AmStuds English, Ms. Monson
“Calendar” of Class Activities and Assignments
Dec. 10-22, 2015
Thurs. Dec. 10
Walden Notebook class work in Media Center Computer lab & Center Section
Work Time, and individual help with questions and clarification, if needed.
Walden Notebook Due next class.
Fri. Dec. 11 – Substitute. Ms. Monson went home ill.
1. Walden Notebooks Due.
a. Explain to a peer: how have Thoreau’s ideas surfaced in our modern world?
b. Turn in, with assignment sheet/rubric.
2. Read in textbook for Tues: Pp. 404-420, Walt Whitman and writings.
Mon. Dec. 14 – Terpstra conducts both class periods.
To prepare for the next class together, please read and take notes on these selections:
P. 404 Walt Whitman
P. 405 – read all
Pp. 406-407, from “Leaves of Grass”
Pp. 408-411, from “Song of Myself”
Pp. 412-413, “I Hear America Singing”
Pp. 414-420 Get Journals up to date and of sufficient length and content. You will write Journals 8 and 9, and
turn in Journal Set #2 on Wednesday.
If you are supremely interested in Walt Whitman, listen to Harold Bloom on Walt Whitman (1:01:57)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Io5mFFArsX4
Tues. Dec. 15 – Collab./Advisory Schedule
1. Washington Irving and his “Literary Friends ay Sunny (painting)
2. Quest for American Literary Destiny and Voice – Emerson & Thoreau …and others
3. Discuss Walt Whitman and “Leaves of Grass”
P. 404 Walt Whitman
P. 405 – read all
Pp. 406-407, from “Leaves of Grass”
4. Journal #8: Something inspirational from Walt Whitman.
5. Discuss inspirational concepts from Whitman.
6. Volunteers Read and Groups Discuss “Song of Myself” (Pp. 408-411) and “I Hear America
Singing” (Pp. 412-413)
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
Who is the Speaker?
Identify pronouns & antecedents
Specific Word Choice and Poetic Devises (imagery, irony, personification, simile, metaphor. etc.)
What does the title tell us?
Message/ Theme (what the poem is saying)
7. Homework for next class:
a. Make sure journals are finished through entry #8. Tomorrow we write #9 and turn in.
b. Read and be prepared to discuss Pp. 414-420, and specifically Langston Hughes’ poem,
“I, Too” – Pp. 418-419
1
Wed. Dec. 16, 2015 – Monson conducts both classes.
1. Transcendentalism: The Movement, Key Ideas, and Shifts – handout (10 min)
2. Elbow Buddies discuss text Pp. 414-420 for significant meaning. Then a whole class.
3. Volunteer Reads Langston Hughes’ poem, “I, Too” – Pp. 418-419
4. Class Interprets literary techniques toward meaning. “What does it say, and how do you know?”
5. Journal #9: What does it mean to be American? Journal Set (#1-8) Due. Turn in.
6. Return to Whitman and Hughes – analyzing message and response message of exclusion while
incorporating self into the normative whole.
7. Assignment: Imitation of “I Hear America Singing” and “I, Too.”
a. Handout of Instructions.
b. 1st draft due Friday.
c. Final Draft/submission Due Mon. Dec. 21.
Thurs. Dec. 17
Choice of Class Work – so that I can help/assist, as you need it:
1. Work on Imitation of “I Hear America Singing” and “I, Too” – Reminder minimum of 1st draft
due next class.
2. Due for Tues. Read and take notes in the textbook on Pp. 428–437, Division, Reconciliation, and
Expansion (1850-1914). Pp. 466-467, Guide for Interpreting and Ambrose Bierce. Pp. 468-472,
Ambrose Bierce’s story “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge.” Be able to answer the questions
at the end of the story, but you do not have to write them down.
Fri. Dec. 18
1. Pairs/groups (self-selected) discuss ideas for and progress with “Singing …Too” Imitation writing
assignment. 1st Draft Check.
2. Handout: Sojourner Truth “Ain’t I A Woman?” Speech, and two published accounts of her speech.
a. Read aloud as class, and posit in contextual history
b. As literary account: techniques of
i. Personal Testimony
ii. Allusion
iii. Repetition –as emphasis and perhaps as learned technique of statement-refrain from
spirituals
1. Irony – the system that proclaims freedom is the exact one that enslaves
2. Theme – hope is forever present for all (women) during Suffrage Movement
iv. Use of Rebuttal to Hegemony
c. Discuss Differences between Truth’s speech and Bugle, with rationale
3. Monday: “Singing …Too” imitation writing and explanations due.
Mon. Dec. 21, 2015
1. Volunteers Read “Singing … Too” Poem(s) (Imitation writing)
2. Turn in “Singing …Too” imitation writing and explanations.
3. Class Processing: what I asked and what you accomplished = microcosm of historical
conversation, a dichotomy of American voice.
a. I asked you to
i. find voice for a group or a location that you know well, some normative in our
American framework.
ii. give voice for someone or something not typically in that normative group.
b. What you have accomplished
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i. acknowledging dominant voice on the basis of a normative populace or geography,
and giving voice to another dimension that exists (or wants to exist) somewhere
within that framework.
ii. Creating one dichotomy of American voice
4. Dichotomy = (n.) a contrast between two polar opposites that seems contradictory, but that exist
together at the same time.
** At this point in time, leads to the very important shift from
Romanticism/Transcendentalism toward Realism.
5. Realism – How do we get from Romanticism to Realism?
a. Textbook Pp. 428-437 – Review of main ideas. Prosperity and Guilded Age.
b. Main Aspects of Realism, Regionalism, and Naturalism. (Handout)
6. Reminder for Homework for Next class: Tues. Dec. 22: Read Pp. 428–437, Division,
Reconciliation, and Expansion (1850-1914). Pp. 466-467, Guide for Interpreting and Ambrose
Bierce. At Pp. 468-472, Ambrose Bierce’s story “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge.”
Realism
Tues. Dec. 22, 2015 – 30 minute classes GOFA PEP FEST Schedule
1. Discuss Ambrose Bierce (1843-1914?). P. 466.
Civil War Soldier
Journalist – cynical and malicious social commentary
Stories – cruelty and futility of war & indifference of death
2. Discuss story by Ambrose Bierce “Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” – narrative point of view,
sequence of events - regular plot line vs scattered (flashback?) plot line, detailed imagery of sights
and sounds, and (of course) historical context. 
3. Show and discuss 1962 Film https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuP5kUQro40
4. Assignment: Read and &Take Notes:
a. P. 518 Mark Twain
b. P. 519, especially Literary Focus and Reading Strategy
c. P. 525-529, “The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calavaras County” (entertaining ‘tall tales’ and
exaggeration)
d. P. 529 Be able to answer Critical Thinking
e. P. 530 Read “Reading Strategy” and “Build Vocabulary”
f. P. 530 Read and DO/WRITE “Literary Focus” #2 and #3
g. P. 530 “Grammar and Style; Double Negatives”
h. Answer: How (in what ways) is the amusing story “The Notorious Jumping Frog of
Calavaras County” an example of Realism?
5. If you want to read ahead:
a. P. 554 Jack London and Background
b. P. 555 Read all, especially Internal and External Conflict
c. P. 556-565 “To Build a Fire”
d. P. 565 Guide, Read and be able to answer
e. P. 566, Read and be able to answer all, paying specific attention to
i. Critical Thinking: Interpret #2, #4
ii. Lit. Focus #1, 2, 3
f. How is this story an example of Naturalism?
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