American Literature

 

Date

Agenda

Homework

Tuesday 1/15/2008

New seating charts

Pass out The Great Gatsby books and reading schedule

 

Response:  Pre-reading questions:

1.

·        The American Dream exists.

·        The American Dream never existed.

·        The American Dream is dead.

Which statement do you agree with the most and why?

2. 

To what degree do you think materialism has influenced society?  Your life?

 

Cluster Map of the 1920’s

 

Start reading Ch 1

 

Check reading schedule

Block

SSR/SSR Log

 

Jot down your first impressions of:

  • Nick Carraway
  • Tom Buchanan
  • Daisy Buchanan
  • Jordon Baker
  • Fitzgerald’s style

 

Fitzgerald Bio/Take notes

 

Check your reading schedule

Friday 1/18

Bell—Setting and The Great Gatsby (see handout in the back)

 

Ch 1 and 2 handout (see back of the class)

Check your reading schedule

Tuesday 1/22

Bell—Chart

Draw a chart that explains:

  • Your reactions to people and events at Myrtle’s apartment and Gatsby’s house.
  • Nick’s reaction to people and events at Myrtle’s apartment and Gatsby’s house.

 

SAT Vocab (see handout)

Check your reading schedule

Block

SSR/SSR Log

1920’s vocab story with partner (see handout)

Check your reading schedule

Friday 1/25

Quiz

 

Make a list of what you know or have inferred (guessed) about Gatsby’s life so far. 

 

Finish vocab stories

Check your reading schedule

Monday 1/28

Bell—

1.       In Ch 2, Nick spends the day w/Tom and his mistress Myrtle.  In Ch 5, Nick spends the afternoon w/ Gatsby and Daisy.  Why do people want him around to witness them cheating?  What do you think of Nick’s presence in these situations?  Why doesn’t he do or say something about what’s going on?  Do you think that he should?  Why or why not? 

2.     Continue to add to your list of what you know or have inferred about Gatsby’s life and personality so far. 

 

Dorothy Parker (see handout and do the following:)

 

1.       What are your impressions of Dorothy Parker as a poet?  As a person?

2.     What does she write about?  What is the tone of her poems?

3.     Evaluate these poems.  What did you like and/or dislike about them?

4.     Write your own poem (6-8 lines) about men and women. 

 

 

Check your reading schedule

Tuesday 1/29

Quiz

Discuss Dorothy Parker

Fitzgerald’s Style (see handout)

Check reading schedule

Block

SSR/SSR Log

Descriptive writing assignment (see handout)

Check reading schedule

Friday 2/1

Bell—see handout

Share writing for p pts

Start working on symbol/character chart (see handout)

Check reading schedule

Monday 2/4

Read Langston Hughes essay “When the Negro Was in Vogue” on p. 933/Write a paragraph:  What is Hughes’ attitude towards the Harlem Renaissance?

 

Finish Character handout

Check reading schedule

Packet due on block

Essay exam on Tuesday 2/11

Tuesday 2/5

Read Zora Neale Hurston’s “What It Feels to be Colored Me” page 951/Write a response:  What do you think about Hurston’s ideas about race? 

Harlem Renaissance poetry in small groups (see handout)

Check reading schedule

Packet due on block

Essay exam on Tuesday 2/11

Wednesday 2/6

Final Questions (see handout)

Check reading schedule

Packet due on block

Essay exam on Tuesday 2/12

Block

SSR/SSR Log

Turn in packets

Discussion

Symbolism

Essay exam on Tuesday 2/12

Tuesday 2/12

Essay Exam on The Great Gatsby

 

Block

SSR/SSR Log

Pass out Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises and reading schedule

Read Hemingway short story “A Soldier’s Home”/handout (see handout at the back of class)

Check Reading schedule

Friday 2/15

Start Hemingway bio/take notes

Check reading schedule

Tuesday 2/19

Finish Hemingway bio/take notes

Response:  What did you think of Hemingway? 

Check reading schedule

Block

SSR/SSR Log

Response:  Hemingway believed that all writers must experience what they write about.  Do you agree?  Explain.

