10/21 – 11/11/09
Reading schedule for “The Grapes of Wrath”
10/21/09: Discuss Great Depression Read chapters 1 – 4
10/22/09: Discuss chapters 1-4; Read chapters 5-7
10/23/09: Discuss chapters 5-7; Read chapters 8-10
10/26/09: Discuss chapters 8-10; Read chapters 11-13
10/27/09: Discuss chapters 11-13; Read chapters 14-16
10/28/09: Discuss chapters 14-16; Read chapters 17-18
10/29/09: Discuss chapters 17-18; Read chapters 19-21
11/03/09: Discuss chapters 19-21; Read chapters 22-23
11/04/09: Discuss chapters 22-23; Read chapters 24-25
11/05/09: Discuss chapters 24-25; Read chapter 26
11/06/09: Discuss chapter 26; Read chapters 27-30
11/09/09: Discuss chapters 27-30 Answer post-reading questions
11/10/09: Review for Test
11/11/09 Test; Audio-Visual Interpretive Presentation?
You are responsible for this material whether you are present or not and whether we are in class or not.
11/09/09
The Grapes of Wrath
Discussion Questions – answer in complete sentence form
1. Are we meant to conclude that Tom’s killing of the deputy is justified?
2. What makes Casy believe that “maybe all men got one big soul ever’body’s a part of”?
3. Why does Steinbeck devote a chapter to the land turtle’s progress on the highway?
4. Why does Pa yield his traditional position in the family to Ma?
5. What does Ma mean when she says, “Bearin’ an’ dyin’ is two pieces of the same thing”?
6. As Tom leaves the family, he says, “I’ll be ever’where—wherever you look”. In what sense does he mean “everywhere”?
7. Why does Steinbeck interrupt the Joads’ narrative with short chapters of commentary and description?
8. Why does Rose of Sharon smile as she feeds the starving man with milk intended for her baby?
9. What does Steinbeck mean when he writes, “In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage”? (p. 477)
10. Why do different characters insist at different points in the book, “A fella got to eat”?
11. Why does the book start with drought and end with floods?
12. Is the family intact at the end of the novel?
13. Why does Uncle John set the dead baby adrift rather than bury it?
14. What is the source of Ma’s conviction that “we’re the people—we go on”?
15. Does nature function as a force for either good or evil in this book?
For Further Reflection – answer in paragraph form
1. As his land is destroyed, an anonymous tenant says, “We’ve got a bad thing made by men, and by God that’s something we can change”. Is Steinbeck suggesting that a just social order is possible?
2. When the narrator says “men ate what they had not raised, had no connection with the bread”, the implication is that this break diminishes humanity. Can spirituality be maintained with increasing automation?
3. Casy tells Tom about a prisoner whose view of history is that “ever’ time they’s a little step fo’ward, she may slip back a little, but she never slips clear back . . . they wasn’t no waste”. Do you agree with this view?
11/09/09
The Grapes of Wrath
Chapters 27-30
Ch.27 · All about cotton picking. · “Side-meat tonight, by God! … Stick out a han’ to the little fella, he’s wore out. … The ol’ woman’ll make some nice biscuits tonight, ef she ain’t too tired.”
Ch.28 · The Joads pick cotton for a month, and every night they have meat, and the boxcar they share with another family is “almost nicer than anything we had ‘cept the gov’ment camp.”· By the time later-arrivers come they’re aristocrats. · While Ma’s cooking dinner, Ruthie brags to a girl that her brother (who’s hiding from killing a man) can whip her brother. · Ma takes food and seven dollars to Tom’s cave in the willows.· She wants him to go hundreds of miles away, but he’s decided to do what Casy did.· He remembers some scripture Casy told him once (Ecclesiastes 4). · Tom: “maybe like Casy says, a fella ain’t got a soul of his own, but on’y a piece of a big one. … I’ll be ever’where—wherever you look.”· Returning, Ma runs into a man looking for pickers and says they’ll be there in the morning. · Mr. Wainwright worries about his grown daughter and Al. · Pa thinks about the old place. Ma: “This here’s purtier—better lan’.” · Ma notes that a man lives in a jerk, a woman in flow. · Al announces he and Aggie are aiming to get married. · The families celebrate with pancakes and syrup. · They wake early for the day’s picking. · There’re so many the field’s picked clean by eleven. · It rains heavily on the way back and Rosasharn gets chilled. · Pa, Al and John fetch firewood all afternoon. It rains all night.
Ch.29 · Rain. Winter. Floods. No work. No relief. Illness. Mud. Begging. Hunger. Stealing. Sheriffs.· No work till spring. No work, no money, no food (unlike horses). · “The women watched the men, watched to see whether the break had come at last.” “…the break would never come as long as fear could turn to wrath.” · “Tiny points of grass came through the earth, and in a few days the hills were pale green with the beginning year.”
Ch.30 · After three days of rain Pa worries the creek may flood if they don’t build a bank against it.· Rosasharn’s baby comes early, so they can’t leave. · Eighteen men help Pa build a bank.· As a scream comes from the boxcar the water rises over the first thrown dirt. · They keep working on the levee through the evening and the screaming. · A falling tree wrecks the levee and all scramble for the boxcar. · Al tries the truck but it’s under water.· The baby doesn’t breathe.· As the water rises, Al suggests building a structure in the boxcar to hold things dry.· Uncle John is given the task of burying the baby. · Instead he lets it float away in the stream: “Go down in the street an’ rot an’ tell ‘em that way.” · The water rises to six inches above the floor. · All but Al, who’s staying with Aggie and their stuff, wade up to the highway and Ma spots a barn on a hill. · Inside the barn they find a man and a boy. · The man is nearly starved, couldn’t keep down bread the boy stole the day before.· After Ma makes everyone else leave, Rose of Sharon nurses the man.
11/06/09
The Grapes of Wrath
Ch. 26 Quiz:
1) Why do the Joads leave Weedpatch?
(no work or $)
2) What crop do the Joads pick at Hooper Ranch?
(peaches)
3) Who does Ma say you should go to if you need help?
(poor people)
4) Whose skull is crushed by a man with a pick handle?
(Casey)
5) What does Tom do that causes the Joads to leave the ranch?
