Syllabus June 1st to June 5th

Monday
In class:
MA Book II: Study Questions (this was supposed to be HW, but we are going to do it in class today instead).

HOMEWORK:
Due tomorrow: MA Book II: Study Questions (handout)
Due tomorrow: MA Book III: Study/response questions on Blog
Due Thursday: Finish reading MA. You will have class work based on your reading. QUIZ GRADE!


Tuesday
In class:
DUE: Book II class work AND Book III questions
Animal Farm Power point: symbols, satires and modern connections
HOMEWORK:
Due Tomorrow: none


Wednesday
In class:
Due: nothing :)
Animal Farm Power point: symbols, satires and modern connections
HOMEWORK:
Due tomorrow: Finish reading MA. You will have class work based on your reading. QUIZ GRADE!


Thursday
In class:
DUE: Finish reading MA.
You will have class work: Essay
HOMEWORK:
Due tomorrow: nothing


Friday
In class:
DUE: none
Notes on MA, reviewing the novel as a whole
HOMEWORK:
Due Monday: TEST: ALL MATERIALS.
Due Monday: Organize your notebook and bring it to class. Hint Hint.
Due Tuesday: Bring Table of Contents section for ALL TERMS. We will begin reviewing.

My Antonia: Book II and Book III

BOOK II: Chapters 10 to 15

• What is a hired girl? Why might the townspeople dislike them? Why might an immigrant or a foreginer be disliked? Compare/contrast the Harlings' and the Cutters' home life. How do the gendar roles differ between Mr. and Mrs. Harling and Mr. and Mrs. Cutter?
• Jim's commencement address to Antonia focuses on nostalgia and emotional success after the death of Antonia's father. What is emotional success? Why do you think that the event was an emotional success for Jim Burden? How do the feelings of Nostaligia affect the characters of Jim and Antonia? Their relationship with eachother? Is memory a reliable source of the past? How do memories mold and shape us?

BOOK III: All chapters (due Tuesday 6/2)

• A whole book in the novel is dedicated to Lena Lingard yet the book is titled My Antonia. Is My Antonia a book about Antonia? Why or why not? What might the author's intentions be dedicating a book to Lena Lingard?
• What two quotations from Virgil arrest Jims attention? How do these words give some insight into what Cather has done in My Antonia?
• How has Lena changed? Why does Jim find her interesting? What are her failings as a dressmaker? Why do her customers forgive her for them? Why does she care nto to get married? What does all of this indicate about her character?

Syllabus: May 25 to May 29

COME TO CLASS PREPARED!!!!

Bring your LIT BOOK and MY ANTONIA to class!!!

We are reading BOTH! Be prepared!

Monday
NO SCHOOL.

Tuesday
In class:
If you were absent on the day of the quiz, you MUST see me during a study or after school on TUESDAY in order to get credit. If you have any other problems, speak to me prior to this.
DUE: Ch 6 and 7 in Animal Farm
Begin Ch 8 and 9 and answer “Interpreting Meanings” # 6 to 14 on pg 850.
Finish for homework
HOMEWORK:
Due Tomorrow: MA: Book II: chapters 1 to 9, questions on the blog
Due Thursday: Read AF ch 10 and complete # 1 to 13 on page 855
Due Friday: MA Book II: ch 10 to 15 and response question on the blog.

Wednesday
In class:
Due: MA: Book II: chapters 1 to 9, questions on the blog
Review Animal Farm ch 8 and 9
HOMEWORK:
Due tomorrow: Read ch 10. and complete the study questions
Due Friday: MA Book II: ch 10 to 15 and response question on the blog.

Thursday
In class:
DUE: Animal Farm: ch 10:Facts/interpreting meanings
The Novel as a whole
Plot structure, theme, satire, intent, etc.
HOMEWORK:
Due tomorrow: MA Book II: ch 10 to 15 and response question on the blog.

Friday
In class:
DUE: MA Book II: ch 10 to 15 and response question on the blog.
QUIZ: Animal Farm ALL chapters.
HOMEWORK:
If you were absent on the day of the quiz, you MUST see me during a study or after school on MONDAY in order to get credit. If you have any other problems, speak to me prior to this.
Due Monday: MA Book II: Study Questions (handout)
Due Tuesday: MA Book III: Study/response questions on Blog

My Antonia: Book II, Ch 1 to 9

DUE: WEDNESDAY

Book II: The Hired Girls

As Jim's grandparents age, the Burdens move to the city of Black Hawk to escape the hardships of the farm and country life. The Burdens make an arrangement to bring Antonia to Black Hawk as hired help of the Harlings, who live next door. This arrangements allows Antonia to escape the hardship on the farm, the lowly expectations of her family, and to develop skills in housework. These chapters are filled with happiness and comfort and the reader can experience the relationship between Jim and Antonia.

• My Antonia focuses on the right thing to do. Antonia does what the Burdens feel is proper and right. How would the voice of these chapters change if Antonia were writing the novel instead and instead of Jim? It is also a novel where numerous characters appear and disappear. In the midst of chapters of contentment, how do the appearance and disappearance of characters ling to the characters joy and grief?

