Trials 3
Trials 3
Trials 3: Family and Community Cary Honig email: caryh@school-one.org
Welcome to the Trials 3 google page. Hopefully, having an overview of what we will do and roughly when will make the class easier. This also allows me to make the suggested but not required readings available in a context that might make them more attractive. All of the assignments and due dates are available here, so I won't be making any extra copies for you. If you lose something or are absent, just about everything you need (other than the book and the play) are available here, and they're probably available online as well.
Students can take this class for English or history credit. The workload for English and history students is the same in this class. The syllabus linked immediately below provides the details of what we're reading and writing this trimester. Unless you're absent, the main home reading is The Hate U Give. If you're absent, you have to make up what we did in class that day. We'll work on the legal cases, the trial and the play at least mostly in class. We will read some of the articles along with the cases. Others are optional reading if you're interested in the topics.
Syllabus for trimester three 2023
Every student even considering this class must read and sign the source policy and abide by it. Failure to do so will lead to no credit in the class. I am not interested in what anyone at wikipedia, Sparknotes, Shmoop or Harvard thinks about this literature. (The legal essays this trimester are based on scenarios created by me, so you won't find any answers online for those.) I am interested in what YOU think. You must think for yourself in this class. If you don't want to do that and perhaps occasionally struggle, don't take the class. You are always welcome to come discuss your ideas with me before writing if you are worried you are off track. I won't tell you what to write or think, but I am happy to ask you questions that might help you to focus or reorient. This is NOT a research class; it is a thinking, reading and writing class. Please respect that and trust that I respect ideas that may be flawed but original far more than ideas that are on more solid ground but that aren't yours. If you want to improve your reading, thinking and writing skills significantly this trimester (or want to earn credit), do not cheat, which is what looking for help online or elsewhere amounts to when I tell you not to do so.
For a guide to proper citation within text and bibliography (works cited), go to
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/section/2/
Links under the weekly schedule are to note sheets we will use in class as well as to articles that are sometimes recommended but not required to add to your knowledge about what we are discussing in class.
Essays are due every other week and always on Wednesdays at class time. I will try to get first drafts back to you on Thursdays (or later on Wednesdays). Revisions should be done soon after being returned but MUST be completed by the following Wednesday unless an earlier date is specified at the end of the trimester. That gives you a full week to write and revise except for the first essay, and even then, you will have a week or most of week from when you sign up for the class and get the assignment. Most essays need revision until I approve them as complete, which means you must address both mechanical and content issues I indicate on your drafts or you will be revising multiple times. You must always hand in the previous draft with my comments along with revisions.
Reading assignments are always due on Mondays by class time. You are welcome to read ahead and hand in your work ahead of time. This could lead to a relaxing end of the trimester or more time to work on other things then.
Therefore, you can expect a writing assignment to be due every Wednesday (either a draft or a revision) and a reading assignment due every Monday until late in the trimester.
Late work slows down the class for everyone, so don't do your work late. This class asks you to do a reading assignment and a writing assignment each week. That's not overwhelming unless you leave them until the night before they're due, and even then, it's doable if not pleasant. You should be spreading your work over much of the week to make it easy. Please don't offer excuses. On the fourth late assignment (and each class day an assignment is late counts as a late assignment), you will receive an extra essay. The first three should cover any excuse you might have or create. Should a student reach an eighth late assignment, s/he will not receive credit in this class regardless of the quality of the work. Should there be a truly valid excuse like a death or serious illness in the family, have your parent contact me beforehand so that we can work out a schedule.
Students can begin reading The Hate U Give as soon as they sign up for the class, but we won't get to it for a while.. I will provide copies of the book. The first essay is due by Wednesday, March 20 at class time. This is not about The Hate U Give, and it requires no reading, so you can begin it right away. The first reading questions, based on a very short story by James Joyce, are due on the first day of class.
Reading questions are always due by class time on Monday.
Week 1: We will begin by defining what each of us means by family. You will answer some questions on the first day, and these should help with your essay, which is due Wednesday.
Grammar: Commas and non-essential clauses
Your notes on Counterparts by James Joyce are due by Monday's (first) class on March 13. It's a very short story, but you should read it very carefully. It would be a good idea to begin the Gilmore story early as it's a good bit longer (but very interesting). Your draft of essay 1 is due by Wednesday, March 15 by class time.
Essay 1 23
Week 2: We will be continuing our discussion of family and community this week by looking at some legal issues that involve families while you read a short article at home about such an issue calledLegislating Culture.
When Should a child be removed from parents 17
When Should a child be removed from parents 17 questions
Can 11 year olds be forced to marry?
New York raises age to Marry 2017
Female Genital Cutting Continues to Increase 24
Your reading for this week is Family Album by Mykal Gilmore, and it's due by Monday's class (March 20). This is always a big favorite with the students, but it's on the long side, so leave yourself enough time by starting early. Your revision of essay one is due by class time on March 22. See me well before then if you need help with any aspect of the revision. You need to fix everything I discuss or note on your first draft, and revisions must come back to me WITH THE MARKED UP DRAFTS.
