3/11: HOMEWORK: Here's the grading criteria for the performnaces and the reflection information. Due Wed.
In class: Performances and our first conversations about "Her Kind"
3/8: We worked on the performnaces and one group performed. We also talked about the resources and their connections to class. We started to look ahead to gender issues by exploring ads from the 1950s and now.
3/6: HOMEWORK: Another resource reflection is due by Friday. No coupons. See "Cont Am Culture Resources" for more information.
Here's the grading criteria for the BEAT perfomances. Today, groups settled on the poem choices and worked to make meaning out of the poems. Look up every word and reference you do not know. Work through images that particularly stand out. Examine word choice, sound choice, form, title, etc. Use these to help you make your way through the poem, to understand it as best you can and as completely as you can.
3/5: HOMEWORK: Another resource reflection is due by Friday. No coupons. See "Cont Am Culture Resources" for more information.
In your groups today, share the information you gathered from the video, podcast and readings. Together revisit "A Supermarket in California" and do more work thinking through the poem, bringing to bear all that you learned - about the Beats, about poetry and music, about the poem itself, etc. This is good practice for you to do together before you work through a poem for assessment.
Then, take a look at The Beats. Read the introduction and scroll down to the poets and the poems. Spend some time exploring. You are looking for a poem that you can work with - making meaning of the poem, applying what you know/understand about Beats and poetry and the times and moving into performance. If you find one (or two) that you are interested in, let me know and I will print them out.
3/1: HOMEWORK: Finish the work you need to for your group (either A or B below). Make sure that you have good notes to share.
We are starting BEAT poetry today. This is another kind of art that gained some notoriety in the 1950s and has had lasting effects (we'll be thinking about the same guiding question with this art as we did with Abstract Expressionism, Color Field and Action painting). To start, we'll work together for a little bit on Allen Ginsberg's poem "A Supermarket in California"
Choose groups - these are groups you'll be working in for the duration of the Beats AND you'll be performing together as part of the assessment.* Groups can be no larger than 4 people.
Then, in your groups, each person needs to choose either A or B , so that BOTH are covered in your groups. A. Watch this video and The Beats looking back and now and read "The Rebels of the Fifties". OR B. listen to this podcast about "A Supermarket in California") and read "Jazz Poetry"For each, take notes (you should have at least a half a page of notes for each source) about the Beats, who they were, what they did and why they matter. This information is important for your understanding of Beat poetry and to inform your group's choices and performance.
*If you are out for the work days, you'll need to complete an alternative assignment.
2/27: HOMEWORK: Write your reflection for Friday.
In class, share with each other their notes from the homework, then revisit the art pieces through the lens of the new information. Choose 2-3 pieces to reexamine through the lens of the new information and through the use of elements and principles (please choose at least one piece that challenged you yesterday). What do you see that is new and WHY does that matter?
We're also going to start The Beats
2/26: HOMEWORK: Finish this work: divide between this work between you: at least one person in each group read this blog, at least one person in each group watch this video and at least one person watch this video about Abstract Expressionism*. These should add to your thinking about the questions you wrestled with in groups today. Take notes and bring the notes back to the group. Also, pull together your ideas about the art you have been looking at and talking about in class. One of the eesentail questions for the course is: How do artists of all types reflect, critique, challenge and lead the culture and time during which they live? Choose at least one of the artists whose work you explored, make notes in light of the question, the discussion, blog/videos and what you learned from your classmates today.
*If you were absent, please both read the blog AND watch at least one of the videos.
Please get together in your groups today and share the art that you looked at yesterday. Start by just sharing pieces that particularly interested you. Use the same guidelines for looking at the art that you did yesterday (make sure to look at the elements and principles of art, the title, the size of the painting, etc.). Make sure that everyone shares at least one painting from each of the artists you explored. Then, THINK about this art in terms of its place as a 1950s movement: how does the art reflect the culture of the time and/or how does it push against it? How might art like this have developed in the aftermath of WWII? What similarities do you see between the pieces (if any) and why do these matter? What does the art suggest about American culture? In a google doc that you share with me (cathy_nicastro@wrsd.net) and with each other, pull together the most important insights from your discussion. Please make sure that everyone's name is on the document.
