Week 17 S2

 I promised a final post, so here are the last threads.

Here is the link to the review game we played if you wish to finish the word scramble. If you like, make a copy and do the author scramble. I will give you a few points on a quiz if you do. You can submit it with the rest of your end of year stuff.

Be sure to:

1. Finish your timeline--there were three installations this semester which you can find under Weeks 5, 12, and 16.  Make sure you have an attractive cover and some visual elements.  Please take pictures and put your finished timeline segments in your Google Slide timeline document.

2. Submit your completed Writer's Notebook.

3. If you haven't already, get your ad analysis essay and last ASP study guide in.

All of these can be submitted here. 

And....I think that's a wrap for our 2020-2021 Pandemic American Literature class.  

Note: It will take me a bit to read and respond to your ad analysis essays and writer's notebooks. After that I'll be ready to assign final grades. Our month of May is pretty crazy here with Grace leaving for grad school, my Woodcock Johnson testing work, and a family vacation to the beach.  I could just blow through all of your work and assign a quick grade, but I'd much rather take my time to read thoughtfully and comment. I appreciate your patience with me!

In the meanwhile---ENJOY YOUR SUMMER!  Let your brain rest!  All the best with whatever you have planned and wherever you head next with your studies. Stay in touch.  I love hearing what you have been up to and where life takes you. 💗

Week 16 Semester 2

Well, it's that time of year----lots of loose ends to tie up, a novel to finish, and a final analysis essay to write with excellence.  Let me know if you have questions or need help.  

Note added Tuesday 5/4: I've posted the timeline additions when you have time to add them.  I've expanded the A Separate Peace Unit document to encompass all of the rest of our 2nd semester assignments, so turn them in there.  Here is the link for convenience.

I'm both happy and sad that next week is our last--I love summer break, and it's been a full year, but I will miss seeing each of you every Wednesday, hearing your thoughts about literature and life. 

Writer's Notebook

Here is the log of writer's notebook entries from Sophia (9:00) and Abby (11:15).  Be ready to submit your writer's notebooks immediately after our last class together next Wednesday.

Timeline Work

Here is the final segment--thanks for your patience. When you are happy with your final product, take pictures and paste them into a Google Slides. This will be due by midnight, Sunday, May 9th unless you contact me personally because you need more time before then. 

I look forward to seeing how they turn out and hope that you've found the experience meaningful.  More than anything else, it's been my effort to encourage you to connect all of your subjects--art, music, literature, science, math with all of the history--world, national, local, and family. I hope you keep connecting the dots all on your own!

A Separate Peace

Finish reading the novel this week.   Here's the reading guide for those chapters.  When you finish, make sure you've submitted all the guides for this unit here.

Also, put at least one quote in your quote journal for this book.  

Let's spend some quality time talking about it next week--lots to think and talk about.

Ad Analysis Essay

 Here are the slides from class--please review the information carefully as it will help you write a stronger essay. Your thesis must make an assertion about the implicit and explicit messages of the ad identifying the target audience. Be sure to structure your paragraphs as directed.  You may have additional paragraphs or subdivisions, but you must have a minimum of six with the four required body paragraphs as described.  

Here is a document with directions, a checklist, and some sample paragraphs for this ad analysis essay. Samples can be super helpful!  

Tip---to get a clear/better copy of your ad, click on it.  It should enlarge.

Check out this 1940 Palmolive ad.  What's the promise/appeal here?

When I was growing up in the 1970's, I was familiar with the Palmolive dish liquid--especially since it was my bubble bath as a child! lol.  I guess my mom used it because it "softens hands while you do the dishes."

Here's are some recent Palmolive ads.  Think about what's different and what's the same.  If your 1940's product is still on the market, see if you can find a recent ad to compare the style and messaging.

Week 15 S2

A Separate Peace

This week we'll read and think about chapters 6-10 in  A Separate Peace.   Here is the study guide for you to use and complete while reading these chapters. 

There is a quoting exercise at the end of the guide which will take some thought and time, so you may want to preview that before reading.

1940's-1950's Ad Analysis

Please watch these instructional videos CAREFULLY.  They will introduce you to the skills and materials for this final project and essay.  They'll require 25 minutes total viewing time.

Ad Analysis Intro Video #1

Ad Analysis Intro Video #2

Here are the slides from the video by which you'll access the content and links you'll need. You'll learn about advertising elements and appeals, choose an ad from that era, and then complete the analysis worksheet.

