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Trials 4: Becoming Your Own Person Cary Honig email: caryh@school-one.org
Welcome to the Trials 4 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.
This site is updated for 2023. Please let me know if any links don't work so I can fix them.
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 Joy Luck Club. If you're absent, you have to make up what we did in class that day. We'll work on the legal cases 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.
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 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. You will have to sign this policy to be in the class.
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. 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 due most Mondays and Thursdays by class time during first trimester and then just Mondays most weeks later in the year. They are twice per week first trimester because Joy Luck chapters are numerous but short. 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. At least one smart student per trimester tends to do this.
Therefore, you can expect a writing assignment to be due every Wednesday (either a draft or a revision) and a reading assignment due most Mondays and Thursdays 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.
Week 1: While you are beginning reading James Joyce's brief but brilliant The Boarding House at home, we will begin class by reviewing the class rules and begin discussing the connection between culture, families and creating one's own self. This will be the focus on the trimester. Once we have done this, we will go over some recent Chinese history and key cultural points that will help us understand The Joy Luck Club, which is our main reading of the trimester. We will read Maya Angelou's chapter called Grandmother's Victory in class and answer questions about it on Wednesday as an introduction to our topics and to looking for subtlety in our texts, which you should also be looking for in The Boarding House at home. Grammar: Usage
Opening Day class rules quiz 23
Grandmother's Victory Questions
This week's essay, which is due on Wednesday, August 30, requires just thinking and writing. There is no reading for it. You are required to read James Joyce's The Boarding House and hand in the questions on Thursday, August 31. Be sure to use the vocabulary which is linked with the questions below. Homework answers must be done on your own (I'm very good at detecting cheating, and it will cost you an extra essay the first time and credit if it ever happens again), but you can see me for help if you don't leave it until the last minute. The more thorough your answers on your reading questions, the better notes you will have for your second essay. Putting page numbers where you find the answers will make it much easier to find quotes when you need them for the essays. You are welcome to get started and ahead on The Joy Luck Club, especially once we have gone over the Chinese history as background.
Week 2: We will discuss The Boarding House as soon as I have everyone's questions and discover that Joyce answered our questions in clever ways. We will then move on to discuss the first chapter of The Joy Luck Club, which sets the stage for the rest of the book. As you will see, there are four Chinese-born mothers and their four American-born daughters, and the book begins with four chapters from the points of view of each of the mothers, then parts two and three both have four stories from the points of view of the daughters, and then the book ends with four more stories from the points of view of the mothers. While the names may be unfamiliar at first, I have provided a "scorecard" to keep track at the beginning until you get used to them. The last three essays will all involve this novel, so it's very important to do these homework assignments well as they will provide notes for your essays. Grammar: Apostrophes
This week's reading assignments is the first two chapter of The Joy Luck Club. The questions for the first four chapters are linked right below this paragraph. The questions for the one page opening tale and the long chapter titled The Joy Luck Club are due on Thursday, September 7 by class time. Later in the day counts as a late assignment. Later chapters will have fewer questions. The questions for the second chapter, Scar, are due by Monday, September 11 by class time. This is a much shorter chapter. Your revision of essay one is due by class time on September 6, but why wait? See me if you need help with any aspect of the revision. You need to fix everything I discuss or note on your first draft.
Joy Luck Club (JLC) questions part 1 - first four chapters (assignments)
Week 3.: We will continue to discuss the early chapters of The Joy Luck Club this week. This discussion will be helpful for understanding the book going forward and for writing essays 3 - 5. Only students who have done their homework will be able to be present for discussions. Others will be marked absent and will have to get the homework done once we are ready to discuss it. Students are encouraged to add notes to their homework assignments for future use once they have been checked and returned. We will also do a business letter in class to practice for the competency exam. Grammar: Agreement
This week's reading assignments require that you read and hand in questions for the second chapter, Scar, are due by Monday, September 11 by class time and the really interesting Red Candle by September 14. If you read ahead as I suggested, you are now a happier camper than your peers. If not, hopefully you will learn from this error. Your second essay is due Wednesday, September 13, and this one is about The Boarding House and Grandmother's Victory, and you need to use quotations along with proper parenthetical notes in writing your essay. See me ahead of time if you need help, but your notes on the stories should be everything you need.
Joy Luck Club (JLC) questions part 1 - first four chapters (assignments)
Week 4: This week we are going to prepare to start reading our play, which is August Wilson's Fences. Students who were in the class last trimester read the same author's The Piano Lesson, and there are articles about this great American playwright attached below. While our novel focuses on mothers and daughters, this play focuses mainly on a father and his sons. Its main character, Troy, is a former baseball player in the Negro Leagues before baseball was integrated in 1947. It's a good introduction to the issues of civil rights that will be our focus for the rest of the year. This week, we will read some selections in class from Ken Burns's book Baseball that specifically relate to the Negro Leagues and to Jackie Robinson, and we'll go over this history as background for the play. Grammar: Commas and Adverbial Clauses
What August Wilson Means Now 17
August Wilson: American Bard 20
The Unconscious Rebellion of August Wilson 20
First biography of August Wilson 23
Baseball's Unappreciated Negro League Power Duo, one of whom Troy in Fences is based on 18
How the Negro Leagues Shaped Modern Baseball 23
Justice for the Negro Leagues Must Go Beyond Stats 21
Negro Leagues now recognized as Major Leagues 20
Jackie Robinson and PeeWee Reese
Jackie Robinson's Other Job 1950
Obit of Henry Aaron: Negro League and Major League star and Civil Rights hero 21
Lyrics to the folk song Old Blue that's adapted in Fences
Jelani Cobb on "Ungrateful" Black Athletes and Entertainers 17
Trump, Athletes and the National Anthem 17
Famous Athletes Have Always Led the Way 17
This week's reading assignment begins with The Moon Lady at the end of Part 1, which is due by September 18 by class time. This week requires that you begin part 2 of The Joy Luck Club (linked below) by reading and doing questions for the chapter titled Rules of the Game by class on September 21. Your second essay's revision is due by Wednesday, September 20 despite it being Farm Day. See me ahead of time if you need help so that you only have to revise once.
