Finalizing Your Project: January 31, 2019

Focus: How do we finalize and publish our projects?

1. Warming up with how to finalize and publish your projects

Step 1: Turn it into a Youtube video.

Step 2: Compose a brief introduction for your video.

• What is this video?
• Whom did you work with if you had a partner?
• What do you want people to know before they watch it?
• What do you want people to focus on as they watch it? Which part did you make?
• What do you hope people will gain from your video?

Step 3: Upload your video to both of your personal blogs.

Step 4: Consider presenting it to the class.

2. Working your Harlem Renaissance Little Projects (last day)

HW:
Finalize your Harlem Renaissance Little Project and publish it to your blog(s) BEFORE class tomorrow.

Complicating Your Theme: January 30, 2019

Focus: How can I refine my theme to fortify my personal connection to the Harlem Renaissance?

1. Warming up by perusing the rubric together

2. Setting goals and refining your theme: What complex ideas do you want your classmates to understand better or differently from your project?

Rough theme: Hope is important.

Refined theme: Genuine hope arises from a place of desperation and is the only way to claw yourself out of that dark place.

• I want the tone of my project to be...

• I want the class to understand that this is my theme:

• The title of my project will be..

• By Friday, here are the tasks I need to accomplish to make sure my tone and theme are clear:

• By the end of class today, here's what I will accomplish: 

3. Working on your Harlem Renaissance Little Projects

HW:
1. Continue working on any parts of your project that need to be done outside of school. Projects are due at the beginning of class this Friday; late projects will lose points in Academic Character Habits.

HARLEM RENAISSANCE LITTLE PROJECTS DUE AT THE BEGINNING OF CLASS THIS FRIDAY.

Fleeing from Terror: January 29, 2019

Focus: How does early 20th century racial terrorism give us a better/different understanding of the Harlem Renaissance?

1. Warming up with Grammar Focus #5: Parallel Structure

2. Understanding what many Harlem Renaissance artists were fleeing from: Racial lynchings

• Listening to Billie Holiday sing "Strange Fruit" (1939); using the MMM approach to discuss it

• Click on this lynching map to get a sense of scope.

• Click HERE to hear people's stories.

• What does this make you understand better or differently about the Harlem Renaissance?

3. Working on your Harlem Renaissance Mini Projects; make sure I check off your plan if I didn't do so yesterday

HW:
For FRIDAY: Projects are due at the beginning of class this Friday; late projects will lose points in Academic Character Habits.

Refining Your Theme: January 28, 2019

Focus: How do your aspirations intersect with those of Harlem Renaissance artists?

1. Warming up with three good things and 10 minutes of reflection on Making a Way Out of No Way

2. Using the checklist to figure out what aspects of your Harlem Renaissance Little Project you need to work on today

3. Working on your Harlem Renaissance Little Project; please make sure your project plan is complete, as I will be walking around and conferencing with you today and tomorrow. THIS LINK IS NEW AND IMPROVED FROM THE PLAN LINKED TO LAST FRIDAY'S BLOG.

HW:
1. For TOMORROW: Project plans are due (I will check them during class).

2. For FRIDAY: Projects are due at the beginning of class this Friday; late projects will lose points in Academic Character Habits.

Making a Way: January 25, 2019

Focus: How can we write our way to a deeper understanding of American Literature?

(Assembly: Shortened Class)

1. Warming up with an American Lit Formal Friday Freewrite

2. Developing your project plan and working on your project

3. Offering reflections on "Making a Way Out of No Way" (10 minutes)

HW:
1. By MONDAY: 

• Finish your "Making a Way Out of No Way" reflections if you were absent or it you did not finish in class (it's in your blue packet). You will turn this in Monday.

• Self-assigned project work.

2. For FRIDAY, FEB 1: Harlem Renaissance Mini Projects due.

Discovering Your Theme: January 24, 2019

Focus: What's your theme?

