Syllabus: Week 14, November 17

UNLIKE FREDERICK DOUGLASS, TROY IS NOT A HEROIC MAN. Yes, both men face American racism, the former as an escaped slave before, during, and post-Civil War, the later during Jim Crow 1950s America. And both do encounter racism in their search for freedom. Like Douglass, Troy is able to advocate for himself and advance economically. He argues that he should be allowed to work as a driver, and he in-fact gets a job as driver. But also, we see in Fences how Troy cannot escape the damage of his father’s mistreatment, how that carries over into his relationship with his sons, Cory and Lyons. This week we will begin to study the play closer, looking at Troy’s characterization, how he is a flawed (but heroic) man, one who creates a family for himself where none existed, yet still cannot quite be the nurturing father and faithful husband he intends to become. How does this man build fences around himself, emotionally and practically? And how do these fences both protect and seclude him, from harm and from growth, respectively? And what does this play say about our theme of freedom?

TUESDAY

• Overview of the day, and 20-minutes of independent reading.

• Returning to our discussion of Gabriel and the mistreatment of WWII veterans.

• Watching the film version of I.ii-iv.

• HW: Read II.i, pages 59-72 (that’s thirteen pages…you can do it!)

WEDNESDAY

• 10 minutes of independent reading.

• With a partner, re-reading aloud II.i, and then working on a study guide for that same scene.

• HW: Read II.ii and iii for class on Friday.

FRIDAY

• 20 minutes of independent reading.

• Reading II.iv in class together.

• Returning to the film version of the play.

• HW: If you are behind in your annotations in the play—keeping notes on Troy, his struggle for freedom and the role fences play in his life—re-do these over break. Have a great Thanksgiving!

Syllabus: Week 13, November 10

BECAUSE WE HAD THE SHORTENED WEEK, I didn’t post the full syllabus for our course. I collected the first drafts of the essays on Frederick Douglass and your analysis of freedom within his autobiography. I also finished collecting and grading your annotations to the “Narrative of a Life.” We began watching a film version of the play we are studying, Fences. Denzel Washington plays the role of Troy Maxson, a 1950s black-American sanitation worker struggling to raise his family and defend that which his family has earned. (On that same topic, we brainstormed ideas about “fences,” and what they symbolize in society.) We read two non-fiction articles, one on the history of racist stereotypes in American film, another on racism in American baseball (and the role Jackie Robinson had in bringing black players into the MLB. We ended the week by reading I.i of the play, and practicing word emphasis, to create meaning in line delivery. This week I will meet with students (during class) to review your essays and return them, graded and with feedback for improvement. We will also study all of act one of the play.

TUESDAY

• Overview of the day, and 20-minutes of independent reading.

• Watching the remaining part of the film, I.i as well as I.ii.

• Reading with a partner, finishing your reading of lines in I.i.

• Working on study guides for I.i.

• HW: Finish the study guide for I.i and read I.ii.

WEDNESDAY

• 10 minutes of independent reading.

• Watching the first part of a documentary, “At the River’s Edge,” a documentary about the 1968 Memphis sanitation workers’ strike (which led to ML King Jr.’s presence, and assassination, in Memphis).

• HW: Read I.iii and I.iv for class on Friday (that is up to and through page 72).

Veterans Day report from CBS Sunday Morning, 11/10/2025

FRIDAY

• 20 minutes of independent reading.

• Finishing the documentary on the Memphis sanitation workers’ strike in 1968.

• We will look briefly at what happened when black American GIs returned from WW2.

• HW: Finishing the study guide on act one for class on Tuesday.

The song “Old Blue” that Troy sings to Rose in I.iv.