 

Hemingway’s iceberg theory

 

Ch 1-5 SAR (see handout at the back of class)

Check reading schedule

Friday 2/22

Lost Generation/take notes

Check reading schedule

Monday 2/25

Read SAR silently for 15 minutes

SAR Vocabulary (see handout)

Check reading schedule

Tuesday 2/26

Bell—Ezra Pound (a Modernist poet) urged artists of his time to “make it new.”  Which artists (musicians, writers, actors, director, painters, sculptors, etc) follow this advice and how?  Or do you instead think it’s possible to make anything new because it’s all been invented?  Explain.   

Discuss SAR

Intro to modernism (see handout)

Revised Gatsby essays are due on Tuesday March 5th.  If you choose to revise it, you must meet to discuss your essay with me.  You also need to turn in the original with the revised copy.  I won’t accept it otherwise.  If you are absent, e-mail your revised essay to me at the beginning of your class period and bring the original with you when you return.  If you don’t e-mail your essay to me at the beginning of class, I won’t accept it. 

 

Check reading schedule

Block

SSR/SSR Log

Read e.e. cummings’ poems (see packet of poems at the back of the class)

 

Assignment:  Write a 12-20 poem that either imitates cummings’ style or experiments with language in some way.  You decide on the topic.  Make it a free verse poem.  Put this poem on a separate piece of paper. 

Revised Gatsby essays are due on Tuesday March 5th.  If you choose to revise it, you must meet to discuss your essay with me.  You also need to turn in the original with the revised copy.  I won’t accept it otherwise.  If you are absent, e-mail your revised essay to me at the beginning of your class period and bring the original with you when you return.  If you don’t e-mail your essay to me at the beginning of class, I won’t accept it. 

 

Check reading schedule

Friday

Quiz

“Danse Russe” (see handout)

Metaphor Poem (see handout)

Revised Gatsby essays are due on Tuesday March 5th.  If you choose to revise it, you must meet to discuss your essay with me.  You also need to turn in the original with the revised copy.  I won’t accept it otherwise.  If you are absent, e-mail your revised essay to me at the beginning of your class period and bring the original with you when you return.  If you don’t e-mail your essay to me at the beginning of class, I won’t accept it. 

 

Check reading schedule

Monday 3/3

Bell—Hemingway incorporates a dry and sarcastic sense of humor in his novel, including satire, irony and understatement (intentionally not telling something as it is).  Find two passages, copy them down (use ellipses if it’s a long passage) and briefly comment on each one.  Include page numbers.  \

 

Robert Frost/Pink Floyd—See handout

Revised Gatsby essays are due on Tuesday March 5th.  If you choose to revise it, you must meet to discuss your essay with me.  You also need to turn in the original with the revised copy.  I won’t accept it otherwise.  If you are absent, e-mail your revised essay to me at the beginning of your class period and bring the original with you when you return.  If you don’t e-mail your essay to me at the beginning of class, I won’t accept it. 

 

Check reading schedule

Tuesday 3/4

Read T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”/see handout

Check reading schedule

Wednesday 3/5

Share poems

Finish handout

Check reading schedule

Block

SSR/SSR Log

Quick-Write:  Write a response to T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” (1 paragraph)

Modern-Day Prufrock (see handout)

Check reading schedule

Monday 3/10

Bell—Make a two columned chart.  In one column, list examples of peace in Ch 12.  In the other column, list tensions in Ch 13

 

SAR handout (see at the back of the class)

Check reading schedule

Tuesday 3/11 or Wednesday 3/12

15 minutes of silently Hemingway

Read Hemingway’s “On Writing”/Writing/Discussion

1.        In this story, Hemingway  writes about a writer who is thinking about writing.  What convictions about the writer’s art and craft shine through?

2.       What do the incidents with the trout and the rabbit have to do with the rest of the story?

3.       How does Cezanne’s approach to painting serve as a metaphor for a theory of writing?

 

Check reading schedule

Exam SAR Tuesday 3/18

Packet due Tuesday 3/18

Writing assignment and extra credit due Wednesday 3/19 for period 1 and Thursday 3/20 for period 2.  If you turn in your essay late, you will receive half credit.  You need to e-mail your essay to me at the beginning of class at zaragosa.edler@gmail.com or have someone bring in the essay for you.  I will not accept late extra credit so if you are absent, you need to e-mail  your extra credit to me at the beginning of class at zaragosa.edler@gmail.com or have someone bring in the essay for you. 

