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Course Outline

Unit I: We will read A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest Gaines and  a series of related literary and informational texts to explore the question: What makes us human?  We will express our understanding through an essay that examines the lessons learned about humanity in the novel, as well as how this lesson is presented in a secondary text.  

Essential Questions

What makes us human?

Fiction Readings and Poetry

  • A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest Gaines- novel main texts

  • Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison- excerpts

  • "Sympathy" from The Complete Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar

  • "Caged Bird" from Shaker, Why Don't You Sing? By Maya Angelou Poem 

  • "I Am a Rock" from Sound of Silence by Paul Simon Song 

  • "No Man is an Island" from Devoons upon Emergent Occasions by John Donne Poem 

  • "If We Must Die" from The Vintage Book of Africa American Poetry by Claude McKay Poem 

  • "Invictus" from Book of Verses by William Ernest Henley

Nonfiction Readings

  • "Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs" by Saul Mcleod- article

Viewings/Audio

  • "Why Your Worst Deeds Don't Define You" by Shaka Senghor Speech 

  • "Strange Fruit" by Billie Holiday Song 

  • "Jim Crow Laws" History.com Editors

  • "NEA Big Read: Meet Ernest Gaines" NEA Video

 

Unit II : We will read The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan and a series of related literary and informational texts to explore the question:  How does a greater understanding of a person’s life experiences change our perception of them?  We will express our understanding through a narrative essay that explores how characters’ perceptions of each other in The Joy Luck Club influence their identity. 

Essential Question

How does a greater understanding of a person’s life experiences change our perception of them?

Fiction Readings and Poetry

  • The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan Novel 

  •  "I Stand Here Ironing" by Tillie Olson Short Story 

  • "I Ask My Mother to Sing"  by Li-Young Lee Poem 

Nonfiction Readings

  • “Like Mother, Like Daughter -- The Science Says So, Too” by Jordana Cepelewicz Article 

  •  “The Chinese Mother,” “On Generational Decline,” and “The Chuas” from Bale Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua Biography 

  • “What ‘White Food’ Meant to a First-Generation Kid” Lisa Ko Personal Narrative

  • “Evoking and Measuring Identification with Narrave Characters - A Linguistic Cues Framework” by van Krieken, Kobie et al -Article

Viewings/Audio

  • Selected images from Fan Ho Fan Ho Art/Images 

  • "Chinese Superstitions" Viking River Cruises Video 

 

Unit III : We will read the play, Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, a series of related literary and informational texts, and view selected scenes from three film versions of the play--Romeo and Juliet (1968), Romeo+Juliet (1996), and West Side Story (1961)-- to explore the question: How can adaptations or reproductions enhance or detract from the theme of a text?  We will express our understanding through a literary analysis essay that compares and contrasts the way a theme is developed in the text and how that theme is developed in a film adaptation.  

 

Essential Questions

How can adaptations or reproductions enhance or detract from the theme of a text?

Fiction Readings and Poetry

  • The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare Play (will also listen to audio version)

  • "To the Memory of My Beloved the Author, Mr. William Shakespeare" by Ben Jonson Poem 

  • “Sonnet 116: Let me not to the marriage of true minds” by William Shakespeare Poem 

  • "A Poison Tree" William Blake Poem 

Nonfiction Readings

  • "After 450 Years, We Still Don’t Know the True Value of Shakespeare" by Katie McLuskie Article 

Viewings/Audio

  • Romeo + Juliet directed by Baz Lhurmann Film 

  • Romeo and Juliet directed by Franco Zeffirelli Film

  • West Side Story by Robert Wise, Jerome Robbins, Ernest Lehman, Leonard Bernstein Film 

  • “The Reconciliation of the Montagues and Capulets over the Dead Bodies of Romeo and Juliet” by Frederic Leighton Art 

  • “Where’s Romeo?” William Hatherell Art 

  • "William Shakespeare - Mini Biography" Biography.com Video 

  • “Tonight” by Stephen Sondheim Song