1. Warming up with Harlem Renaissance-inspired creative writing; please click HERE for your choices and student examples (15-20 minutes)

2. Finishing yesterdays activity with gathering and reflecting upon at least three pieces of Harlem Renaissance art on your blog

Aaron Douglas
Jacob Lawrence
Palmer Hayden
Lois Mailou Jones

Your goal: Use your blog today to collect paintings that you might want to use in your Renaissance Little Project. Maybe they relate to the poem you wrote at the beginning of class. Maybe they remind you of something we've watched/read/talked about this semester. Maybe you just like the look of it.

• Paste the paintings and their links into your blog. 

• Be sure to include their titles, artists, and if possible, dates.

• For at least THREE of the paintings, try an MMM approach (moments, movements, meanings). You can type this on your blog underneath the paintings.

• Click HERE for an example from last year.

3. (If time allows) Taking your theme and running with it: Working on your Renaissance Little Projects and developing a project plan

Click HERE for the project plan!


HW:
1. By TOMORROW, please watch the Harlem Renaissance documentary linked below. It will give you the background on the Harlem Renaissance that you need to succeed this week. You can start the documentary 15 minutes into it. 

*WARNING: If you choose to watch the first 15 minutes (not required), there are upsetting photographs of lynchings between minutes 5 and 7.*

Documentary link: Making a Way Out of No Way

On Friday, you will be asked to take about 15 minutes to fill out a reflection sheet on the documentary. It will be divided into Level 1, 2, and 3 thinking. As long as you watched the documentary, you will be just fine. No need to memorize anything.

2. By Monday, finish your project PLAN. Renaissance Little Project due by February 1.

Contemplating Your Theme: January 23, 2019

Focus: What's your theme, and how may art contribute to it?

1. Warming up with a physically close reading of "I, Too" and composing a creative response

2. Exploring the multidimensional message your poem might become!

Student Example #1 (student poem, Harlem Renaissance art, music)

Student Example #2 (Harlem Renaissance poem, student dance)

Student Example #3 (Harlem Renaissance music, student art, animation as narration)

Watching a commercial example.

• What's the first part of this poem/commercial about?
• What's the shift?
• What's the overall message, and how do the photos contribute to it?

3. Investigating "Song of the Towers" by Aaron Douglas (my favorite) with an MMM approach and extra step: Which figure is you? Why?

Song of the Towers, by Aaron Douglas (1934)

4. Offering you a preview of tomorrow and exploring other Harlem Renaissance artists you may wish to use in your Renaissance Little Project

Aaron Douglas
Jacob Lawrence
Palmer Hayden
Lois Mailou Jones

Your goal: Use your blog today to start collecting paintings that you might want to use in your Renaissance Little Project. Maybe they relate to the poem you wrote at the beginning of class. Maybe they remind you of something we've watched/read/talked about this semester. Maybe you just like the look of it.

• Paste the paintings and their links into your blog. 

• Be sure to include their titles, artists, and if possible, dates.

• For at least THREE of the paintings, try an MMM approach (moments, movements, meanings). You can type this on your blog underneath the paintings.

• Click HERE for an example from last year.

HW:
1. By Friday, please watch the Harlem Renaissance documentary linked below. It will give you the background on the Harlem Renaissance that you need to succeed this week. You can start the documentary 15 minutes into it. 

*WARNING: If you choose to watch the first 15 minutes (not required), there are upsetting photographs of lynchings between minutes 5 and 7.*

Documentary link: Making a Way Out of No Way

On Friday, you will be asked to take about 15 minutes to fill out a reflection sheet on the documentary. It will be divided into Level 1, 2, and 3 thinking. As long as you watched the documentary, you will be just fine. No need to memorize anything.

2. We will have an open-note, open-friend "quiz" on modifiers next Wednesday, Jan 31.

3. Renaissance Little Projects due February 2.

What Will Your Verse Be? January 22, 2019

Focus: What will your verse be? 