Thursday 3/13

Bell—SAR

1.Why do you think Jake decides to help Brett find Romero?  (Ch 15)

2.How can the bullfight be a metaphor for life?

3.How do the different characters in SAR show disregard for others?  For themselves?  What statement is Hemingway trying to make about the Lost Generation? 

4.Defend or refute the following statement:  Pedro Romero is the most noble character in the book. 

 

Read Raymond Carver’s “Little Things” (see handout). 

 

1.        Make a list of the qualities that you believe characterize the work of Carver.

2.       List examples from the story to illustrate the qualities you have listed. 

 

 

Check reading schedule

Exam SAR Tuesday 3/18

Packet due Tuesday 3/18

Writing assignment and extra credit due Wednesday 3/19 for period 1 and Thursday 3/20 for period 2.  If you turn in your essay late, you will receive half credit.  You need to e-mail your essay to me at the beginning of class at zaragosa.edler@gmail.com or have someone bring in the essay for you.  I will not accept late extra credit so if you are absent, you need to e-mail  your extra credit to me at the beginning of class at zaragosa.edler@gmail.com or have someone bring in the essay for you. 

Friday 3/14

Bell--List themes in SAR

Group activity/Presentations

Check reading schedule

Exam SAR Tuesday 3/18

Packet due Tuesday 3/18

Writing assignment and extra credit due Wednesday 3/19 for period 1 and Thursday 3/20 for period 2.  If you turn in your essay late, you will receive half credit.  You need to e-mail your essay to me at the beginning of class at zaragosa.edler@gmail.com or have someone bring in the essay for you.  I will not accept late extra credit so if you are absent, you need to e-mail  your extra credit to me at the beginning of class at zaragosa.edler@gmail.com or have someone bring in the essay for you. 

Monday 3/17

Bell—

1.        The last line of the book is a question.  Brett says that she and Jake could have had a good time together.  He answers, “’Yes….Isn’t it pretty to think so?’” (p. 251).  Do you think Jake truly believes he and Brett would have been happy together?  Can this be considered a happy ending to their story?  How does the end of the book tie in with the title of the novel?   

2.       Why do you think Brett tell Jake he doesn’t need to get drunk?

3.       Does Brett change by the end of the novel?  Explain. 

 

Vocab #2 SAR (see handout)

 

Exam SAR Tuesday 3/18

Packet due Tuesday 3/18

Writing assignment and extra credit due Wednesday 3/19 for period 1 and Thursday 3/20 for period 2.  If you turn in your essay late, you will receive half credit.  You need to e-mail your essay to me at the beginning of class at zaragosa.edler@gmail.com or have someone bring in the essay for you.  I will not accept late extra credit so if you are absent, you need to e-mail  your extra credit to me at the beginning of class at zaragosa.edler@gmail.com or have someone bring in the essay for you. 

Tuesday 3/18

Turn in packets

Exam on SAR

Writing assignment and extra credit due Wednesday 3/19 for period 1 and Thursday 3/20 for period 2.  If you turn in your essay late, you will receive half credit.  You need to e-mail your essay to me at the beginning of class at zaragosa.edler@gmail.com or have someone bring in the essay for you.  I will not accept late extra credit so if you are absent, you need to e-mail  your extra credit to me at the beginning of class at zaragosa.edler@gmail.com or have someone bring in the essay for you. 

Block

SSR/SSR Log

Partner activity (Hemingway’s iceberg theory)

 

Monday 3/31

#1

Pre-reading questions (see handout)

Start reading Catcher

Check reading schedule

Tuesday 4/1

#2

Right away, we can see that Holden that Holden speaks with his own form of language, peppered with expressions and slang of the young in America during the 1940’s an 1950’s.  Why does Holden speak in this informal manner?  Why do you think he swears so much?  Does he talk differently to his peers than to his adults?  List and define 5 examples of slang in Catcher. 

 

#3  Group activity

1.       List 15 slang words and/or expressions you hear and/or use frequently.  Define what those words mean, use each word in a sentence, and identify part of speech (noun, verb, adjective, adverb).

2.     What does the slang you have listed reveal about your generation and your interests? 

 

Check reading schedule

Wednesday 4/2

#4 Bell Look at page 8 and the exchange between Holden and Spencer about life being a game.  Do you think of life as a game that should be played according to the rules?  Think about your life and your future and choices you have made so far; Do you play by the rules?  Or do you share Holden’s skepticism?  Explain.  At this point, why do you think Holden is skeptical?