(kills a man)
26 · One month in Weedpatch and the Joads are down to a day’s worth of grease, two of flour, and ten potatoes. · In all there’s been five days work for Tom. · Ma decides they’ll have to leave. · Al will miss his blond, Ruthie and Winfield (who’s not well) the croquet, and Tom the dances.· Going toward cotton in Tulare they have a flat tire. · A man from the Hooper Ranch east of Pixley tells them there’s work picking peaches at five cents a box.· Cops lead them past shouting men. They’re told to find House 63.· The family picked the rest of the day for a dollar and everybody’s tired. · It takes the whole dollar to buy fat, gristly hamburger, potatoes, bread and coffee. · Ma to the storekeeper: “I’m learnin’ one thing good … If you’re in trouble or hurt or need—go to poor people. They’re the only ones that’ll help.” · Guards complain to each other about government camps spoiling the Okies. · Tom goes to see the pickets and runs into Casy who explains they were making two and a half cents and talks about the union struggle. · Vigilantes chase them under a bridge.· Casy: “You fellas don’ know what you’re doin’. You’re helpin’ to starve kids.” His skull is crushed with a pick handle. · Tom takes the weapon and kills George. They crush his nose but he escapes back to the hut. Next morning Tom tells what happened, plans to leave, but Ma tells him to stay. · Winfield gets sick from hunger.· At night they put Tom between two mattresses in the truck and all leave the farm, heading for Highway 101. · Ma: “Gives ya funny feelin’ to be hunted like. I’m gittin’ mean.” Pa: “Ever’body’s gittin’ mean…. Down that gov’ment camp we wasn’ mean.”· They go about twenty miles and find a bunch of boxcars and a sign: COTTON PICKERS WANTED. · Tom says they should stay in a boxcar and he can hide in culvert in the brush by the creek. · Ma starts to take over as head of family· Family starts to turn on each other· Al talks about leaving all the time; Pa yells at Al for complaining.· Store at ranch has higher prices than in town.· Page 515: Who was J.P. Morgan? (owned G.E., U.S. Steel, 5000 miles of railroad)
11/05/09
Grapes of Wrath
24 · The camp prepares for the Saturday dance. · The Committee prepares for trouble and plans no violence. · Al tries to pick up a blond girl. · Tom kids Rosasharn about getting big, then joins Willie’s committee.· Pa debates Black Hat over becoming a twenty-cent man. · Tom and Jule watch visitors arrive.· Jule spots three troublemakers, and a kid tells Huston there’s two cars with guns. · Ma and Rosasharn sit on a bench as the band plays “Chicken Reel.” · The men capture the three troublemakers and remove them.· Deputies can enter without a warrant if there’s a riot. · They put the three over the fence. · Black Hat tells of a turkey shoot in Akron the previous March and how that put an end to being molested. · Pg. 476: Religious people complain about the dance. (don’t watch)
25 · Read Aloud· The beauty of Spring in California. · How debt chokes off the crops and the farmers. · Everything is destroyed to keep up the price. · “And children dying of pellagra must die because a profit cannot be taken from an orange.” “In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage.”
11/04/09
Grapes of Wrath
Ch.22 Tom pulls over the speed bump into the government camp and then to Number Four Sanitary Unit. The watchman explains governance: each of five units elects a Central Committee man, and they make the laws.How they allowed preachers but no collections, and no preachers came. All sleep. Tom wakes and finds a girl nursing a baby while cooking on an iron stove. He goes with her men to find work at Mr. Thomas’ who informs them the Farmers’ Association (Bank of the West) has switched the wage from thirty cents to twenty-five (they also sent the men who burned the camp; and they’re going to the dance on Saturday). “A red is any son-of-a-bitch that wants thirty cents an hour when we’re paying twenty-five.”Ruthie and Winfield discover the toilets, then show them to Ma who is embarrassed to find out she’s using the men’s and that the Ladies Committee is due. Mr. Rawley visits and has coffee. Pa, John and Al go to look for work. Rosasharn learns how to shower. Ma: “Why, I feel like people again.” Mrs. Shandry complains to Rosasharn about hug-dancin’ on Sat’dy night and that Rawley’s the devil, which he says he isn’t. The Ladies Committee arrives and show Ma the Sanitary Unit. They tell Mrs. Joyce to stop stealing toilet paper; to take money and feed her daughters cheese. Ruthie and Winfield play with Amy, but Ruthie is ostracized. The men don’t find work; John’s not looking well. Ma drives Mrs. Shandry away; while Shandry howls, the manager notes she’s not well. Ma tells John to get Pa to buy good stuff for dinner. · Discuss the camp, central community, communism/socialism· Is Steinbeck promoting socialism/communism?· Pg. 393: Watchmen says you’ll have to find out why there aren’t more places like the camp for yourself. Foreshadowing?· Pg. 402: Explains how banks and farmer’s associations run things.· Pg. 403: Conspiracy to keep wages low.· Pg. 406: workers don’t even know what communism is.o Why does Steinbeck have them not know? (makes the desire for socialism look natural)· Pg. 409: children afraid of toilets· Pg. 426: toughness of the people· Pg. 432: effects of receiving charity; still true today?· Pg. 442: for reasons we don’t know, Pa blames himself for Noah’s leaving
Ch.23 Migrant entertainment.Stories (the Indian, naked as the sun; an’ bang! an’ you spoiled sumpin better’n you). Movies. Getting drunk. Preachers. Harmonicas and guitars and fiddles. Texas boy and Cherokee girl dancing. · Different forms of entertainment and ways to occupy time.
Read chapters 24-25 in class
11/03/09
Grapes of Wrath
Quiz on chapters 19-21:
1) Who sacrifices himself for Tom?
2) What family member abandons the Joads?
3) When they leave the Hooverville, where are the Joad’s headed?
4) Who wants to go to the Santa Clara Valley and come back for the family once he makes money?
5) Who leaves to get drunk but is brought back by Tom?
Ch.19 California goes from Mexicans to American landgrabbers to businessmen. With Chinese, Japanese, Mexican and Filipino slaves the farmers grow fewer and richer. Many have never seen the farms they own. The owners hate Okies; so do the workers. Life in Hoovervilles. “Pray God some day a kid can eat. And the association of owners knew that some day the praying would stop.” · Pg. 316: What is menat by “owners followed Rome”?· Pg. 319: Food thrown away rather than given away. Why? How do we fix this problem?· Discuss “Hoovervilles”· Pg. 325: Does history have to repeat itself?
Ch.20 Granma’s corpse is left with the county in San Bernardino. They camp in a Hooverville across a bridge, where a Floyd Knowles explains the labor gimmicks, the handbills, the blacklist. Casy to Tom: “Almighty God never raised no wages.” Casy thinks of leaving, but Tom tells him to stay. Connie tells Rosasharn he’d been better of driving tractor back home. Ma cooks a stew with fifteen hungry kids looking on; she learns about the camp at Weedpatch and the Sat’dy night dance. Al helps Floyd with the valves. A woman scolds Ma for sharing the stew with her kids. Floyd thinks there’s work in Santa Clara Valley. Contractor says they need workers in Tulare County; the deputy with him says they’re gonna clean out the camp. Floyd slugs the deputy when he tries to arrest him, runs away; the deputy shoots a woman’s knuckles off; Tom kicks the deputy unconscious as Floyd runs for the willows. Casy tells Tom to hide.Casy takes the blame and rides off with the deputies. Rosasharn says Connie’s gone away. Casy’s noble act makes Uncle John get drunk.The family decides to leave before the camp gets burned. Tom goes looking for Uncle John and brings him back after knocking him out. Their truck is stopped by armed men who tell them to go to Tulare; Tom pulls off till they’re gone (they burn the camp) and he heads south on 99. · Pg. 341: Casey giving up on God.· Pg. 343: What causes Tom to think something’s going on?o (people are quiet; normally even good people will gossip)· Pg. 351: the sharing of the stew demonstrates the Joads’ generosity· Pg. 356: Al talks of leaving; how long can the family stick together?· Pg. 359: “talkin’ red” (will be more of this to come)· Pg. 363: Why would Casey sacrifice himself? (earlier conversation with Tom)· Pg. 366: Discuss attitudes about women and complainers· Pg. 372: Connie leaves· Pg. 374: Not unusual for people to leave their family under these conditions· Pg. 383: Has a different time come yet?