1. Warming up with three good things and the Grammar Focus #4 assessment

2. Perusing the overview of this mini-project with a little inspiration from "What Will Your Verse Be"?

3. Contemplating other Whitman's and Hughes' verses: "I Hear America Singing" and "I, Too" with the MMM approach

4. Composing your own response poem to "I, Too"

HW:
BY THIS FRIDAY, please watch the Harlem Renaissance documentary linked below. It will give you the background on the Harlem Renaissance that you need to succeed this week. You can start the documentary 15 minutes into it. 

*WARNING: If you choose to watch the first 15 minutes (not required), there are upsetting photographs of lynchings between minutes 5 and 7.*

So you could watch about 15 minutes a night, or you could watch it all in one gloriously informative off hour.  Do what works for you and your schedule.

Documentary link: Making a Way Out of No Way

On Friday, you will be asked to take about 15 minutes to fill out a reflection sheet on the documentary. It will be divided into Level 1, 2, and 3 thinking. As long as you watched the documentary, you will be just fine. No need to memorize anything.

The Racial Mountain: January 18, 2019

Focus: What is the racial mountain? 

1. Warming up with an assessment on Grammar Focus #4: Modifers, and a quick survey on public speaking

2. Illustrating the "Racial Mountain" that Hughes uses as his central metaphor

• Draw a mountain. At the top are your big goals: Where / who do you hope to be in ten years?
• Draw yourself at the bottom.
• What obstacles must you conquer in order to get to the top?

Watch this video. 

• Think/pair/share: What mountain are we facing in America today?

3. On your own, finish reading the Langston Hughes' essay, "The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain"; click HERE for the Friday Freewriting starters.

4. Enjoying a visit from Mr. Miles and considering his C.E. Humanities class as an option for next year

HW:
BY NEXT FRIDAY, please watch the Harlem Renaissance documentary linked below. It will give you the background on the Harlem Renaissance that you need to succeed this week. You can start the documentary 15 minutes into it. 

*WARNING: If you choose to watch the first 15 minutes (not required), there are upsetting photographs of lynchings between minutes 5 and 7.*

So you could watch about 15 minutes a night, or you could watch it all in one gloriously informative off hour.  Do what works for you and your schedule.

Documentary link: Making a Way Out of No Way

On Friday, you will be asked to take about 15 minutes to fill out a reflection sheet on the documentary. It will be divided into Level 1, 2, and 3 thinking. As long as you watched the documentary, you will be just fine. No need to memorize anything.

How To Rise, Part 2: January 17, 2019

Focus: What is the best way to rise in social power?

1. Warming up by updating your virtue charts

2. Find someone who read the same speech/essay that you did and talk through it:

• Which parts did you understand? Explain them to each other.
• Which parts confused you? Form questions about them and talk through them.
• Which THREE lines were the most central to this text? Why?

3. Mental jousting with yesterday's speeches by Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois

• Find a partner who read the OTHER speech/essay (not the same one you did).

• Become a group of four with a partnership who read the other speech; we'll use mental jousting to teach each other the speeches and discuss them.

4. Reading Langston Hughes' "The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain" around the circle

HW:
For TOMORROW: Please reread Hughes' "The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain" mark it up with your questions and reflections, particularly about what Hughes is teaching us about rising up in power.

Also, we will have a brief assessment on Grammar Focus #4: Modifiers.

How To Rise: January 16, 2019

Focus: What's the best way to rise up in social power?

1. Warming up with your own stances on rising up in social power

2. Returning to your reflection questions from yesterday

3. Reading Booker T. Washington and/or W.E.B. DuBois

• Before you read: Just looking at the titles, what do you predict Washington and DuBois are each going to argue? How will their arguments oppose each other?

• As you read, mark up any lines that respond to our focus question of the day: What's the best way to rise up in social power?

• Click HERE to listen to Washington deliver the "Atlanta Compromise."

• After you read, summarize Washington's or Dubois' argument in a single sentence. What's his purpose in writing this speech/essay?

HW:
1. For TOMORROW: Please finish the Washington/DuBois activity (described above).

2. For FRIDAY: Short assessment on Grammar Focus #4: Modifiers

Confronting Dangerous Stereotypes: January 15, 2019

Focus: What power do 19th century stereotypes hold?

