ENGLISH
3 – FALL 2009 SYLLABUS Updated 10/27/2009
9/9/09 Q – The aim of education is the knowledge not of fact, but of values. – Dean William R. Inge
9/9/09 C – Introduction to course; review English Handbook; student questions.
9/10/09 Q – All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them. – Galileo Galilei
9/10/09 C – Notes, ideas, discussion on How to Respond to Quotes, and How Not to Respond to Quotes
9/11/09 Q – Logic is the anatomy of thought. – John Locke
9/11/09 C – Notes, ideas, discussion on logic and logical reasoning; begin in-class logical reasoning exercise (handout).
9/14/09 Q – Logic is the beginning of wisdom, [but] not
the end. – Spock (Leonard Nimoy), in Star Trek
VI: The Undiscovered Country
9/14/09 C – Continue in-class logical reasoning exercise.
9/14/09 – Homework assignments begin – see Homework Blog.
9/15/09 Q – Intuition is a suspension of logic due to impatience. – Rita Mae Brown
9/15/09 C – Continue in-class logical reasoning exercise.
9/16/09 Q - The logic of words should yield to the logic of realities. – Louis Brandeis
9/16/09 C – Continue in-class logical reasoning exercise.
9/17/09 Q – ‘Tis the good reader that makes the good book. – Ralph Waldo Emerson
9/17/09 C – Notes, ideas, discussion about reading skill; what skilled readers do vs. what unskilled readers do; 4 qualities of skilled readers.
9/18/09 Q - Adolescence is a border between childhood
and adulthood…teeming with energy and fraught with danger. – Mary Pipher
9/18/09 C –Begin reading The Catcher in the Rye by
J.D. Salinger; Chapter 1 (pp. 1-6), write response. Response topic:
Adolescence. Guiding questions: What is our initial impression of Holden
Caulfield? How does he feel about his school? His situation? Mr. Spencer? The
advice he receives from Mr. Spencer? Anyone or anything else? The Catcher in
the Rye is generally considered the quintessential novel about adolescence.
What are some of the ideas and characteristics typically associated with
adolescence, and adolescents, by themselves and by adults? How do these ideas
and characteristics come through in Holden’s narration?
9/21/09 Q – “Life is a game, boy. Life is a
game that one plays according to the rules.” – Mr. Spencer to Holden, p. 8
9/21/09 C – Read Chapter 2 (pp. 6-16) of The Catcher in
the Rye, write response. Response topic: Narrative point-of-view. Guiding
questions: What is Mr. Spencer trying to tell Holden? What does Holden keep
thinking about? Why is there a disconnect between the latter and the former?
What do we think of Holden as a narrator (as distinct from what we think
of him as a character or as a person)? Salinger’s use of a
first-person narrator, telling the story in Holden’s voice and seeing everyone
and everything through his eyes and his mind, has a profound effect on the
story, and on the reader’s interpretation of what he “says.” Recall Walter
Lord’s use of the purely objective, third-person point-of-view in A Night to
Remember. Can we trust Holden to be objective, and if not, what must we do
as a result?
9/22/09 Q – I’m the most terrific liar you ever saw in
your life. – p. 16
9/22/09 C – Read Chapter 3 (pp. 16-26), write response.
Response topic: “Honesty.” Guiding questions: What does Holden think of his
peers in general, and Ackley and Stradlater in
particular? What might Holden and Ackley have in common? What bothers Holden
about people? Does he seem to like anything about anyone? Why?
Many students, when they begin reading The Catcher in the Rye, describe
Holden Caulfield as “honest.” However, by the end of Chapter 3, we realize that
he is truly anything but. Why might an adolescent reader initially describe
Holden as “honest?” In other words, what is it about his narration that makes
us think he is “honest?” How do we know that he really is not? What
might be a better way to characterize him?
9/23/09 Q – All I need’s an audience. I’m an
exhibitionist. – p. 29
9/23/09 C – Read Chapter 4 (pp. 26-35), write response.