Syllabus: Week 11, October 27

WE WILL WRITE OUR FIRST ESSAY THIS WEEK, starting by brainstorming in class, and creating the first draft in class as well. We’ll finish brainstorming in class on Wednesday, and will spend 40 minutes of class on Friday writing the first draft. Over the weekend you will complete, revise, and print your essay. It should be approx. 1.5 to 2 pages long, should have an introduction, two body paragraphs, and a short conclusion. We will review those expectations in class, this week. Finally, I will collect and grade your annotations. For this first, 100 point annotation assignment, you will receive specific feedback on how to improve your written notes in your book. My expectation is that this should be a given “A” for all students who complete the reading. This should NOT be a difficult skill to master. Your written, marginal notes should reflect the reader’s dialogue with the text about the author’s purpose/book’s meaning. I’ll review the feedback details in class.

TUESDAY

• Overview of the day, and 20-minutes of independent reading.

• Reviewing my annotations in “the appendix” to FD’s “Narrative.”

• Finishing the first part of The Abolitionists documentary, wherein we see Douglass become more radical in his approach to fighting for slaves’ freedom, and he breaks away from his white partner in emancipation,

• Reading aloud the appendix.

• HW: Read and annotate the selection from James for class on Friday.

WEDNESDAY

• 10 minutes of independent reading.

• Brainstorming for your in-class essay on FD’s “Narrative,” to be written in class on Friday.

• During class I will review and begin grading your annotations (you will get them back immediately, with the feedback slip).

• Playing the remaining part of the above documentary. It will review Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin, and the play version’s impact on Douglass’s mission to free the slaves.

• HW: Finish reading the selection from James, and add any additional quotes you will need for class on Friday.

FRIDAY

• 20 minutes of independent reading.

• I will finish grading the annotations during independent reading.

• In class writing of essay on “Narrative.”

• Discussion of selection from “James.”

• Time permitting, we will read the introduction to the play Fences.

• HW: Revised essay is due Tuesday.

Syllabus: Week 10, October 21

OUR NEXT TEXT IS AUGUST WILSON’S PLAY, FENCES, the story of a black American man who works as a refuse collector in Pittsburgh in 1950s America. Troy Maxon “has gone through life in a country where to be proud and black was to face pressures that could crus a man, body and soul…[His desire for opportunities for work] is making him a stranger, angry and afraid, in a world he never knew and to a wife and son he understands less and less.” The winner of a Pulitzer Prize for Drama, this is one of a series of plays that explores the life of black Americans in one place through the 19th and 20th century. You need to purchase the book, by this Friday at New Trier’s bookstore. It costs $16.35.

TUESDAY

• 20-minutes of independent reading.

• Checking grades. If you need to re-submit your freedom paragraph OR photo, please do so. Also, anything marked a zero or an “F” is missing. Please make up any of these assignments.

• Completing three words from chapter ten of Frederick Douglass’s narrative.

• After reviewing the plot summary worksheet, working on the study guide questions for chapter 10.

• HW: Finish the study guide questions for chapter 10.

WEDNESDAY

• Collecting your chapter 10 plot line, and study guide questions.

• 10 minutes of independent reading.

• Listening to the first 20 minutes of the above podcast.

• Starting a brainstorming worksheet for a paper on FD’s “Narrative.”

• HW: Spend half-an-hour brainstorming ideas for your paper on NOAL.

FRIDAY

• 20 minutes of independent reading.

• Great Books discussion: Dunbar’s “We Wear the Mask”

  • Reading the poem three times;

  • Annotating for what you notice;

  • Answering the pre-discussion question, discussing, and then writing the post-discussion response.

• Starting a mind-map / brainstorm for a paper on Narrative.

• Watching the first part of a dramatization of Frederick Douglass’s “The Narrative of a Life of Frederick Douglass,” a sniped from The Abolitionists. We pick up directly after Douglass escapes from Slavery, to Boston.

• HW: Make sure your text is annotated. It will be collected and graded next week, and it will be worth 100 points.

Syllabus: Week 9, October 13

THE ARGUMENT THAT DOUGLASS MAKES FOR THE DISSOLUTION OF SLAVERY REACHES ITS PEAK in chapter ten, the longest in the book, and the most unique in that it focuses primarily on plot. Here, we see him suffer working as most slaves did—in the fields—under an overseer and breaker-of-slaves, Mr. Covey.

