From July 4th through 15th, NWP and hypothes.is invite teachers at Writing Project Summer Institutes, and beyond, to experiment with a new digital tool for civic engagement: the hypothes.is social annotation platform. The free hypothes.is service allows users to comment directly on online resources and have conversations with each other in the margins of digital texts.

This coming fall, as part of NWP’s Letters to the Next President initiative, students from around the country will be engaging with documents relating to the 2016 election, and each other, using the hypothes.is social annotation platform. Here’s a landing page provided by hypothes.is for the project, including tutorials and model assignments.

This summer, we invite educators to experience the power of social annotation for themselves. Join teachers from across the country for a week-long (July 4th to 11th) annotatathon of Barack Obama’s “A More Perfect Union” address from the 2008 election.

We welcome all kinds of approaches to annotating the speech, but here’s a possible prompt:

Often considered one of the greatest speeches in US history, Barack Obama’s “A More Perfect Union” is certainly one of the greatest campaign speeches in US history, delivered as it was during his run to become the Democratic candidate for president in 2008.

Let’s imagine it’s 2008! Annotate Obama’s remarks with an ear/eye towards what makes you think people should vote for him or not vote for him and explain why.

Here’s a link to the speech transcript. You’ll notice that the hypothes.is tool is natively activated on the page so all you’ll need to do is sign up for an account.