1. Warming up with Grammar Focus #4: Modifiers

2. Testing your pre-existing background knowledge on 19th century stereotypes

• Turn to the Ethnic Notions reflection sheet on page 19 in your blue packet.

• Or, if you'd prefer to type, click here, make a copy, and save in your folder.

• What do you already know about these stereotypes?

3. Viewing an award-winning documentary and understanding the underlying dangers of black stereotypes

• Warning of graphic image 20 and 22 minutes in, after "offense to civilization" and watermelon images.

• Skip from 26 to 42 min.

4.  Discussing historical stereotypes in small groups/as a class (if time allows)


HW:
Finish responding to the questions at the bottom of your Ethnic Notions reflection sheet if yo did not finish in class.

If you're feeling stuck, here are some links that might help get you thinking:
Comments on Michelle Obama
2016 Prison Statistics
Aunt Jemima and other Commercial Objects
Little Black Sambo (look at what it's used for and the comments underneath)
Tom and Jerry cartoon and discussion of Amazon warning
Children's Songs with Racist Histories

The Myth of the Happy Slave: January 14, 2019

Focus: What is the power in telling your own story?

1. Warming up with three good things, a short reading quiz on the Jacobs narrative, and your first week of Academic Character Traits

2. Questioning the myth of the happy slave

The myth of the happy slave: 19th century and early 20th century images

• Make a copy of this and save it in your "Race and Power" folder.

• Look carefully at the depictions of slaves in these images. What details strike you?

• What story of slavery do these images tell, and how?

• Why do you think these images were so popular (well into the 20th century)?

• Open the slavery images from Wednesday. Flip back and forth between those images and these. What is problematic about the myth of the happy slave?

Frederick Douglass addresses the danger of the "happy slave" image

Children's book promotes the happy slave

3. Discussing "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl" in grid groups (click HERE if you'd prefer to type)

Topic #1: Myth vs. Reality
Each member of the group picks one line from Harriet Jacobs' narrative that undercuts (exposes the falseness) of one of the images from the warm-up. Read the lines aloud, look at the images, and discuss what happens when the myth is partnered with the reality.

Topic #2: Your Questions
Pose a Level 1, 2, or 3 question about "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl" to your group. Focus on the parts of the text you most wish to discuss.

Topic #3: The Power of Telling Your Own Story
Brainstorm as many reasons as you can as to why it was significant that Douglass and Jacobs told their own stories. What is the power of their particular narratives, and of all slave narratives?

4. Updating your virtue charts--how'd you do this week?

HW:
ONGOING: 
Work on your areas of need in your virtue chart (how's empathy coming along?)

If you fell behind in the reading or rushed through it, please (re)read any pages from Douglass and Jacobs that you missed. After today, hopefully the importance of reading their narratives is beginning to sink in.

From Slave to Man: January 11, 2019

Focus: How does a person reclaim power?

1. Warming up with a fun Friday recap of empathy: Empathy clip

2. Exploring a painting by a different Douglas: "Into Bondage," by Aaron Douglas

*Make yourself a document for "In-class Thoughts" and place it inside your "Race and Power" folder.

Which part of the painting is your eye drawn to? In other words, what's the focal point? Why?

How would you describe the patterns of color in this painting?

If this painting tells a story, what's the story?

Describe one aspect of the painting you find symbolic and explain what you think it symbolizes.

Which figure in this painting best captures Frederick Douglass before his battle with Mr. Covey? How so? Find one line from Chapter 10 that shows your thinking here.

Which figure in this painting best captures Douglass after his battle with Mr. Covey? How so? Find one line from Chapter 10 that shows your thinking here (be ready to read your line out loud).

