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.

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).

Two videos on Frederick Douglass

This image links to Kanopy, where uses can watch the first 28 minutes (up to the section “Meteor.”).

This video we will watch in its entirety next week, while we read Douglass’s “A Narrative of a Life…”

Syllabus: Week 3, September 3

WE ARE WRAPPING UP OUR STUDY OF THE SUMMER reading and the study of “freedom.” We have: taken a photo that display’s your vision of freedom, and written a paragraph that uses sensory language; closely studied a picture of the Statue of Liberty, and the poem engraved at its base; read a speech on the importance of freedom by Patrick Henry. This week you will write your version of a speech on freedom, and what freedom requires of us? This week we will cover our course expectations and review the academic integrity policy. We will finish the examination of that freedom speech, and you will write your version of it. We will start our independent reading, completing 10 minutes on Wednesday, and 15 minutes on Friday. Finally, we will complete an assessment on “Rita Heyworth and the Shawshank Redemption” in class, on Friday. Next week: our first unit of study: “Individual on the Margins.”

WEDNESDAY

• NONE SHALL PASS. We will start with 10 minutes of independent reading.

• Reviewing the academic integrity policy, starting with War Games. Then, reading through the course expectations.

• Signing (and submitting) the course expectations. You can reshoot and resubmit it after parents have signed it.

• Patrick Henry’s “Give Me Liberty, or Give Me Death!”

• HW: Answer the questions for the speech.

FRIDAY

• NONE SHALL PASS. Scholars will spend 15 minutes on independent reading.

• Summer reading assessment: annotation, writing, and objective reading portion. Here’s a link to the audio for the selection.

• This assessment is NOT for a test grade, but a completion grade, and will be used only to get a sense of your reading writing ability.

• Once done, students will watch this clip from Ken Burns documentary on “The Civil War.” The opening of the documentary, pay attention to what the film director includes about freedom.. Also, note references to Frederick Douglass—there are two important ones. (And do you recognize the actor’s voice, the one reading those lines?)

• HW: Obtain a copy of A Narrative of a Life of Frederick Douglass, by Frederick Douglass. Any copy will do.

Syllabus: Week 2, August 26

I WOULD ARGUE THAT STEPHEN KING’S NOVELLA “Rita Heyworth and the Shawshank Redemption” is not so much about prison, as its opposite: freedom. Despite their obvious differences—Red being single, black, convicted when young, lower-working class; Andy being (formerly) married, white, an older convict, upper-class banker—they share the desire to be free. King explores that in various ways, and we will study that closer this week. Last week, we started by thinking about what freedom means to you, and finding/creating a picture that shows that. And we spent our first, full day of class carefully studying a close-up of the the Statue of Liberty’s foot. We will finish that work that this week by writing a paragraph about your freedom photo.

TUESDAY

• After reviewing the syllabus and the NT English Department’s “Statement on Importance of Reading Literature,” students will share (in small groups) their images of freedom, in summer. What does that look like? While students are showing these pictures, as viewer you should study them carefully, just as we did the Statue of Liberty. What do you SEE? What do you THINK about what you see? What do you WONDER? Keep written notes on a post it, and give it to the scholar when done.

• First writing assignment. You are to write a descriptive paragraph that a) describes your photo, using specific vocabulary and detail, and b) explains how it illustrates your definition of freedom. Mr. D and I will show you examples. We will spend 15 minutes, in class, getting started on this paragraph.

• We will then turn to a great, American poem, “The New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus. After reading, annotating, and discussing, you will read (and keep notes) on a National Parks article on the statue.

• HW: Also, finish writing your paragraph for class on FRIDAY.

WEDNESDAY

• Introducing an analysis assignment. Where do you see the topic of freedom described in the summer reading? You will use a shared google-sheet to report out quotes from the novella.

• HW: Finish writing your image paragraphs for class on Friday. Also, complete the “freedom“ analysis of “Rita Heyworth and the Shawshank Redemption” by class tomorrow.

FRIDAY

• Reviewing the results from last night’s homework. Where do you see the theme of “freedom” in the novella?

• The second part of class, we will be in the library to identify books either by Americans or about America for our SSR work.

• HW: Reading another foundational, American work, this one a speech on the importance of freedom. Finish the analysis of Patrick Henry’s speech—due Wednesday. Also, have an independent book with you for silent reading, in class. We will start that next week. NO EXC USES, NO EXCEPTIONS.