This
CMU class starts by investigating theory and research in multicultural discourse,
issues of collaboration and power, and problems of moving across cultural discourse
boundaries. With this background plus training in collaborative planning and mentoring,
the college students enrolled have an opportunity to apply and test theory for
9 weeks as literacy mentors with inner-city teenagers who are using writing as
a problem-solving tool in their lives and community.
As mentors, the CMU students help inner-city writers produce either a newsletter or a video that gives voice to the teenagers' perspectives on issues in the community (from drugs and gangs to hard decisions and images of manhood/womanhood). The teens and mentors also work together to plan and hold a public Community Conversation on their issues.
The college students' final projects are framed as intercultural inquiries: tentative, collaborative, data-based projects that investigate, with the cooperation of others, some problem in community literacy or intercultural discourse.
From our Backfiles:
Project Seminar Syllabus for CMU Mentors
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