Reviewing the Novel
There’s also an interestingly self-referential special of The Colbert Report on the novel, located here.
Gatsby Annotations Resource
Click on the image to access my notes. You should read these BEFORE your reading in the text. Annotate for answers to the questions posed therein.
Awakening Resource
Click on the image above to access the video.
In the event the DVD will not play, students can access (while connected to New Trier’s network) a view-able copy of the film Grand Isle, based upon Kate Chopin’s novella The Awakening here.
Syllabus, week of May 6
HOW IS CHOPIN’S NOVELLA ON MOTHERHOOD related to feminism? In what way is Edna Pontillier the American everywoman? Consider how she struggles with identity in relationship to the social expectations she faces: mother, wife, keeper of the home and hearth. We will continue examining the novella and other literary examples of feminist American literature. Speaking of which: did you lose The Awakening resource packet.? In case you misplace that, it'‘s also located here.
MONDAY
Reading chapter fourteen. We will then start on the first chapter of Friedan’s book. We may watch a selection from Makers: Women Who Make America.
HW: Finish reading document #8, from The Feminine Mystique.
HW: You can listen to today’s report here. Tonight, read the first two document from the Awakening resource packet. In case you lose that, it'‘s also located here.
TUESDAY
Quiz on the connections between The Awakening and Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique. Subsequently, we will read chapters fifteen and sixteen together.
HW: Read chapters seventeen, eighteen and nineteen together.
WEDNESDAY
Examining “The Truth About Beauty,” in the supplemental materials packet. What role does beauty have in American culture? How does that impact women’s identity?
HW: Read up through and including chapter twenty-two.
THURSDAY
Reading “On the Equality of the Sexes,” as well as the Black Feminista’s blog post on the problem with no name. We will look at this biography of Judith Sargent Murray, and also look at this slide presentation on the 1913 Women's March on Washington. We will end class by looking at a modern interview about a British gender equality party, here.
HW: Read through and including chapters twenty-five.
MONDAY
Starting to examine the feminist American poetry included in our supplemental poetry packet.
HW: Read up to and including chapter thirty-two. We will finish Chopin’s novella by Wednesday of next week.
Syllabus, week of April 29
STUDENTS SHOULD CONTINUE RESEARCHING for three sources by American writers and artists that illustrate another take on the same theme of your researched novel. What do these two written and one visual sources say about that theme? After finding them, you will want to research what others have written about those sources. This is one way that can confirm that these sources are worth your consideration. If the story, poem, painting, or photograph isn’t sufficiently well known to have sustained the curiosity of the American audience, it might not be worth your study either.
MONDAY
Listening to a This American Life essay on the Ferguson, Missouri shooting of Michael Brown, specifically looking at the theme of violence against Black American men both in Ellison’s time and in our time. What is a thoughtful, interested American to think and do about racism? This is the essential question that the Invisible Man struggles with in his exile, and is something with which Ellison’s reader must also cope.
HW: You can listen to today’s report here. Tonight, read the first two document from the Awakening resource packet. In case you lose that, it'‘s also located here.
TUESDAY
Lecture on Chopin’s The Awakening. We will listen to chapters one through three.
HW: Finish reading chapter three, read chapter four and five.
WEDNESDAY
Continuing lecture, asking students to annotate for both Edna’s search for meaning—both personal identity, and social identity, and paying attention to nature as a metaphor for Edna’s search for meaning. We will read chapters six and seven together.
HW: Read handout #3, the background on Creole culture, as well as finishing chapter eight.
THURSDAY
Reading document #4, “The Book that Ruined Kate Chopin’s Career,” and then moving on to chapter nine and ten in the novella.
HW: Read chapters eleven through thirteen. Read handout six and seven, introductions to Betty Friedan’s “The Problem With No Name..”
MONDAY
Reading chapters fourteen through sixteen in class. We will then start on the first chapter of Friedan’s book. We may watch a selection from Makers: Women Who Make America.
HW: Finish reading document #8, from The Feminine Mystique.
