June 2

AGENDA:

1. Literary Circle presentations and discussions
2. Memorizations

May 30

AGENDA:

1. Memorizations
2. Vocab and literary term review

May 29

AGENDA:

1. Review what we have done this year and Q & A on next year, summer
2. Memorizations??

May 28

AGENDA:

1. Review Vocabulary strategies and literary term strategies for final
2. Empathy article by Bloom + video

May 27

AGENDA:

1. Extra Credit videos
2. Literary Circles


HW: Vocab and literary terms review; memorization begins Thursday; Lit analysis; Complete African Lit Books by Monday of next week for presentations; 

May 23

AGENDA:

1. Complete War Dance
2. Socratic Seminar 

May 22

AGENDA:

1. Complete War Dance


HW: Due tomorrow in class for discussion and turning in:

Create a list of recommendations for the international community so that internally displaced persons may be better protected.

What might a returning refugee face in their homeland after months or years away (e.g. lack of shelter, no way to earn money, fear or repeated abuse)?

What rights/services should they be ensured (e.g. ongoing protection, emotional and psychological therapy)?

If you had an organization specializing in refugee integration what actions would you take to help individuals fully re-adapt?

May 21

AGENDA:

1. JOURNAL WRITE:
In A Farewell to Arms, Ernest Hemingway wrote, "The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken places." What does this quote mean within the context of War Dance and the children's personal stories?

2. War Dance

May 20

AGENDA:

1. Annotations
2. Literary Circle
3. War Dance

Annotations

Sample of what good annotations look like

May 19

AGENDA:

1. Discuss assignment
2. Antithesis and Paradox
3. African children's literature

HW: Tomorrow is literature circle - come prepared with your question and stay up on your reading



Antithesis - "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
                    "To err is human, to forgive divine." Paradise Lost, John Milton

Two contrasting ideas - two opposites put together in a sentence to achieve a contrasting effect. Emphasizes parallel structure - "One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."


Paradox - Deep down, you are really shallow.
               "I must be cruel to be kind." - Hamlet, Shakespeare
                I am nobody.
                The beginning of the end.
                "All animals are created equal, but some are more equal than others."  - Animal Farm,   George Orwell

An opinion that appears to be self-contradictory or silly but may include a latent truth. It is also used to illustrate an opinion or statement contrary to accepted traditional ideas. A paradox is often used to make a reader think over an idea in innovative ways.
             

May 16

AGENDA:

1. Complete packets
2. Write a thesis and outline to one of the following prompts:

   - How can "the good life" be lived well? Explain your position, first by defining the term and then by presenting your own view within the contact of the sources.

   - Which of the three perspectives represented in these reading do you find most compelling and why? Make sure you explain where what you think and why in your thesis and outline.

DUE Monday

May 15

AGENDA:

1. Read "The Happy Life" by Bertrand Russell and answer the three questions - annotate as you read - turn in annotations and answers to questions
2. Read "In Westminster Abbey" and answer the one question - annotate this poem as you read it - turn annotations and answers in

Make sure you take your time thinking and discussing the questions and the text

3. If time permits, get started on "Lifeboat Ethics: The Case against Helping the Poor" by Garrett Hardin. You may want to read this at home - tomorrow you will be working with it in class. There are three questions to discuss and answer. Annotate - what is being said? What is the argument? What is the support?

May 14

AGENDA:

1. Journal Write: Do you think the U.S. should give aid to those countries that do not acknowledge human rights? Why or why not?

2. What exactly are Human Rights?
3. Antithesis and Paradox - examples and practice

HW: Start thinking about your final....all vocabulary and all literary terms both of which are on my blog..... you can do it!

