Welcome to English 11 College Prep/Honors
If you are looking for the 2015-16 Expectations, click here. More recent Expectations are on our GClassroom.
English 11 explores American culture and identity, particularly in light of our foundational belief in the pursuit of happiness. We ask some big questions: what makes us happy? How do we go about pursuing those things -- if they are "things" which can be achieved? Can we be judged based on what we choose to pursue? Do the things we want define our identities? |
Happiness: Can money buy happiness? Here's what some of the research says:
Michael Norton TED talk: Mihaiyl Czikzsentmihalyi TED talk Matt Killingsworth TED talk: Happiness app Success: Here's a link to a compilation of TED talks that all examine different aspects of what makes us successful. |
(Into the Wild and the Transcendentalists ask:
are you living, or dying? This unit covers both the contemporary text (our summer reading) as well as Emerson and Thoreau from the 1830s. It lets us explore materialism (and the anti-materialism push-back), the role of wilderness, and the search for truth and meaning. Because this unit spans two centuries, textually, students can begin to see that the same impulses and ideas are woven throughout the American experience. The text Into the Wild is difficult due to its lack of chronology. This out-of-order telling forces the reader to work in putting the puzzle of the story back together. We'll create an exhibit of the objects that McCandless collects or rejects along his journey. By studying these items, we can consider how our possessions represent who we are. Into the Wild Exhibit: Assignment Into the Wild Exhibit: Rubric Into the Wild Exhibit: Artifact template Want to see sample Curator Notes? Check this out! Please evaluate this project. Use this form. Postcards from the Edge Assignment License Plate or Bumper Sticker Assignment: Click on the link to make a license plate (at ACME License Maker.com), or a custom bumper sticker (at RedKid.net/generator/bumper) . Print out your custom plate or sticker and bring it in for credit. You can also try this Bumper Sticker site (ImageChef.com). Readings: For biographical information, click on the author's bolded name below: from Ralph Waldo Emerson's essay "Nature" from Ralph Waldo Emerson's essay "Self Reliance" Henry David Thoreau's essay "Civil Disobedience" from Henry David Thoreau's "Walden" Finding the Transcendentals transcendant? For additional information on the people, influences, and ideas of the Transcendentals, check out this site (curated by a scholar/professor now at Texas A & M): The Web of American Transcendalism Need a fun way to narrow down biographical information? Try making this BioCube (ReadWriteThink). |
2015 NewYorker magazine update on McCandless
2013 Outside magazine article on people so fascinated by McCandless they risk life and limb to go see the Magic Bus.
2013 CNN piece about a teen fascinated by McCandless's journey
2013 New Yorker piece re-evaluates what caused McCandless's death in light of new science.
June 2015 NYT story "Lost Brother in Yosemite" with connections to Into the Wild.
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The Age of Faith and The Scarlet Letter What forces thwart our desires and dreams? Are those forces external or internal? How do we express our individuality? Do we conform, and does conformity compel hypocrisy? What does revenge offer us, and how does guilt warp us? This text sends us back to the beginning. We look at the founding ideas and how well we've kept to those ideals. We wrestle with the Puritan perspective on life, liberty, and conformity. And then we look at several characters's pursuit of happiness. Note-taking format: 2-6-2 (modified Cornell) Want to see a sample of C note-taking vs. A notes? Check these out! Want to see what additions to your notes from class might look like? Look at this (for Little Red Riding Hood). Scan of law-ruled paper (for 2*6*2 notes) here. Activities and projects connected to this unit:
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video of Fiona? Veruca Salt? other funny stuff?
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Looking for study help for major exams?
Anxious about the MIDTERM? Don't be. Take charge of your own learning! Learn how to study here. The Great Gatsby This book forces us to look at identity and aspiration. Who are we, based on what things we want? If we as Americans inherit the right to pursue happiness (although not promised the achievement of it -- poor Gatsby), what do our choices of pursuit say about us? This story from a time of decadence allows us to consider consumerism/consumption and class (socio-economic) in our own times. It also encourages us to see the truth of the emptiness at the core of Gatsby. Note-taking format: chart/organizer (plot events --> analysis) Gatsby note form (chart GoogleDoc) Want to see a sample of C notes? Check out these A notes to compare (for Little Red Riding Hood). Activities and projects connected to this unit:
Gatsby Gossip Column Template (WordDoc)
Gatsby Choice Viewing (link to VersoApp)
Identity and Class: You are what you wear.... Browse Fitzgerald & Fashion by scholar Deirdre Clemente. Discover the social cues of Nick Carraway's "white flannels," Fitzgerald's worship of football culture, and Myrtle Wilson's "tight clothes" and "overt sexuality." How Much was that Dress Worth (in Today's Money)?!? Click on this Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI Inflation Calculator to calculate the historically accurate amount in today's money of the dress Gatsby buys for the twin in yellow (Chapter 3), or the pearl necklace that Tom bought for Daisy (Chapter 4). Let's Diagnose Gatsby, Shall We?