Syllabus, week of April 22
IF YOUR JUNIOR THEME NOVEL IS BUT ONE VOICE in a cacophony of American writers and artists talking about your theme, what do these writers say? This week we will return to the library to research your novel’s theme, specifically looking to poems, short stories, and visual art that addresses you novel’s theme. What do these writers and artists say? And how are they in dialogue with your novel’s author? This week we will begin working toward that concluding draft.
MONDAY
Finishing the documentary on Ellison. We will also review the Epilogue. What does the Invisible Man say about his own life’s meaning? We will re-annotate that section of the novel.
HW: Your two-to-three paragraphs on “mask” will be due Wednesday. I will collect annotations tomorrow, after the quiz.
TUESDAY
Pop quiz on chapter twenty-five. Subsequently, we will re-listen to the prologue.
HW: Finish reading chapter 25. If you haven’t ordered our last two novellas, make a point of ordering a copy of Kate Chopin’s The Awakening and F.S. Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. These will be our two final texts.
WEDNESDAY
Discussion: What does the IM say about his life’s meaning? What should the reader leave this novel with? What is the message for you, the American reader?
HW: Meeting in library tomorrow to work on junior theme.
THURSDAY
Finishing the Ellison documentary.
HW: No homework over Easter/Passover break. If your annotations are not complete, kindly finish them.
FRIDAY
No school for Good Friday and Passover/Easter weekend.
HW: Annotations in Invisible Man will be due on next week. Also next week: reading Chopin’s The Awakening! If you don’t have your hard copy of the book, get it over the three day weekend.
Ellison documentary
After mirroring your ipad to the classroom projector and turning your volume all the way up, play the video by clicking on the image above. Start watching at around minute 47 in class on Thursday (4/18). In the event the video won’t play directly from the link, download the video prior to playing.
Paragraph on Dunbar's poem, "We Wear the Mask"
Post your answer to this class blog as a comment.
Syllabus, week of April 15
ELLISON’S NOVEL ADRESSES VIOLENCE AGAINST YOUNG, BLACK men in the urban American cities. Brother Tod Clifton is shot and murderred by a white New York police officer. This central act in a novel nearly 70 years old is still the focus of the late twenty-teens. Why does this issue persist? Why is violence enacted by white police officers against young black men still an issue in 21st century America? As we close our reading of this novel, we will continue to explore contemporary connections between Ellison’s novel and life in America today.
MONDAY
Examining two works of American literature that relate to the themes in Ellison’s novel: “We Wear the Mask” by Paul Dunbar and a chapter from Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. How do these works connect to Ellison’s novel? How are all three related to one another?
HW: What does the mask, in Dunbar’s poem “We Wear the Mask,” hide? Write a short paragraph in response to this question, posting it to our class blog. Also, read the first 10 pages of chapter 25.
TUESDAY
Today, in small groups, you will read a selection from Mark Twain’s novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Start by reading an overview of the novel here, in the Encyclopedia Britanica. Then, in small group, read the following article about Twain’s use of the N***** word in the novel, on our Gale database, located here. take turns reading aloud chapter XV, in which Huckleberry plays a mean trick on the escaped slave, Jim. After reading, discuss the following question, and keep notes on your copy of the chapter: How does Twain portray the escaped slave? What is the nature of the “trick” the the young and white Huckleberry Finn tries to play on the older, yet vulnerable Jim? What is Jim’s criticism of this trick, and how does Huck respond?
HW: Finish reading chapter 25. If you haven’t ordered our last two novellas, make a point of ordering a copy of Kate Chopin’s The Awakening and F.S. Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. These will be our two final texts.
WEDNESDAY
Discussing the Dunbar poem and the Twain selection, and where both fit contextually in Ellison’s Invisible Man. Where do these texts intersect? If all three are discussing similar issues, what does each author say about black American identity? After our class discussion, students will begin writing 2-3 paragraphs developing a claim, examining the texts.
HW: Write a 2-3 paragraph textual analysis. What are these three authors arguing about identity, and how do their texts form a dialogue? Rough draft due, on paper, in class tomorrow.
THURSDAY
Finishing the Ellison documentary.
HW: No homework over Easter/Passover break. If your annotations are not complete, kindly finish them.
FRIDAY
No school for Good Friday and Passover/Easter weekend.