Ch.21 “And money that might have gone for wages went for gas, for guns, for agents and spies, for blacklists, for drilling. On the highways the people moved like ants and searched for work, for food. And the anger began to ferment.” · Pg. 386: What is the “ache of ownership”o How do the men who don’t own the land think they actually do? (credit, jobs)· Pg. 387: How do owners manage to pay such low wages?o (supply and demand)· Pg. 388: Based on Steinbeck’s novel structure, what might we see happen to the Joads in the immediate upcoming chapters?
Assignment: Read chapters 22-23
10/29/09
Grapes of Wrath
17 “In the daylight they scuttled like bugs to the westward; and as the dark caught them, they clustered like bugs near to shelter and to water.” The structure and function of the moving campsite society. · Picture of insects crawling across the land.· Why do the families group together? (safety in numbers; misery loves company)· Page 265: What is Steinbeck’s message when the families make their own rules? (people left alone will normally do what is right) Do you agree?
18 They drive through the rest of New Mexico and Arizona (driving all night) and arrive at the Colorado River by dawn. At Needles the men take off their clothes and bathe in the river, joined by a father and son who’re going back to the panhandle. He tells how the land is already owned and not worked, how sheriffs push you around, and people call you Okie. How a newspaperman with a million acres is afraid of dying. In the shade Noah tells Tom he’s going downriver to stay. A Jehovite wants to hold a meeting in Granma’s tent, to see her on her way to Jesus, but Ma says no. A sheriff tells Ma he’ll run them out if they’re there tomorrow; she runs him off with an iron pan. Wilson announces they’re not going on (Sairy’s deathly ill). Around four the Joads start. The Needles gas station attendant tells them he wouldn’t have the nerve to cross desert in their Jalopy, then tells his helper: “Them goddamn Okies got no sense and no feeling. They ain’t human.” Around midnight, near Daggett, is the agricultural inspection. Ma say’s Granma’s real sick so they are allowed to push on. They hit Mojave at dawn. They go through Tehachapi Pass and see the valley. Pa: “I never knowed there was anything like her.” Ma: “Thank God! The fambly’s here.” She tells them Granma died before the inspection stop. They drive on down into the valley.· Page 313: Tom talks about what Granpa and Granma would have seen if they got to the valley and the only ones who really see it are Ruthie and Winfield. What does he mean?· Page 314: Tom laughs: Hope. It’s amazing how strong hope can be.
Read chapters 19 – 21
10/28/09
Grapes of Wrath: chapters 14-16
Ch. 14 · “The Western States, nervous as horses before a thunderstorm.” · … If from “I have a little food” plus “I have none” the sum is “We have a little food”, the thing is on its way, the movement has direction. … · “This is the thing to bomb.” · Paine, Marx, Jefferson, Lenin were results, not causes. · Chapter discusses reasons for revolution· America and Soviet Union· Could revolution happen in America again?
Ch. 15 · The truck stop hamburger stand.· Fat man and his wife on the way to Beverly-Wilshire Hotel and the Pacific Ocean stop by (“shitheels”). · Then two truckers. · Family gets a 15-cent loaf of bread for 10 cents and nickel-a-piece candy two-for-a-penny. · The truckers leave two half dollars for two ten-cents cups of Java. · Mae: “Truck drivers … an’ after them shitheels.” · Page 211: disdain of business, not a flattering description Is it true? Does it have to be the case for all businesses?· Page 214: opinion of money. Can’t usually see it work.· Sympathetic diner has his slots rigged· Why did truckers leave such a large tip?
Ch. 16 · Across the panhandle, stop overnight west of Amarillo, and into New Mexico. · Rosasharn says she and Connie plan to live in town. He’ll learn radio.· Burned out con-rod bearing. · Tom suggests he and Casy stay behind.· Ma grabs a jack handle to fight Pa with: “I ain’t a-gonna go.”· The truck goes on to find a campsite. · Tom works on the car, cuts his hand, covers it with piss-mud. · Casy philosophizes about mass movement. · Al arrives and says Granma’s gone nuts. · Back in Santa Rosa a one-eyed junkyard man who hates his boss helps Al and Tom get the part they need. · They return to Casy and fix the Dodge with a flashlight from the man. · The campsite owner won’t let them stay. · A ragged man who’s been to California and is going home to starve tells them all about labor contractors and about how his wife and two kids died out there.· As Tom, Casy and Uncle John go back to the Dodge Tom throws a clod that busts the proprietor’s kerosene lamp. · Page 222: Al steals a fence rail. Why does Steinbeck have him steal it instead of finding it? (frustration and need of trip; good people forced to steal)· Page 223: Rose is paranoid about baby· Page 224: Rose speaks of the American Dream· Page 225: What is Ma’s final analysis of Rose and Connie’s Dream (it’s just a dream) Why does she think it is just a dream? Would it be possible for Connie and Rose to make this come true? What are the barriers to making one’s dreams come true?· Page 236: Tom talks about “one foot at a time”. What does he mean? Do most people go through life that way? Why?· Pages 244-246: Tom talks to the man at the junkyard. Another example of Tom’s blunt honesty (truck driver, gas station attendant, junkyard man) Does this type of honesty encourage or discourage people? (pg. 247) Should we be that brutally honest all the time? What does Tom’s message seem to be? (stop whining and do something about it) Do you think Tom’s time in prison had something to do with that?· Page 248: Again, Tom being brutally honest. This time with Al. Tells Al not to be defensive all the time.· Page 259: Is this the truth about California?· Page 263: “bolshevisky” what does this mean?Read chapters 17-18
10/27/09
The Grapes of Wrath
Chapters 11-13
· Quiz over chapters 11-13
1. Who is the first “family member” to die on the trip?
2. Which family member dies of a stroke?
3. What is Rose of Sharon constantly worrying about?
4. What is the name of the family the Joads decide to travel with?
5. In chapter 13, Steinbeck says the people who have lost everything move from “I” to _________. (“we”)
Ch. 11
· When a horse quits work there’s life yet; when a tractor’s turned off its cold dead.
· Cats go wild, and bats and weeds take over deserted farmland.
· Horse vs. tractor = life vs. death
· The farm is no longer a living place, it is just a machine now.
· Page 159: end of the former life.
Ch. 12
· “Highway 66 is the main migrant road.
· 66—the long concrete path across the country, waving gently up and down on the map, from the Mississippi to Bakersfield
· —over the red lands and the gray lands, twisting up into the mountains, crossing the Divide and down into the bright and terrible desert, and across the desert to the mountains again, and into the rich California valleys.”
· Highway 66 is now called what? Route 66
· What does it represent here?
· Hope, rebirth, path to paradise
· What does it represent now?
· Fun, adventure, nostalgia
· Why the difference?
· Prosperity, progress, and technology make the once necessary entertaining.
Ch. 13
· Al drives to the highway at Sallislaw and heads west.
· Ma thinks there may be mountains before California, but “Up ahead they’s a thousan’ lives we might live, but when it comes, it’ll on’y be one.”
· Near Paden a gas station man is surly till he learns they’ll pay, asks “What’s the country coming to?”, and Tom tells him “you don’t want to know.”
· They all drink water. The dog gets run over.
· Granma naps in the restroom.