Next, divide between this work between you: at least one person in each group read this blog, at least one person in each group watch this video and at least one person watch this video about Abstract Expressionism. These should add to your thinking about the questions you wrestled with in groups today. Take notes and bring the notes back to the group. Use these to reexamine the art, revisit the questions above and add to your notes.
2/25: Please go to the Art page under the 1950s (see drop down menu above).
2/15: We talked through these poems and shared findings from the resources.
2/14: For Friday, listen/read and respond to one of the resources on the Cont. Am Culture Resources page (in the menu above).
In class, we discussed the Till photographs, watched the last half of this video and discussed the trial and Bryan Stephenson's thesis that there is a direct connection between Till and the deaths of young black men and women in our time, and the vital role that photography and video play in telling those stories. We also started work with these poems.
2/13: For Friday, listen/read and respond to one of the resources on the Cont. Am Culture Resources page (in the menu above).
*To start, please look back over the memoir and your response to it. Pull out one or two ideas from your reading about Mamie Till-Mobley's choices that you think is most important and write these down in the front of the notecard and tell me a little about why you find these ideas so important. Fill the front of the card.
Then, please watch the first 4:30 minutes of this video** about the Till case (you'll need to scroll down on the page to the video). The video gives an overview of the case, but more importantly focuses on the way the case became a national focal point, through Mamie Till's determination and the use of media. Please stop about halfway through (when the focus shifts to the trial) and go back look at TWO of the photographs in the first section (you should be able to move the red line back and forth with the cursor). In your journal, describe each photograph the way we did for Eckford's and use the description to explore why the photograph is effective (what does it convey about Till, about his famly, his death, etc, and why does that matter?). On the back of the notecard, explore how/why Mamie Till Mobley's decisions and the photographs fit in with the ideas expressed in at least one of the guiding quotes for the class. Write about how you see her, the photographs and/or Till's death in light of one of the quotes, how her actions/decisions help you to better understand the quote and why/how that sheds light on our contemporary culture. Fill the back of the notecard.
*If it is easier for you to do the classwork at home, and instead you want to use this time to listen to one of the resources on the Cont. Am Culture Resources page during class, you can. The Till work is due by the start of class tomorrow.
** If the video doesn't work, see Till in Jet Magazine, plus click on "Emmett Till Dies In Mississippi" in sidebar for more resources.
2/11: HOMEWORK: For Wednesday, read and respond to the excerpt about Emmett Till's death and open casket from Mamie Till-Mobley's memoir. For Friday, listen/read and respond to one of the resources on the Cont. Am Culture Resources page (in the menu above).
Review the photograph of Elizabeth Eckford walking to school at Central High in 1957 (Will Counts, photographer).
Eckford and Bryan have had lives beyond this photograph, but this photograph coninues to connect them. Read the excerpt from Margolick's book about the ways in which their lives have intersected since then. Respond/reflect: what strikes you as most important and why? Where do you find yourself sympathizing with one or the woman, the situation, etc. and why? Where did you find yourself arguing or pushing back against the story? Why?
2/8: HOMEWORK: Between now and Friday (2/15), please choose and respond to one of the resources on the Cont. Am Culture Resources page (see menu above). Details on that page. Please also read and mark up (or take notes on) the excerpt from Margolick's book about the ways in which their lives have intersected since then. Respond/reflect: what does this story have to say to us now about who we are as Americans, about race, about our history, etc.?
In class, we talked through the most important ideas from the podcasts.
Class quote bumper sticker possibilities - take a look and let's wrestle over which ones work the best and why.
Please look at the photograph of Elizabeth Eckford walking to school at Central High in 1957 (Will Counts, photographer). Describe what you see (take in "plot" characterizations, relationships, setting, color, space, etc.) then write about the effect of the photograph on you - what's happening here and how does that make you feel and why? Read Margolick's account of the moment of the Counts' photo (excerpted from his book).