Response topic: Alienation. Guiding questions: Why is Holden so bothered by
Ackley and Stradlater? How might we view them as individuals
if we were to look at them objectively, rather than from Holden’s point of
view? What else bothers Holden, and why?
9/24/09 Q – Some things are hard to remember. – p.
40
9/24/09 C – Read Chapters 5-6 (pp. 35-46), write response.
Response topic: Inner Conflict. Guiding questions: How and why do some of
Holden’s actions contradict his thoughts? Why is Allie so meaningful to him?
Why does he fight with Stradlater?
9/25/09 Q – I felt to lonesome, all of a sudden. I
almost wished I was dead. – p. 48
9/25/09 C – Read Chapters 7-8 (pp. 46-58), write response.
Response topic: Loneliness. Guiding questions: What further evidence have we
that Holden is not well mentally? What does Holden seem to want most of all?
Why does he lie to Mrs. Morrow? What enables him to lie so easily and
effortlessly? How do we assess his chosen course of action?
9/28/09 – No School (Yom Kippur)
9/29/09 Q – Sex is something I just don’t understand. –
p. 65
9/29/09 C – Read Chapters 9 and 11 (pp. 59-66, 76-80), write
response. Response topic: Sexuality. Guiding questions: How do we account for
Holden’s ideas about sex, girls, relationships, etc? How do we reconcile those
ideas with his thoughts about Jane in Ch. 11? Why would/should this book be
“banned” for its approach to this topic?
9/30/09 Q – I was surrounded by jerks. I’m not kidding.
– p. 85
9/30/09 C – Read Ch. 10 segment (pp. 66-68), then read Ch.
12 (pp. 81-86), write response. Response topic: Introspection. Guiding
questions: Compare Holden’s thoughts about Phoebe to those about Allie, D.B.,
his parents, others. What further insight do we gain here, regarding Holden’s
worldview and capacity for self-examination?
10/1/09 Q – I never seem to have anything that if I
lost it I’d care too much. – p. 89
10/1/09 C – Read Ch. 13 (pp. 88-98), write response.
Response topic: “When-push-comes-to-shove.” Guiding questions: Why does Holden
think he’s “yellow?” Why is he really? How is that related to his
actions at the end of the chapter?
10/2/09 Q – I couldn’t pray worth a damn…I kept
picturing old Sunny calling me a crumb-bum. – p. 100
10/2/09 C – Read Ch. 14 (pp. 98-104), write response.
Response topic: Bravado. Guiding questions: How do we assess Holden’s thoughts
about religion? Why is he unable to pray? Why does Holden antagonize Maurice?
What, if anything, should he have done instead? What effect will this have on
Holden overall?
10/2/09 – Distribution of first Writing Project – Session
Two, Part A of June
2006 ELA Regents Exam. Students are to read the passages over the
weekend.
10/5/09 Q – The more that you read, the more things
you will know. – Dr. Seuss (Theodor S. Geisel)
10/5/09 C – Introduction to Comprehensive
English Regents Exam; notes, Plan
of Action for Session Two, Part A.
10/6/09 Q – Books worth reading are worth reading
twice…[while] masterpieces…are worth reading a thousand times. – John
Morley
10/6/09 C – Notes / Plan of Action for
Introduction/Thesis.
10/7/09 Q –
10/7/09 C – Write Introduction and Thesis Statement for
essay.
10/8/09 Q – Beware the man of one book. – Thomas
Aquinas
10/8/09 C – Notes / Plan of Action for Discussion ¶s;
review of Literary Devices
10/9/09 Q - Until I feared I would lose it, I never
loved to read – Harper Lee
10/9/09 C – Write Discussion ¶s for essay.
10/12/09 – No School (Columbus Day)
10/13/09 Q – Once you learn to read, you will forever
be free. – Frederick Douglass
10/13/09 C – Review Rules for Writing Final Essays; work
on essay drafts.