· Tom drives through Oklahoma City.
· Ma worries about his crossing the state line on parole.
· At Bethany they camp near the Wilsons’ touring car.
· Granpa has a stroke and dies with Casy saying the Lords Prayer and Granma shouting. He’s buried in the Wilsons’ quilt with Psalms 32:1 written out.
· They hear of the Wilsons’ hard times.
· Pa shows them a handbill that says PEA PICKERS WANTED IN CALIFORNIA. GOOD WAGES ALL SEASON. 800 PICKERS WANTED.
· Tom suggests they share the ride with the Wilsons.
· Ma: “Each’ll help each, an’ we’ll all git to California.”
· Page 173: Has America stopped moving? (westward expansion)
· Why do people move?
· Gas station attendant complains but has no answers and doesn’t really want to hear any.
· Page 174: Large corporations kill smaller businesses
· Trip not going well for Joads
· Forgot water
· Granpa dies (page 199) Tom says he was tied to the land
· Page 189: family council changes with the death of Grampa
· Page 194: looking for paper; what could they have used if it had been brought?
(stationary box)
· Read chapters 14-16.
10/26/09
Grapes of Wrath
Quiz on chapters 8-10:
1. Who is asked to go with the Joads but stays behind? (Muley Graves)
2. Who wants to stay but is taken anyway? (Granpa)
3. What is Tom’s answer when Muley asks him if he’s going to cross the state line and break parole? (he doesn’t answer)
4. What personal item does Ma burn? (stationary box)
5. Do the Joads take Jim Casey with them? (yes)
Ch. 8
· Tom and Casy head for Uncle John’s place.
· John’s wife died of “appendick.”
· Tom’s joke about Elsie Graves teasing Willy pleases Casy.
· They sneak up on Pa who’s fixing a Hudson Sedan converted to a truck.
· They surprise Ma cooking breakfast; “Come right in mister”; her fork clatters to the floor.
· Grampa and Granma sleep in the barn (easier night trips). Grampa can’t button his fly. Granma repeats “Pu-raise Gawd for vittory.”
· How Pa botched Noah’s delivery.
· The preacher says a grace (“mankin’ was holy when it was one thing”).
· Rosasharn’s got married and pregnant.
· Al’s out a-billygoatin’.
Page 100: Mother as the strong center of the family (citadel)
Common theme in American literature
Page 101: Why does Tom bite his lip?
Why does Ma back away?
Page 104: Mother has become somewhat bitter.
Speaks of 10,000 member strong army of run off tenants.
Would it be possible? Is this what the framers had in mind?
Ch. 9
· Disposing of everything. Sell it. Pack it, leave it or burn it.
Pg. 117: why are men ruthless about the past, but women not?
Women understand that eventually people want to remember the past.
Pg,.118: “buying a plow to plow your own children under”
Karma? Since they are cheating them, they are cheating their own children.
It will come back to them in the future.
Pg. 120: Pilgrim’s Progress
Ch. 10
· Al takes a truck of junk to Sallisaw.
· Ma worries about California being too good. Tom tells her to “jus’ take ever’ day.”
· The preacher asks to go along.
· The truck returns. Uncle John’s appetites now restrained.
· The truck is Al’s responsibility.
· They got eighteen dollars for every moveable thing on the farm.
· At the conference Pa says they have a hundred fifty-four.
· Al assesses the truck.
· Pa figgers close and asks Ma if they can take the preacher. “It ain’t kin we? It’s will we?”
· Two pigs are slaughtered and they decide to go next morning.
· Ma burns her stationery box.
· Muley drops by but won’t go. Grampa won’t either, but they use Ma’s soothin’ sirup.
· They leave Muley two dogs and the chickens.
· Ma wants to look back but can’t.
Pgs. 122-123: Ma believes California might not be so great. “Too good to be
true.” Could this be foreshadowing?
Pg. 137: Concept of family hierarchy. Still present in today’s society?
Pgs. 139-140: Ma chides Pa for even considering not taking Casey with them.
Mother as moral center. Helping fellow man.
Pg. 148: Why does Ma burn the stationary box?
Pg. 154: Why doesn’t Tom answer Muley’s question about breaking parole?
Pg. 156: What does Ma looking back allude to? Lot’s wife.
Read chapters 11-13
10/23/09
Grapes of Wrath
Ch. 5
· How the bank agents tell the tenants to leave the land.
· How the tractors rape the land.
· How the tractor driver knocks the tenant farmer’s house off its foundation.
· “Caught in something larger than themselves”
Do we have control over everything in our lives?
Do we feel that we have to do things we don’t want to, but benefit from?
Analogy of bank as monster
Why are there no names or quotation marks when the owners talk to the tenants?
Detached, impersonal, could be anyone
Why do you think the owners tell the tenants to go to California?
Why are there names and quotation marks when the tractor driver talks to tenants?
The driver was one of them – is he a traitor now?
It speaks of men not having connection to the bread – do we?
Why are we sentimental about family farms?
Do we feel the same about other industries?
Why is it so hard to find the right person to blame for the loss of the farm?
John Cougar Mellencamp: “Rain on the Scarecrow”
Steve Earle: “The Rain Came Down”
Discuss elements of the novel present in each song.
Ch. 6
· The gate is unhung (set to keep in pigs like the one that got away and ate the
Jacobs’ baby).
· Tom notices that nothing’s stolen the way it was when Albert Rance took his
family to Oklahoma City for Christmas; so everyone must be gone.
· The turtle continues southwest. Muley tells Tom his family is at Uncle John’s.
· Tom explains the murder of Herb Turnbull.
· They cook Muley’s rabbits on an open fire. Tom says prison makes no sense. Casy gets the sperit: he’s gonna hit the road.
· Muley shows them how to hide from deputy Willy Feeley. They sleep in the open.
Sharing the rabbits: what does Muley have a hold of that is bigger than him?
Community, kindness to fellow man
Muley’s speech about what the owners took.
They took more than just land and homes. They took memories.
People are connected to the land – they are the land
Ch. 7
· All about used car lots: “Goin’ to California? Here’s jus’ what you need.
· Looks shot, but they’s thousan’s of miles in her.”
10/22/09
Grapes of Wrath
Finish reading through chapter 4 aloud
Chapters 1-4:
1) Description of the dust bowl. “The men were silent and they did not move often. And the women came out of the houses to stand beside their men – to feel whether this time the men would break.”
· Difference in families’ reliance on men versus independence of women today
· American resilience (“Of Plymouth Plantation; Bradford)
2) Tom Joad gets a lift at a truck stop and tells the driver he’s paroled from prison in McAlester (for murder) and he’s headed home. “But sometimes a guy’ll be a good guy even if some rich bastard makes him carry a [No Riders] sticker.”
· Disdain for the perceived wealthy.
· Is this an American ideal?
3) Turtle’s endless struggle to go southwest. Up on the highway, missed by a car, hit by a truck. His struggle plants an oat head he picked up earlier.
· The journey is commonplace in American literature.
· As we travel from one place to another, we pick up things and leave other things behind, whether the journey is external or internal.
· The journey is foreshadowing for the Joad family.
