Resources
As previously mentioned in the Teaching Plan section, the AP students and the sophomores students integrate the major texts with the following excerpts to better understand what the American Indians experienced when they colonists took possession of their lands.
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“Powhatan” from
American Colonies
by Alan Taylor (pp.125-127)
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“Encounter” from
American Colonies
by Alan Taylor (pp.127-129)
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“Violence” from
American Colonies
by Alan Taylor (pp. 131-133)
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They also read:
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“education became a crucible for assimilation…it made it hard because, for men, there were few jobs.” from
Blood Struggle
by Charles Wilkinson (pp.53-55)
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“A prolific writer … as he believed, the divine decree – a matter profoundly important to him.” from
Blood Struggle
by Charles Wilkinson (pp. 92-93)
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“Indian affairs had taken … for non-Indians to enter the reservation.” from
Blood Struggle
by Charles Wilkinson (p. 125)
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“The Indian movement had a complicated relationship … just as they did in America as a whole.” from
Blood Struggle
by Charles Wilkinson (pp. 129-130)
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“Ultimately, the progress envisioned … to preserve and enhance in the future.” from
Blood Struggle
by Charles Wilkinson (pp. 241-242).
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Since the sophomores read Sherman Alexie’s novel, they can read the following articles from
The New York Times
too:
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“Games on a Reservation Go By in a Blur” by Michael Powell (this will be assigned when we read about the narrator’s basketball game)
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“Review: ‘The Plains Indians,’ America’s Early Artists, at the Met” by Holland Cotter
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“Immortal Images of Native Americans” by Timothy Egan.
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Scramble
This strategy is appropriate for those students who are not motivated and are struggling readers. The teacher should not model it because “not knowing how to do it” triggers more thinking.
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Select ten to fifteen phrases from the excerpt the students will read as homework and reread in class for close analysis (if the activity takes place in class, divide the students in groups and assign different phrases from the same excerpt to each group).
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Give them ten minutes to discuss what they think the phrases refer to and narrative/story the phrases relate to. For AP students, ask them to identify character(s) traits, conflict, and setting, or symbol.
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After ten minutes ask them to write their reflections.
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Sharing Time
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Read the text aloud.
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After reading the text, compare and contrast their predictions and the text.
The Most Important Word
This strategy is particularly helpful with the students who are in the sophomore classes to differentiate and address students who do not present serious reading problems and are motivated.
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Students work independently and select the most important word from the assigned reading. It can be assigned as homework or it can be the first activity in class before rereading the excerpt.
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Once they have this word they have to connect it to the main character, the conflict, setting, theme, and symbol.
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They also have to write one paragraph explaining how the chosen word reveals something really important about the character, conflict, theme, setting, and symbol
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Sharing time
Quick Write Activity
Every day, the teacher can start class with a ten minutes writing activity. This “Quick Write” activity is appropriate with the AP students and all those students who are not struggling readers/special educational needs/ESL, or those who need help with motivation.
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Select one quotation with a specific detail/literary element like diction, setting, imagery, symbol, and/or literary technique like structure that you want to comment on either for its insightfulness or its power to make you see something.
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Sharing Time: Teacher and students sit in a circle, read aloud, take brief notes, and discuss the various responses.
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Ask the students to review their notes, decide the most relevant ones, and write them on a Post-It board.
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Ask the students to write whether their initial position has changed after our discussion/sharing time, and why.
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After reading the excerpt/passage, ask students to write an evaluation of whether their initial understanding/analysis has changed after the close read, and how.
Close Reading for Point of View
This strategy can be used for the AP and the sophomore students. Struggling students might need and quick revision of what the point of view is and how to recognize it grammatically.
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Students select one short excerpt or the teacher assigns a specific excerpt
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In groups, students are to rewrite the excerpt using a different point of view (from first person narrator to omniscient narrator, or intrusive narrator, or limited narrator)
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Students annotate for major and most relevant differences
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Share out
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Write a two-pages reflection on what the change in narration suggests about the protagonist/character.
Narrator/Character’s Analysis
This strategy allows students to decode the hidden thoughts and feelings of the character. The various body-parts represent the external clues that open his/her mind to the reader. It can be used with all students to draw the final conclusions about the character before writing the closing essay.
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Head: intellectual side of the character. What are his/her dreams? Visions? Philosophies he/she keeps inside?
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Eyes: seeing through the character’s eyes. What memorable sights affect him/her? How?
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Ears: hearing through the character’s ears. What does he/she notice and remember others saying about him/her? How is he/she affected?
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Nose: smelling through the character’s nose. What smells affect him/her? How?
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Mouth: the character’s communication. What philosophy does the character share? What arguments/debates? What images would symbolize his/her philosophy?
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Arms: working. What is the character’s relationship to work in general? To specific work?
