Monday, October 7th

1. Review:

Descriptive writing techniques.

• Use of imagery (Visual, auditory, kinesthetic, olfactory,  gustatory) 
• Specific key details
• Use of figurative language
• Concrete nouns and adjectives and effective verbs

Definition of culture. 

Sociology understands culture as the languages, customs, beliefs, rules, arts, knowledge, and collective identities and memories developed by members of all social groups that make their social environments meaningful. Sociologists study cultural meaning by exploring individual and group communication; meaningfulness is expressed in social narratives, ideologies, practices, tastes, values, and norms as well as in collective representations and social classifications.
http://www.asanet.org/topics/culture

2. Today we will be reading the preface from the book, Letters from a Young Muslim by Omar Saif Ghobash. Pages: xv-xxi. Annotate and take notes while reading. Look for examples of descriptive writing and aspects of culture. Good annotations are a good mixture of WHAT (what is happening), HOW (how it is happening), and WHY (why is it happening).

GOALS for reading this text: 

We will be looking at this text for its descriptive writing techniques AND for its presentation of culture. We will be examining the narrative/descriptive manner in which Ghobash writes, plus recognizing how this book is reflective of an individual's experience/understanding of culture.

COLE's Classroom's NORMS for Culture Discussion: 
1. Be respectful in discussion of culture.
2. Be open-minded.  . . get out of our personal comfort zone.
3. Ask why.
4. Treat other cultures and practices the way we wish others to treat ours.