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American Literature

Contact information: lanaka@lps.org or Tel: 402-436-1306 ext. 66259

Web page: http://wp.lps.org/lanaka/home/

American Literature attempts to understand the “American Experience.” It is this shared experience that is the unifying thread to a vast diversity of experiences that create America. this country claims to be a specific place – a land unique in demographics, but united in spirit. America see itself as the birthplace and flag-bearer of democracy; however, this idealistic image of America is tarnished by its historical inability to fulfill its promises of freedom, equality, justice and opportunity for all. It is this tension between the ideal and reality in America that is the basis for this course. What is America? What does it mean to be an American? How does our literature answer these questions? In what ways does our literature act as a window and/or a mirror? This is our inquiry in American Literature.

 

Readings in American Literature will be studied in relation to each other to emphasize the interconnection/linkage of the literature. These links illustrate how the literary works and culture of America not only reflect each other but also have influenced each other at different times. Much of the literature will be discussed in relation to the social justice issues embedded within the stories in order for us to deepen our understanding of the diverse American experience.

 

Texts: (Both Terms)

Schakel, Peter and Jack Ridl. Approaching Literature in the 21st Century. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2005.

Warner, J. Sterling and Judith Hilliard. Visions Across the Americas: Short Essays for Composition. Boston: Thomson Wadsworth, 2007

Books: (first term)

Gaines, Ernest A Lesson Before Dying

Miller, Arthur Death of a Salesman

Huston, Zora Neale Their Eyes Were Watching God,

Fitzgerald, F. Scott, The Great Gatsby

Various short stories and poems

(Second term)

Ford, Jamie Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

Cat’s Cradle Kurt Vonnegut or Catcher in the Rye J.D. Salinger

Flight Sherman Alexie

Various short stories and poems

Note: Selections may change at teacher’s discretion.

 

Possible themes/topics for links between the readings:

Search for Identity and Voice

Power- Abuse of Power, Social Injustice, Control

Complex Relationships

Family Issues – Parental Expectations

Racial Identity

Sense of Place & Identity

Cultural Clashes – Within and Between Cultures

Need for Community

Defining the Dream & Making it Real

 

Selected American Literature Objectives

Students will:

 

*Reading and Literature

— read and comprehend a wide range of genres and authors drawn from instructional level print and non-print texts that represent diverse American perspectives.

— examine literature for issues of social justice.

–understand the unique role of race in the transformation of American literature.

–analyze, interpret, synthesize, and evaluate texts emphasizing literary structures and techniques, ideas and concepts, supporting examples, and connections between diverse texts.

–know and apply various literary theories, such as biographical, gender, historical, Marxist, mythological, psychological, and reader response.

 

*Writing and Language

­— know and apply the traits of effective writing by studying models and using these traits in their own writing, including:

determining purpose, audience, and form,

developing ideas and creating a focus,

utilizing appropriate organization and structure for the mode of writing

establishing a writing voice,

controlling stylistic elements, and

applying English language conventions

–interact with the text through reflective writing in such ways as journal writing, question of the day, quote of the day, conversation with the author, reader response, formulating questions.

–synthesizes texts to create a reasoned new understanding.

–writes an evaluative essay focused on such things as the student’s own work or an aspect of the text.

–examine language choices for aesthetic and rhetorical effectiveness and purpose.

–recognize dialect, regional language, idiomatic language, formal and informal registers, and code switching as valid syntactical structures.

–recognize ways language can empower and oppress.

 

*Oral Communication

— deliver group and/or individual presentations using effective oral communication skills

–engage earnestly in a community of intellectual discourse.

–substantiate assertions with textual references in class discussions.

 

*Creative and Critical Thinking

— examine a range of cultural topics seen through American literature.

— demonstrate flexible thinking by deferring judgments, suspending assumptions, recognizing multiple sides to an account/problem/issue, questioning own thinking and practices, and maintaining a willingness to change and be challenged.

 

Materials

— Required:

At least one writing implement (blue or black pen)

Paper (loose leaf, notebook sans chad)

Folder(s) or 3-ring binder (something to keep handouts and required papers in.)

 

— High Suggested:

A good dictionary/ access to one

Highlighters

Post-it Notes

(File Cards)