Submit a crisp and high quality copy of the ad you've chosen here with all required information.

Here is the document where you will submit your ad analysis worksheet and next weeks ad analysis composition.

Week 14, S2

 

A Separate Peace

This week we'll begin reading A Separate Peace, chapters 1-5.  We'll be using a study guide format for this last unit.  I know, I know, it slows you down, but I'm doing it for your own good. You generally do better on the guides than the quizzes, plus we'll use them as a base for discussion.

Save your own copy of each of these study guides and follow the directions before, during, and after your reading:

Reader Response Guide, Chapters 1-3

Reader Response Guide, Chapters 4-5 

 When you are finished, submit links to the guides here.

Poem of the Week: "Strange Fruit"

This past class, I touched upon the idea that almost anything can be inspiration for a poem--a book from your childhood, a red wheelbarrow, even a metro station.  I also mentioned that literature, poetry, and artworks are sometimes designed to make you angry or uncomfortable. 

For example, although I asked if you liked the end of Fahrenheit 451,  we weren't supposed to like it, were we? Though Granger, Montag, and the commune survive, we are still left to grapple with a world of mechanical hounds, a wife who betrays her husband, and the vast destruction of an atomic bomb.  

Continuing with this theme of protest, our poem this week is "Strange Fruit." It was composed by a Jewish schoolteacher named Abel Meeropol after looking at a 1930 photograph. This poem was first published as "Bitter Fruit" in 1937, then Meeropol set it to music and began to perform it with his wife among friends.  The black singer Billie Holiday was introduced to the song and first performed it in 1939.

Holiday made the song famous. Listen to her 1959 performance here. 

Abel Meeropol's story is also fascinating.  His life touches upon so many of the issues of this era--Communism, the atomic bomb, McCarthism, The Rosenbergs, racism, and the impending civil rights movement. Please listen to this NPR episode: The Strange Story Of The Man Behind 'Strange Fruit' ---look for the blue bar to click for the 7 minute episode and/or read the article below it. 

You can learn more about this history of this poem or the photograph that inspired it here.

Quoting Practice

Find your book, They Say/I Say and read the chapter about quoting, Part I, Chapter 3 "As He Himself Puts It." The book looks like this or this:

If you can't find your copy, here's a link to the 3rd edition online.  At the end of this chapter, complete Exercise #2 which asks you go back and analyze how you integrated a quote in a past piece of writing.  You could use your local history article for this or any other piece of writing in my class or any other.  Analyze a time you've quoted text and revise it to make it better.  Cut and paste the before and after

effort into a Google document and submit it at with the study guide work above.

Submit Fahrenheit Work

You should submit your work for Fahrenheit 451  here.  

This work includes:

Your F451 chart
Your childhood book poem.
A snapshot or scan of your annotated "How to Mark a Book."

Week 13, S2

Hello Everyone,

Here is a list of work for the week:

1. Make sure you take the Fahrenheit 451 Quiz. Friday morning at 8 am is the hard deadline.  I'm working on grades over the next few days and will include it in your progress report.

2. Finish reading Fahrenheit 451.  

3. Here is a chart related to the text that I want you to complete this week. Make your own copy.  Read and follow the directions precisely.

4. Here is the rest of the work within the slides.

Also, I'm working on a Google survey to canvas your various thoughts about returning to the physical classroom again.  

As exciting as it is for some, it seems to creates logistical complications/concerns for others.  I need time to think about it.  Here's what I need to think about:

How many of you will attend in person?

If several of you stay home, can I do a hybrid well?

Is it "worth it" to figure out all of the kinks and hiccups just for our last few weeks together?

Anywhooo, look for the survey and fill it out---it will help me figure out how to proceed.  

I would LOVE to come back to the physical, but I don't want to make any of us crazy doing so!

That's it for now...Mrs. Price

Week 12, Semester 2

 Hello,

I'm posting the Week 12 slides here today for those who want to get started ASAP.  They contain not only a review of  class but instructions for this week's work over break.

Remember there will be a quiz on the first two parts of Fahrenheit 451 and the slides.

25x perfectly over four days.

Have a fabulous break and see you on April 7th!

Mrs. Price

Week 11, Semester 2

 Here are the slides for this week; they're a combination of review from class and new material.  Be sure to click through the Prezi presentation and complete the worksheet.  Also, there is a family genealogy assignment in there too. There are also some group discussion questions and information that we'll use next week.