4) Tom picks up the turtle. He spots Jim Casy sitting by a tree singing, “Yes, sir, that’s my Savior”. Jim condemns himself for laying with girls he’d earlier filled with the Holy Spirit (“the sperit ain’t in me no more’). The turtle keeps trying to escape Tom’s jacket. Casy explains his beliefs. Tom tells Jim, “Pa always said you had too long a pecker for a preacher”.
· Little or no respect for religion
· Traditional in America?
Tom talks about how you can get comfortable with jail.
· For many in jail, life is better than outside – should this be the case?
(American ideal?)
They talk of how Uncle John tried to eat a whole shot.
· Humor used to make the story more real.
· Everyone has a funny story about a relative.
At the Joad place: “They nobody there”.
Begin reading chapters 5-7 in class.
10/20/09
Southern Writers
That Distant Land / I’ve Been to the Mountaintop / Eagle Rock / Cat-Like
(pages 116–141)
Discussion Questions
1. In “That Distant Land,” what has changed Mr. Feltner’s perspective on the river valley outside his windows?
2. In “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop,” why does Dr. King say the choice is “no longer . . . between violence and nonviolence . . . it’s nonviolence or nonexistence”?
3. Why is the last line of the poem “Eagle Rock” an example of verbal irony?
4. (a) What is the metaphor used in paragraph 7 of “Cat-Like”?
(b) In it, what two things are being compared?
Writing Activities
1) In a paragraph, evaluate the speech “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop.” Identify three
techniques Dr. King uses to keep the attention of his audience and to persuade them to
take action.
2) Write a letter that Martin Luther King, Jr., might write to Thomas Jefferson. Express
King’s hopes for the future regarding civil rights.
3) Write a dialogue between two characters from different stories in this anthology. Have
the characters discuss an issue that concerns both of them, such as war, death, feelings
about nature or the land, or family obligations.
10/19/09
The Crop / Enoch and the Gorilla /The Rain Guitar / Sled Burial (pages 95–115)
Discussion Questions
1. In “The Crop,” what is humorous about someone like Miss Willerton planning a story about a sharecropper?
2. Describe Enoch’s conflict in “Enoch and the Gorilla.”
3. (a) How can you tell that the speaker of “Rain Guitar” and the fisherman he meets fee
a sense of connection to each other?
(b) Why might they feel this connection?
Writing Activity In a paragraph, explain which details in “Sled Burial, Dream Ceremony” show that the Northerners are trying to bury the man with dignity.
10/16/09
Southern Writers A Visit of Charity / Childhood /Another April (pages 81–94)
Discussion Questions
1. In “A Visit of Charity,” what is the difference between the appearance of Marian’s visit and the reality of it?
2. In “Childhood,” what comparison does the speaker make between the cotton croppers’ hatred and the land?
3. In “Another April,” why won’t the mother let the child go with Grandpa to the yard?
Writing Activity In a paragraph, explain how the relationship between the father and daughter in “Another April” has changed in recent years.
10/15/09
Southern Writers
· Wunderkind / from River of Earth (pages 63–80)
Discussion Questions
1. What internal conflict does the young pianist in “Wunderkind” face?
2. How might Bilderbach’s preoccupation with Josef’s sonatina affect the girl in
“Wunderkind”?
3. In River of Earth, what can you infer about Uncle Samp based on the physical
description of him?
Writing Activity Write a paragraph explaining how the father in River of Earth feels about his cousins. Why does he support them?
10/14/09
Southern Writers
· A Rose for Emily / Spotted Horses (pages 35–62)
Discussion Questions
1. (a) What is the surprise ending of “A Rose for Emily”?
(b) What is most shocking about the final scene?
2. In “Spotted Horses,” what can you infer about Mrs. Armstid’s character by her
response to Henry Armstid’s roughly ordering her away?
3. In “Spotted Horses,” how is Flem different from the Texas man?
Writing Activity Find an example of a passage in “Spotted Horses” that is written in
dialect. Then, rewrite the passage in Standard English.
10/12/09
Southern Writers
from Notes on Virginia / Ode on the Confederate Dead / Song of the Chattahoochee / The Marshes of Glynn (pages 1–15)
Discussion Questions
1. In your own words, explain the meaning of this quote from Notes on Virginia:
“Reason and free inquiry are the only effectual agents against error.”
2. (a) Based on the feelings he expresses in the poem, describe the speaker of “Ode on the
Confederate Dead.”
(b) What insight about war does the speaker convey?
3. (a) Find at least three examples of personification in “Song of the Chattahoochee.”
(b) What does his use of personification tell you about the speaker’s feelings toward
nature?
Writing Activity: Write a paragraph that explains why religious freedom is a good idea. Use details from Thomas Jefferson’s writing to help support your opinion.
10/13/09: Southern Writers
The Struggle for an Education / Janet Waking / Circus at Dawn / from Gone With the Wind (pages 16–34)
Discussion Questions
1. In “The Struggle for an Education,” what idea about life does Washington convey through his story about Mrs. Ruffner?
2. (a) Summarize the story told in the poem “Janet Waking.”
(b) Other than “waking from sleep,” what possible meaning could the word waking
have in the poem’s title?
3. Give two examples of language that appeals to the sense of hearing from “Circus at Dawn.”
4. In the selection from Gone With the Wind, how is Scarlett different from her friends?
Writing Activity: In a paragraph, explain what Scarlett O’Hara means when she thinks “The faces she was seeing in the room were not faces; they were masks, excellent masks which would never drop.”
10/08/09: NONFICTION TEST
10/07/09: NO CLASS
NONFICTION TEST REVIEW 10/06/09
Using your textbook, write the definitions for the following terms on a separate sheet of paper:
1. Transcendentalism
2. Tone
3. Theme
4. Suspense
5. Style
6. Rhythm
7. Plain Style
8. Point of View
9. Persuasion
10. Parallelism
11. Oral Tradition
12. Narration
13. Metaphor
14. Irony
15. Imagery
16. Foreshadowing
17. Folk Literature
18. Figure of Speech
19. Figurative Language
20. Exposition
21. Essay
22. Characterization
23. Autobiography
24. Allusion
25. Analogy
In order to pass the test you will need to do the following:
Take notes on the following topics (use a separate sheet of paper) that you can turn into an essay when asked.
· Understand influence the Puritan writings had on American ideals and values as evident in the writings of William Bradford and Jonathan Edwards.
· Know what it means to be an American according to the Declaration of Independence and the writings of Ben Franklin, Thomas Paine, Patrick Henry, Fredrick Douglas, and Abraham Lincoln.
· Know what Ralph Waldo Emerson’s and Henry David Thoreau’s writings tell us about the Transcendentalist ideas about individualism and one’s place in the world.
· Understand how Carson McCullers and Anna Quinlin feel about American society’s expectations.
· Understand what William Faulkner means by “real writing” and if William Safire and Ian Frazier practice that.
10/05/09
Read “Loneliness…An American Malady” on pages 1153-1155
Answer questions on page 1155 aloud
Read “One Day, Now Broken in Two” on pages 1156-1158
Answer questions on page 1158 aloud
10/02/09
20th Century
· Read and discuss “The Development of American English” on page 712.
· Read and discuss Faulkner’s “Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech” p. 875-876.