TUESDAY

• 20-minutes of independent reading. After which, students will add information to second spreadsheet on independent reading (document is shared as BOOK 2: 2025 Independent Reading)

• Illustrating words from chapter eight and nine.

• In small groups, preparing plot-line charts for chapter 10.

• HW: Spend HALF-an-hour on the plot-line for chapter 10.

WEDNESDAY

• 10 minutes of independent reading.

• Reading chapter 11, our last chapter of FDNL.

• HW: Finish re-reading the last chapter, and review your annotations in the book.

Syllabus: Week 8, October 7

THIS WEEK, WE WILL (NEARLY) APPROACH THE END of Frederic Douglass’s autobiography. We are near a key chapter—chapter ten—where he describes the pivotal moment in his life: his fight with (and defeat of) Mr. Covey, a so-called breaker of slaves. How is this chapter different from all the others, so far? How does Douglass capture the reader’s attention, and keep the plot moving in this part of his autobiography?

TUESDAY

• Examining word list. Please take note if you are missing vocabulary illustrations.

• 20-minutes of independent reading.

• Illustrating words from chapter six.

• In pairs, studying the word list from chapters 1-4 (there will be a crossword quiz tomorrow).

• Small group work on the chapters 7-9 study guides.

• HW: Read through the word list for chapters 7 and 8. Finish study guide questions for chapters 7 and 8. We will have a quiz on 20 of the vocab words tomorrow in class.

WEDNESDAY

• Crossword quiz on vocabulary, chapters 1-4.

• 10 minutes of independent reading.

• Re-reading chapter nine in class.

• HW: First, finish reading chapter 9. Then, complete the study guide, chapters 7-9, for class on Friday.

FRIDAY

• Reading for 20 minutes.

• Creating illustrated words for chapter seven.

• Small group work on chapters 7-9 worksheet.

• Reading chapter 10 in class.

• HW: Finish reading chapter 10, and complete the 7-9 worksheet started in class.

Vocabulary from Douglass, Ch. 1-5

Here, for the purpose of learning vocabulary, are the flashcards you have made. You will notice some duplicates. This benefits you in that you might see how two different scholars imagine the word. After reviewing these definitions, work with a partner to quiz one another on the meanings.

Syllabus: Week 7, September 30

BECAUSE OF FALL BREAK AND THE ENGLISH DEPARTMENT MEETING, class will only meet once this week. However, we are making good progress in Frederick Douglass’s iconic The Narrative of a Live of Frederick Douglass, and I expect that we will finish the book next week. Scholars will write an essay arguing whether or not students should read this book as part of junior English (American Literature). We will also begin preparing for writing the junior theme, which will be based on the independent reading you complete during second quarter. This book (or your first one, if it works) should either be written by an American author or be about America in some way. Finally, I will scan and provide scholars with all the illustrated words created in class, in order to study them to build vocabulary. What will be reading next? That depends upon your response to a short survey I will send out, via NT email, tomorrow. It will ask you your preference between two plays. So keep your eye out for that email!

TUESDAY

• 20-minutes of independent reading.

• Word illustrations for the chapter five vocab.

• re-reading chapter six in Douglass.

• Small group work on the chapters five and six study guides.

• Ending class with a non-fiction article about “Peter",” the photograph of an American slave’s back which became iconic during the Abolitionist movement of 19th century America

• HW: Complete the 5/6 study guide. Also read chapters 7, 8, and 9 for class on Tuesday.

Syllabus: Week 6, September 22

OUR ROUTINE FOR CLASS SHOULD BE WELL ESTABLISHED: we begin class with independent reading; we move into working with the narrative of Frederick Douglass’s life; for each chapter, I will distribute word lists the class prior to reading the chapter; you will make an illustrated word poster after the first reading of each chapter; and finally, after reading the chapter, we will finish study guide questions that test your knowledge of the reading. This last part we will begin in class, always. And we will usually work in partners or in small groups. In all cases, you should NOT ever be using AI or any Chat-GBT software to produce answers or to complete vocabulary posters. Working through this reading, and coming to an understanding of Douglass’s style, will make you a better reader.