10/14/09 – PSAT – No notebook entries
10/15/09 – FINAL ESSAY – No notebook entries
END OF FIRST MARKING PERIOD
10/16/09 Q – G-ddam money. It
always ends up making you blue as hell. – p. 113
10/16/09 C – Read Ch. 15 (pp. 105-113), write response.
Response topic: Money. Guiding questions: What is Holden’s view of the way
money affects the world in general, and him in particular? Why does Holden make
a date with Sally and not call Jane? What is the impact of Holden’s encounter
with the nuns?
10/19/09 Q – Certain things…should stay the way they
are. – p. 122
10/19/09 C – Read Ch. 16 (pp. 113-122), write response.
Response topic: Nostalgia. Guiding questions: What makes Holden feel nostalgic
in this chapter, and why? Why is the museum so meaningful to him, and in what
way? What ‘hints’ does this chapter provide as to the meaning of the book’s
title?
10/20/09 Q – I swear to G-d I’m crazy. – p. 124
10/20/09 C – Read Ch. 17 (pp. 123-134), write response.
Response topic: “Crazy.” Guiding questions: How does Holden’s date with Sally
go? Why does it end the way it does? Why does Holden keep calling himself
“crazy” in this chapter?
10/21/09 Q – Who wants flowers when you’re dead?
Nobody. – p. 155
10/21/09 C – Read Ch. 20 (pp. 149-157), write
response. Response Topic: Death. Guiding questions: How do we interpret
Holden’s thoughts about death in this chapter? Why does he have such a
difficult time grappling with it? How might his drunkenness affect his
thoughts?
10/22/09 Q – I just felt good, for a change. – p.
159
10/22/09 C – Read Ch. 21 (pp. 157-166), write response.
Response topic: Home. Guiding questions: How and why has the tone of the
narration changed at this point? How do we assess Holden’s interaction with
Phoebe, now that we’ve met her? How to we interpret her character?
10/23/09 Q – What I have to do, I have to catch
everybody if they start to go over the cliff… - p. 173
10/23/09 C – Read
10/26/09 Q – “I have a feeling that you’re riding
for some kind of a terrible, terrible fall.” – Mr. Antolini
to Holden, p. 186
10/26/09 C – Read Ch. 24 (pp. 180-193), write
response. Response topic: Ambiguity. Guiding questions: Why does Holden visit
Mr. Antolini? How does this compare with his visit
with Mr. Spencer? Why does Holden react the way he does to Mr. Antolini’s actions at the end of the chapter?
10/27/09 Q – If you had a million years…you couldn’t
rub out even half the “F*** you” signs in the world. It’s impossible. –
p. 202
10/27/09 C – Read Ch. 25 (pp. 194-205), write response.
Response topic: Depression. Guiding questions: How & why does Holden
re-think what happened at the Antolinis’? Why does
Holden have difficulty crossing the streets? Why is he so bothered by the
graffiti? How do we interpret his plans?
10/28/09 Q – Don’t ever tell anybody anything. If you
do, you start missing everybody. – p. 214
10/28/09 C – Read Ch. 25-26 (pp. 205-end), write response.
Response topic: Breakdown. Guiding questions: What, finally, makes Holden
happy, and why? What realization does he reach? Why does he, as narrator,
decide to end the story here?
10/29/09 Q – I’m quite illiterate, but I read a lot. –
p. 18
10/29/09 C – Literary Devices discussion/chart for The
Catcher in the Rye
10/29/09 – Open School Evening
10/30/09 Q – Some of my best friends are children…It's
almost unbearable for me to realize that my book will be kept … out of their
reach. – J.D. Salinger
10/30/09 C – Literary Devices discussion/chart for The
Catcher in the Rye (cont’d)
10/30/09 – Open
School Afternoon
11/2/09 Q – Improvement begins with “I”. –
11/2/09 C – Review previous essay writing project and
anchor papers. Compare individual essays with anchor papers, develop ideas
(“Do’s & Don’ts”) for improvement.