Week 3: We're also going to explore some history that will be relevant to both the play and the novel we are going to read this trimester. We will discuss the two stories you read for essay 2. Grammar: Commas with initial words and comma review
This week's reading is to begin The Hate U Give. You will receive a copy of the book. You will be reading through page 42 (almost all of the way through chapter 3), so don't leave it until Sunday to begin. Your draft of essay 3 is due on Wednesday, April 12.
Tr 3 The Hate U Give qs ch 1-3
Week 4: We will discuss August Wilson, the author of our play this trimester (and next if you're still with us) and maybe begin The Piano Lesson in class. We will also discuss your opinions from essay 2. Grammar: Quotations and punctuation
Denzel Washington Honors August Wilson 22
August Wilson article' 07 Times.doc
What August Wilson Means Today 17
August Wilson: American Bard 20
The Unconscious Rebellion of August Wilson 20
First biography of August Wilson 23
Charles Family Tree from The Piano Lesson
Langston Hughes - Dream Deferred/Harlem
Eric Foner - Terror in the South after the Civil War 23
For another great American "family play," here's the great theater critic Hilton Als's review of Jessica Lange in Eugene O'Neill's A Long Day's Journey Into Night (a production. like the original of The Piano Lesson, that I was lucky enough to see:
Hilton Als on Long Day's Journey Into Night
This week's reading is the second part of The Hate U Give (from page 43 until the end of chapter 5). That's due on Monday, April 3 by class time, and the revision of essay 2 is due on Wednesday, April 5. See me for help with the *s.
Tr 3 The Hate U Give qs page 43-end of chapter 5
Week 5: We will continue to read The Piano Lesson in class. Grammar: Colons/Semi-colons
Go to this link from The New York Times to see actor Brandon J. Dirden performing as Boy Willie in a scene from The Piano Lesson in 2012:
www.nytimes.com/video/theater/100000001975040/in-performance-brandon-j-dirden.html
This week's reading homework covers chapters 6-8 of The Hate U Give. It is due on Monday, April 10 by class time. Essay 3 is due by Wednesday, April 12 by class time.
The Hate U Give 3 - chapters 6-8
Green Spaces, Community and Olmstead on how parks (especially Central Park) can create community.
Vacation
Week 6: We will continue reading The Piano Lesson, certainly completing Act I this week. We will also discuss the beginning of The Hate U Give if everyone is caught up and what you said about Starr's life and your own.
Grammar: Punctuation with although and however
Your reading this week includes chapters 9 - 11 of The Hate U Give. The questions are due by Monday's class (April 24). Your revision of essay 3 with the draft I wrote on is due by Wednesday's class, April 26.
The Hate U Give 4 - chapters 9-11
Week 7: We will continue The Piano Lesson while taking time to discuss the book if everyone is caught up. Grammar: Prepositions
Chapters 12 - 15 of The Hate U Give are due on Monday, May 1 by class time. Essay 4 is about the central question of Act I of The Piano Lesson, and it's due on Wednesday, May 3.
The Hate U Give 5 - chapters 12 - 15
Week 8: We should be able to finish The Piano Lesson this week as we get close to the end of the novel at home. We will discuss Lucielia and Cora in class if everyone is caught up. Grammar: Adverbs
At home, you will be reading the long chapter called The Two. The questions are due by class on Monday, May 8. The revision of essay 4, along with the draft, is due Wednesday, May 10, by class time.
The Hate U Give 6 - chapters 16 - 21
Week 9: Assuming we have finished the play, we will discuss The Two and the end of the book. We will also look at some cases that will lead into our trial. We will go over some trial dos and don'ts based on last trimester's trial.
Grammar: Parallel Structure
Parents Who Chose Faith Over Medicine article
California Vaccine Mandate questions
Hasidic Measles Outbreak in NY due to not vaccinating 19
Hasidic Measles Outbreak in NY due to not vaccinating 19 questions
NYCity Forced vaccinations questions 19
Everyone has the final Hate questions due on Monday, May 15, and the final essay for everyone is due on Wednesday, May 17.
Only the slackers have an extra essay due, and it's due on Monday, May 22. Let's hope that's not you, but if it is, you have only yourself to blame.
Week 10: We're in trial prep. mode aside from grammar. Grammar: Me/I
Yoder v. Wisconsin actual case
Right to Try Treatment RI proposed law from 2017
The revision of essay 5 is due by Wednesday's class on May 24. See me ahead of time if you need help revising to avoid extra revisions.
Your extra essay revision, should you be foolish enough to have one, is due by noon on May 26 with the draft.
Week 11: Aside from grammar, we will spend the week on trial prep. Wednesday is the trial. Grammar: Split Infinitives and advanced usage