Lena Lingard, the beautiful daughter of Norwegian immigrants, moves from the country to Black Hawk and visits Antonia and the Harlings. Lena has been hired to assist in dressmaking. Many Stories surround Lena concerning her immoral and promiscuous nature. These chapters of MA are the climax of joy: dancing, music, parties, stories of visitors all inhabit their lives.

• What does Lena's character resemble or signify? How do the entry and disappearance of characters of joy affect the mood of the novel? Use rhetorical analysis to indicate what the mood is and the use of a disappearing character. What might characters such as Samson symbolize? Does any gloom exist among the gaiety of Black Hawk?

My Antonia: Ch 15 to 19 Response questions

Book I: Ch 15 to 19

Elaborate using specific evidence from the novel mixed with your own personal views. Each response question should be about 300 words in length.

1. How does religion determine the proper way to bury Mr. Shimerda and how does the country determine what is proper? Why is it significant that Mr. Shimerda is buried at a crossroads? How do the grandfather and Mrs. Shimerda have different views on the significance of being buried at a crossroads?
2. Hoe does hardship change a person? Positive example AND negative. How does Antonia change once her father dies? How about the Shimerda family? Are Jim's transformed feelings for Antonia justified, why or why not?

Syllabus: May 18th to May 22nd

BRING LITERATURE BOOK AND MY ANTONIA BOOK TO CLASS ALL THE TIME!

Monday
In class:
Due: I In MY Antonia, read Book 1: introduction and chapters 7 – 14 and complete response questions on blog.
Compare/Contrast experiences with characters to interviewee
HOMEWORK:
Due Tomorrow: Propaganda assignment
Due Wednesday: My Antonia: Book I: Ch 1 – 14 study questions
Due Friday: MA: Finish Book I: ch 15 to 19 and answer discussion questions (on Blog)
Due Friday: QUIZZZZZZZZZ! AF Ch 1-5, MA Ch 1 to 19 and background info for both.

Tuesday
In class:
DUE: Propaganda Assignment
Review
Discuss Examples
HOMEWORK:
Due Tomorrow: My Antonia: Book I: Ch 1 – 14 study questions

Wednesday
In class:
Due: My Antonia: Book I: Ch 1 – 14 study questions
BRING LITERATURE BOOK: Read Animal Farm Ch 5
HOMEWORK:
Due tomorrow: AF: Finish ch. 5 and answer study questions.

Thursday
In class:
DUE: Animal Farm: ch 5
Plot analysis and Character development
Use of Satire/allegory
HOMEWORK:
Due tomorrow MA: Finish Book I: ch 15 to 19 and answer study questions, STUDY FOR QUIZZZZ…

Friday
In class:
DUE: MA: Finish Book I: ch 15 to 19 and answer study questions
QUIZ: Communism background info, George Orwell, Animal Farm, My Antonia!!
HOMEWORK:
NO SCHOOL MONDAY (MEMORIAL DAY)
If you were absent on the day of the quiz, you MUST see me during a study or after school on MONDAY in order to get credit. If you have any other problems, speak to me prior to this.
Due Tuesday: AF: Read chapters 6 and 7, complete BOTH sides of EACH handout
Due Wed: MA: Book II: chapters 1 to 9, questions on the blog

My Antonia: Chapters 7 to 14 response Questions:

Response Questions:

BOOK I: Chapters 4 – 8:

The untamed land of Nebraska is difficult for the new immigrant family, and Mr. Shimerda encounters great hardships. Mr. Shimerds’s hopes brighten when he meets two Ukrainian friends, Peter and Pave. The two Russian immigrants escaped the Ukraine and came to the United States (and for some of you, this is similar to your interview assignment) after a tragic evening: an entire wedding party was over taken by wolves! Also, in these chapters, Antonia and Jim Burden’s relationship blossoms and develops around one of varying roles: age, gender, strength, language, and origin.

• What hardship does Mr. Shimerda Face? How do Peter and Pavel help to lighten his depression? Hoe does the story of Peter and Pavel in the Ukraine affect their new lives in the United States? What are the various factors that affect Jim and Antonia’s relationship? How do the other characters’ experiences change/affect their perspective on gender, age, education, language, and origin?


BOOK I: Chapters 9 – 14:

In this section two major concepts are in focus: religion and hardships. The Shimerdas are struggling during their first winter in Nebraska’s countryside while the Burdens are enjoying a snowy comfortable Christmas in the same region. The Shimerdas living conditions, food supply, and mental and physical health are in jeopardy. As a result, the Burdens take care of them. Despite their different religious beliefs, the Shimerdas find that differences in religion are overridden by the goodness in people

• How does religion play a part in setting the TONE of My Antonia? Find THREE passages that indicate the tone and explain how religion is important in those passages. Do religious differences divide or separate the Shimerdas and the Burdens? How do the hardship that the Shimerdas face during their first country winter and the family’s strong faith in religion connect?