English 10 Syllabus 1/4-1/14
English 10C
Jane Belton
Syllabus January 4 – January 14
Tuesday 1/4
In Class: Introduce Whitman; “Song of Myself” as both a self portrait and portrait of America. Visual portraiture: Charles Willson Peale’s The Artist in His Museum and Robert Frank’s Trolley in New Orleans.
Assignment: Writer’s Journal # 8: Go to the class blog and look through all the portraits we have provided for you there. Then select one image that strikes you or interests you most. In your writer’s journal, perform a close reading of the image, following the steps we practiced in class. See handout for details.
Wednesday 1/5
In Class: American Portraiture: Sharing WJ# 8 in pairs. Questions for pair-share: What stories or representations of America did you see in the image you chose? What are the differences or similarities between the images chosen and the interpretations of those images? Explore pairings of images as a class: Gilbert Stuart’s Anna Dorothea Foster and Charlotte Anna Dick and Dorothea Lange’s Mississippi Delta Children; Robert Frank’s Charleston, South Carolina and Henry Mosler’s Just Moved.
Assignment: Writer’s Journal # 9: Select a contemporary portrait of an individual that you think tells an interesting or important story about America. This could be a photograph, painting, advertisement, etc. Answer the following questions in 1 ½ – 2 pages: What strikes you most about your image? Why did you choose this specific image to share with the class? What story (about the individual and/or about American culture or society) does the image convey?
Please write the title of the image and the artist’s name at the top of your Writer’s Journal entry. If the image doesn’t have a title or a known artist, create a descriptive title for your image (eg. “Advertisement for the Army, New York Times” or “Michelle Obama in the White House”). You must also indicate the source of the image (the url, magazine title, book title, etc) at the top of the page.
Thursday 1/6 — No Class
Friday 1/7
In Class: Sharing individual images
Assignment: Writer’s Journal #10: If someone were to paint your portrait, what would you want represented? What would remain hidden? What truths or fantasies about yourself would you want to convey? Then, imagine the portrait as fully as possible: What setting or backdrop would the portrait have? What would you be doing in the portrait? What would you be wearing? Would any other people or animals be in the portrait with you? Any other objects or artifacts? What kinds of colors would you want used (or would the image be black and white)? Then think about the layout/design of the portrait. What would be foregrounded? What would be in the background?
Monday 1/10
In Class: Introduce Whitman and critical responses to his work; connections to visual portraiture/Robert Frank. Begin reading “Song of Myself” together.
Assignment: Read and annotate Whitman’s “Song of Myself” pp 32-39
Tuesday 1/11
In Class: Discuss Whitman’s “Song of Myself”. Questions to consider: What do you think Whitman is trying to communicate in his “Song of Myself”? In what ways does he create a portrait of America by removing the veil? What do we see? Whose America is it? Choral reading of section 16.
Assignment: Read and annotate Whitman’s “Song of Myself” pp. 48-63
Wednesday 1/12
In Class: Discuss Whitman; “text explosions” and other writing exercises
Assignment: Read and annotate Whitman’s “Song of Myself” pp 83-97
Thursday 1/13 — No Class
Friday 1/14
In Class: Discuss “Song of Myself “and Song of Self Project
Assignment: Go back to Writer’s Journal #10 and highlight the writing that seems most important or interesting to you. What details, images, or ideas stand out to you most in your imagined portrait? Then find and bring in one “artifact” to class – a personal item, possession, object, photograph, etc — that you would want included in your written portrait. Note: the artifact does not have to be from Writer’s Journal 10 (although that WJ may help you generate ideas about what to bring).