Week 5: In class, we will be beginning or plowing ahead with Fences this week as well as discussing The Joy Luck Club reading everyone has done. . Grammar: Commas with subordinate conjunctions
This week's reading assignment requires that you continue part 2 of The Joy Luck Club by reading and doing questions for the chapter titled and the The Voice from the Wall by class time on September 25 and the chapter titled Half and Half by class on September 28. You have essay three due this week on September 27, focusing on the mothers in The Joy Luck Club. You need quotations with notes in both body paragraphs.
Week 6: We will continue our focus on reading Fences this week. The father-son issues get more ominous as the play continues. We will also discuss the daughters in The Joy Luck Club and assess their relationships with their mothers and their Chinese culture and how it compares to our own relationships with our families' cultures. Grammar: Commas and Coordinating Conjunctions
This week, your reading homework is Two Kinds for October 2 and then the first one in Part 3, Rice Husband, is due Thursday, October 5. Your revision of essay 3 is due on Wednesday, October 7.
Week 7: We should complete Fences this week. We will discuss the end of the play and why August Wilson might have picked the name Troy for his main character. The play will figure in your final two essays (as well as the extra essay if you're foolish enough to need one), so you will want to take good notes. We will continue discussing The Joy Luck Club. This material will be vital for your final two essays. Grammar: Commas and Non-Essential Clauses
Your only reading this week is Four Directions, due on Thursday, October 12. This week's writing assignment is essay 4, which is due by class time on Wednesday, October 11, which focuses on comparing the relationships to parents and cultures in the play and novel.
This week's essay revision is due by class time on Wednesday October 11 even if we don't have class that day due to the PSATs. Don't forget to hand in the earlier draft with it.
Week 8: If we are on target in terms of time, we will have time this week to focus on recent chapters of The Joy Luck Club. As usual, your work must be in for you to attend these discussions. Grammar: Commas and initial words and phrases and comma review
October 20 by 1 p.m. is a CREDIT DEADLINE for all work that has been due up until this point. This includes essay 4 and this week's reading. There are no exceptions. Failure to COMPLETE SATISFACTORILY (to me) even one piece of work already due by this date will mean no credit for the trimester Get help well ahead of time if you need it; I'm available if you ask. This is designed to be sure you are in great shape to earn credit going into the last month.
This week's writing assignment is to revise essay 4 by Wednesday, October 18 by class time. Be sure to get help well ahead of that date if you need it. This week's reading homework includes the first two chapters of part four of The Joy Luck Club.
For reading this week, Without Wood is due by Monday, October 16 at class time. Best Quality, the final chapter in Part 3, isue on Thursday, October 19.
Week 9: We will continue to discuss the recently read chapters of The Joy Luck Club and how our perceptions of characters change as we learn more about them. We will also be seeking parallels in our own experiences. Grammar: Quotations and Punctuation
The final essay of the trimester (if you have intelligently avoided the extra essay) is due by Wednesday, October 25 by class time. It is one of the more challenging ones, as it requires you to integrate the four texts we have read this trimester. Your reading notes should really come in handy, especially if you noted page numbers on them.
Magpies reading is due on Monday, October 23, and Waiting Between the Trees is due by Thursday, October 26 at class time.
Week 10: We will continue to discuss recently read chapters of The Joy Luck Club. We will also read an article about governments allowing religious courts to function in their countries and discuss what we think about this. We'll also look at a touchy parent-child issue recently addressed by the courts regarding women's health needs and abortion law. Grammar: Colons
Ferguson decision on 4th Amendment rights of pregnant women 01
This week's writing assignment is to revise essay 5. The revision with the previous draft must be in by class time on Wednesday, November 1. Be sure to get help well ahead of that date if you need it. You don't want extra revisions at this point of the trimester. Your final homework readings of the trimester, if you don't have the extra essay, are Double Face is due by Monday, October 30 at class time and A Pair of Tickets, the final chapter of the book, is due on Thursday, November 2.
That completes the novel! Congratulations.
Hopefully, everyone was smart and no one earned an extra essay, but just in case, here's the assignment. You will need to use both the Baseball article and your notes for it as well as Fences. It must be handed in by Monday, November 6 by class time, and it must be fully revised by Thursday, November 9 by class time. There is no give on these dates. It would be smart to get it done well ahead of time.
Monday, November 13 by class time is a CREDIT DEADLINE for all work due this trimester. This should only be essay 5, the extra essay if you owe it, and the final readings due to the earlier credit deadlines. There are no exceptions. Failure to COMPLETE SATISFACTORILY (to me) even one piece of work already due by this date will mean no credit for the trimester. Get help well ahead of time if you need it; I'm available if you ask but not necessarily over the weekend.
Week 11: This week will complete our conversations about The Joy Luck Club and how its relationships reflect or don't those in our other texts and in our own lives. If we have time, we will look carefully at the key case of Yoder v. Wisconsin that we discussed briefly last trimester. We may also have time to watch Ang Lee's film of The Joy Luck Club or Denzel Washington's film of Fences, both of which are very well done. Grammar: Semi-colons
Link to evaluate the class: https://forms.gle/91yyhUcdrqwGbJPM6
There is no homework due this week, and the only work I will accept will be final revisions of essay 5 or the extra essay or the final couple of reading questions by the credit deadline on Monday at class time. Now you will understand why and be happy that there was work for the first day.
Congratulations! You made it.
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