WEDNESDAY

• 20-minutes of independent reading.

• Working on illustrated words from chapter three, and passing out word lists for chapter four.

• Distributing thinking questions on chapters 3-4; collecting your work on chapters 1-2.

• HW: Answer the study guide questions for chapter three. Reach chapter four.

FRIDAY

• 20 minutes of independent reading.

• Re-reading chapter four, and then completing guides in small group.

• HW: Reading chapters five and six over the weekend.

Syllabus: Week 5, September 15

YOU COULD, IF YOU SO DESIRED, ASK CHAT-GBT TO SUMMARIZE the narrative of Frederick Douglass’s life. And you would likely get a plurality of detail, key facts that he uses in his tale. What you would miss, however, the pain and anguish of his story. You would miss out on the argument that he makes, for the elimination of “the peculiar institution” on which much of America was founded. The chat summary would lack the inhumanity of his mistreatment, and his appeal to both reason and emotion for the freedom of American slaves. For each chapter we read, students will be asked to write responses to key questions. These will mostly be done in class, in order to prevent the use of AI in writing responses. I want to see how you write, not how Chat-GBT summarizes.

TUESDAY

• Our third day of the full, 20-minutes of independent reading. At this point, you should have (at least) read for one hour from your text. We will write a “summary so far” for the google sheet.

• Vocabulary for chapter 2.

• Watching (most) of a documentary, “On Becoming Douglass.”

• HW: Learn the next set of vocab words for chapter two.

WEDNESDAY

• 10 minutes of independent reading.

• Creating “vocab” illustrations for assigned words (12 minutes).

• Remaining part of class, we will finish the documentary.

• HW: Read chapter two. Use the audio while reading.

FRIDAY

• 20 minutes of independent reading.

• After finishing the documentary, we will re-reading chapter two, together in class, using the audio.

• Small group work on the FD study guide.

• Reading chapter three together as well.

• Time permitting, we will start a second documentary on Douglass, “The Abolitionists.”

• HW: Re-read chapter three for class on Wednesday the 24th (no school on Tuesday).

Audio For Frederick Douglass "Narrative of a Life"

Syllabus: Week 4, September 9

OUR FIRST TEXT, “A NARRATIVE OF THE LIFE OF FREDERICK DOUGLASS” is a must read for all American students of American Literature. A short, but harrowing tale of escaping slavery, Douglass’s tale was a pivotal book in moving Americans to a deeper understanding of the toll paid by slavery. We will start with a 27 minute excerpt of Burn’s documentary The Civil War, and watch another biography about Douglass before reading his book. Also, for each chapter, students will be assigned approximately 25 vocabulary words to learn, before reading each chapter. If you don’t have to the book yet, get it. It’s $4 in the bookstore.

TUESDAY

• Our first day of the full, 20-minutes of independent reading.

• Logging authors and titles of books.

• Watching the first 28 minutes of Ken Burns’ introduction to the CW.

• Reviewing the written responses to the summer reading assessment.

• HW: Learn the first 25 vocab words for chapter one.

WEDNESDAY

• 10 minutes of independent reading.

• Disney’s 1946 film “Song of the South” mis-rendering of Chandler’s “slave folk-tales” and essentially sanitized representation of pre-and-post-antebellum life under slavery.

• We will then get into the audio for the novel, and how to navigate the audio/text.

• HW: Listen to the podcast below. It runs approx. 50 minutes long.

FRIDAY

• 20 minutes of independent reading.

• Navigating the sentences of Frederick Douglass. We will learn about sentence diagramming. We will look at one sentence from chapter one.

• Reading the first chapter of FD

• Time permitting, we will watch the “Briar Patch” episode from Song of the South.

• Re-read chapter one for class on Wednesday the 24th (no school on Tuesday).