Here is the last study guide to complete. Have all of this week's work ready to check next week in your groups.

Submit all Their Eyes Study Guide Work, genealogy effort, and email etiquette worksheet here by next class. Let me know if I am forgetting any work.

Progress reports will be calculated and sent at the end of spring break (early April), so the work for this unit will be the final piece that goes into that computation.  Do excellent work!

I saw this article in the Asheville Citizen-Times today and thought to keep you in the loop:

Vance Monument: Asheville to take final vote on obelisk honoring racist Confederate governor

Week 10, Semester 2

Their Eyes Were Watching God

This week we'll read chapters 7-15 of TEWWG.  Please make use of the glossary and audio (tab above); I promise it will help you get more out of your experience and the story.

HERE'S the study guide for this week, follow the directions.  I realize that the study guide slows down your reading process. In fact, that is the point; I want you to digest the text thoughtfully and not just plow through it. Slowing down gives you more time to ponder, revisit, and apply.  I know some of you still don't believe me about this, but please try it my way. ; )

The questions for these chapters will push you past toward WHAT is happening to HOW and WHY Hurston uses language, tone, and diction to convey the WHAT.

HERE are the slides that will help you 1) review the material from class 2) help you fill out your study guide and prepare for reading  3) help you prepare for next week's quiz.  Along the way there are videos and links to read, so look for them.

That's it for this week....we'll get to the local history revision stuff soon but not this week.

Questions?  Email me--happy to help!

Mrs. Price

Week 9, Semester 2

Here's the complete work for this week. Enjoy listening to Ruby Dee's narration while following along in the book.

Their Eyes Were Watching God

This week we'll read the first six chapters. Please notice and use the "Their Eyes Resources" tab at the top of this blog.  Here you'll find a helpful glossary and an excellent audio reading of each chapter.  

Before each chapter, read through the glossary words for that chapter so that you'll understand them.

Here are the study guide questions for chapters 1-6. Make your own copy of the document and answer the questions as you read. Keep all of your work for this unit in one place so that it's all together when it's time to turn it in.

Please listen to Chapter 1 as you follow along in the text.  It's good to have both your eyes and ears taking in the words and sound of the vernacular.  It will help you become accustomed to the feel and sound of the language.  Each chapter has an audio link, so you may wish to listen throughout your reading. It's a great audio version.

We will have some vocabulary to define related to this book and Zora Neale Hurston.  Please look up and define each of the following:

vernacular

colloquial

aphorisms

folklore

anthropology

idiom

Harlem Renaissance Video Component

Watch the following videos on the Harlem Renaissance Movement.  Take notes of specifics while you watch.  Afterwards, use your notes to create a Writer's Notebook entry with at least four well-developed paragraphs. Here are the topics you should address in each paragraph:

Paragraph 1: A description of the movement  (think: who, what, when, where)

Paragraph 2: The causes of the movement  (think: why? what conditions precipitated it?)

Paragraph 3: Characteristics of mov't, some important figures and art forms

Paragraph 4:  Impact and legacy

Videos to Watch

The Great Migration & The Harlem Renaissance (12 minutes)

The Harlem Renaissance's cultural explosion, in photographs (5 minutes)

Great Gatsby Work Submission

Here's the document where you should submit links to all of your Gatsby unit work.  You can take pictures of elements or scan them and compile their images into a Google Slides document.  Or you can share Google documents as links as well.  Be sure to change the permissions so I have access and ability to comment. All of these are due to be submitted by next Tuesday.

Week 8, Semester 2

Oh, wow, we are entering Week 8 not Week 7!  A few remarks before the specifics:

After further research, I learned that each of us will need to rent the movie to view it, whether we participate in a Watch Party or not.  Sorry about that--thought I might be able to reduce expenses, but regardless, you can find the movie online inexpensively ($3.99) on Amazon Prime, but also at:

There may be other places too--Netflix? Anyway, I still like the idea of watch parties so that our experience can be more communal.  So, if you host or participate in a watch party, you can count that as party of your Gatsby unit work.

Either way, it's your choice--watch on your own or with others, but WATCH. : )  

I hosted a Gatsby watch party Thursday night. If anyone else would like to host an "open-invitation" the-more-the-merrier kind of watch party, let me know, and I'll share that here.

