English 10C

Jane Belton

Syllabus January 14 – 28, 2011

Friday 1/14

In Class: Discuss “Song of Myself”

Assignment: 1) Reprint or make a copy of 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? 2) 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). 3) Turn in Writer’s Journals # 8-10 on Tuesday in the folder provided.

Monday 1/17 – No School

Tuesday 1/18

In Class: WJ 8-10 portfolio due. Introduce Song of Self Project; Writing Prompt 1: Writing from an artifact.

Assignment Complete Prompt 2: see project handout for details

Wednesday 1/19

In Class: Prompt 2 due. Share. Begin prompt 3 in class.

Assignment: Complete prompt 3. Work on assembling a draft of your “Song of Self.” A first draft is due Friday 1/21. See project handout for details.

Thursday 1/20 — No Class

Friday 1/21

In Class: Prompt 3 due; draft of “Song of Self” due. Workshopping with partners/sharing work with the full class.

Assignment: Complete Song of Self Project, due Monday 1/24. Practice reading your work aloud so you are prepared to read your poem with the class for 4-6 minutes. Please place your final draft of your Song of Self, your first draft of your Song of Self, Process Piece, and Prompts 1-3 in a folder with your name on it.

Monday 1/24

In Class: Share Song of Self

Assignment: No Homework

Tuesday 1/25

In Class: Share Song of Self

Assignment: Read and annotate “Cosmopolis 1919-1931” from New York, Ken Burns.

Wednesday 1/26

In Class: Discuss 1920s and The Jazz Age; view clip from Ken Burns’ documentary New York.

Assignment: Read and annotate Fitzgerald’s “My Lost City”.

Thursday 1/27 – No Class

Friday 1/28

In Class: Discuss “My Lost City.”  New York City and the American Dream. Begin The Great Gatsby as a class.

Assignment:  Read and annotate chapter 1, The Great Gatsby.

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).

Robert Frank’s Movie Premiere, Hollywood (1955)

Robert Frank’s Parade, Hoboken (1955)

Robert Frank’s Rodeo, New York City (1954)

Robert Frank’s Fourth of July – Jay, New York (1955)

Thomas Le Clear’s Interior with Portraits (1865)

Charles Felix Blauvelt’s German Immigrant Finding His Way (1855)

Garry Winogrand’s El Morocco (1955)

Walker Evans’s Sharecropper Family, Hale County, Alabama (1936)

Dorothea Lange’s Damaged Child, Shacktown, Elm Grove, Oklahoma (1936)

1. Charles Willson Peale’s The Artist in His Museum (1822)

2. Robert Frank’s Trolley in New Orleans (1955)

3. Gilbert Stuart’s Anna Dorothea Foster and Charlotte Anna Dick (1790-1)

4. Dorothea Lange’s Mississippi Delta Children (1936)

5. Robert Frank’s Charleston, South Carolina (1955)

6. Henry Mosler’s Just Moved (1870)