· Read JFK’s Inaugural Address on page 1228
· Read MLK’s “Letter from a Birmingham City Jail on page 1232
10/01/09
Modern Non-Fiction
Read “Onomatopoeia” on pages 1146-1147
Answer questions on page 1147 aloud
Read “Coyote v. Acme” on pages 1148-1152
Answer questions on page 1152 aloud
09/30/09
Nonfiction
Twain and the West
Read Mark Twain info on pages 572-573; 574
Read from “Life on the Mississippi” by Mark Twain (pgs. 576 – 580).
Discuss:
Autobiography
Tone
Setting
Contrast
Description
Theme
Imagery
Purpose
Colloquial Language
Tone
Irony
Style
Metaphor
Comparisons
Audience
Cause and Effect
Jargon
Dialogue
Read “Heading West” on pages 608-
Read “I Will Fight No More Forever” on page 614
Students answer questions 1-5 on page 615 in complete sentences.
09/29/09
Robert E. Lee
· Read bio on page 530
· Read “Letter to His Son” on pages 534 – 535
o Discuss:
o Letter Writing
· Answer Critical Reading questions on page 536 aloud.
Mary Chestnutt
· Read from “Mary Chestnutt’s Civil War” on pages 550 – 553
· Discuss:
o Diary and Journals
Abraham Lincoln
· Read bio on page 530
· Read “Gettysburg Address” on page 532
o (Edward Everett spoke for two hours before Lincoln got up)
· Discuss:
o Speeches
o Diction
Assignment:
Write a speech paying tribute to an important event. It may be from the distant past or a more recent time period. Do not give us a list of facts, but concentrate rather on the impact and meaning this event had for those who experienced it and those who came after, including yourself.
09/28/09
County Wide Essay
09/2509
Civil War
Frederick Douglas
· Read from “My Bondage and My Freedom” on pages 507 – 512
· Discuss:
o Autobiography
o Tone
· Answer Critical Reading questions on page 512 aloud.
09/23 – 09/24/09
Transcendentalism
Emerson:
Transcendentalism: American philosophical and artistic attitude based on the belief that
the most fundamental truths about life and death can be reached only by going
beyond the world of the senses.
Knowledge of this kind comes not through the mind’s logic, but through a deep free intuition – the ‘highest poser of the Soul’.
Students read aloud pages 384 – 385.
Read, “What is Transcendentalism?” essay
Read aloud Emerson bio on 388.
Read first part of “Nature” from old book.
Have students read remainder of “Nature” on pages 390 – 391.
Discuss following:
· idea of viewing natural world with unobstructed vision is transcendentalist
· personification: nature is a being
· metaphor: “transparent eyeball”
· occult here means hidden or not easy to discover
· main idea: nature and the human soul produce what we see as natural beauty.
Answer questions on page 392 aloud.
Have students read aloud “Self-Reliance” on pages 393 – 394.
Finish reading aloud from old book
Discuss following:
1st par. – Main Idea – people understand their place in the universe and
must act accordingly.
Purpose – believe in individualism and practice it by asserting their
own strengths
Metaphor – belittles need for continuity between past and present
Yesterday’s judgements may not be appropriate for today
2nd par. – Style (contrast) life of rose vs. self conscious life of people
Answer questions on page 394 aloud.
Thoreau
Read aloud Thoreau bio on page 404.
Have students read from “Walden” on pages 407-415 silently.
· Discuss:
· Simplicity
· Self-reliance
· Individuality versus Conformity
· Visions and Ideals
Answer questions on page 415 aloud.
Give Transcendentalism Quiz.
Assignment:
Make a list of 5 things that Thoreau would say
are complicating our lives. For each item, list one way we could change the way it works or the way we use it in order to make our lives simpler.
09/22//09
Expanding the Country
· Discuss Louisiana Purchase:
The Louisiana Purchase was the acquisition by the United States of more than 529,000,000 acres of territory from France in 1803, at the cost of about 3¢ per acre.
The French territory of Louisiana included far more land than just the current U.S. state of Louisiana. The lands purchased contained parts or all of present-day Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota west of the Mississippi River, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, New Mexico, northern Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, the portions of Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado east of the Rocky Mountains, the portions of southern Manitoba, southern Saskatchewan and southern Alberta that drain into the Missouri River, and Louisiana on both sides of the Mississippi River including the city of New Orleans.
The land included in the Purchase comprises 22.3% of the territory of the modern United States.
The United States was afraid they would lose the use of New Orleans, so they offered to buy just the city and surrounding areas.
The American negotiators were prepared to spend $10 million for New Orleans, but were dumbfounded when the entire region was offered for $15 million. The treaty was dated April 30, 1803 and was signed on May 2nd. On July 14, 1803 the treaty reached Washington D.C. The Louisiana territory was vast, stretching from the Gulf of Mexico in the south to Rupert’s Land in the north, and from the Mississippi River in the east to the Rocky Mountains in the west. Acquiring the territory would double the size of the United States at a cost of less than 3 cents per acre.
France then turned New Orleans over to the United States on December 20, 1803. On March 10, 1804, a formal ceremony was conducted in St. Louis, to transfer ownership of the territory from France to the United States of America.
Effective on October 1, 1804, the purchased territory was organized into the Orleans Territory (most of which became the state of Louisiana) and the District of Louisiana, which was temporarily under the control of the Governor and Judges of the
When purchased, the boundaries of “Louisiana” were not defined, and the land itself was generally unknown (which led to the Lewis and Clark expedition). In particular, not wanting to anger Spain, France refused to specify the southern and western boundaries.
The tributaries of the Mississippi were held as the boundaries. Estimates that did exist as to the extent and composition of the purchase were initially based on the explorations of Robert LaSalle.
Read “Commission of Meriwether Lewis” on pages 293-294.
· Answer questions 1 – 7 on page 295.
Read aloud “Crossing the Great Divide” on pages 299 – 300.
· Answer Critical Reading questions on page 300 aloud.
Read aloud “The Most Sublime Spectacle on Earth” on pages 301 – 305.
· Answer Critical Reading questions on 305 aloud.
09/18 – 21/09
Henry, Jefferson, and Paine
Patrick Henry
Discuss:
· Colonialism
· Growing unrest in colonies
· Speeches
Read aloud “Speech in the Virginia Convention” on pages 203 – 206.
· Discuss details
· Answer questions on page 206 aloud.
Declaration of Independence
Read Declaration of Independence aloud (pages 170 – 173)
Notes:
· D.O.I. is an example of a persuasive document – attempts to sway the reader to think or act in a particular way.
· Jefferson’s goal is to convince other colonists and the rest of the world that revolt must occur in the colonies.
Page 170:
1st paragraph: enlightenment. Tone articulates the belief that humans can shape
their own destiny.
2nd paragraph: parallelism: sentence structure adds conviction to the list of truths
of which Jefferson seeks to persuade his readers.
Tone: calm, reasoned
Straightforward adjectives – absolute, unalienable
Discuss unalienable rights
Evocative nouns – abuses, usurpation
Evocative verbs – reduce, throw off (create pictures, you can see the king
abusing the colonies and them throwing him aside)
End of 2nd paragraph: identifies audience as the world to get other nations to help
Page 171:
Persuasion: Jefferson repeatedly uses the word “He” to reinforce the idea of the
king as a tyrant. Personalizes the argument.
Repetition of the word “for” emphasizes reasons for revolt.
