American Identity

6/15: HOMEWORK: Read the excerpt from "Self Reliance." For an extra grade - on the front of the notecard: reflect on Emerson's essay. Pull out three main ideas and tell me why they matter/how they shape American identity today. On the back: connect/contrast Thoreau's Walden ("Where I Lived..." and "Conclusion" to ideas in "Self Reliance." How is Thoreau Emerson in practice? Fill both sides of the card.

Exam prep: see "exam review" page for required questions and for supplemental materials. Those are the only supplemental materials you can use.

In class: wrap up book groups.

6/14: HOMEWORK: : Read the exam review sheet (posted on the exam review page) and come with questions tomorrow. Finish books for Friday. Lesson Before Dying and My Antonia readers, see "book groups round 2" for your work). In class - examining Thoreau through his Walden experiment ("Where I Lived..." + "Conclusion")

6/13: HOMEWORK: Read the exam review sheet (posted on the exam review page) and come with questions tomorrow. In class: see "Transcendental notes (2018)" attached below and "Where I Lived and What I Lived fFor" (attached below). We explored Thoreau's writing through seasons of his journals in an effort to explore the idea that he puts Emerson's thoughts and philosophies into action. We also started looking over "Where I Lived..."

6/11: HOMEWORK: Finish books for Friday. Lesson Before Dying and My Antonia readers, see "book groups round 2" for your work). In class, see "book groups round 2" (link below).

6/8: HOMEWORK: Read for Monday: My Antonia finish, Lesson Before Dying finish, TSL through chapter 16, The Hate U Give through chapter 17. In class, We worked with both poems (see see "luam-asa-luam + Milky Way" attached below) and met in book groups.

6/7: HOMEWORK: Reading for Friday: Lesson Before Dying: to chapter 26, TSL: to chapter 11, My Antonia through Book IV, The Hate U Give through chapter 12. In class, we worked through the difficult passages of Nature by finding visual art that expresses Emerson's ideas. Then, we worked with "Lost in the Milky Way"(see "luam-asa-luam + Milky Way" attached below).

6/6: HOMEWORK: Reading for Friday: Lesson Before Dying: to chapter 26, TSL: to chapter 11, My Antonia through Book IV, The Hate U Give through chapter 12. In class, Emerson's Nature (attached below).

6/5: HOMEWORK: Reading for Friday: Lesson Before Dying: to chapter 26, TSL: to chapter 11, My Antonia through Book IV, The Hate U Give through chapter 12. In class, we started by looking at Calvin and Hobbes (attached), then using Allitt's principles to think about at least one character in the choice book (see "Allitt's principles + book group characters" attached below). After discussion, we read "Allitt + Emerson's bio" and tried to find 3 things they know about Emerson, 3 things they know about transcendentalism, 3 things they know about how people gain access to American identity.

6/4: HOMEWORK: Read "Romanticism - Hum 2" and reading for Friday: Lesson Before Dying: to chapter 26, TSL: to chapter 11, My Antonia through Book IV, The Hate U Give through chapter 12. In class see "Book groups round 2."

6/2: HOMEWORK: Reading for Monday. Dickinson smackdown (see Whitman + Dickinson)

6/1: see book groups link below.

5/29: HOMEWORK: book groups meeting tomorrow. Read 3x 45 minutes. In class: We worked in groups to prepare Dickinson poems for the smackdown tomorrow. See Whitman + Dickinson link below. IMPORTANT: IF YOU WERE OUT TODAY, you MUST do your own mark up and explanation of a Dickinson poem (proving that Alexie's view of her in "Monosonnett for Colonialism" is correct (revisit the poem).

5/24: HOMEWORK: Reflection due by Friday at midnight (shared with me on Google Docs - please share by noon on Friday so I can confirm receipt). In class: Students worked on the reflections.

5/23: HOMEWORK: Reflection due by Friday at midnight (shared wth me on Google Docs - please share by noon on Friday so I can confirm receipt). In class: see Book Groups Round 1 link below.

5/21: HOMEWORK: Finish all books by Wednesday, Reflection about the books due by Friday. We are starting the second round next week, so get your choices to me ASAP (room in The Scarlett Letter and A Lesson Before Dying). In class see "Whitman and Dickinson" link below.

5/18: HOMEWORK: Finish all books by Wednesday, Reflection about the books due by Friday. We are starting the second round next week, so get your choices to me ASAP (room in The Scarlett Letter and A Lesson Before Dying). In class: we focused on identity in book group discussions - who gets to shape identity? How? How is it perceived? How is it crafted/shaped? Who has the power to shape? Who doesn't? What are the costs of identity? What are its benefits? We also worked on Dickinson (drawing our way through the poem that begins "My Life has stood - a Loaded Gun -")

5/17: HOMEWORK: Read for Friday: My Antonia read through Book III, TSL read through 18, Lesson: finish the book, The Hate U Give read to Part 2. In class, see Whitman + Dickinson link below.

5/16: HOMEWORK: Read for Friday: My Antonia read through Book III, TSL read through 18, Lesson: finish the book, The Hate U Give read to Part 2. In class: we worked with Emily Dickinson poems (see Whitman + Dickinson link below).