3. Understanding how Douglass empowered others: Check out what he did after he escaped!

History (video)

Bio (video)

Frederick Douglass Honor Society (website--scroll down a little)

4. Observing the life of a female slave: Reading Harriet Jacobs' "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl" and marking up lines that reveal anything about power dynamics:

• How is Harriet (the narrator) disempowered? 
• Why is she disempowered?
• How are the master and mistress empowered? How are they disempowered?
• According to Jacobs, "Slavery is bad for men, but it is far more terrible for women." What do you think she means by this? How does her narrative compare to Douglass's?

HW:

For MONDAY: Please finish reading and annotating Harriet Jacobs' "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl". Since we're not keeping blogs or having graded discussions on these excerpts, you will have a short reading quiz on the Douglass and Jacobs narratives on MONDAY.

From Man to Slave: January 10, 2019

Focus: What does it take to disempower a human?

Please turn in your signed class policies.

1. Warming up with original excerpts from slaves, slave owners, 19th century documents, and historians (travelling groups of 3-4) with this reflection sheet

2. Following up with discussions of yesterday's images, today's quotations, and last night's Douglass reading:

• How were slaves physically disempowered?
• How were slaves socially disempowered?
• How were slaves mentally/emotionally disempowered?

• Tricky question: How did slavery also disempower slave masters? In other words, what did the practice of slavery take away from the slave owners? Take a look at Chapter 6 in Douglass.

3. Getting set up for Chapter 10 by exploring at least 4 definitions of the word "root"

4. Reading Chapter 10 together, marking up lines that reference...

• The root: Which definition best applies to the root's role in this chapter?
• Power lost and gained

5. Quick exit ticket: Completing the Thursday column of your virtue chart

HW:

If we did not finish reading and annotating Chapter 10 in Douglass, please finish it tonight.

Powerful Narratives of the Disempowered: January 9, 2019

Focus: What does it take to disempower a human?

1. Warming up with the Tuesday column of your virtue chart and Grammar Focus #4: Modifiers

• If you're struggling with the "Empathy" row of your virtue chart, have a look at "6 Habits of Highly Empathetic People."

2. Observing images of slavery

Inside your 2nd semester folder, make a folder that has the words "race" and "power" somewhere in the title.

Inside that folder, save the Google slide presentation above (images of slavery).

Peruse the images at your own speed. Underneath each one, make some notes on your specific observations of each image:

• What are you looking at in each one? What details strike you? What story is being told here?
• Which images surprise you/are new to you?
• What is your reaction to each one?
• What does each image reveal about the practice of slavery?
• What do the images reveal about specific ways in which slaves were disempowered?

3. Starting the first chapter of Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

• Mark up lines that connect to the images/quotations from today's class.

• Mark up lines that respond to our focus question: What does it take to disempower a human being?

• Mark up lines where you feel empathy for Douglass.

HW:
For TOMORROW: 

• Signed class syllabus due tomorrow (Thursday, Jan 10).

• Finish reading the Chapters 1 in Douglass (through page 3 in your packet) annotating for passages that reveal something about power, disempowerment, and/or empathy.

Kicking off the New Year! January 8, 2019

Focus: What is empathy, and how do we practice it?

1. Warming up with three good things (or more)

2. Defining and distinguishing empathy

• Watch this short, animated video to start forming a definition of empathy. 

• Playing empathy bingo (with the help of two actors)

3. Witnessing Benjamin Franklin's attempt to develop character: Rationalism and Franklin's 13 virtues

4. Setting up your own virtue charts, which you'll be keeping until January 31

• Set up a 2nd Semester folder inside your American Lit folder.

• Start a document called "Virtue Chart" and place it in your 2nd semester folder.

• Click here to check out mine (feel free to use it as a template if you wish)

• When choosing verbs, go with "I will..." (studies show this leads to greater success in attaining goals).

• Explain carefully what each goal personally means to you.

• Use our empathy activity to add at least ONE GOAL to your "Virtue Chart"that involves practicing empathy.

5. Perusing the second semester syllabus and website

HW:

1. Please have your parents/guardians sign the class syllabus. Due Thursday, Jan 10.

2. Consider purchasing your own copies of Fences (August Wilson) and The Great Gatsby (F. Scott Fitzgerald).