Page 172, 4th paragraph:
Style – writer’s characteristic way of writing determined by his diction,
imagery, tone and choice of literary devices.
Jefferson shifts from objective, legal language to strong verbs such as
“plundered” and “ravaged” Why?
Theme: people’s natural right to freedom and a voice in government
Page 173
Last Paragraph:
Persuasion – adds power of righteousness
If they didn’t agree before, you can’t argue with God.
Theme: numbering and listing American rights combines with unalienable ones
Thomas Paine
Discuss Revolutionary War (colonists losing at first)
Read “The Crisis: Number 1” on pages 174 – 176)
Discuss details
Assignment:
1) Using “Poor Richard’s Almanac”, Ben Franklin’s “Autobiography”, and Patrick Henry’s “Speech in the Virginia Convention”, write a five-paragraph essay giving three qualities every American should possess. Use one quality from each of the above works.
2) Write a paragraph or two in which you find three themes or ideas in “The Crisis Number 1” that can be directly traced to the themes of “The Declaration of Independence”. Due by end of class.
09/17/09
Benjamin Franklin
Ø Give brief history of colonial life including French/Indian War.
Ø Discuss colonial and British relations.
- Tax structure
- Keeping soldiers in homes
- No representation in Parliament
Ø We need to understand how people viewed themselves in the colonies.
Ø We do that through the literature.
Ø Most was political in nature
· Read bio on page 140.
· Read aloud from “The Autobiography” on pages 142-147.
- Discuss Virtues (p. 143) and Scheme of Employment (p. 145)
· Read aloud from “Poor Richard’s Almanac” on pages 148 – 150
· Figurative Language: language not meant to be taken literally
· sinking ship = accumulating debt
· Vivid dramatization
· Parrallelism: repetition of phrases or sentences so that parts are alike
· in structure or meaning
· “keep thy shop…”
What other? “For want of…” “to err…”
Themes: self-reliance, thrift (Puritans), self-improvement
Assignment:
Answer questions 1-7 on page 151
09/15 – 16/09
Non-fiction
· Christopher Columbus
· Read “The Journal” aloud (pages 58-62)
· Discuss:
· Purpose (p. 60)
· Journal (p. 61)
· Answer Critical Reading Questions on page 62 aloud.
Assignment:
Answer questions 1-10 on page 63 in complete sentences.
· John Smith & William Bradford (pages 68 –86)
· Read “The General History of Virginia” on pages 70-75
· Discuss
· Narrative Accounts (p. 72)
· Answer Critical Reading Questions on page 75 aloud.
· Read “Of Plymouth Plantation” on pages 76 – 83
· Discuss:
· Narrative Accounts (p. 80)
· Discuss Critical Reading Questions on page 83
Assignment:
Answer questions 1-9 on page 84 in complete sentences
09/14/09
Grammar
End Marks and Commas
· Students complete Diagnostic Test on page 223.
o Review answers on board.
Periods and Other End Marks
· Review Material on pages 224-225.
· Students do Concept Check on page 225.
o Review answers on board.
Commas in Sentence Parts
· Review Material on pages 226-228
· Students do Concept Check on page 229
o Review answers on board.
Using Commas for Clarity
· Review Material on pages 230.
· Students do Concept Check on page 232.
o Review answers on board.
Other Comma Rules
· Review Material on page 232
· Students do Concept Check on page 233
o Review answers on board.
Assignment: Mixed Review A & B (write note) on page 236
Mastery Test on page 237
09/11/09
Grammar
Capitalization
Organizations
Review material on pages 209-211
Students do Concept Check on page 211.
Review answers on board
First Words and Titles
Review material on pages 212-213.
Students do Concept Check on page 213
Review answers on board
Abbreviations
Review material on page 214
Students do Concept Check on page 215.
Review answers on board
Assignment: Mixed Review A & B on page 218.
Mastery Test on page 219.
09/10/09
Grammar
Capitalization
· Students take diagnostic test on page 201.
o Review answers on board.
· Names
o Review material on pages 202-203
o Students do Concept Check on page 204.
§ Review answers on board.
· Other Names and Places
o Review material on pages 205-206
o Students do Concept Check on page 207.
§ Review answers on board.
Assignment: Mixed Review A & B (write paragraph) on page 208.
09/09/09
Grammar
Using Modifiers
Students take Diagnostic Test on page 181.
Review answers on board.
Using Adjectives and Adverbs
Review material on pages 182-183
Students do Concept Check on page 183.
Review answers on board.
Making Comparisons
Review material on pages 184-185
Students do Concept Check on page 186
Review answers on board.
Problems with Comparisons
Review material on pages 187-188
Students do Concept Check on page 189
Review answers on board.
Modifier Problems
· Review material on pages 190-192
o Students do Concept Check on page 193
§ Review answers on board
Assignment: Mixed Review A & B (rewrite paragraph) on page 196.
Mastery Test on page 197.
09/04/09
Grammar
Subject-Verb Agreement
· Diagnostic Test on page 131.
o Review answers on board.
· Agreement in Person and Number.
o Review material on pages 132-133
o Students do Concept Check on page 134.
§ Review Answers on Board.
· Indefinite Pronouns as Subjects
o Review material on pages 135-136.
o Students do Concept Check on page 135.
§ Review answers on board.
o Students do Proofreading on page 137.
§ Review answers on board.
Compound Subjects
· Review material on pages 138-139.
o Students do Concept Check on page 139.
§ Review answers on board.
· Review material on pages 140-142.
o Students do Concept Check on page 142.
§ Review answers on board.
Assignment: p. 606-607 Exercise Banks 3&4.
Subject Verb Agreement
· Special Agreement Problems
o Review material on pages 143-144.
o Students do Concept Check on page 145
§ Review answers on board.
o Students do Exercise Bank 5 on pages 607-608
§ Review answers on board.
Assignment: Mixed Review A&B (write paragraph) on page 148.
Mastery Test on page 149.
· Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement
o Review material on pages 162-163
o Students do Concept Check on page 164
§ Review answers on board
· Indefinite Pronouns a Antecedents
o Review material on pages 165-166
o Students do Concept Check on page 167
§ Review answers on board
· Other Pronoun Problems
o Review material on pages 168-169
o Students do Concept Check on page 170
§ Review answers on board
Pronoun-Reference
· Review material on pages 171-172.
o Students do Concept Check on page 173
§ Review answers on board.
· Students do Exercise Bank #7 on page 611.
o Review answers on board.
Assignment: Page 176 A&B (write paragraphs on B).
Page 177 Mastery Test
09/03/09
Grammar
Using Verbs
· Students do Diagnostic Test on page 105.
o Review answers on board.
· Review material on pages 106-107.
o Students do concept check on page 108-109.
§ Review answers on board
· Students do Proofreading on page 109.
o Review answers on board.
Verb Tenses
· Review material on pages 110-112.
o Students do concept check on page 113
§ Review answers on board.
· Students do revising on page 113.
o Review answers on board.
Verb Problems
· Review material on pages 121-122.
o Students do Concept Check on page 123.
§ Review answers on board.
· Students do Mixed Review A on page 126 and Mastery Test on page 127.
09/01/09
Grammar
Sentence Structure
Read Pages 98 – 99.
Do Practice and Apply on page 99.
Do Mixed Review A & B on page 100.