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Regardless of how you watch,  BEFORE YOU WATCH, do the following.  Note: sorry in advance about some of the mic/muffled sound in the Preview Prep 2, my headset was pulling in and out, so just bear with.  

Watch Preview Prep 1--Art & Film Terms (15 min)

Watch Preview Prep 2--Intro to Baz Luhrmann (15 min)

PRINT this Gatsby Search and Find and use it focus your viewing.  Read the categories beforehand and take notes about aspects as you watch.

Here are the slides from the Preview Prep above for reference.

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Gatsby Character Poem

Yes, you will be writing a poem this week.  Don't stress---it will be fun!  I'm going to give you a specific structure to follow and you should make use of words/descriptions/images from the actual text (in addition to your own word choices).

Here is the format/brainstorming prompt, except you will be writing about your choice of CHARACTER from The Great Gatsby. There are many interesting characters in this book, so be open to less obvious choices too.  It'd be nice to have a mix of characters to share next week (yes, we will share these).

Use the text to inform your descriptions and word choices.

Do not make it rhyme--I forbid you. : )  Follow the format closely--I insist. : )

Once you brainstorm on the sheet, read it aloud to yourself and notice how the words sound together.

Tweak and revise. Use a few words Fitzgerald used.  Copy or type it out in a separate document.

These always turn out great---so enjoy!  Write one about yourself too if you like---you may find out something new about yourself. ; )

Here is one as an example---do you recognize the character and book?

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That's it for this week---keep all of your Gatsby work in one place (except your Writer's Notebook entry). We'll talk about ways to submit it all next week!

Hey--a few of you have forgotten to take the Gatsby Quiz---get it done before you incur penalty.

Today's Google Doodle

 Look whose birthday is celebrated today with a Google doodle:

Can you connect the images they included back to what you know about her? Try to remember how the images in the drawing are fitting. 🎂

Here's a link to the Google Doodle entry--look at the Q & A with the artist too, thoughtfully done!

Week 7, Semester 2

Below you'll find the work for this week. Feel free to touch base with any questions-- always happy to help! 🙂

Gatsby

We'll finish reading Gatsby this week, chapters 7-9.  Don't forget to learn, identify, and review the vocabulary. You'll only continue to grow in your reading skills if you read more challenging texts and make an effort to "meet" and "know" new words. ; ) 

Continue with your "Coloring Gatsby" activities---tracing motifs, annotating, drawing.  I'll be asking you to summarize and submit activities you have completed on March 2nd (after we finish the book and film).

This week, I would like you to complete this specific symbols and motifs activity as well:

Symbols and Motifs

STEP 1--Choose two items from the Symbolism & Motifs section of your Coloring Gatsby that you'd like to explore more in depth.

STEP 2--For each motif, find and type out three passages from the text that make a point or illustrate the motifs. Include a chapter and page reference for each.

STEP 3--For each motif, write a summarizing paragraph that shares how you think Fitzgerald is using those motifs in those passages to make a larger point.

In terms of format, this is how I would structure the work:

Motif/Symbol A:  

Quote #1  (Chapter #, page #)

Quote #2  (Chapter #, page #)

Quote #3 (Chapter #, page #)

Paragraph explaining how these quotes demonstrate the motif/symbol and how they connect to Fitzgerald's larger purposes and message

Motif/Symbol B:  

Quote #1  (Chapter #, page #)

Quote #2  (Chapter #, page #)

Quote #3 (Chapter #, page #)

Paragraph explaining how these quotes demonstrate the motif/symbol and how they connect to Fitzgerald's larger purposes and message

Keep this with your other Coloring Gatsby work and be ready to share it with your breakout groups next class.

Symbolism & Motifs from your "Coloring Gatsby" document

Vocabulary Work

You'll meet the last of your new vocabulary this week before you read chapters 7-9. This week you will also have a specific review exercise to help clarify and cement these new words.

Please complete pages 18-25 in your vocabulary sheets.  These exercises will help you review and apply the vocabulary we are learning. You may do this in one of three ways: 1) in a separate Google document 2) print it out and complete it or 3) write out the answers on a piece of notebook paper. 

Next Class 

Next class we'll spend the bulk of our time discussing the book together as a class with breakout groups for some specific focus points of discussion. We'll also have a quiz that will cover vocabulary, slides, and the book as a whole.  

Here are the slides from last class for your review.  Note that the last three slides are NEW and will help you contextualize some aspects of the last three chapters, so preview them before you read the last sections.

