ENGLISH III – Grade 11 Monday, May 4 – Friday, May 8 PURPOSE Learning Standards: • I can determine two or more themes of a text and analyze their development over the course of the text. (RL.2) • I can write arguments to support claims in an analysis of texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence. (W.1) WATCH Monday: Watch “First-Generation Americans Talk About The American Dream”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D69Il5tTAIU. Read “The New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus. *Can be printed for screen-free activities. Tuesday: Read the poem “I, Too” by Langston Hughes. *Can be printed for screen-free activities. Wednesday: Read the poem “Revolutionary Dreams” by Nikki Giovanni and an excerpt from “How it Feels to Be Colored Me” by Zora Neale Hurston. *Can be printed for screen-free activities. Thursday: View the images associated with the four texts from Monday-Wednesday’s readings. PRACTICE Monday: After watching the video, read the poem and annotate in the margin using the guiding questions. Complete the practice thesis statement. Finally, fill in the brief chart comparing the video to the poem. Tuesday: After reading the poem “I, Too” by Langston Hughes, fill in the poem map. Wednesday: After reading the texts by Giovanni and Hurston, answer the post-reading questions for each. Thursday: Fill in the theme tracker chart for the four texts. Then, match evidence from each text with an associated image. *All Practice activities this week can be printed as screen-free activities or done on loose-leaf paper. DISCUSS Friday: Here is your writing assignment: Which text best develops its themes? Choose ONE of the four texts read this week and think about what made that one stand out to you. What devices or techniques does the author use that make the text so impactful? Write a multi-paragraph response that 1) explains at least TWO themes the author discusses in the text and 2) argues why those themes were the most well-developed. Before writing your essay, have a verbal brainstorm. Explain the writing prompt to your sibling, parent, or a peer via safe communication. Discuss with them your ideas on which two themes you chose and what evidence supports your decisions. *Screen-free activity. PRODUCT Friday: Again, here is your writing assignment for today: Which text best develops its themes? Choose ONE of the four texts read this week and think about what made that one stand out to you. What devices or techniques does the author use that make the text so impactful? Write a multi-paragraph response that 1) explains at least TWO themes the author discusses in the text and 2) argues why those themes were the most well-developed. Review the writer’s checklist as you prepare to write your response. *Screen-free activity. Monday, May 4 “The New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus Context: Emma Lazarus (1849-1887) was a Jewish American poet, best known for her sonnet “The New Colossus.” This poem is currently engraved on a bronze plaque and displayed on the Statue of Liberty’s pedestal. The statue stands across from the historic Ellis Island, through which millions of immigrants came into the U.S. in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame, Look up images of the Colossus of Rhodes referenced here. How does this With conquering limbs astride from land to land; contrast with the way the Statue of Liberty is described? Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand What is an exile? How does the Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes metaphor “Mother of Exiles” help characterize the Statue of Liberty? command The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame. “Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Paraphrase these lines “spoken” by the Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, statue. What is she saying to the countries from which immigrants come? I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” Think about the annotation questions you answered while reading the poem and what theme or message the poem may be expressing. Create a practice thesis statement based on your analysis. A thesis statement on theme addresses both specific reasoning from the text and the broader message or theme the text conveys. Use the frame provided below if needed to construct your practice thesis statement on theme. Thesis statement frame: Although the Colossus of Rhodes from ancient Greece was_________________________________, the “New Colossus, the Statue of Liberty, is described as__________________________________________. This supports the poet’s message that America is___________________________________________. Choose a quote from the poem “The New Colossus” that connects with something you heard in the “First-Generation Americans Talk About The American Dream” video. Explain the connection. Quote Explanation Tuesday, May 5: “I, Too” by Langston Hughes Context: Langston Hughes (1902-1967) was an American poet, novelist, playwright, and social activist. Hughes was also a leading figure in the Harlem Renaissance, a social and political movement of black artists in Harlem, New York. I, too, sing America. I am the darker brother. They send me to eat in the kitchen When company comes, But I laugh, And eat well, And grow strong. Tomorrow, I’ll be at the table When company comes. Nobody’ll dare Say to me, “Eat in the kitchen,” Then. Besides, They’ll see how beautiful I am And be ashamed— I, too, am America. For the poem “I, Too,” fill out the following poem map. Fill in the outer bubbles first, then use the information to help you determine the theme of the poem. For the top two bubbles, complete the left side to help you determine the right side. For example, determine key words and phrases in the poem (words that seem particularly important) and then use those words to help you list major topics you believe the poem addresses. See an example completed chart for the poem “America” by Claude McKay from a previous week’s lesson. THEME Speaker’s Characteristics Sample using “America” by Claude McKay: Conflict bitterness Power love Love/Hate bigness Stability might sinking THEME Although America has not treated the speaker with respect, he is conflicted. He feels appreciation for the strength he’s gained from his trials in America, yet he seems to believe that the promises of America may not stand the test of time. Speaker’s Characteristics and Feelings - victim but also rebels - gains strength from America - feels wonder for America but also that its “treasure” may fall Wednesday, May 6 “Revolutionary Dreams” By Nikki Giovanni I used to dream militant dreams of taking over america to show… how it should be done I used to dream radical dreams of blowing everyone away with my perceptive powers of correct analysis I even used to think I'd be the one to stop the riot and negotiate the peace then I awoke and dug that if I dreamed natural dreams of being a natural woman doing what a woman does when she's natural I would have a revolution. Post-Reading Questions for “Revolutionary Dreams” by Nikki Giovanni (access from http://www.renaissancewedding.org/text/revolutionary_dreams_by_nikki_gi.htm) Context: Nikki Giovanni is a well-known African American poet, writer, commentator, activist, and educator. 1. Jot down or circle three or four words that seem important in the first three stanzas of the poem. Next, jot down or underline two or three words that seem important in the fourth/final stanza. 2. How does the speaker’s tone seem to shift from the third stanza to the fourth? 3. What is a theme of this poem? What message is the speaker trying to convey about her perspective? How does the tone shift help develop the theme? from the essay “How it Feels to Be Colored Me” by Zora Neale Hurston Context: Zora Neale Hurston was an African American novelist, short story writer, folklorist, anthropologist, and one of the most important figures of the Harlem Renaissance. I have no separate feeling about being an American citizen and colored. I am merely a fragment of the Great Soul that surges within the boundaries. My country, right or wrong. Sometimes, I feel discriminated against, but it does not make me angry. It merely astonishes me. How can any deny themselves the pleasure of my company? It's beyond me. But in the main, I feel like a brown bag of miscellany propped against a wall. Against a wall in company with other bags, white, red and yellow. Pour out the contents, and there is discovered a jumble of small things priceless and worthless. A first-water diamond, an empty spool, bits of broken glass, lengths of string, a key to a door long since crumbled away, a rusty knife-blade, old shoes saved for a road that never was and never will be, a nail bent under the weight of things too heavy for any nail, a dried flower or two still a little fragrant. In your hand is the brown bag. On the ground before you is the jumble it held--so much like the jumble in the bags, could they be emptied, that all might be dumped in a single heap and the bags refilled without altering the content of any greatly. A bit of colored glass more or less would not matter. Perhaps that is how the Great Stuffer of Bags filled them in the first place--who knows? Post-reading Questions 1.