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No man, for any considerable period, can wear one face to himself, and another to the multitude,
without finally getting bewildered as to which may be the true.

     — Nathaniel Hawthorne,
The Scarlet Letter

Essential Questions

1.   What is identity?

2.   Do individuals create culture or does culture create individuals?

3.   How is our sense of who we are determined by who came before us? How does knowledge of history limit or  broaden our potential?

4.   What factors could cause individual or group identity to change or remain the same? (for example, from generation to generation?)

5.   We can be influenced to “identify with” or to “identify against”.  How has this been manipulated historically?

6.   How do personal experiences of history influence perceptions and identity?

7.   Is personal identity more important than group identity?

8.   Is how we identify ourselves more important than how others identify us?

9.   Why do certain events influence identity while others do not?

Unit Reading List:

Classic Text 
     JOSEPH CONRAD, Heart of Darkness
    CHINUA ACHEBE, Things Fall Apart 
Modern Text
     JHUMPA LAHIRI, Interpreter of Maladies
 Fiction
     NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE, Young Goodman Brown
     JOHN UPDIKE, A & P
     JOYCE CAROL OATES, Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?
     ANA MENÉNDEZ, In Cuba I Was a German Shepherd 
Poetry
     JOHN MILTON, When I consider how my light is spent
     ALEXANDER POPE, The Quiet Life
     WILLIAM WORDSWORTH, The World Is Too Much with Us
     RALPH WALDO EMERSON, The Apology
     EMILY DICKINSON, I’m Nobody! Who are you?
     E. E. CUMMINGS, the Cambridge ladies who live in furnished souls
     COUNTEE CULLEN, Heritage
     DYLAN THOMAS, Fern Hill
     GWENDOLYN BROOKS, We Real Cool
     MAHMOUD DARWISH, Identity Card
     KAMAU BRATHWAITE, Ogun
     GARY SOTO, Mexicans Begin Jogging
     SHERMAN ALEXIE, The Powwow at the End of the World
     JULIA ALVAREZ, First Muse
     NATHALIE HANDAL, Caribe in Nueva York
          Nathalie Handal on Writing
Paired Poems
     ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING, To George Sand: A Desire
     ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING, To George Sand: A Recognition
Visual Texts 
     FRIDA KAHLO, Self-Portrait on the Borderline between Mexico and the United States
     FRIDA KAHLO, Self-Portrait Dedicated to Leon Trotsky Conversation: The Legacy of Colonialism
     The Colonization of Africa, 1880–1939 (map)
     RUDYARD KIPLING, The White Man’s Burden (poetry)
     H. T. JOHNSON, The Black Man's Burden (poetry)
     DORIS LESSING, The Old Chief Mshlanga (fiction) 
     FELIX MNTHALI, The Stranglehold of English Lit (poetry)
     CHINUA ACHEBE, An Image of Africa (nonfiction)
     BINYAVANGA WAINAINA, How to Write about Africa (nonfiction)

Agenda
Mon 8-31-2015
     -Thinking About Literature
Tues 9-1-2015
     -Thinking About Literature and Close Reading
     -Interpreter of Maladies (IoM) assigned. Please finish Dialectical Journals (DJs) and Major Works Data Sheet (MWDS) by Sept 25
     -DJs: 2-3 entries in DJ per short story/chapter in IoM (can be typed or handwritten)
     -HW: Please read Chs 1-2 in Lit and Comp by Friday
Wed 9-2-2015
     -Tone in "To an Athlete Dying Young" and "Do Not Go Gently"
     -HW: Housman/Thomas Prompt
Thurs 9-3-2015
     -Tone in "Athlete" and "Do Not Go" continued
     -HW: 300 + word written response to poems: 
"How do Housman and Thomas present death in their poems and how does the theme of death vary between the two poems?"
Fri 9-4-2015
     -STAR Assessment
     -HW: read and respond in DJs to first 2 chs of IoM "A Temporary Matter" and "When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine" and prepare to discuss on Tuesday.
*****
Mon 9-7-2015
Labor Day
Tues 9-8-2015
     -IoM Discussion and Reading Blog Entry
     -HW: Blog Entries for IoM Chs 1-2
Wed 9-9-2015
     -Poetry Analysis
     -TPCASTT Overview
     -"The Powow at the End of the World" - Sherman Alexie
Thurs 9-10-2015
     -set aside Alexie discussion and TPCASTT
     -Groups: Stafford and Kumin
     -TPCASTT and Discussion
     -HW:Read Chs 3 & 4 of IoM; Blog entries by Sunday night
Fri 9-11-2015
     -groups should review yesterday's work
     -Groups present a cohesive discussion of the poet's presentation of death through analysis of the poem. What is the speaker's attitude towards death? How does this affect the meaning of the work as a whole (MOWAW)?
     -HW: create and compose a comparison and contrast essay in which you analyze the poet's use of diction and syntax to reveal the relationship between the speakers and the animals (aka MOWAW) 750-1000 words by 11:59pm Sunday on Turnitin
AND
Read Chs 3 & 4 of IoM; Blog entries by Sunday night