11/2/09 – Distribution of midterm essay assignment (Session
Two, Part A of January
2004 ELA Regents Exam).
11/3/09 – No school (Election Day)
11/4/09 Q – People
who get nostalgic about childhood were obviously never children. – Bill Watterson
11/4/09 C – Sentence construction exercise: Basic simplex
sentence structure & diagramming; definition of verb, subject, how to
locate sentence components; active vs. passive voice.
11/5/09 Q – Human
beings are the only creatures that allow their children to come back home. –
Bill Cosby
11/5/09 C – Sentence construction exercise: Diagnosis and
reconstruction using sample sentences from previous essays.
11/6/09 Q – The
secret of a good memory is attention. – Tyron Edwards
11/6/09 C – Sentence construction exercise: Diagnosis and
reconstruction using sample sentences from previous essays.
11/9/09 Q – The more
you love a memory, the stronger and stranger it is. – Vladimir Nabokov
11/9/09 C – Literary devices workshop – Passage I.
11/10/09 Q – Growing
up is a process, not an event. – Paul B. Jamison
11/10/09 C – Literary devices workshop – Passage II.
11/11/09 – No School (Veterans Day)
11/12/09 – FINAL ESSAY/MID-TERM EXAM.
11/13/09 Q – In a thousand years, when people
learn about
11/13/09 C – Introduction to Shoeless Joe by
W.P. Kinsella; view segment of film “Eight Men Out;”
association exercise: baseball and religion.
11/16/09 Q – If you build it, he will come. – p. 3
11/16/09 C – Begin reading (pp. 3-15), write response.
Response topic: Dreams. Guiding questions: What kind of man is Ray Kinsella? How does he know what the Voice wants him to do?
Why does he decide to do it? Other general impressions?
11/17/09 Q – “This must be heaven,” [Joe] says. “No,
it’s
11/17/09 C – Read up to p. 19, write response. Response
topic: Magic. Guiding questions: What does Ray think of what happens on the
field? Does it matter whether or not it’s “real?” What about Shoeless Joe
himself? What further religious/spiritual elements do we see?
11/18/09 Q – Even for dreams, I have to work and wait. –
p. 26
11/18/09 C – Read pp. 23-32, write response. Response
topic: Patience. Guiding questions: What new ideas, particularly conflicts,
arise in this section? Why does Ray seem so concerned about the costs of
building the field? What is Ray’s next task, and how does he know?
11/19/09 Q – My journey will be like going out to hunt
stars with a net on a stick. – p. 39
11/19/09 C – Read pp. 32-39 and 41-42, write response.
Response topic: Being on a mission. Guiding questions: What does Ray discover
about his “mission,” and about J.D. Salinger? What could be the meaning of the
lesson Ray’s mother taught him? What elements of the traditional “mythic quest”
do we see? Any parallels to The Catcher in the Rye?
11/20/09 Q – This land is foreign to me. – p. 57
11/20/09 C – Read pp. 42-43 (bottom), then 46 (middle)-51,
and 52-59; write response. Response topic: The journey. Guiding questions: How
might we characterize Ray’s journey eastward? What does he learn/discover at
each stop? What further religious or mythological parallels do we see?
11/23/09 Q – The fates are known to play tricks on
innocents. – p. 64
11/23/09 C – Read pp. 59-70, write response. Response topic:
Expectations. Guiding questions: How does Ray’s initial encounter with Salinger
go? How dies it compare with Ray’s expectations? How does Salinger seem to
regard Ray? Who does he go along with Ray’s “invitation?” How does Kinsella (the author) deal with the challenge of using a
real, living person whom he has never met as a literary character?
11/24/09 Q – “Writers are magicians…[they] live other
people’s lives for them.” – Salinger to Ray, p. 82
11/24/09 C – Read pp. 71-73 (one ¶ after * * *), 75 (* * *
- bottom), 77- 85; write response. Response topic: Heroes & villains.