Do Mastery Test on page 101.
You will need to review pages 78 – 92 for help.
09/01/09
Grammar
Sentence Structure
· Review material on pages 88-89.
· Students do Concept Check on page 90.
o Review answers on board
Fragments and Run-Ons
· Review material on pages 91-92
· Students do Concept Check on page 93.
o Review answers on board
Assignment: Exercise Bank #4 & # 5 on pages 601-602
08/31/09
Grammar
· Adjective and Adverb Clauses
o Review Material on pages 81-83
o Students do Concept Check on page 84
§ Review Answers on board
· Noun Clauses
o Review Material on pages 85-86
o Students do Concept Check on page 87.
§ Review Answers on Board
· Assignment: Exercise Banks 2 & 3 on page 600
08/28/09
Grammar
Using Clauses
· Students do Diagnostic Test on page 77.
o Review answers on board.
· Review information on pages 78-79.
· Students do Concept Check on page 80
o Review answers on board.
· Students do Revising on page 80.
o Review answers on board.
Assignment: Exercise Bank 1 on page 599
08/27/09
Grammar
Misplaced Modifiers
· Review information on pages 64-65 aloud.
o Students do Concept Check on page 65
o Review answers on board.
· Students do Exercise Bank 6 on page 598
Phrases Review
· Do Mixed Review on page 72.
· Do Mastery Test on page 73
08/26/09
Grammar
Infinitive Phrases
· Review information on pages 61-62.
· Students do Concept Check on page 62. Review answers on board.
· Students do Exercise Bank 5 on page 598. Review answers on board.
· Assignment: Mixed Review A & B on page 63.
08/25/09
Grammar
· Participle Phrases
o Review information on pages 56-57 aloud.
o Students do exercise A on page 58.
§ Review Answers on board.
o Students do exercise B on page 58.
· Gerund Phrases
o Review information on pages 59-60.
o Students do Concept Check on page 60.
08/24 – 25/09
Grammar: Phrases
· Students do Diagnostic Test on page 49 of Language Network Textbook.
o Review answers aloud.
Prepositional Phrases
· Review information on pages 50-51 aloud.
· Students do activity A on page 52.
o Review answers on board.
· Students do activity B on page 52.
08/25/09
Appositives and Appositive Phrases
· Review information on pages 53-54 aloud.
· Students do practice on page 54.
o Review answers on board.
· Students do Mixed Review on page 55.
08/21/09
Grammar
Language Network Textbook
· Students do Mixed Review: A & B on page 44.
Do not write paragraphs
· Students do Mastery Test on page 45.
Be sure to use pages 24 – 44 as reference as you work.
08/19 – 20/09
Grammar
· Complements
Language Networks pages 35-37
· Review information on pages 35-36 aloud with students.
· Students do Exercise A on page 37.
Review answers on board with students.
· Sentence Diagramming
Language Networks pages 38-41
· Review information on page 38 aloud with students.
· Students do Exercise A on page 39.
Review answers on board with students.
· Review information on page 39 aloud with students.
· Students do Exercise B on page 39.
Review answers on board with students.
· Review information on page 40 aloud with students.
· Students do Exercise C on page 40.
Review answers on board with students.
· Students do Exercise D on page 41.
Review answers on board with students.
Assignment: Exercise B on page 37 and Exercise E on page 41
08/18/09
Grammar
· Compound Sentence Parts
Language Networks pages 29-31.
· Review information on page 29 aloud.
· Students do Exercise A on page 30.
Review answers with students on board.
· Students do Exercise B on page 31.
Review answers with students aloud.
· Subjects in Sentences
Language Networks pages 32-34.
· Review information on pages 32-33 aloud.
Assignment: Exercise A on page 34.
Due at end of class.
08/17/09
Grammar
· Parts of a Sentence
Language Networks pages 24-28
· Diagnostic Test page 25.
Students answer questions on paper.
Review answers on board.
· Subjects and Predicates pages 26-27.
Have students read information aloud.
· Practice and Apply page 28.
Students do Exercise A.
When finished, review answers aloud with students.
Assignment: Do Exercise B on page 28.
CLASSROOM PROCEDURES Mr. WARD 2009-2010
· Be in your seat before the bell rings.
· Remain in your seat for the entire class period.
· Keep any conversation in class to a minimum and relevant to current class topic.
· Pick up all trash and place in trashcans at the end of class.
· You are not dismissed by the bell. The bell is to inform the teacher it is time to stop teaching. Students are dismissed by the teacher. Please remain in your seat until the teacher dismisses you.
· Turn your cell phones off before entering the classroom. If your cell phone is confiscated, your parents will have to claim it at the office the next day.
· All other rules, including dress codes, listed in the student handbook will be enforced. If you are seen with any non-allowable item you will give that item to the teacher upon request.
· Demonstrate the same respect and courtesy for others as you wish to receive.
· You are responsible for bringing your own materials to class.
· Place assignments in corresponding boxes at the beginning of each class.
· You will find previous days’ assignments in notebooks if you are absent.
· Use blue or black ink only for all assignments; including quizzes, tests, and essays.
· Assignments will be turned in on white paper. Use college ruled paper for essays.
· Late assignments will lose 10 points per day.
· Extracurricular activities, including athletic events, club events and after school jobs do not excuse students from deadlines. All procedures regarding late assignments will apply.
· If you turn in an assignment on time and are dissatisfied with your grade, you may redo the assignment and turn it back in the day after it is returned to you.
· You have 5 days following your last day absent to make up any work.
· Quizzes cannot be made up. If you are absent on the day a quiz is given, you are excused from it and it will not count against you.
· Any missed tests will be made up before or after school by appointment within five days.
· Fold all assignments lengthwise.
· Assignments need to have the following heading printed on the outside fold:
· Name: First and Last
· Class: English II, English III, etc.
· Period: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc.
· Date: month/day/year (08/14/07)
· Assignment: Essay Title, Page #s, etc.
08/28/09
Grammar
Using Clauses
· Students do Diagnostic Test on page 77.
o Review answers on board.
· Review information on pages 78-79.
· Students do Concept Check on page 80
o Review answers on board.
· Students do Revising on page 80.
o Review answers on board.
Assignment: Exercise Bank 1 on page 599
10/20/09
Southern Writers
That Distant Land / I’ve Been to the Mountaintop / Eagle Rock / Cat-Like
(pages 116–141)
Discussion Questions
1. In “That Distant Land,” what has changed Mr. Feltner’s perspective on the river valley outside his windows?
2. In “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop,” why does Dr. King say the choice is “no longer . . . between violence and nonviolence . . . it’s nonviolence or nonexistence”?
3. Why is the last line of the poem “Eagle Rock” an example of verbal irony?
4. (a) What is the metaphor used in paragraph 7 of “Cat-Like”?
(b) In it, what two things are being compared?
Writing Activities
1) In a paragraph, evaluate the speech “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop.” Identify three
techniques Dr. King uses to keep the attention of his audience and to persuade them to
take action.
2) Write a letter that Martin Luther King, Jr., might write to Thomas Jefferson. Express
King’s hopes for the future regarding civil rights.
3) Write a dialogue between two characters from different stories in this anthology. Have
the characters discuss an issue that concerns both of them, such as war, death, feelings
about nature or the land, or family obligations.