Note--I'm foregoing more timeline work this week. We'll add more in the coming weeks but not this week.

Feedback/Assessment

I had a good question in my 11:15 about assessment/feedback this semester.  As we have stepped away from Google Classroom as our primary source of communication, I have moved more toward accountability taking place in group settings and in-class assessments where students report their progress privately in "chat."

I am also using the "writing feedback" document for major projects/units to communicate letter grades along with comments about specific strengths and areas to improve upon.  This second semester I will likely use this document even more, collecting your work in "units," then grading and commenting upon them within this document.  Students, you should have a copy of this document in your Google Documents under "Writing Feedback + Your Name."  If you can't locate it, search the drive, and I am happy to send another link if you still have trouble after this.

Right now, I'm working on your local history projects and hope to finish them up this week.  Keep an eye out for comments I make directly within those documents and also for my comments and grade within your writing feedback document.  Evaluating writing and research takes a lot of time, energy, and a certain "head space." So, I work on these bit-by-bit as I am able. To give you an idea of the time commitment, each student's work requires at least 30 minutes for me to appreciate, evaluate, and comment upon. It's "slow food" for sure. ; )

You'll also be receiving a mid-semester progress report mid-March via email.  

Also, please know that I am always happy to talk with you after class or during the week about your performance in class and ways that you can improve your efforts.  I'm available via email throughout the week as well.  Hope that helps clarify the feedback/assessment question. 

I look forward to finishing up our discussion of Gatsby next week and preparing you for the movie!

Mrs. Price  

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One final addition---I've been working on a global schedule for the rest of second semester for my long-range thinkers and planners.  It's subject to tweaks, but here it is as of today.  Print and put in your class notebook for reference.

A common area within the Plaza Hotel, New York City

The Plaza Hotel is the setting for Chapter 7 in The Great Gatsby (a pivotal chapter). 
It first opened in 1907.

Week 6, Semester 2

More Gatsby

This week we'll continue to read The Great Gatsby, chapters 4-6.  Since it's Valentine's Week, remember to think of our reading as a rich expensive chocolate truffle. It's been hand-crafted and labored over.  It's full of depth and dimension.  Respect Fitzgerald's work and appreciate it with small thoughtful bites. 

 

Review your vocabulary before the chapters and look for how those words are used in the passage.

As one of our goals for this unit is to deepen and expand your reading habits and skillset, I've decided to make a more official "reading" assignment with specific ideas.  

HERE it is--print it out, keep it with your book, and complete some of the suggested activities. Next week I'll check, to see what you tried.  At the end, you will receive a global grade based on effort, thought, and quality, so invest.

Suggestions: Consider revisiting Chapters 1-3 before you move on. I often do this before beginning a new section. What might you have whizzed past in your initial reading?  What did you miss? Gatsby is like a "look and find," the more you look, the more you'll find. 

Start figuring out the specific time and chronology of events.

More than anything else, I want to see you thinking, noticing, connecting more of the dots between language, narrative, history, and culture.

Along those lines, here are the slides from class to review as well:  Semester 2 Week 5 Slides  

Review the concepts of Modernism and look for them in the text.  Think about how we just entered the 2020's and the 1920's was a 100 years ago.  What has changed? What remains the same? How are our challenges different?  

We touched upon how women's magazines have changed. Here's the February 2021 Cosmopolitan cover spread--it's better than I would have guessed. It looks like they are embracing the "body positivity" movement.  How else do the covers reveal different values?

The February cover reminded me of a clip I found in an 1896 Asheville Citizen Times the other week when looking for something else. Believe it or not, women were discussing the health and shape of their bodies back then too in different ways.  I suppose this was the late 19th century concept of "body positivity" at least for young women. 🙃

20th Century Modern Era Timeline Work

Here's the events to add to your timeline this week. I'll most likely use this same document and add as we move along.

To help you avoid procrastinating (like some of you did last semester) we'll add some every week, and I'll have you check them in your groups to keep everyone accountable.  So work on your timeline and bring it to "class."  

Remember to use your space--some of you have lots of white space and the text all crunched up in a corner.  Add visual elements--they can be simple. If drawing is not your thing, you can incorporate other elements--scrapbooky type stuff or images from online if they are incorporated nicely and thoughtfully.

Have your timeline, book and your "activities" from above ready to share with your breakout groups.