Unit 6: American Identity

Unit 6: American Identity

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Cultur4ENGLISH 3P HONORS UNIT GOAL:

After investigating and analyzing perspectives on contemporary American identity through texts which include art, poetry, and nonfiction, students will complete a portfolio which explores the impact of diverse voices on American literature and culture. 

UNIT TERMS:

postmodern, symbolism, multicultural, assimilation, point of view, memoir, credibility, plot, internal/external conflict, genre

Essential Questions:

1. What is IDENTITY and how is it shaped  by historical events during the 20th Century?

2. How does IDENTITY shape perspectives of historical events and conflicts?

3. In what ways does symbolism in literature, art, and theater serve to understand the emergence of a 21st Century American identity?

Objective 1: Historical Context

After completing CORNELL NOTES on “Contemporary Literature Since 1939″ students will be able to write a summary that identifies significant historical contexts and issues that inspired American Literature after World War II.  

I. Pre-Reading: Double Bubble on “What defines American Identity today?  How has it changed since the country’s colonial beginnings?” & Reflection

II. Reading: Complete Cornell Notes as we read: Contemporary American Literature Since 1939 pp. 796-809 in textbook. Supplemental Reading: “The Po-Mo Page”at Georgetown University

III.  Post Reading: Students will write a paragraph that describes the historical context of contemporary American Literature.

Objective 2: Identity in Postmodernist Literature

I.  Pre-Reading: Close Read Barbara Kruger’s “You are Not Yourself” and explain what it reveals about identity.

II.  Reading: “Mirror by Sylvia Plath”, “Black Boy” by Richard Wright,” and “Straw Into Gold” by Sandra Cisneros, “Woman Warrior” by  Maxine Hong Kingston

III.  Post Reading: Inspired Poetry, Summary and Response Essay

Objective 3: Video Analysis Presentation

I.  Instructions

II. Crash Course Channel

III.  Rubric

 

English 3P Honors: 5.25-5.29 Weekly Update

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Monday: Memorial Day

HOMEWORK: Read Death of a Salesman and answer “Understanding the Surface Story” Questions of the Penguin Reading Guide for Act 1-2 and Requiem.  We will discuss the play on Wednesday

Tuesday: CAASP Testing Day

Wednesday: Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller: Coffehouse Discussion (Requiem)

Thursday: “I Have a Dream” by Dr. Martin Luther King, SPEECH: What argument is made in the speech I have a dream by MLK by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.? Compare it to the views of the other writers. Video Recording of the Speech

Friday: Turn in Gatsby, Four Square Discussion, FOUR SQUARE DISCUSSION Handout

UPCOMING:

6.1 American Dream TIMED WRITE

6.11 Last Benchmark

6.12 Last Notebook Due

6.17-18 Finals

Mexican American Literature: 5.25-5.29 Weekly Updates

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zoot-suit1Weekly Objective: After analyzing SYMBOLISM of the “pachuco” in Luis Valdez’s play Zoot Suit students will be able to identify themes about identity conveyed by internal and external conflicts of the play’s plot.

Essential Question: Is the “pachuco” in Luis Valdez’s play Zoot Suit a symbol of self affirmation or fulfillment of outside stereotypes and expectations?

Monday: Memorial Day

Tuesday: Birth of the Mexican American Unit Portfolio,  Pre-reading: “Zoot Suit” Notes, Teatro Campesino and Luis Valdez

Wednesday: Reading Play and Analysis Map and Notes for ACT I Watch Zoot Suit by Luis  Valdez, the “pachuco” as trickster.

Thursday: Reading Play and Analysis Map as we Watch Zoot Suit by Luis  Valdez

Friday: Give One Get One and Gallery Walk to analyze the symbolism of the archetype of the “pachuco” in Luis Valdez’s play Zoot Suit.

TIMED WRITE ON ZOOT SUIT ON MONDAY!

English 3P: Weekly Updates 5.25-5.29

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Monday: Memorial Day Holiday

Tuesday: CAASP Testing, NOTEBOOK RUBRIC

Wednesday: Analyze Images depicting “American Dream” in Rhianna’s video “American Oxygen”, Read “I Have a Dream” by Dr. Martin Luther King, SPEECH: What argument is made in the speech I have a dream by MLK by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.? Compare it to the views of the other writers. Video Recording of the Speech

Thursday: Close Read “I Have a Dream” by Dr. Martin Luther King to find juxtaposition as a rhetorical strategy, SPEECH: What argument about the American Dream is made through the use of juxtaposition in the speech I have a dream by MLK by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.? Compare it to the views of the other writers. Video Recording of the Speech, Prepare for FOUR SQUARE DISCUSSION

Friday: Four Square Discussion

UPCOMING:

6.11 Last Benchmark

6.12 Last Notebook Due

6.17-18 Finals

Quickwrite on Food Choices

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Getting Ready to Read

Before we discuss the Berry article, think about how much sugar, fried foods, meat, fish, fresh vegetables, fruit, and so forth that you eat daily. Then respond to one of the following quickwrites. (You have five minutes to write.)

Quickwrite 1: To what extent do advertisers influence your choices regarding the amount of water, flavored drinks, processed foods, meat, fish, fresh fruits, vegetables, fast food, sugar, and the like that you feed your body?

Quickwrite 2: Evaluate your own dietary habits, and discuss whether and in what ways you might change your diet.

