Spanish-American War

As we continue to dip our toes in the 20th century (finally!)...

• Howard Zinn (from People's History of the United States): Empire and the People, an examination of the Spanish-American War, as well as the conflict in the Philippines (a direct result of the war).
• Rudyard Kipling: "White Man's Burden," a response to U.S. Imperialism (and some other "Burden" poems.
• "Burden" poem protocol

Progressive Movement

After exploring many of the ills of society in The Gilded Age, we move on to how to remedy them. The Progressive Movement focuses on the many social reforms put in place to "progress" the country forward.

Among the numerous people/concepts we will cover, is Upton Sinclair's influential novel The Jungle, about the meat packing industry in Chicago. The story focuses on an immigrant family from Lithuania that is desperately trying to achieve that elusive "American Dream." What they find, however, is the American Nightmare. Some of the issues we will discuss as we read excerpts from the novel include the immigrant experience, industrialization, environmental issues, unsafe labor practices, food safety, consumerism, and capitalism. Here are some pre-reading discussion questions.

We will read the following chapters:

• Chapter 2 (and questions)
• Chapter 3
• Chapter 5 (and questions)
• Chapter 14

Chopin: Literary Analysis

What is a common theme in Kate Chopin's work?

• Working from a central thesis about theme, explain how literary elements are used to convey that theme. The assignment is here.
• Here is a worksheet to help you work out your evidence.
• Some choice quotes that we discussed in class...

Mini-Research Paper: Gilded Age

TOPICS!

ASSIGNMENT!

LIB GUIDE!

Native American Experience Assessment

Essay question:

• How and why have Native Americans struggled with their cultural identity?
• You need three sources, one of which is Sherman Alexie's book. Cite correctly! Check out the Online Writing Lab at Purdue University for reference on how to cite correctly.
• Follow the organizational structure:
• M--Main idea/topic sentence
• E--Evidence--quote/citation (don't forget to integrate those quotes fluently)
• A--Analysis--relate your example to your thesis
• E--Evidence
• A--Analysis
• L--Last line/transition to next paragraph

Contemporary Articles

Discussion groups again (follow the protocol):

• "The Only Traffic Signal on the Reservation Doesn't Flash Red Anymore"
• Within the context of the story (and beyond), what does it mean to be a “warrior”? How does that fit into oral tradition and storytelling?
• "Indian Education"
• How has the weight of history affected the Native American experience?

HOMEWORK:

• Let’s read an article together
• Here is a summary that integrates quotes from the article: 
• Then go to our article resource page.
• Read two articles 
• Summarize (paragraph for each), integrating at least ONE quote in your summary, citing correctly 
• Do a Works Cited right after your paragraphs 

Lone Ranger and Tonto Fist Fight in Heaven

• Small group discussion today on "Every Little Hurricane" and "A Drug Called Tradition." See the discussion protocol and questions here.
• Here are some of my own "notes & quotes" from the stories: "Hurricane" and "Drug Called Tradition"
• For tomorrow (homework): "The Only Traffic Signal on the Reservation Doesn't Flash Red Anymore" and "Indian Education."

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

"All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn. All American writing comes from that. There was nothing before. There has been nothing as good since." -- Ernest Hemingway

Some notes about the novel:

• Satirical tone—Satire: A literary work in which human vice or folly is attacked through irony and/or wit. Generally some sort of “Social Commentary.”
• Among the first in major American literature to be written in the vernacular: The language or dialect spoken by the ordinary people in a particular country or region.
• Dialect: A variation of a language spoken within a particular region or class. Vocabulary, pronunciation, or grammatical form is different from standard form of the language.
• Example: “Yo’ ole father doan’ know yet what he’s a-gywne to do. Sometime he spec he’ll go way, en den ag’in he spec he’ll stay. De bes’ way is to res’ easy en let de ole man take his own way” (Twain 18)

Context of the novel (and our focus):

• In the early 1880s, the hopefulness of the post–Civil War years began to fade. The harsh measures the North imposed only made the South more bitter.
• As a result, many Southern politicians began an effort to control and oppress the black men and women whom the war had freed.
• As Twain worked on his novel, race relations, which seemed to be on a positive path in the years following the Civil War, once again became strained. The imposition of Jim Crow laws, designed to limit the power of blacks in the South in a variety of indirect ways, brought the beginning of a new, insidious effort to oppress. The new racism of the South, less institutionalized and monolithic, was also more difficult to combat. Slavery could be outlawed, but when white Southerners enacted racist laws or policies under a professed motive of self-defense against newly freed blacks, far fewer people, Northern or Southern, saw the act as immoral and rushed to combat it.

For our purposes, we'll only read four chapters: chapters 5 & 6, and chapters 15 & 16. Here is a summary of chapters 1-4 and chapters 7-14.