Guiding questions: What purpose does the introduction of Mark and Mr. Bluestein
serve? How is the relationship between Ray and Salinger developing? How are
their respective roles developing?
11/25/09 Q – …baseball is the most perfect of games,
solid, true, pure…If only life were so simple. – p. 92
11/25/09 C – Read pp. 85-94, write response. Response
topic: Baseball, life & rules. Guiding questions: What specific connections
to The Catcher in the Rye are made here? How are they significant to this
story? How does Ray finally come to an understanding about Salinger’s
isolation? What is Ray’s next task?
11/26-11/27/09 – No School (Thanksgiving Recess)
11/30/09 Q – “…the time is right…when all the cosmic
tumblers have clicked into place and the universe opens up…and shows you what is
possible.” – Ray to Salinger, p. 99
11/30/09 C – Read pp. 94-108, write response. Response
topic: Epiphany. Guiding questions: What do Ray and Salinger discuss and
discover on the way back to Salinger’s home? What happens when they arrive, and
why? Now what?
12/1/09 Q – “Writers write. Other people talk.”
– Salinger to Ray, p. 109
12/1/09 C – Read pp. 108-119, write response. Response
topic: The Search. Guiding questions: How can we describe Ray & Salinger’s
experience at
12/2/09 Q – “Memory’s a funny thing…It’s almost like you
brought Doc [Graham] back to life.” – p. 128
12/2/09 C – Read pp. 122-132, write response. Response
topic: Memory. Guiding questions: What do Ray & Salinger discover in
Chisholm? What effect do they have on that town? What kind of man was Doc
Graham? How does his baseball “career” fit in?
12/3/09 Q – “It’s a sad time when the world won’t listen
to stories about good men.” – Salinger to Ray, p. 133
12/3/09 C – Read pp. 132-134, 136-143, write response.
Response topic: Life Stories. Guiding questions: Why is Ray so interested in
the stories Doc Graham has to tell of his life? What connection could there be
between “Shoeless Joe” and “Moonlight,” both the nicknames and the men? How
does the “magic” occurrence here compare to those we’ve seen so far?
12/4/09 Q – “Hardly anybody recognizes the most
significant moments of their life at the time they happen.” – Doc Graham to
Ray, p. 146
12/4/09 C – Read bottom of p. 145-153, write response. Response
topic: Pivotal Moments. Guiding questions: What does Doc think of his one and
only Major League game? How does he regard his life as a whole? What is his
wish, and what do we make of it? What conclusions do Ray and Salinger draw from
their experience at Chisholm?
12/7/09 – 12/17/09 –Writing Project #3, ELA Regents Session
Two Part A (TBD)
12/17/09 – FINAL ESSAY
12/18/09 Q – Everything seems smaller than I remember
it. – p. 178
12/18/09 C – Read pp. 172-184, write response. Response
topic: The Return Home. Guiding questions: What does Ray discover about his
farm and field upon his return home, and why? Where does it fit in with his
mythic/spiritual journey? Why does Ray think of Annie’s parents at this point?
What about Eddie Scissons? Why does Ray bring him to
the farm?
12/21/09 Q - …who will see the wonders of the night, and
who will see only an empty field… - p. 196
12/21/09 C – Read pp. 196-206, write response. Response
topic: Faith and High Stakes. Guiding questions: Who can see and who can’t, and
why? How do each of the characters react to what happens on the field? Why does
Ray turn down Salinger’s offer, given the stakes? How does the author juxtapose
the events in this section with the very real, very serious threat that hangs
over the farm, the field, and Ray?
12/22/09 Q - …when most people reach for that heart’s
desire…they are rewarded with snarls, frustration and disillusionment. – p.
218
12/22/09 C – Read pp. 206- 4th ¶ on 209, then
214-219, write response. Response topic: Reaching for a Dream. Guiding
questions: Compare Ray’s response to the revelation about Eddie Scissons to Mark’s. Why do they react differently? How do
we account for what Eddie did, and Ray’s response thereto? What is the
significance of what we learn about Gypsy, Richard’s girl?