Watch the 5:34 clip below, which offers a psychological evaluation of Gatsby as being ashamed of his identity and suffering from grief, which causes his obsessions and idealizations. Need a refresher on Gatsby's world? Watch "The Roaring 20's" by Crash Course US History below. It's only just over 13 minutes, narrated by John Green (yep! THAT John Green ), fast and witty.
Connected Readings about Cla$$
We will be reading a selection of articles that "read" closely our world and draw some conclusions and make some analysis about social class, purchasing, our aspirations. Click here for the Annotation guide and rubric for you to practice these skills as you read. Each article needs to be annotated, and each counts as a homework/classwork assignment. We will be watching The Queen of Versailles, a 2007 documentary. Please click on the button below to respond to the documentary. A complete and thoughtful response will count as a classwork/homework. What connections can we make to Gatsby? What connections can we make about our own lives? Listen to this podcast (Hidden Brain: Never Go to Vegas and other unspoken rules of being an A-lister) (50 min) |
Watch this 5 min video clip of Professor Sarah Churchwell to see the three things most people get wrong about The Great Gatsby (below):
The Critics Said:
Read A.O. Scott's positive review of director Baz Luhrman's 2013 version from The New York Times. Read this not-so-favorable review of Luhrman's 2013 version by Christopher Orr in The Atlantic magazine. Map of Manhattan and "the Eggs" Advertisements from 1920s? House as Mirror to Self? Watch: Crash Course Econ #35: The Economics of Happiness (10:25 minutes)
Really dedicated to learning about Gatsby and connections to our economic life??
Watch: Sarah Churchwell's lecture (49 min!) offers parallels to the 2010s financial/banking crisis. Read: Check out this modernized re-envisioning of Gatsby by Stephanie Powell Watts, published in 2017. Also: Read about this artist who created a piece using old copies of Gatsby and watch the video below. |
Our Town
Thornton Wilder's brief and bittersweet play brings us solidly into the modern era, while simultaneously transporting us backward in time to a "simpler time." This nostalgia for a time when life was simpler, less complex is a feeling we find ourselves struggling with today (although we aren't dreaming of the 1901 - 1914 time frame, but rather the imagined "golden time" of our childhoods). The play reminds us that it's only in the losing of something precious that we realize it's essence of precious-ness. (Remember when summer vacations seemed so looooooong? So carefree? We were so innocent and unstressed then..... Yup. That's the exact realization.) Note-taking format: mind mapping Link to Our Town note format Sample notes in Mind Map form (for Little Red Riding Hood) Watch the YouTube video to the right. (You may take some of these suggestions with a grain of salt: "Straight lines don't excite your mind"???) Activities and projects connected to this unit: Small Town, USA Project: Create a Digital Museum Exhibit, and take your visitors on a virtual walk through just one small aspect of life in the past. Small Town Museum Project: Assignment (pdf) Small Town Museum Project: Rubric for Project (pdf) Small Town Museum Project: Rubric for Presentation to class (pdf) |
Sample Museum Exhibit Read this article from The Atlantic to understand how our personal/family spending habits have changed. ("How American Spends Money: 100 years in the Life of the Family Budget" April 5, 2012) |
Death of a Salesman
Personal Note: Suicide is not inevitable. You matter. You can reach out. Please ask for help, for yourself or for a friend. We've all needed to be carried a bit of the way along the journey through life. If you are considering suicide or self-harm, please say something to a trusted adult or friend. We don't have all the answers, but working together we can find the right support. When we discuss this text, we'll talk about the death of the main character in the context of author-arranged fiction, and why this choice "makes sense" or is Willy's "noble" gesture -- but it only seems like a kind of freedom in the realm of fiction. Real life doesn't work out so neatly. No life needs to be stuck in darkness. I'm not perfect, I won't be able to solve everything, or even anything. But believe me: you are NOT simply a name on my class roster, this year or any other. National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255. Now back to the regularly scheduled Teacher Talk: Arthur Miller's play forces us to confront .... Note-taking format: chart/organizer Activities and projects connected to this unit: |
Planned Obsolescence vs. Perceived Obsolescence
Watch this 3 minute clip on the intentional business strategy that gets us to continually throw products away and be dissatisfied....which is a metaphor for how Willy Loman is treated, as well. (The Story of Stuff Project) |