Reconstruction

At the end of The Civil War, the North was industrialized, wealthy, and, for the most part, untouched by the war. The South, however, had experienced massive destruction, was still an agrarian society with no industry, and millions of freed slaves. How does the country do the following:

• Rebuild the South?
• Restructure governments of the South?
• Deal with freed slaves?

In groups, prepare a short presentation with a PowerPoint and a handout for the class that explains one of the following topics (Here is the Reconstruction Assignment)

• Lincoln’s Plan – Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction 
• Congress’ “response” – the Wade-Davis Bill (pocket veto)
• Johnson’s plan, the Black Codes and reactions of Congress
• The First Reconstruction Act and the 14th Amendment
• 15th Amendment
• Scalawags, carpetbaggers, and the KKK
• Johnson’s impeachment and acquittal
• Effects of Reconstruction

1863-Emancipation Proclamation and Gettysburg

FIRST:
As we give back your essays on Pre-Civil War America, let's have a quick breakdown of what worked and what didn't. Some broad problems:

• Specific Thesis
• Organization
• Citations
• Context
• Word Choice/Voice

As we move forward, let's try to hone our skills!

THEN...
1863 was a meaningful year in the Civil War.

First, There was the Emancipation Proclamation, which we will go through. And of course, Gettysburg!



The bloodiest battle in American history-Let's dissect it, specifically the Gettysburg Address.

• Here's the address itself
• Here are some questions
• Here is a fascinating article from US News & World Report

Civil War Research/Letter Writing

To immerse ourselves in learning about the Civil War, you are to write two letters based on the viewpoint of a character which you have researched thoroughly. Steps to achieving this goal:

• Decide on a character. Use the character bio sheet to help.
• Research: Use the "Research Source Organizer" to analyze five primary sources. Use the libguide Ms. Hopkins made for us. Make sure to look at the exemplars of primary source analysis.
• Product: Look at the requirements and rubric!

Walt Whitman and The Civil War

Walt Whitman is considered by many to be America's first great poet. Why? He changed the game, and displayed a unique American voice. Often called "The Good Gray Poet" or "The Bard of Democracy," he essentially created free verse poetry. Here is some information on him.

What is free verse? It is an open form of poetry that does not use consistent meter patterns or rhyme. However, by repeating phrases and using commas, a poet can create both a rhythm and structure. Internal pattern of sounds, choice of exact words, and effect of associations give free verse its beauty.

Let's look at Whitman's "I Hear America Singing" as an example.

To open our unit on the Civil War (here's our schedule), you will look at some of Whitman's writing, as well as some Civil War photography, and make some connections. The ultimate goal is to create three original pieces—a piece of prose, a piece of poetry, and a photograph/illustration—interpreting what you have been given. Here is your project. We will eventually evaluate each other's work in a gallery-setting.

Also, on the agenda for today, is to watch part of Ken Burns' documentary on the Civil War, and answer some questions.

Slavery Assessment

Your assessment for our unit on the Abolition Movement is an in-class essay. Preparation is key--prep any notes, look over materials, pull quotes, and/or create an outline.

Reminder about integrating and setting up quotes in writing:

When integrating quotes into a piece of writing, you need to

• set-up your quote
• use quotation marks
• include page number/author and then
• explain 

Look at the handout for more detail/examples.

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

"I want to add my testimony to that of abler pens to convince the people of the Free States what slavery really is. Only by experience can any one realize how deep, and dark, and foul is that pit of abominations."

Today we examine Harriet Jacobs' slave narrative, and we will read a few excerpts from that novel. Some information about her from the great website harrietjacobs.org:

After nearly seven years hiding in a tiny garret above her grandmother’s home, Harriet Ann Jacobs took a step other slaves dared to dream in 1842; she secretly boarded a boat in Edenton, N.C., bound for Philadelphia, New York and, eventually, freedom. The young slave woman’s flight, and the events leading up to it, are documented in heart-wrenching detail in her autobiography, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Written by Herself, self-published in 1861 under the pseudonym Linda Brent.
A significant personal history by an African American woman, Harriet Jacobs’ story is as remarkable as the writer who tells it. During a time when it was unusual for slaves to read and write, self-publishing a first-hand account of slavery’s atrocities was extraordinary. That it was written by a woman, unprecedented.

Here are guiding questions as we read this book! Remember to always point to specifics when answering questions. Pull quotes!

In addition, you are responsible for the readings about the Fugitive Slave Law (and the questions that go along with them).

Frederick Douglass

Today we look at the one and only Frederick Douglass. We'll watch parts of When the Lion Wrote History and answer some questions. We'll also read a  couple things: Excerpt of "My Bondage, My Freedom" as well as a speech from Douglass titled "The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro."

Abolitionist Movement

Background of the Civil War: Events, Trends, and Important People

Our next unit looks at our country as we headed towards The Civil War. Check out our schedule, as well as a PowerPoint on the Abolitionist Movement.

