Mr. Adams's Teaching Site

1. First, your small group (3-4 students) will be assigned a division of American literature, based on those we have studied. The divisions are Native American Voices, Colonial America, The Age of Reason, Romanticism, The American Renaissance, and Realism.
2. Reacquaint yourself with your group’s assigned division by visiting its links (below); compose a short answer to the following question: what were the major events and pressures that motivated writers in this division?
   • Native American Voices
     • Native American Literature – overview and links from bookspot.com
     • Western American Indian Writers – an in-depth treatise hosted by TCU
     • Early Native American Literature – an outline of important devices, themes, and characteristics
   • Colonial America
     • Occupations and Customs – a glimpse of culture and daily life in the American colonies
     • The Colony of Georgia – an interesting look at the founding of “the last American colony”
     • Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God – information, text, and biography from Yale University’s The Jonathan Edwards Center
     • Salem Witchcraft Trials 1692 -  depth and breadth from U. Missouri – Kansas City
   • The Age of Reason
     • What was the Age of Reason? – from philosphy to religion, the “what” and “why” from allabouthistory.com
     • Age of Enlightenment – a remarkably throrough presentation, with many important authors listed
   • Romanticism
     • Intro to American Romanticism – a broad stroke from Virginia Commonwealth University
     • Romanticism – well-organized details from Washington State University
   • The American Renaissance
     • American Transcendentalism Web - an incredibly rich and organized site from VCU
     • Smithsonian’s Primary Sources – quotations from Thoreau, Whitman, U.S. Grant, and more
     • Transcendentalists – variety and depth of information from transcendentalists.com
   • Realism
     • Realism in American Literature – Washington State’s comprehensive overview of the movement
     • The Rise of Realism: 1860-1914 – an excellent primer from the Department of State
     • Mark Twain – Bartleby.com’s focused article on the most famous writer of the realism movement
3. Share responses with your group in a short discussion. As a group, compose a one-paragraph response. Call your teacher over to review your response with you. Based on your group’s response and ability to discuss it, you will either be permitted to move on or asked to add a follow-up paragraph.
4. Now that you understand the historical context of your assigned literary movement, you are ready to focus on the task of identifying a text to remove from our curriculum. Consider the following texts, which are available in your textbooks.
   

   Native American Voices	The Iroquois Constitution p.107 N. Scott Momaday poetry “The Sky Tree” p.24 “Coyote Finishes His Work” p.25 “I Will Fight No More Forever” p.454-455
   Colonial America	“Why I Wrote the Crucible” “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” p.45 The Crucible “Upon the Burning of Our House” p.28
   The Age of Reason	“Speech to the Virginia Convention” p.79 “from The Crisis No. 1” p.86 “from The Autobiography of Ben Franklin” p.66 “Poor Richard’s Almanac” p.73
   Romanticism	“Tide Rises, the Tide Falls” p.170 “The Devil and Tom Walker” p.151
   The American Renaissance	from Nature p.181 from Walden p.191 “Self Reliance” p.184 from “Resistance to Civil Government” p.210 “I Hear America Singing” p.306 “Song of Myself” p.306 “The Declaration of Sentiments” p.110 “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry“
   Realism	“An Occurance at Owl Creek Bridge” p.422 “The Lowest Animal” p.468 from “Narrative of the Life …” p.398 “To Build a Fire” p.480

5. Your group must divide into roles: skeptic, innovator, producer, and project manager (PM only if you have four in your group).
   • The skeptic’s job is to lead the research and decision making about which work of literature to remove. She is to “shoot holes” in the literature we already study, present findings to the group, and then make the final decision about which work to remove.
     • Download and print this worksheet to organize your work.
   • The innovator takes a similar lead in deciding which work of literature to add.
     • Use this link to find more authors and resources for your assigned division.
   • The producer will take the lead in creating the final product (see below). Help your skeptic and innovator until it’s time to begin planning the product.
     • See step 7 below to preview the product criteria.
     • Don’t forget to keep your mind on the rubric for success.
   • The project manager helps others with their tasks, keeps people focused, and leads the presentation of the product to the class.
     • Don’t forget to keep your mind on the rubric for success.
6. Each student investigates suggested websites and gathers information to fulfill his role for the team. They are encouraged to support each other so that nobody must do her own job completely independently.
7. As a group, create an item of protest literature demanding the immediate removal of a specific work of literature from our curriculum. This may be a poster (11×17), tri-fold pamphlet (six panels on 8.5×11), persuasive speech (5-8 paragraphs), or PowerPoint. Your product must include the historical context, which piece you are protesting, why you chose that piece (controversy), which piece you are adding, and why (its strengths and place within the curriculum and historical context).
8. When you are finished, practice presenting your product. If you have a project manager, she will be your lead presenter, but each group member must speak and contribute to the presentation in order for your group to achieve the best grade (see rubric).
9. You will present your product to the class in a 3-4 minute explanation of the historical context, which piece you are protesting, why you chose that piece (controversy), which piece you are adding, and why (its strengths and place within the curriculum and historical context).

Continue to the evaluation.