On Wednesday May 27th, 2009 Classes 273, 274, and 281 had the honor to meet with Dr. Carlyle Thompson. Dr. Carlyle Van Thompson is a Professor of African American and American Literature at Medgar Evers College, the City University of New York. He received his Ph.D. in English and Comparative Literature from Columbia University. Dr. Thompson is the chairperson of the Department of Languages, Literature, and Philosophy. He has published scholarly articles on the works of Toni Morrison, Ernest J. Gaines, Nella Larsen, and Charles Waddell Chesnutt.Dr. Thompson gave the students a taste of what it would be like to be in a college level class. He presented video excerpts, poems, and texts that had the same themes and as a group they looked for text-to-text, text-to-world and text-to-self connections, even taking a look at some of the text that they have read throughout the school year such as literary works by Virginia Hamilton and Walter Dean Myers. The students had many questions, were very engaged in the lesson and many were totally disappointed when the time was up and Dr. Thompson had to leave.
On behalf of I.S. 68, the English Department and all that participated in this event I would like to personally thank Dr. Thompson for taking time out of his very busy schedule to make a difference in the lives of the students of Isaac Bildersee.
-Mrs. T. Hall
