AFTER FINISHING with Holden in The Catcher in the Rye, we will be reading The Other Wes Moore, written by...wait for it...Wes Moore. You can pick up a copy in the bookstore or elsewhere. It is a memoir, a non-fiction, creative narrative that is autobiographical, focusing upon one part or one aspect of the author's life. Like Holden, this memoir (as it is rightly called) is an exploration of identity. We will continue with Catcher, however, this and next week.

Monday

Collecting journals. Today we will write reflections on the journals, and return to our google sheet to answer one more question on the novel. A brief introduction to The Other Wes Moore.
HW: Revisit your annotations, which are due Wednesday. Remember, your marginal notes should reflect the readers dialogue with the text, should reflect your thinking, relative to the novel's themes and meaning. In other words, what does the author want you to realize because of the story (not about the story)? Finish your google sheet response.

Tuesday

Now that we have finished The Catcher in the Rye, we will spend several days looking deeply into supplemental literature that is either directly connected to the novel (mentioned by Holden) or thematically connected to the novel (about the themes or setting of the novel). We will start by returning to Oliver's film version of Shakespeare's Hamlet. Apart from Polonius' advice to Laertes, what do both Polonius and Laertes say to Ophelia about young love, and the fickle affection shown by boys like Hamlet and Stradlater?
HW: Annotations due tomorrow.

Wednesday

Introduction to our research unit on NYC in general, and Central Park in specific. Next week we will be in the library researching the following question: "Why did Salinger set the majority of Holden's experiences in New York City?" Today, we will read, "Manhattan, Floating World" by Phillip Lopate. As you read, circle vocabulary, mark 3-5 particularly well crafted sentences, and annotate for this question: "What effect does Manhattan have upon the narrator?'
HW: Finish re/reading the above essay.

Thursday

In class discussion of the essay. What does the essay say about Manhattan?
HW: Read and annotate the first four poems in the packet handed out today in class.

Friday

In class discussion on poems. What does the poem say about New York City? How does the setting of the poem effect the speaker in the poem? And how is that related to what the poem means, what you notice in the poem?
HW: Finish reading the poems in the packet for Monday. Remember, we will be in the library Tuesday through Friday of next week for research. The collected evidence of your work will be an annotated bibliography of sources your discover--more on that next week.