 

#5 Catcher SAT vocab (see handout)

Check reading schedule

Block

SSR/SSR Log

#6 Quick-write:  How does Holden describe Allie and their relationship?  How has this loss affected Holden?

#7 Holden wrote a descriptive composition about Allie’s glove.  Pck an object that is meaningful to use and use sensory language to help your reader visualize that object.  Poetry or prose. 

Poetry—minimum 12 lines

Prose—Miniuum 3/4th of a page 

 

Check reading schedule

Monday 4/7

Bell (#8)—Do you think society encourages children to grow up too quickly?  When do you feel you stopped being a child? 

 

Vocabulary (#9)

1.       Define these words, using your own words or the dictionary definition.

Suave, harrowing, immaterial, innumerable, incognito, provocative, reciprocal

 

2.  Next, use all these words in a paragraph written Holden-style.  You can choose what you want to write about, but make sure you use the words correctly and “sound” like Holden as much as you can. 

 

Check reading schedule

Tuesday 4/8

15 minutes silently read Catcher

Read Updike’s “A & P”

#10 It might seem like not a whole lot happens in this story.  However, there is a lot happening “between the lines” and the story can be interpreted in different ways.  How do you interpret it?  What do you think of the narrator?  Why does he do what he does at the end of the story and what does this reveal about him? 

Check reading schedule

Block

SSR/SSR Log

#11 Quick-write:  What is the significance of the scene between Holden and the prostitute?  What does that reveal about Holden? 

#12 Holden’s behavior chart-  See handout

Check reading schedule

Friday 4/11

#13 Bell

1.In Chapter 15, why do you think Holden enjoyed talking to the nuns so much?

2.Re-read the middle paragraph on page 115.  Why does Holden feel better after watching the family?

3.Re-read the part of Chapter 16 when Holden is talking about The Museum of Natural History.  Look on the middle of page 121 that starts, “The best thing, though, in that museum was that everything….”  Stop when you get to p. 122, “And even if I could, I’m not sure I’d feel like it.”  What is the significance of this passage?    What does this tell us about Holden?

#14 Extended Definition phony paragraph (see handout)

Check reading schedule

Monday 4/14

15 minutes of silent reading

#15 Holden, School and you (Writing/Discussion)

 

Check reading schedule

Tuesday 4/15

#16 Bell—“Most of the basic material a writer works with is acquired before the age of 15.”—Willa Cather (1873-1947), writer.  Do you agree?  Why or why not? 

Check reading schedule

Block

SSR/SSR Log

#17 School Plan

Check reading schedule

 

 

 

Friday 4/18

#18 Bell—What do you think of the Antolini section?  Does Holden misinterpret the situation or not?  What makes you think this?  Do you think he has misinterpreted other situations?

 #19 Minor characters handout

Check reading schedule

Monday 4/21

#20 Bell--Some say The Catcher in the Rye is a quest narrative, which is a story in which the central character is searching for something, such as a person, place or abstract value.  What is Holden searching for?  What minor characters in the novel help him find what he’s searching for and what minor characters don’t help him?  Does he end up finding what he’s searching for? 

 

 

#21—Interior Monologue

Describe Holden Caulfield from a minor character’s point of view.  You must sound like that character.  Minimum 1 page.  Put this on a separate piece of paper. 

Check reading schedule

 

Packet due Thurs. p. 1

Packet due Fri. p.2

 

Project due Tuesday April 29th.  Points deducted each day your project is late.  If you are absent, you need to e-mail your project to me at the beginning of class at zaragosa.edler@gmail.com or have someone bring in the project for you.

Tuesday/Wednesday

#22 Mind map of Holden (see handout)

Packet due Thurs. p. 1

Packet due Fri. p.2

 

Project due Tuesday April 29th.  Points deducted each day your project is late.  If you are absent, you need to e-mail your project to me at the beginning of class at zaragosa.edler@gmail.com or have someone bring in the project for you.

Thursday/Friday

#23 Final Questions (elaborate if you want full credit)

1.        Discuss the significance of the “F*** you” parts in Chapter 25.  Why does Holden want to erase it when he sees it? 