Eckford and Bryan have had lives beyond this photograph, but this photograph coninues to connect them. Read the excerpt from Margolick's book about the ways in which their lives have intersected since then. Respond/reflect: what does this story have to say to us now about who we are as Americans, about race, about our history, etc.? Which of our class quotes applies most to this story and how/why would you apply it?
2/7: HOMEWORK: Please listen, take notes and respond to 2 podcasts by Friday. Here are the links to the podcasts: 99% Invisible (it's episode 201 if you need to search for it. Press the play button that appears on the illustration), The Nod ( "The Haristons Part 2." This is part 2 of a two parter. They recap part 1 at the beginning, so I hope you can follow it. Part 1 is really worth listening to...) The episode explores differences in opinion about continuing impact of slavery. Criminal ("Lavender Scare" the outing of gays during the McCarthy era) Stuff You Missed in History Class (Joseph McCarthy and the Red Scare part 2), Fresh Air (an interview with Melba Patillo Beals - one of the Little Rock Nine).
We read and responded to Stephanie Coontz's "The Not So Good Old Days." We also paraphrased the final of the guding quotes
2/6: HOMEWORK: Please listen, take notes and respond to 2 podcasts by Friday. Here are the links to the podcasts: 99% Invisible (it's episode 201 if you need to search for it. Press the play button that appears on the illustration), The Nod ( "The Haristons Part 2." This is part 2 of a two parter. They recap part 1 at the beginning, so I hope you can follow it. Part 1 is really worth listening to...) The episode explores differences in opinion about continuing impact of slavery. Criminal ("Lavender Scare" the outing of gays during the McCarthy era) Stuff You Missed in History Class (Joseph McCarthy and the Red Scare part 2), Fresh Air (an interview with Melba Patillo Beals - one of the Little Rock Nine).
In class, we read and responded to the excerpt from Bill Bryson’s The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid.
On your drafts: put a box around your 2-3 best arguments. Number them and then tell me why you think they were successful. Then, underline your 2-3 best revision changes (number these R1, R2, etc) and tell me why you made those changes and how they improved your writing. Finally, tell me what you would still work on if you had more time and why (how would it improve your address?)
2/5: In class choose one or the other to work on (both are required by the due dates listed): Your final drafts are due on Wednesday. Think about all of the ideas we talked about concerning revision. For your introductions and conclusions, think about the purpose of each. An introduction should set the tone you want to set for the piece. How do you want to start the piece? What's the tone you want to set? Is it confrontational? Welcoming? Conspiratorial? Authoritative? Take control and let readers know what they are in for.
For the conclusion, remember that this is your LAST chance to influence the readers. Make it count. Make strong appeals for the state you imagine as you look forward. Make suggestions about how to make real change so that the state of the union can ben stronger than it is now.
OR
Please listen, take notes and respond to 2 podcasts by Friday. Here are the links to the podcasts: 99% Invisible (it's episode 201 if you need to search for it. Press the play button that appears on the illustration), The Nod ( "The Haristons Part 2." This is part 2 of a two parter. They recap part 1 at the beginning, so I hope you can follow it. Part 1 is really worth listening to...) The episode explores differences in opinion about continuing impact of slavery. Criminal ("Lavender Scare" the outing of gays during the McCarthy era) Stuff You Missed in History Class (Joseph McCarthy and the Red Scare part 2), Fresh Air (an interview with Melba Patillo Beals - one of the Little Rock Nine).
2/4: HOMEWORK: Continue to work on the State of the Union address. Due Wednesday. Here's the grading criteria for the addresses. See "Early Days" page for more information.
In class, We worked with the Inaugural poems to evaluate the different views of America (2013 and 1961), whose stories are told, etc. and what that tells us about America. We also looked at Rockwell's Game Called Because of Rain in an effort to start to think about the world of the 1950s (in your journals, spend 5 minutes with the art, describe what you see).