12/23/09 Q – “Walk into the world and speak of baseball.
Let the word flow through you like water…” – Eddie Scissons,
p. 229
12/23/09 C – Read pp. 219-229, write response. Response
topic: Baseball as Gospel. Guiding questions: What happens to Eddie in this
segment, and what does it mean? How does it connect with the “sermon” he gives
on pp. 227-229? Why is Ray still unable to approach the catcher? What might
happen to Shoeless Joe and the other White Sox if/when the field is destroyed?
12/24/09 – 1/3/10 – Winter Recess
1/4/10 Q – “Success is getting what you want, but
happiness is wanting what you get.” – p. 230
1/4/10 C – Read pp. 229-239, write response. Response
topic: Fulfillment. Guiding questions: In what ways are Eddie Scissons’ dream, and life, fulfilled? How does this apply
to the advice he gives Ray? What further insights does this section give us
regarding the “religion” of baseball?
1/5/10 Q – “You’re all crazy…you sit around with your
weird friends and stare at…nothing.” – Bluestein, p. 244
1/5/10 C – Read pp. 239-249, write response. Response
topic: Reckoning. Guiding questions: How does the author Kinsella
raise the tension in this section? How is it then broken? Why might this be the
climax of the story? How is Moonlight Graham’s story resolved, and what
do we make of it?
1/6/10 Q – “
1/6/10 C – Read pp. 249-256, write response. Response
topic: Baseball. Guiding questions: What do we make of Salinger’s speech, and
his “dream?” What do Ray and Richard achieve here, and how? What is resolved in
this section, and what is left to resolve?
1/7/10 Q – “…what a story it will make…a man being able
to touch the perfect dream.” – Salinger, p. 263
1/7/10 C – Read pp. 259-end, write response. Response
topic: Rapture. Guiding questions: Why is Ray so upset? Why was Salinger
“chosen?” Reconsider: “If you build it, he will come;” “Ease his pain;” “Go the
distance;” “Fulfill the dream.”
1/8/10 Q – Was it really a voice I heard? Or…something
inside me that I did not hear with my ears but with my heart? – p. 6
1/8/10 C – Literary devices chart for Shoeless Joe
1/11/10 Q – … a truly religious person would let his
life be example enough, would not let religion interfere with being a human
being. – p. 175
1/11/10 C – Review literary devices chart; final discussion
for Shoeless Joe.
1/12/10 Q – [TBD]
1/12/10 C – View & take notes on video presentation:
“From Page to Screen: Field of Dreams”
1/13/10 – [TBD]
1/14/10 Q – Myths are public dreams; dreams are private
myths. – Joseph Campbell
1/14/10 C – Review Anchor Papers and previous essays;
develop “Do’s & Don’ts” for improvement. Final review of Session Two, Part
A.
1/15/10 Q – The right good book is always a book of
travel; it is about a life’s journey. – H.M. Tomlinson / Jan. 2005 Critical
Lens. [N.B.: This is the critical lens for
the final exam. The final exam is a
“critical lens” essay (ELA Regents, Session Two, Part B), analyzing The
Catcher in the Rye and Shoeless Joe.
1/15/10 C – Review plan of action for ELA Regents Session
Two, Part B (“Critical Lens”). Teacher demonstration of intro/thesis.
1/18/10 – No School (Martin Luther King, Jr. Day)
1/19/10 Q – Come on the Amazing Journey, and learn all
you should know. – from The Who’s TOMMY
1/19/10 C – Essential Statement/Analysis ideas for The
Catcher in the Rye and Shoeless Joe.
1/20/10 Q – Space: The Final Frontier. These are the
voyages of the starship
1/20/10 C – Write Discussion ¶ for The Catcher in the
1/21/10 Q – No matter where you go, there you are. –
from “The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension”
(1984)
1/21/10 C –Write Discussion ¶ for Shoeless Joe.
1/22/10 – FINAL ESSAY / FINAL EXAM