*****
Mon 9-14-2015
    -Housekeeping 
Tues 9-15-2015
     -"A Rose for Emily"
Wed 9-16-2015
     -SAT Registration
Thurs 9-17-2015
     -"Good Country People" and DIDLS
     -Discussion
Fri 9-18-2015
     -Fall SAT Prep Assessment
     -HW: Please read IoM Chs 5-6 and then compose Primary Blog Entries by Friday night -give or take a day :) Secondary Blogs by Sunday night.
*****
Mon 9-21-2015
     -Countee Cullen "Heritage"
Tues 9-22-2015
     -"Heritage" and "Everyday Uses"
Wed 9-23-2015
     -discussion "Identity in 'Heritage' and 'Everyday Uses'"
     -Lab Time for outstanding Blog Entries and Vocab Quizzes
Thurs 9-24-2015
     -Computer Lab
     -Housekeeping
Fri 9-25-2015
     -Allusions/Harkness Prep
    -"How to Harkness" the Williams Version
     -Harkness Video
*****
Mon 9-28-2015
     -Allusions Test
Tues 9-29-2015
     -Prep for Team Discussions
Wed 9-30-2015
     -Prep for Harkness Discussion
Thurs 10-1-2015
     -Prep fpr Harkness Discussion
Fri 10-2-2015
     -PRACTICE Harkness Discussion
****
Mon 10-5-2015
     -Frankenstein Overview
     -Project Overview and Presentation Dates
Tues 10-6-2015
     -
Wed 10-7-2015

Multi-Media Resources:

We Were Wanderers On A Prehistoric Earth from James W Griffiths on Vimeo.

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Click on the image to listen an audio version of HOD from LoudLit.org
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Click on the image to listen to “Transplanted Author Finds Roots in Writing,” from NPR: Jhumpa Lahiri discusses her short stories and her sense of place.
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NPR reports on John Updike; New York Review of Books editor Robert Silvers reflects on the man and the writer.
In October 2008, John Updike spoke with Sam Tanenhaus, the editor of the New York Times Book Review, about the craft of fiction and the art of writing.

Joyce Carol Oates: The Gravedigger's Daughter from Book Passage on FORA.tv

Joyce Carol Oates speaks for the Book Passage bookstore in Corte Madera, CA; she reads from her book The Gravedigger’s Daughter and answers questions about her writing. 
Why Is “"Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" dedicated to Bob Dylan? Joyce Carol Oates discusses what Bob Dylan had to do with her short story "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?"
Ana Menenedez talks with Celeste Fraser Delgado about history and poetry in her latest novel, The Last War, at the Miami Book Fair International 2009. 
Sean Barrett reads John Milton’s poem “On His Blindness.”

Click logo to listen.

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“John Milton, 400 Years of ‘Justifying God to Men’” on NPR: Tom Vitale and others describe Milton’s importance to English literature.


Click logo to listen.

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Author Phillip Pullman opens an exhibit on Milton at the Bodleian Library in Oxford and discusses the continued relevance of Paradise Lost.


Click logo to listen.

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NPR describes Wordsworth’s and Coleridge’s impact on English literature, helped by Adam Sisman, author of The Friendship, a book about the romantic partnership. 


Click photo to listen.

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Multiple readings of “The Apology” on Librivox

Yina Liang reads "I'm Nobody! Who are You?" and discusses its relevance to her life, for the Favorite Poem Project.
David John Hart reads e.e. cummings’s poem “the Cambridge ladies who live in furnished souls”

Click print to listen.

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Countee Cullen reads an excerpt from his poem "Heritage"


John Ulrich discusses his favorite poem, “We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks, and its meaning in his life. 

Click photo to listen.

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Al Jazeera reports on the mourning of the death of Mahmoud Darwish in Palestine, and remarks on his importance as a poet.


Xochil Goretsky reads Sherman Alexie’s poem, “The Powwow at the End of the World” at the California Poetry Out Loud State Champion competition.
HistoryTubeTV presents a mini-documentary on European imperialism in Africa.
Doris Lessing talks about her writing style.
Chinua Achebe discusses his work and the themes with which he works.

The three video clips below are a reaction from Binyavanga Wainaina to his text  How to Write About Africa.

Click photo to listen.

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Djimon Hounsou reads “How (Not) to Write About Africa” for (RED)WIRE.


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click on photo to see BBC video clip of the poem, "Ogun"

Documents and Text Resources

williams-interpreterofmaladiesresponseessay.pdf
File Size: 37 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

ap_lit_vocab_list_and_more.pdf
File Size: 135 kb
File Type: pdf
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ckrwilliams-culture_and_identity_unit-summative_assessment.pdf
File Size: 18 kb
File Type: pdf
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hawthorne-younggoodmanbrown.pdf
File Size: 94 kb
File Type: pdf
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updike-ap.pdf
File Size: 61 kb
File Type: pdf
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oates-whereareyougoingwherehaveyoubeen.pdf
File Size: 36 kb
File Type: pdf
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menendez-incubaiwasagermanshepard.pdf
File Size: 271 kb
File Type: pdf
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milton-sonnet19-wheniconsiderhowmyligtisspent.pdf
File Size: 70 kb
File Type: pdf
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pope-thequietlife.pdf
File Size: 30 kb
File Type: pdf
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wordsworth-theworldistoomuchwithus.pdf
File Size: 6 kb
File Type: pdf
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emerson-theapology.pdf
File Size: 27 kb
File Type: pdf
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dickenson-imnobodywhoareyou.pdf
File Size: 673 kb
File Type: pdf
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cummings-thecambridgeladieswholiveinfurnishedsouls.pdf
File Size: 45 kb
File Type: pdf
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cullen-heritage.pdf
File Size: 103 kb
File Type: pdf
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thomas-fernhill.pdf
File Size: 48 kb
File Type: pdf
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brooks-werealcool.pdf
File Size: 37 kb
File Type: pdf
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darwish-identitycard.pdf
File Size: 19 kb
File Type: pdf
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alexie_-_the_powwow_at_the_end_of_the_world.docx
File Size: 13 kb
File Type: docx
Download File

chekhov_-_lady_with_the_little_dog.pdf
File Size: 108 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

  • Home
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