HW: Annotations in Invisible Man will be due on next week. Also next week: reading Chopin’s The Awakening! If you don’t have your hard copy of the book, get it over the three day weekend.
Syllabus, week of April 8
ELLISON’S NOVEL ADRESSES VIOLENCE AGAINST YOUNG, BLACK men in the urban American cities. Brother Tod Clifton is shot and murderred by a white New York police officer. This central act in a novel nearly 70 years old is still the focus of the late twenty-teens. Why does this issue persist? Why is violence enacted by white police officers against young black men still an issue in 21st century America? As we close our reading of this novel, we will continue to explore contemporary connections between Ellison’s novel and life in America today.
MONDAY
As we move into chapter 23, the Invisible Man’s discovers he can change his persona by disguising himself with sunglasses (at first) and a hat (later). Presumably, he disguises himself at first to hide from Ras the Exhorter (who becomes Ras the Destroyer) and his men. But what does he soon discover about identity in America, i.e.: "They see the hat, not me….”?
Finish reading chapter 23 for homework.
TUESDAY
No class today for SAT testing.
Read chapter 24. If you haven’t ordered our last two novellas, make a point of ordering a copy of Kate Chopin’s The Awakening and F.S. Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. These will be our two final texts.
WEDNESDAY
What does it mean “to pass” in terms of racial identity? We will start with an Eddie Murphy SNL skit, “White Like Me.” We will then discuss the Invisible Man’s plan to adopt an identity that will allow him to infiltrate the Brotherhood, discover their real political agenda. Time permitting, we will start chapter 23.
HW: Finish reading chapter 23 for class tomorrow.
THURSDAY
Small group analsysis of chapter 23. What is a Sybil in Greek mythology? What does it mean “to see through a glass darkly”? How has the Invisible Man’s plan to infiltrate the Brotherhood by getting close to wives of men in the Brotherhood go awry?
Start reading chapter twenty-four.
FRIDAY
Today we will watch the second part of the Ellison biography.
Finish reading chapter 24 this weekend.
Clifton's Funeral
Having discussing chapter 21, what is the Invisible Man’s message for the people of Harlem? Write a paragraph that present your position, and use a direct quote(s) from the chapter in support of your view. Post that paragraph as a comment to this blog entry. Remember, use Chrome as your browser, and be logged into your New Trier Google account to easily access Squarespace.
Syllabus, week of April 1
PUSH COMES TO SHOVE IN INVISIBLE MAN. How is the IM’s funeral speech not only for the death of Tod, but also the death of hope for the Black American community? How is the shooting and murder of a young black man on the streets of 1940s Harlem any different from the gun violence the Black American community continues to face in 2010s’ America? From here, we’ll see the tension between black and white New Yorkers increase, and the chaos in America increase. What is Ellison’s argument about freedom and the roll of violence in social change? We will finish the novel in two weeks time.
MONDAY
Reporting out of Noodle Tool sources, the five articles about your novel and the paragraphs that you’ve written about them. If there are students in your research group who haven’t begun or shared their project, help them accomplish that. If your five sources aren’t sufficiently annotated, complete this task.
Finish writing the anntoated bibliography. Your Noodle page should have five sources on it, and each source should have one paragraph that critically examines the author, publisher, and the source itself.
TUESDAY
Grade reports. Today I will pass out graded reports, and students will have the opportunity to hand in any assignments marked “NTI” (not turned in) this week. Breaking into our research groups and working on a) completing the paragraphs for your 5 sources on noodle tools; and b) writing a first draft of your essay.
First draft of the essay due in class tomorrow.
WEDNESDAY
Reading your paper’s aloud do a different group of student.
HW: If you haven’t read it, read chapter 21. Tomorrow in class, we’ll work in small groups to analyze this and the chapter prior.
THURSDAY
Small group analsysis of chapters 20 and 21. Your group notes are due by the end of the period.
Read the first ten pages of chapter 22. If you didn’t finish it in class, post your response to question #9 to the blog entry entitled, “Clifton’s Funeral.”
FRIDAY
Today we will start a biography on Ellison.
Read ALL of chapter 22 for Monday. It’s a long one! A lot happens. So plan your reading for the weekend.