Quickwrite 3: Consider what you know about the foods you eat, their origins and their quality. How much do you know about your food?

Quickwrite 4: Think about the amount of time and the quality of the time you spend eating. Do you drive and eat? Do you stand or walk while eating? Discuss how often you sit with your friends and family and enjoy the food that you eat.

Quickwrite 5: Certainly we all are responsible for what we put into our mouths, but at what point do we assume responsibility? At age five, ten, fourteen, eighteen, twenty-one? When (at what age) does a parent’s responsibility end and an individual’s begin?

Mexican American Literature: 5.18-5.22 Weekly Updates

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Weekly Objective: After analyzing SYMBOLISM of the “pachuco” in Luis Valdez’s play Zoot Suit students will be able to identify themes about identity conveyed by internal and external conflicts of the play’s plot.

Monday:  Guest Speaker, Gustavo Arellano, Editor of OC Weekly

Tuesday: Guest Speaker, Sara Guerrero, Creative Director of Breath of Fire Latina Theater and Conservatory Teacher at South Coast Repertory Theater, Last year Sara served as project director for  “Dialogue/Dialogos SCR,” a two-year effort with playwright José Cruz González which built a play around stories shared by regular people in the Latino community of Santa Ana.

Wednesday: Work on Birth of the MexicanAmerican Portfolios for Birth of the Mexican American

Thursday: Work on Birth of the MexicanAmerican Portfolios for Birth of the Mexican American

Friday: Digital Portfolios & Notebooks DUE

English 3P Honors: 5.18-5.22 Weekly Updates

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Announcements: CAASP Testing Monday-Thursday Notebooks Due Friday, Finish “Death of A Salesman” Reading Check on Friday!

Monday: CAASP Testing Day 1

HOMEWORK: Read Death of a Salesman and answer “Understanding the Surface Story” Questions of the Penguin Reading Guide for Act 1-2 and Requiem.  We will discuss the play on Friday.

Tuesday: CAASP Testing Day 2

Wednesday: CAASP Performance Activity

Thursday: CAASP Performance Test

Friday: “I Have A Dream” by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Notebooks Due Today!

UPCOMING:

5.25 Memorial Day

6.11 Last Benchmark

6.12 Last Notebook Due

6.17-18 Finals

English 3P Weekly Updates: 5.18-5.22

AdrianaAlba

Announcements: CAASP Testing Monday-Thursday Notebooks Due Friday

Monday: CAASP Testing Day 1

Tuesday: CAASP Testing Day 2

Wednesday: CAASP Performance Activity

Thursday: CAASP Performance Test

Friday: “I Have A Dream” by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Notebooks Due Today!

UPCOMING:

5.25 Memorial Day

6.11 Last Benchmark

6.12 Last Notebook Due

6.17-18 Finals

Woman Hollering Creek by Sandra Cisneros Discussion Questions

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DIRECTIONS:  Choose 5 of the following questions to discuss with partners in Lines of Communications activity

  1. What do you learn about Cleófilas in the very first section of the story, which is told as a flashback? What are the contrasts between “then” and “now” that Cisneros establishes in this section?
  2. How does becoming a mother change Cleófilas’s outlook on her situation? Does she defineherself through motherhood? Explain.
  3. How does the assumption that “to suffer for love is good. The pain all sweet somehow. In the end” (para. 8) help shape Cleófilas’s behavior? Does she ultimately reject this view? How can you tell?
  4. Why didn’t Cleófilas behave as she thought she would when Juan Pedro first struck her? Why do you think she was “speechless, motionless, numb” (para. 24)?
  5. What is the importance of the character of Maximiliano? What does Cleófilas’s perception of him tell us about her?
  6. In her new home in Texas, Cleófilas lives between Dolores and Soledad. In Spanish, dolores means “sorrow” and soledad means “solitude.” What does the author’s choice of these names for neighbors suggest about Cleófilas’s life in this Texas town? What other evidence can you find to support this interpretation of Cleófilas’s life in Seguin?
  7. How does Cisneros portray the situation of both men and women—the community in general—who have immigrated to the United States from Mexico? Judging from the depiction in “Woman Hollering Creek,” have they found a better life than the one they left?
  8. Why doesn’t Cleófilas want to return to her father’s home in Mexico? Describe the various “ways out” she considers over the course of the story. Why does she finally decide to return to Mexico?
  9. Why are telenovelas important in this story? What role do they play in women’s lives? How do they affect Cleófilas’s views about love and relationships?
  10. Explain the role La Gritona (Woman Hollering Creek) plays in the story. What does it symbolize? How does the meaning of the symbol change over the course of the story?

Mexican American Literature: 5.11-5.14 Weekly Updates

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Weekly Goal: Students will identify how Mexican American author’s use allusions subvert gender codes conveyed by Folk traditions. 

Monday: “La Llorona’s Sacred Waters” by Juana Alicia

Tuesday: Close Read Woman Hollering Creek by Sandra Cisneros: Biovideo

Wednesday:  “Woman Hollering Creek” by Sandra Cisneros Discussion, Introduction to Zoot Suit

Thursday: Introduction to Zoot Suit Summary Homework: Read The Legend of Rosario “Zarco Sainz, OC’s Last Desperado”

Friday: Guest Speaker, Gustavo Arellano, Editor of OC Weekly