Day 1

Introduction: Syllabus, Getting to Know You, Information Sheet

Identifying Culture:  Establishing Culture—What makes a culture (controlling and determining factors, etc…)?  How do we identify ourselves as a culture?  What does it all mean?

HW: Read Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery, Info Sheet

Day 2

Tradition vs. Culture: What is the difference between the two?  How do they affect one another?

Day 3

Defining Your Culture: How do you identify yourself?  How does the world see you?  What does that mean for the development of your identity?

Day 4

Clips from Mulan: How do you know what another person’s culture is?  What identifiers exist to clue you in?  How safe are these “assumptions?”

Day 5

In-Class Writing: How is the development of culture affected by the observance of rituals and traditions? 

HW: Read The Bridge Poem, Rushin, and Hughes’s Theme and Sing America

Day 6

Harlem Renaissance—Literary Movement—The Death of the Old Negro, Emergence of the New Negro

The Bridge Poem, Donna Kate Rushin

Theme for English B, I, Too, Sing America, Langston Hughes

A Raisin in the Sun, Lorraine Hansberry (In-Class)

Day 7

A Raisin in the Sun: What is the American Dream?  How has it been built?

Revision: The basics of improving a paper—How do I know what to critique?  What are my responsibilities as a part of the Writer’s Circle?

HW: Read The Negro Mother, Hughes

Day 8

A Raisin in the Sun: Family Dynamics

The Negro Mother, Langston Hughes

Compare/Contrast Mothers in America: What expectations are placed upon women who are mothers—is it different for Women of Color?

Day 9

A Raisin in the Sun

HW: Finish Raisin

Day  10

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

Day 11

A Raisin in the Sun Wrap-up—Script Analysis and the structure of a play.

HW: Response to Raisin—How does Hansberry shed light on the plight of African-Americans?  Begin reading The Fire Next Time, James Baldwin

Day 12

Response Discussion—Sharing Our Insight

Rewrite Raisin ending (in groups)

Test Review—The Lottery, The Bridge Poem, Theme for English B, I, Too, Sing America, A Raisin in the Sun, The Negro Mother   

Long Walk to Freedom Excerpts, Mandela (In-Class)

Day 13

Test

How is art political?

The Fire Next Time, Baldwin

Day 14

1^st Round of Major Essays (Writer’s Circle, Groups TBA)

Raisin ending Groups

In-Class Writing:  Defend or refute Raisin’s resolution.

Day 15

Raising ending Groups

The Fire Next Time, Baldwin

Day 16

Raisin ending Groups

The Fire Next Time, Baldwin

Day 17

Perform Raisin endings.

How has African culture affected American Life?  Where do we see the influence of Black-Americans on the American Tapestry? 

Day 18

Jazz/Black Theatre: Beyond Harlem

Noted Jazz Musicians/Playwrights—Changing the landscape of the American dream.

Day 19

Poetry/Literature: Hitting Home

Shifting paradigms—Emergence of Hip Hop, Rap, etc…

Day 20

Stand and Deliver

HW: Read Poem for the Young White Man, Lorna Dee Cervantes

Day 21

Finish Stand and Deliver

Poem for the Young Man, Cervantes

What struggles do minorities face as a part of mainstream society?  What opportunities exist for those marginalized populations?

Comparison/Contrast: Are these struggles the same?

Day 22

2^nd Round of Major Essays (Writer’s Circle, Groups TBA)

In-Class Writing: What controlling factors affect assimilation from one culture into another?

HW: Barrio Boy, Ernesto Galarza (Reading Schedule TBA)

Day 23

Barrio Boy, Galarza

Day 24

Barrio Boy, Galarza

Day 25

Barrio Boy, Galarza

Day 26

Barrio Boy, Galarza

Day 27

Barrio Boy, Galarza

Day 28

3^rd Round of Major Essays (Writer’s Circle, Groups TBA)

HW: Barrio Boy, Galarza

Day 29

In-Class Writing:

HW: Barrio Boy, Galarza

Day 30

HW: Barrio Boy, Galarza

Day 31

The House on Mango Street Excerpts

Old Maids, Las Girlfriends, Cisneros

What is the Hispanic-American identity?  Are there gender differences in that identity?  What are the expectations of Hispanics in America?  What impact do cultural gender biases have on the American dream?  What has been done to overcome the negative effects of those biases?

Day 32

Test Review: The Fire Next Time, Stand and Deliver, The House on Mango Street, Old Maids, Las Girlfriends, Readings

In-Class Writing: TBA

Day 33

Test

Day 34

Teacher Workday

Day 35

4^th Round of Major Essays (Writer’s Circle, Groups TBA)

Day 36

Library—Research elements of Hispanic Cultures around the world

What factors contribute to the development of the female identity in the Hispanic culture?  Do these factors affect female identities across the cultural spectrum? 

Day 37

Library—Research

Day 38

Hispanic Movers and Shakers:  How Literature Shapes the Political Landscape

Raging Against the “Machine”

Readings in World Literature (In-Class)

Day 39

In-Class Writing: TBA

Day 40

The Revolt of ‘Mother,’ Mary E. Wilkins Freeman

Old Woman Magoun, Freeman

Roles of Women:  How are women a marginalized sect in world populations?  What kind of power do women have?  Where does that power stem from?

Day 41

‘Mother’ & Magoun, Freeman

Day 42

A Jury of Her Peers, Susan Glaspell

Trifles, Glaspell

Band of Brothers—well, Sisters, actually…

Day 43

The Storm, Kate Chopin

Lilacs, Chopin

Day 44

In-Class Writing:  In turn of the century America, do women really have power?

Day 45

Final Sharing of Major Essays (Writer’s Circle, Groups TBA)

Day 46

Revision of 1^st Paper Due

The Asian-American Experience: Finding identity in a world of silence, the struggle of the privileged

Day 47

Living in Translation: The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan, and the Assimilation Struggle

Day 48

The Joy Luck Club

Day 49

The Joy Luck Club

Day 50

The Joy Luck Club

End of Grading Period