We'll also tackle some primary source readings ("The Abolitionist Crusade") and answer some questions.

Make sure to read chapter 19 in Pageant, and take notes...quiz on Monday.

Project Presentations

Before we jump in, a word about your Transcendentalism responses...

Then: Presentations!

American Romanticism: Poetry

• Fireside Poets
• Remember, Americans are still trying to find their "voice." The "Fireside Poets" (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, John Greenleaf Whittier,Oliver Wendell Holmes, James Russell Lowell, and William Cullen Bryant) are among the first American poets to mimic the European style, while still making their work their own
• Analysis: "Thanatopsis" by William Cullen Bryant
• Analyzing Poetry Handout

• Emily Dickinson
• From PoetryFoundation.org: Emily Dickinson is one of America’s greatest and most original poets of all time. She took definition as her province and challenged the existing definitions of poetry and the poet’s work. Like writers such as Ralph Waldo Emerson,Henry David Thoreau, andWalt Whitman, she experimented with expression in order to free it from conventional restraints. Like writers such as Charlotte Brontë and Elizabeth Barrett Browning, she crafted a new type of persona for the first person. The speakers in Dickinson’s poetry, like those in Brontë’s and Browning’s works, are sharp-sighted observers who see the inescapable limitations of their societies as well as their imagined and imaginable escapes. To make the abstract tangible, to define meaning without confining it, to inhabit a house that never became a prison, Dickinson created in her writing a distinctively elliptical language for expressing what was possible but not yet realized. Like the Concord Transcendentalists whose works she knew well, she saw poetry as a double-edged sword. While it liberated the individual, it as readily left him ungrounded. The literary marketplace, however, offered new ground for her work in the last decade of the 19th century. When the first volume of her poetry was published in 1890, four years after her death, it met with stunning success. Going through eleven editions in less than two years, the poems eventually extended far beyond their first household audiences.

"Nature," "Self-Reliance," and Thoreau

• Discussion of Emerson
• Thoreau and Walden
• For two years (1845-1847) Thoreau lived alone in a cabin he built himself at Walden Pond outside of Concord. His experiences during this time provided him with the material for his masterwork, Walden (1854).
• Condensing his experiences at Walden Pond into one year, Thoreau used the four seasons as a structural framework for the book.
• A unique blend of natural observation, social criticism, and philosophical insight, Walden is now generally regarded as the supreme work of Transcendentalist literature.
• His work has inspired writers, environmentalists, and social and political leaders. It has made generations of readers aware of the possibilities of the human spirit and the limitations of society.
• Walden Quotes: What is Thoreau saying? What philosophical elements of Transcendentalism can we pull from these quotes?
• Thoreau and "Civil Disobedience"
• Civil disobedience is the active, professed refusal to obey certain laws, demands, and commands of a government, or of an occupying international power. Civil disobedience is a symbolic or ritualistic violation of the law, rather than a rejection of the system as a whole.
• Some condensed quotes
• Transcendentalism Open Response
• Construct an open response to Transcendentalism to demonstrate your understanding of this philosophy. What are the core values and beliefs of the movement? How is it relevant? Where do we see the key ideas of Emerson and Thoreau in contemporary society?

American Hero and Transcendentalism

Agenda:

• Discussion of "A Rescue"
• How does the Deerslayer set the stage for the concept of the American Hero? Check out the heroic qualities in action in the trailer for the film adaptation of Cooper's Last of the Mohicans..
• History themes
• Transcendentalism
• Accessing prior knowledge/Connections: Discussion
• What is Transcendentalism? Notes.
• Read: "Self Reliance" and "Nature" Take a stab at the questions for the two pieces--but don't freak out if you cannot answer them all--just try. Trust your gut.

Is American Literature Possible?

Finish up Summer Reading presentations; what do we get from the reading?

Review of history terms, as well as literary terms (tools for analyzing literature).

Discussion: Is American Literature possible? Could literature and art thrive in this new nation? Were literature and art possible in the special political, social and economic conditions Americans created? How could the language and literary models of England be naturalized to the conditions of America?

This is what we will explore today, as we read some introductory notes on American Romanticism, and dive into some James Fenimore Cooper with an excerpt from The Deerslayer. To set up this excerpt: As this scene opens, Natty Bumppo -- known as Deerslayer to his Native American friends -- has been taken captive by the Hurons, allies of the French and sworn enemies of Deerslayer’s (and England’s) friends, the Delawares. Hist, a Delaware female who just happens to be in love with Deerslayer’s buddy, Chingachgook, has also been taken captive, as have two white women, Judith and her sister Hetty.

WELCOME!

Welcome to Honors Comprehensive American Studies II!