2.       Describe Phoebe.  How does she help Holden?  What kinds of advice does she give him?

3.       Why do you think Holden wants to be a catcher in the rye?  Is Holden a catcher in the rye?  Can he ever be?

4.       Do you think Holden belongs in a mental ward?  Why or why not?

5.       Do you think Holden has changed by the end of the novel?  Does he experience an epiphany, and if so, what is it?  How do you imagine the rest of his life will go? 

6.       Why do you think J.D. Salinger wrote this novel?  Should Catcher in the Rye be considered an important book in American Literature?  What is the book saying about American youth and society?

 

Project due Tuesday April 29th.  Points deducted each day your project is late.  If you are absent, you need to e-mail your project to me at the beginning of class at zaragosa.edler@gmail.com or have someone bring in the project for you.

Monday 4/28

Read Kate Chopin’s “Story of an Hour”

Alexis de Tocqueville wrote, “In America, the independence of woman is irrecoverably lost in the bonds of matrimony.”  Write a persuasive paragraph (about ½ a page) that supports or challenges this opinion.

 

Tuesday 4/29

Read Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s story “The Yellow Wallpaper” and find specific examples to support each of the following interpretations:  

 

Interpretations

 

·          This story is an example of a Gothic horror tale

 

·          This story is a symbolic presentation of the effects of social and economic oppression of women.

 

·          This story is an example of realism because it’s a semiautobiographical account of a mental breakdown that is a result of postpartum depression that isn’t taken seriously. 

 

 

Block

SSR/SSR Log

Quick-write:  Because of our social circumstances, male and female are really two different cultures and their life experiences are utterly different.”—Kate Millet

Do you agree or disagree?  Explain.

 

Read Sylvia Plath’s “Mirror” and Anne Sexton’s “Self in 1958”—How does each poem explore female identity?  Use evidence from each poem to support what you are saying.

 

 

Friday 5/2

Bell—See handout

Read Marge Piercy’s poem “Barbie Doll”

Marge Piercy’s “Barbie Doll”

Do you like the poem?  Why or why not?  Do you think Barbie Dolls influence how women are seen by society and how they feel about themselves?  Can you think of any toys/objects that reinforce stereotypes about men and how they should look like and act like?  Is it as hard for men as for women? 

Write a 10-12 line poem about male stereotypes. 

 

Monday 5/5

Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried

 

#1 Anticipation Guide (see handout)

 

Start reading Ch 1

Check reading schedule

Tuesday 5/6

#2 First impressions of the book (1 paragraph)

#3 Chart (see handout)

Read “Love” and “Spin”

Check reading schedule

Block

SSR/SSR Log

#4 Quick-write:  In “Spin,” O’Brien uses similes and metaphors to create instant vivid pictures in readers’ minds.  Find 3 similes and/or metaphors and copy them down and explain them. 

 

#5 Writing assignment (see handout)

Check reading schedule

Friday 5/9

#6 Dialectical Journal “On the Rainy River”

Pick 5 quotes/passages that resonate with you in some way and respond to them.  Don’t choose any passages from the Anticipation Guide.

Check reading schedule

Monday 5/12

#7 Bell—

1.        List some of the elements that, according to O’Brien, compose a true war story.

2.       What is the significance of the scene with the water buffalo?

3.       What does O’Brien mean when he says this story is not a war story, but a love story?

4.       O’Brien explains that he can change all the details in his story, such as the names, places and events, because they are irrelevant in relaying the truth.  What kind of truth is O’Brien trying to communicate if not actual fact?

 

Read “Dentist” and start “Sweetheart”

Check reading schedule

Tuesday

 Quiz

Read

 

 

Block

SSR/SSR Log

#8 Quick-write: 

1.        What was Tim O’Brien’s purpose in writing “How to Tell a True War Story”?  What about “Sweet heart of the Song Tra Bong”  In other words, what’s the message or point of the story?

2.       In “Sweetheart,” Rat Kiley insists that women aren’t any more gentle and peaceful than men, and that we would still have wars if a woman was president.  Do you agree?  Why or why not?

 

 #9  We never know what finally happens to Mary Ann, just that Rat Kiley never sees her again.  Write a sequel to the story that explains what happens to her.  You decide if you want to pick u where the story ends or if you want to skip ahead 5 or 10 or 20 years. 

 

 

Check reading schedule