serve as the basis for our class discussion.