May 13

AGENDA:

1. Vocab review
2. "Nomadic Life", read, answer questions in groups, discuss


HW: Read for Literary Circles; Memorization due finals week; last lit analysis due day of finals

May 12

AGENDA:

1. Literature Circles

HW: Vocab review tomorrow for credit and extra credit

Memorization

What I Will by Suheir Hammad  (required)

I will not dance to your war drum. I will not lend my soul nor my bones to your war drum. I will not dance to that beating. I know that beat. It is lifeless. I know intimately that skin you are hitting. It was alive once, hunted, stolen, stretched. I will not dance to your drummed-up war. I will not pop, spin, break for you. I will not hate for you or even hate you. I will not kill for you. Especially I will not die for you. I will not mourn the dead with murder nor suicide. I will not side with you or dance to bombs because everyone is dancing. Everyone can be wrong. Life is a right, not collateral or casual. I will not forget where I come from. I will craft my own drum. Gather my beloved near, and our chanting will be dancing. Our humming will be drumming. I will not be played. I will not lend my name nor my rhythm to your beat. I will dance and resist and dance and persist and dance. This heartbeat is louder than death. Your war drum ain't louder than this breath - Ahh


BREAK CLUSTERED by Suheir Hammad  (in lieu of for requirement and extra credit)

All holy history banned. Unwritten books predicted the future, projected the past. But my head unwraps around what appears limitless, man's creative violence. Whose son shall it be? Which male child will perish a new day? Our boys' deaths galvanize. We cherish corpses. We mourn women, complicated. Bitches get beat daily. Profits made, prophets ignored. War and tooth, enameled salted lemon childhoods. All colors run, none of us solid. Don't look for shadow behind me. I carry it within. I live cycles of light and darkness. Rhythm is half silence. I see now, I never was one and not the other. Sickness, health, tender violence. I think now I never was pure. Before form I was storm, blind, ign'ant -- still am. Human contracted itself blind, malignant. I never was pure. Girl spoiled before ripened. Language can't math me. I experience exponentially. Everything is everything. One woman loses 15, maybe 20, members of her family. One woman loses six. One woman loses her head. One woman searches rubble. One woman feeds on trash. One woman shoots her face. One woman shoots her husband. One woman straps herself. One woman gives birth to a baby. One woman gives birth to borders. One woman no longer believes love will ever find her. One woman never did. Where do refugee hearts go? Broken, dissed, placed where they're not from, don't want to be missed. Faced with absence. We mourn each one or we mean nothing at all. My spine curves spiral. Precipice running to and running from human beings. Cluster bombs left behind. De facto landmines. A smoldering grief. Harvest contaminated tobacco. Harvest bombs. Harvest baby teeth. Harvest palms, smoke. Harvest witness, smoke. Resolutions, smoke. Salvation, smoke. Redemption, smoke. Breathe. Do not fear what has blown up. If you must, fear the unexploded.


PICK ONLY ONE - Due Week of June 2

May 9

AGENDA:

1. Questions for The Prisoner Who Wore Glasses by Bessie Head

1. Explain how the issue of race relations is presented in “The Prisoner Who Wore Glasses.”
2. How does the character cope with oppression?
3. How does Brille gain control over Wader Hannetjie? How does Brille’s memory of his family give him insight into Warder Hannetjie’s character?  Explain.
4. What incidents early in the story provide clues about Brille’s personality?  Cite specific examples.
5. Literary characters can be classified as round or flat characters, depending on how they are developed in a story.  A round character displays a variety of personality traits, as opposed to a flat character, whose personality is dominated by a single trait.  Characters can also be distinguished as either static or dynamic.  A dynamic character changes significantly in the story.  A static character undergoes little if any change. 

·        Is Brille a round or flat character?  What traits does he display?

·        Would you classify Hannetjie as a static or dynamic character?  Explain. 

6. Irony is a contrast between what is expected and what actually exists or occurs.  What is ironic about Brille’s eyesight?

7. Is the story believable?  Why or why not?  Do you think the story expresses optimism or pessimism about the future of South Africa?  Explain. 


2. Music Video - "World on Fire"
3. Memorization! - due finals week (2 options)









HW: Vocab review on Tuesday- from beginning to end - for some credit and some extra credit  - REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW; Lit Circles on Monday






ENJOY THE WEEKEND! 

May 8

AGENDA:

1. Angels in the Dust
2. "The Lovers" by Bessie Head
3. "The Prisoner that Wore Glasses" by Bessie Head





HW: Read " The Prisoner that Wore Glasses"


The Prisoner Who Wore Glasses Text

May 7

AGENDA:

1. Discuss last nights reading assignment
2. South Africa - Apartheid short video
3. AIDS/HIV
4. Clip of "Angels in the Dust"

HW: Read "The Lovers" by South African Bessie Head for tomorrow's class.


The Lovers