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Hands: the practical side of the character. What conflicts does he or she deal with? How?
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Heart: the emotional side. What does he/she love? Who? Whom? How?
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Torso: the instinctive side of the character. What does he/she like about himself/herself? What does he hide? What brings the character pain? What does he/she fear?
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Legs: the playful side of the character. What does he/she do for fun?
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Feet: the character’s mobility. Where has he or she been (literally/figuratively)? How has he been affected by setting and/or travel?
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Wings: the character’s future. Where is he/she going?
Modification
The AP students have to identify four to five meaningful quotations for each body part and also to write an evaluation/analysis of each quote. The college students have to identify two important quotations for each part followed by commentaries. The weakest students have to identify one quotation for each body part followed by commentary.
Modification (appropriate for all the struggling students):
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Read the passage/document.
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Underline interesting, important, and/or unusual/unexpected words, phrases, and language structures.
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Reread the passage/document.
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Determine connections and draw arrows from one part of the passage to another to mark those connections.
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Write a “Wonder Why” question for each interesting, important, unusual, or unexpected word/phrase. Write your theory(ies) and support it with clear references to the text.
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Sharing Time: students share, discuss their interpretations, and take notes of the peer’s thoughts in their journals.
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Write how your interpretation of the passage/document has changed after the class discussion.
Close Analysis/Reading for Poetry
This strategy can be used to analyze various literary techniques like point of view, syntax, diction, figurative language, setting, or others. The teacher determines what to analyze based on the literary techniques that are relevant in the excerpt.
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Read the assigned poem
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Begin to brainstorm the title
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Annotate it (I determine the purpose of annotation, i.e. diction)
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Write a brief summary of the excerpt (I usually tell them to synthesize the summary in no more than two sentences)
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Sharing Time/class discussion
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Who is the Speaker?
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To whom is he/she talking? How do you know?
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Setting: Where is it taking place? Describe it? What does it convey?
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What atmosphere does the setting create? How do you know?
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Determine the Structure of the text:
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Transition word/phrases
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Contrasts/Juxtapositions/Tensions
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Repetitions
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Key Lines
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Label the main meaning of each paragraph/stanza
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What connotative words stand out? Why?
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What about imagery or figurative language
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What is the tone of the poem? Does it change? Where? How does the change affect meaning?
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What are the words or phrases that create the tone?
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What is the purpose for writing this poem?
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Write two pages analysis of how the author uses the specific literary technique to convey the theme of the passage.
Modification
For the struggling students who do not know how a literary or rhetorical technique conveys meaning or adds meaning to the text:
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Read the passage/excerpt/article
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Choose five words (I always give them a specific purpose: setting, or imagery, or figurative language)
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For each word, the students have to write first its denotative meaning, and then all the possible associations
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Write one paragraph including the word/quotation and all the associative meanings previously identified.
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Repeat this for each word the students have analyzed
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Write one or two pages analysis including all the previous paragraphs.
Multiple Choice Strategies
Both AP and sophomore students need to understand the stem questions for multiple choices tests. Students react negatively to any multiple choice questionnaires and one way to help them overcome the fear and understand what the stem questions ask is to teach them how to write multiple choice questions.
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Read the poem or the excerpt.
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Annotate for diction, imagery, tone, or any other literary device you notice.
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Look for patterns of technique and/or language
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Look for difficult syntax that need to be paraphrased
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Look for words whose meaning might be unusual or ambiguous
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Create 5 questions focusing on
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Who the speaker is
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Identification of literary device in specific line/lines
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Meaning in context of an unusual word
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Choose an ambiguous word and ask to determine the suggested meaning in context
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Ask about the tone of the poem or excerpt.
Once they have created the questions they have to:
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Write five responses
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Three responses have to be clearly wrong
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One of the two other missing responses has to be partially correct
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One only response can be the right one
Summative Assessment Prompt for AP students
“After reading the short story,
The Red Convertible
, the play,
Sliver of a Full Moon
, and various poems, choose a genre – poetry, drama, or fiction – and write your own fictional work on one the unit themes (power, loneliness, fear, or isolation). Before writing the first draft, you are to meet with your teacher and define the genre, the setting, theme, point of view, conflict, literary techniques, and title. Your first draft and second drafts have to be revised by two peers. You will have a conference with your teacher after each draft. The final draft has to be formatted according to the MLA requirements.”
Summative Assessment Prompt for Sophomore Students
“After reading
The True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
, various poems, and articles about American Indians, and after analyzing different photographs and/or painting, create your own text on one the thematic ideas we have discussed (isolation, fear, hope, authority, or power). You may choose to write a poem or lyric, or a two-page short story, but you can also choose to draw or take photographs. If you choose a visual genre, upload it as a video so it can be shared and discussed in class.”