English Calendar

WEEK 1 Class Schedule

MONDAY

1. Introduce unit: Themes, material, goals, and assignments.
2. Introduce focus for this week: rap, poetry, blues.
3. Begin examination of rap: class discussion of student preferences.

TUESDAY

1. Set goals for the day: learn about history of rap, examine The Message
2. Read: History of Rap
3. Discuss sequence and make time-line
4. Locate The Message in sequence
5. Listen to recording of The Message
6. Read lyrics and discuss in groups: theme, setting, character, plot, symbols
7. Introduce poetic terms: simile, metaphor, personification, assonance
8. Identify in groups examples in The Message
9. Discuss as class distinctive features of rap: attitude, focus, tone, rhythm
10. Homework: begin student journals--why do/or don’t they like rap? What themes would they like to write about? Which feature is most important?

WEDNESDAY

1. Review: rap, poetic terms
2. Discuss homework
3. Set goals for day: read Weary Blues, biography of Langston Hughes, compare his poem to The Message.
4. Read biography and locate his life in the History of Rap timeline and locate Harlem geographically
5. Read poem silently, then aloud
6. Discuss the poem’s theme, plot, setting, characters, tone, rhythm
7. Compare Weary Blues to The Message in small groups
8. Locate examples to support comparisons or contrasts
9. Discuss the description of the City in both works
10. Homework in journal: How would you describe your city, its people,problems, beauties, dreams, nightmares, history, future?

THURSDAY

1. Review: Weary Blues, Hughes, Harlem
2. Discuss homework
3. Set goals: learn about Mississippi Delta; ; biography of Robert Johnson; read/listen to Crossroads Blues compare delta blues to poetry and rap.
4. Read biography of Johnson and locate his life in timeline
5. Locate the Mississippi Delta geographically
6. Read Delta handout and Defining the Blues
7. Listen/ read Crossroads Blues
8. Compare in small groups Crossroads Blues with Weary Blues and The Message
9. Find examples of simile, metaphor, personification, dramatic repetition
10. Discuss tone, theme, attitude of speaker
11. Homework: compare and contrast visions of city and country found in The Message, Weary Blues and Crossroads Blues

FRIDAY

1. Review: Crossroads Blues, Johnson, Delta
2. Discuss homework
3. Set goals: Begin writing rap, poem or blues
4. Discuss the characteristics of the three forms
5. Divide into three groups: Themes, Settings, Characters
6. Discuss how the choice of focus structures the work
7. Outline ideas for original work: descriptions, contrasts, rhymes, actions
8. Homework: write first draft of rap, poem or blues; and begin thinking about following questions using map and Delta handout--How might people have moved from place to place? Are there transportation links, like trains, highways, or rivers that might have aided movement? Why would people have gone from one place to another? Are there geographical relationships between the original places and ultimate destinations? What would have been the geographical reasons for going to particular cities and not others? What are the cultural, economic, and social environments of the original and ultimate destinations?

WEEK 1 MATERIALS:

Poems, Songs and recordings: Crossroads Blues by Robert Johnson; The Message by Grandmaster Flash; Weary Blues by Langston Hughes.

Non-fiction Hand-outs: History of Rap; Defining the Blues; Glossary of the Blues; Biography of Langston Hughes

Websites: African American World PBS

The Blues PBS

Kurtis Blow Presents the History of Rap, Vol. 1 The Genesis

WEEK 2 Class Schedule

MONDAY

1. Introduce unit: Themes, material, goals, and assignments.
2. Introduce focus for this week: drama, blues, migration to the city.
3. Begin examination of drama: class discussion of student preferences
4. Presentation: August Wilson: biography, The Piano Lesson
5. Introduce research assignment for group and individual projects
6. Homework: begin reading play

TUESDAY

1. Set goals for the day: learn about dramatic genres and blues
2. Read: W.C. Handy biography and Yellow Dog Blues
3. Listen to recording of St. Louis Blues
4. Discuss songs for elements of dramatic narrative and storytelling
5. Read lyrics and discuss in groups: protagonist, antagonist, characterization
6. Introduce dramatic types: comedy, tragedy, history, melodrama
7. Identify in groups examples in drama and film
8. Present research skills: sources, notetaking, summarization, outline
9. Homework: choose one of four groups and continue reading play

WEDNESDAY

1. Review: dramatic narration and types
2. Discuss homework: assign groups
3. Set goals for day: explore narrative voice and theme
4. Read play and write journal response
5. Present concept of voice: absent, first person, third person
6. Discuss the playwright’s presentation of characters and setting
7. Compare voice in St. Louis Blues and The Message in small groups
8. Locate examples to support comparisons or contrasts
9. Discuss the description of the City in both works
10. Homework: locate sources for project and continue reading play

