No Place Like Home: September 10 – 22

Syllabus: September 2009

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Thursday 9/10 – Unit 1; Introduction: Images of the War and the Return

CLASS:    Introduction to course, goals, expectations, procedures. Introduce essential questions of the course.   Images/stories of war, the soldier, and homecomings. What image/stories are told, immortalized, kept veiled, or forgotten.

HOMEWORK:     Read and annotate “A Quick Look at Who is Fighting this War” pp 23-25 in Operation Homecoming and Yusef Komunyakaa’s “Camouflaging the Chimera,” ‘Losses,” “Tunnels” & “You and I are Disappearing.”

Friday 9/11 (25 minute class)

CLASS: Check materials. Discuss poems: The experience of war; what soldier’s carry; relationship between self and the war/land. Close readings.

HOMEWORK: Complete a 2-3 page typed response (Response # 1, due Tuesday 9/15) to the following questions: Part I: what are your personal experiences of home, leaving home, and homecomings. What departures and homecomings have been a part of your life? (1.5 pages) Part II: What images/ stories of war or the soldier’s return from war do you carry with you into this course? These might be family experiences, experiences you’ve witnessed, or images, books, films, news items, etc that have affected you in some way and helped to inform your understanding of war (1.5 pages). Please bring to class on Tuesday an artifact/image that represents some aspect of this image/story that you carry into the course.  Be prepared to explain your artifact briefly to the class.

Monday 9/14: No Class

Tuesday 9/15

CLASS:   Response # 1 due (with artifact). Share images. Create a class collage of images surrounding war and the soldier’s return from war.  Hand out Here, Bullet by Brian Turner.

HOMEWORK:  Read and annotate Here Bullet, pp 1, 6-13, 18, 20. As you read, make note of recurring ideas, metaphors, images, and questions raised. What issues do the poems explore about the experience of war and of returning from war?

Wednesday 9/16

CLASS:  View film clip from New York Times. Complete Response # 2 in class (see handout).

Homework:    Finish Response 2 to turn in on Tuesday 9/22. Read and annotate Here Bullet (pp 33-35, 39-40, 46-47, 55-56, 64-66) for Tuesday 9/22. As you read, make note of recurring ideas, metaphors, images, and questions raised. What issues do the poems explore about the experience of war and of returning from war?

Thursday 9/17 – Friday 9/18 – No Class

Monday 9/21 — NO CLASS

Tuesday 9/22

CLASS: Discuss Here Bullet.

HOMEWORK:  Work on Response # 3: TBA