5/15: HOMEWORK: Read for Friday: My Antonia read through Book III, TSL read through 18, Lesson: finish the book, The Hate U Give read to Part 2. In class: on the front of the notecard: list the three most interesting ideas/insights you took from the reading for today. After discussion: on the back of the notecard: write about new ideas, new insights developing/changing points of view from the discussion today. Examine ideas: Community and its role in developing character/identity, shame and its effects, difficulties and benefits of finding and expressing one's voice, holding onto/breaking free from the past.

5/10: HOMEWORK: Read for Tuesday My Antonia: read through end of book 2 for Tues. The Scarlet Letter, through 13 for Tuesday. The Hate U Give through 254 for Tues. Lesson Before Dying: through chap 27 for Tues. We met in book groups and revisited Whitman.

5/8: HOMEWORK: See "Am Lit choice books close read." Book groups (meeting Friday): My Antonia: read through chap 13 for Fri and through end of book 2 for Tues. The Scarlet Letter through chap 11 for Friday, through 13 for Tuesday. The Hate U Give through 199 for Fri., through 254 for Tues. Lesson Before Dying: through chap 22 for Friday, through chap 27 for Tues. In class: We met in book groups and worked on this week's reflection.

5/7:HOMEWORK: continue to read (meeting Tues and Friday next week). TSL - read through 9 for Tues, through 12 for Friday. Antonia - read to page 85 for Tues., to 110 for Fri. Lesson - to chap 19 for Tues., to chap. 25 for Fri. THUG - to 179 for Tues, to 217 for Fri. In class: we read Longfellow's "A Psalm of Life" (attached below) and compared it to Bradstreet's poetry to compare the religious point of view, then compared to Whitman (Whitman poem packet) in order to begin to examine how Whitman's subject matter, language, form, and tone revolutionized poetry and created an American voice.

5/4:HOMEWORK: continue to read (meeting Tues and Friday next week). TSL - read through 9 for Tues, through 12 for Friday. Antonia - read to page 85 for Tues., to 110 for Fri. Lesson - to chap 19 for Tues., to chap. 25 for Fri. THUG - to 179 for Tues, to 217 for Fri. In class - met in book groups. Notes were shared with each group member in Google Docs.

5/3: HOMEWORK: Continue to read (book groups Friday). In class: I consider Ferderick Douglass'"Independence Day Address. " Lincoln's "Gettysburg Address" and the 13th Amendment (really 13-15) as founding documents. We examined these together to see whether it not you agree with me (and why or why not). We all added another quote about American identity to consider: "American identity isa perennial conflict between our worst instincts and our best ones. It...has room for Martin Luther King but it also has room, from generation to generation, for the Klu Klux Klan and for hate and fear." - Jon Meacham, historian.

5/2:: ContInue to read (book groups Friday). In class: listened to and discussed this podcast episode in an effort to understand why it matters what stories we teach and what stories we do not teach. Freeman's Monument (Emancipation Memorial) attached below.

4/30:HOMEWORK: Write the reflection after today's discussion in class (at least a page in your journals) and read for Friday. See "Book Groups Round 1" (link below).

4/27: HOMEWORK: Please read your book for 1/2 before Monday. In class, we talked about Benjamin Banneker, his life, his letter to Jefferson (attached below) and how that information reshapes your understanding of the America in the early years of the founding. Students also wrote (and shared with me on Google Docs) reflections for this week's work. If you want to count THIS reflection to count as the assessment rather than the one you turned in on Monday, type "Count as assessment" at the top. I'll read them for grading purposes after noon on Saturday, so please finish by then.

4/26: HOMEWORK: Please listen to the Benjamin Banneker podcast (see below for link + assignment). Also, before Monday, please read your book for 1/2 hour. In class: We talked about the Iroquois Constitution and its implications for our understanding of our founding. Students signed out their books. We also worked with Grant Wood's The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere and "I Hear America Singing" and "The New Colossus" as a way to think about how Wood depicts one of our most important American stories and how these two iconic poems depict America and how all of this shapes American identity (see below for Wood's painting and for the poems - "Am Lit Whitman + New Colossus").

4/25: HOMEWORK: Between now and Friday: please listen to this episode about Benjamin Banneker on the How Stuff Works podcast (you can Google Banneker + How Stuff Works podcast). While you listen, take notes (our focus for Banneker is about work as we explore hardworking as an American value, so your notes should focus on Banneker and his work) – I am looking for a list of ten important ideas from the podcast that relate to Benjamin Banneker and work. BE THINKING about which book you want to choose (see "American Identity Book choices" attached below). Make your choice by Friday (first come first served). In class: Work with McCullough and the Iroquois Constitution (see "IROQUOIS CONSTITUTION NYT" attached below).

4/24: HOMEWORK: With my story about Thomas Jefferson and our discussions today in mind, revisit McCullogh's speech. THINK about the stories McCullough tells, the ideas and attributes of Jefferson and the other founders that he highlights and HOW doing so shapes a particular view of American identity (make some notes right on the speech). In class: We talked through the demands in the Declaration in order to understand the values/ideals its writers envisioned for there new country. We also talked about book groups. Please see American Identity book choices (attached below).

4/23: HOMEWORK: See "Who is an American + Declaration of Independence" (attached below). In class, see "Who is an American + Declaration of Independence" (attached below). Here's the link to the reading of (and text of) the Declaration of Independence. Here's an article about the fall out in 2017.