THURSDAY

1. Review: principles of narration
2. Discuss homework
3. Set goals: learn about dramatic mood and elements of expository writing.
4. Read play and write journal response
5. Present Mood: distance, perspective, focalization--external, internal
6. Discuss in small groups the play’s focus and writer’s perspective
7. Find examples to support opinion and note in journal
8. Compare in small groups Weary Blues, The Piano Lesson
9. Find examples of simile, metaphor, personification, dramatic repetition
10. Present elements of exposition: thesis, development, conclusion
11. Homework: begin reading and notetaking

FRIDAY

1. Review: dramatic mood and elements of exposition
2. Discuss homework
3. Set goals: learn about dramatic order and plot
4. Read play and write journal response
5. Present concepts of dramatic order: plot, story
6. Divide into groups: outline plot and contrast with story
7. Discuss how the difference structures the work
8. Divide into research groups: outline ideas for presentation
9. Homework: write first draft of thesis for essay

WEEK 3 Class Schedule

MONDAY

1. Review homework: essay thesis, plan for presentation
2. Set goals for week: complete play, prepare presentation.
3. Review Act I: setting, theme, characters, plot, voice, mood, story
4. Watch video of Act I of The Piano Lesson
5. Homework: respond to video production and predict development of play

TUESDAY

1. Set goals: dramatic duration, conflict and expository development
2. Read play and write journal response
3. Present dramatic duration and conflict
4. In small groups, discuss use of time in play and Yellow Dog Blues
5. Discuss nature and source of conflict in play and St. Louis Blues
6. Present development and paragraph types: description, illustration, cause
7. Homework: describe a character, illustrate a problem

WEDNESDAY

1. Review: dramatic duration, conflict and development
2. Discuss homework: read paragraphs to groups
3. Set goals for day: explore dramatic frequency and drawing conclusions
4. Read play and write journal response
5. Present concept of frequency: use of repetition and elision
6. Discuss the playwright’s use of repetition
7. Compare use of repetition in The Message in small groups
8. Locate examples to support comparisons or contrasts
9. Discuss conclusion that can be drawn from both works
10. Homework: write preliminary conclusion for presentation/ essay

    THURSDAY

    1. Review: dramatic frequency and conclusion
    2. Discuss homework: read conclusions to group
    3. Set goals: learn about dramatic tension and climax.
    4. Read play and write journal response
    5. Present dramatic tension and climax
    6. Discuss in small groups the playwright’s use of tension
    7. Find examples to support opinion and note in journal
    8. Compare use of tension in The Message with The Piano Lesson
    9. Research groups plan presentation
    10. Homework: start rough draft of essay/ contribution to presentation

    FRIDAY

    1. Review: dramatic tension and climax
    2. Discuss homework with group
    3. Set goals: summarize play and finalize plan for presentation
    4. Read play and write journal response
    5. Present concepts of ordered presentation: intro, development, conclusion
    6. Divide into groups: compare responses to play, blues, poems, rap
    7. Discuss how the differences structures the works
    8. Divide into research groups: finalize outline for presentation
    9. Homework: review journal, use notes to complete essay

    Weeks 2 and 3 MATERIALS:

    Drama, video and recordings: Drama: The Piano Lesson by August Wilson; Penguin Books; 1990 Video: 1995; USA; 104 minutes; Studio/distributor: Artisan Recordings: St. Louis Blues by Bessie Smith and Louis Armstrong

    Hand-outs: Biography of August Wilson; Songs and Biography of W.C. Handy

    Websites: The Piano Lesson Study Questions

    WEEK 4 Class Schedule

    MONDAY

    1. Review: dramatic concepts and expository writing
    2. Set goals for week: conclude reading, present research, participate in poetry slam, submit essay and journal.
    3. Discuss unresolved tensions of Act I, reactions to characters, predictions
    4. Watch Act II of video
    5. Homework: record response to production in journal, complete preparation for presentation

    TUESDAY

    1. Review: response to production
    2. Set goals for the day: begin presentation groups 1 and 2
    3. Start presentation
    4. Questions and discussion of presentations

    WEDNESDAY

    1. Review: presentations of groups 1 and 2
    2. Set goal: presentations of groups 2 and 3
    3. Start presentations
    4. Questions and discussion of presentations
    5. Homework: decide on type of participation in poetry slam and start final revisions of essay

    THURSDAY

    1. Culminating experience: Poetry Slam

    FRIDAY

    1. Review: reaction to poetry slam
    2. Set goal: complete essay and submit journal
    3. Re-read essay for grammar, spelling, coherence
    4. Individual consultation with students on any remaining problems
    5. Submit journal for pass/ fail evaluation
    6. Homework: write final draft of essay to be submitted Monday at the start of class for grade evaluation

    Week 4 MATERIALS:

    Drama and video: The Piano Lesson by August Wilson, Video: 1995; USA; 104 minutes; Studio/distributor: Artisan

    Lesson Plan 1

    Lesson Plan 2

    Lesson Plan 3

    Lesson Plan 4

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