This blog was created by Mrs. Mireault and Mr. Bujold to help communicate more effectively with students and parents this year in Honors Comprehensive American Studies II. We will be blogging often with the class agenda, links to assignments, and links to interesting and informative topics that we see on the internet.

You will notice there are two additional tabs: "Unit Handouts" and "Resources." These will provide ample support as we journey through the year.

We are very excited to begin this year!

Here is our class expectation sheet

We will kick off our class with a quick summary of your summer reading, and use that as a basis for discussing the purpose of the class--to synthesize literature AND history, and how they are intertwined. You will informally present/summarize what you read & discovered. Most of you shared a book with somebody, and if that is the case, you will present as a group. This should be very quick-no more than 5 minutes. Touch base with your group to share your thoughts and make notes. Make sure to cover all three tasks you were to complete (unless otherwise noted in the handout).

Civil Rights Then & Now: Groundwork for Discussion

Follow the links to read the articles and take notes/answer questions. The notes you take will be used for your assessment tomorrow (Friday). Additionally, feel free to follow any links within any of the articles to learn more information.

About Black Lives Matter

• What exactly is “Black Lives Matter”?

• According to their site, how are Black lives victims of “state violence”?

• What is the ultimate goal of this “movement”?

What happened in Ferguson

• Who is Michael Brown and what happened to him?

• What are some of the inconsistencies in eye-witness accounts of what happened to Michael Brown?

• What happened after the Grand Jury’s decision not to indict Darren Wilson?

• What are some of the problems in the criminal justice system in Ferguson?

• Why do you think people were so upset by Michael Brown’s death?

Freddie Gray and Baltimore

(You will have to search around different articles to get all the details)

• What are the circumstances of Freddie Gray’s death?

• What happened in Baltimore after his death? Why?

• How does this incident fit into the Black Lives Matter movement?

Are we in the midst of a new civil rights era?

• What comparisons/similarities are being made between the “mid-century movement” and current events?

• How does Martin Luther King’s legacy affect the current day movement?

• In your opinion, are we, in fact, in the midst of a new civil rights era and why?

Dorothea Lange/Vignette

LINK TO LIBGUIDE

• How to analyze a photo (three steps of visual analysis)
• In your projects, you are to analyze a photo and write a vignette. Find Dorothea Lange photography at The History Place.
• Choose a photograph and provide an analysis, using the three steps of visual analysis. 
• Step One: Description--Objective and descriptive; make no judgments
• What do you see? What is in the photo--objects, scenery, people? Where are they placed? What is happening? What are people doing?
• Step Two: Reflection--Subjective and speculative; inference
• What are the people in the photograph thinking about? What are they feeling? What emotions are they going through? Why? If there are no people in the photo, what might have happened here?
• Step Three: Formal Analysis
• A good place to start formal analysis is to look at a work of art and take note of how your eye moves around the object. Where does your eye go first, and why were you attracted to that part of the image? What colors, textures, and shapes appear in the image? What did the artist include in the composition to guide your eye or to direct your gaze to a certain part of the image? And most importantly, why did the artist compose the piece this way...what is she saying? Check out the elements and principles of composition to help you.
• Each step should be about a paragraph.

For your vignette, use the photograph you analyzed. Think of the two Steinbeck pieces we read-”Breakfast” and “The Turtle.” These pieces do not  necessarily have a plot, which would make it a story, but they do reveal something about the elements in them. Your vignette may reveal character, or mood or tone. It may have a theme or idea of its own that it wants to convey. It is the description of the scene or character that is important. This is your chance to be very descriptive and creative! Paint the picture with your words.

This vignette should be at least 3 paragraphs. You will be graded using a six-trait rubric—with emphasis on word choice and voice, i.e., how detailed and descriptive you are. Use Steinbeck as an exemplar.

Here is a student example of analysis and vignette. Here is another one.

Gatsby Chapters 6-9

• Chapter 6 Notes & Quotes
• Chapter 7...AS A PLAY!
• Chapter 7 Notes & Quotes

• Chapter 8 Notes & Quotes
• Chapter 9 Notes & Quotes
• Essay
• John Green Crash Course: Part I (11:00) and Part II (8:50)
• ESSAY GRAPHIC ORGANIZER

Gatsby chapters 1-5

• Chapter 1: Character quotes
• Here are some great slides for a point of visual reference to the world of the novel
• Check out some visual interpretations of the "Valley of Ashes"
• Chapter 2 notes & quotes
• Chapter 3 notes & quotes
• Chapter 4 notes & quotes
• Chapter 5 notes & quotes

1920s and The Great Gatsby

Kicking off second semester with F. Scott Fitzgerald's masterpiece, The Great Gatsby.

As we read, take note of the essay topics in order to provide a lens through which you take in the novel.

First, let's look at some talking points/background information, and then we start with chapter 1! Here are some guiding questions as well as a comprehensive list of allusions in the book.