Monday (B)
- Reading Check Quiz: Stephen Crane’s “The Open Boat”
- Student Summary: I will ask for one or more volunteers from the class to provide a summary of the basic plot before we discuss how the story relates to Naturalism.
- Real-Life Connections: We will discuss Stephen Crane’s actual experience stranded at sea and how this impacted his writing.
- Review and Watch: What is Naturalism?
o Universal Themes in Literature: Individual and Nature
o The History of American Literature Part 9 (Naturalism in American Literature)
- Small-Group Work: Students will break into groups of no more than four and find at least two passages from “The Open Boat” that reflect American Naturalism. They must take notes in their notebooks and be prepared to discuss their findings with the class.
- Closing Activity – Monmouth County Connection: Stephen Crane was not only a New Jersey native, but a resident of Asbury Park. He was educated in the Asbury Park School District and spent his summers at the family home. The Crane House is still preserved today and open to the public.
- Homework: Read “A Mystery of Heroism” by Stephen Crane (handout) and be prepared for a reading check quiz next class.
Tuesday or Wednesday (A/B)
- Reading Check Quiz: Stephen Crane’s “A Mystery of Heroism”
- Review: We will review the basic plot of “A Mystery of Heroism” and review the defining elements of American Naturalism.
o Naturalism: nineteenth-century literary movement that was an extension of realism and that claimed to portray life exactly as if it were being examined through a scientist’s microscope. Naturalists relied heavily on the new field of psychology, biology, and sociology to explain human behavior. (Often includes an amoral and indifferent world, animal imagery, insanity, deterministic outcomes, etc.)
- Type II Quick Write
- Discuss: We will discuss the students’ quick write responses and look closely at a few passages from the text.
- Close-Reading Focus (Circle Up): “He wondered why he did not feel some keen agony of fear cutting his sense like a knife. He wondered at this, because human expression had said loudly for centuries that men should feel afraid of certain things, and that all men who did not feel this fear were phenomena—heroes…”
- Note Taking: Students will take some brief notes in their notebooks about situational, verbal, and dramatic irony.
- Definitions of Heroism and Irony: What is ironic about the way Crane personifies the machines and dehumanizes the people? What is ironic about the end of the story?
- Listen and Discuss: Stephen Crane’s “War is Kind”
- Closing Activity: We will discuss how Crane uses verbal irony in the poem in order to express his anti-war sentiments.
- If time permits …
o Modern Music Connection: “Hero of War” by Rise Against
- Homework: Be sure to bring your textbook and notebooks to class! Be sure that all of your notes are up-to-date and organized.
Thursday or Friday (A/B)
- Type I Quick Write
- Discuss: Student response to Do Now. Kate Chopin’s short story is going to introduce you to a woman, who reacts to news of her husband’s tragic death in a way that we may not expect.
- Introduction: Kate Chopin and the Changing Roles of Women in America
o Read: Kate Chopin (1850-1904) in textbook
- Watch: Women’s Suffrage Movement: Gaining Equality for Women (Discovery Education)
- Discuss: public lives vs. private feelings – Why is one more accepted?
- Read: Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour”
o As we read, I want you to think about why you think the story was so controversial at the time even though the Women’s Suffrage Movement had started nearly 50 years before it was published.
o In addition, think about how Chopin uses irony in the story.
- Small Groups: Students will break into groups of no more than four. They will have 10 minutes to find and identify at least two examples of irony and answer the above question.
- Closing Activity: We will discuss the students’ group work and their responses to the assigned questions.
- Homework: Read Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” (handout, e-version also available on the blog) and be prepared for a reading check quiz next class!
