American Literature

Course Description

In this course, students will explore the fascinating world of American Literature. Through lecture, discussion, and readings, students will discover the changing patterns of American thought. Students will encounter new authors and perhaps get reacquainted with some that they have previously read. They will continue to develop their communication skills and to build their vocabulary. Students will be engaged in the material through the Common Core State Standards framework, which will focus on close readings of texts, argumentation strategies and practice, and Socratic discussions.

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Posts

8/25/15--Class Info

*Today we began with Journal #4, which started with a clip from "Field of Dreams".
*We then began our lecture on Argument and Persuasion. Sorry to periods 6 and 7 who did not get copies of the question handout because our copy machine broke. You will get them tomorrow. You will be quizzed on the information in the lecture sometime very soon.
HW: 1. Q1 terms due October 15. 2. Word Crime #2 due Friday. 3. Final draft of song response due tomorrow in class. Bring a typed final draft to class. I will also collect the annotated song lyrics and the analysis guides. Your final draft is due to turnitin.com by midnight tomorrow.
 
I will post a document with the turnitin.com information on the homepage, so look to the right side of the homepage or yesterday's class summary post for the info.

8/24/15--Class Info

*We began with Word Crime #2: "What is the role of words in grammar?" This will be due on Friday. Please remember to spell "grammar" correctly. Also, remember to research the answer, no matter how sure you are that you know it already. You need at least one properly cited source.
*I collected your discussion sheet from Friday.
*You received your song response assignment and began drafting it. Reminder: Final typed draft due on Wednesday, in class. You need to give me a hard copy of the final draft. You will staple it to your rough draft. You will need to submit it to turnitin.com by 11:59pm on Wednesday night. I will also collect the lyrics annotations and the song analysis sheets on Wednesday.
HW: 1. Q1 terms due October 15th. 2. Word Crime #2 due Friday. 3. Type final draft of song response due Wednesday.
 
Turnitin.com Information:
**Password for all classes is "classof2017".
Period 2: Class ID--10448530
Period 4: Class ID--10448534
Period 6: Class ID--10448538
Period 7: Class ID--10448541
 

8/21/15--Class Info

Thank you for a great day in class. I really enjoyed the discussions you had today. For future discussions, remember to relate back to the texts as much as you can. Let's try to get even more student participation next time. Thank you to Emily, Lindsey, Kevin, and Jordan for volunteering to be our first student leaders.
*We started class by sharing out the Word Crime #1 and then I collected it.
*We then had our student-led discussion. You need to finish up the discussion sheet and bring all the papers back on Monday for your writing assignment. You received a handout further detailing and breaking down the rhetorical precis.
Homework: 1. Q1 terms due October 15th. 2. Choose one song from this week you want to write about and re-write a rhetorical precis for it. Make sure you have all the analysis sheets finished, the discussion sheet, and the annotated lyrics for Monday.

8/20/15--Class Info

Thanks for a great day in class.
*We began with Journal #3--"Explain what being an American means to you. Does it make you proud? Why or why not? Besides being born in America, what do you think defines an American?" Instead of responding to this in your journal right away, you spoke about it briefly in your groups and then wrote down one thing you heard in your brief discussion.
*We then finished up listening to the songs, "Pink Houses" and "Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue"  and watched the music video for "Amerika". See the post for yesterday to view this video.
*You received the discussion prep sheet for our student-led Socratic discussion that we will have tomorrow. You need to complete the top chart for all 6 songs on the analysis sheets, but you only have to attempt 3 of the bottom rhetorical precis sections.
 
Homework: 1. Q1 terms due October 15. 2. Word Crime #1 due tomorrow. 3. Analysis sheets for songs due tomorrow. 4. Discussion prep due tomorrow.