American Literature

In this group work students closely examine the text to try and find out what "true" flying is, how Pilate can act totally out of character to get Milkman out of jail -- and what any of this and all of this has to do with The Great Gatsby.  A revised edition - with corrections and changes and additions can be found below as well.

LISTEN TO AUDIO. In this class we discussed E.B. White's autobigoraphical short story, "The Second Tree from the Corner." The story wraps up much of what we have discussed this year -- the ideas of what is worth pursuing, the ideas of seeking the truth and ourselves. We read the story out loud and the students and I interrupted occasionally with our thoughts.

This Illluminated Text by David Cordova and Sid Menon tackles one idea from one chapter in Sandra Cisneros' The House on Mango Street.  That idea is really a character - the woman who comes from Mexico and cries because she doesn't want to see her children becoming culturally assimilated. [There is now a Flash Video version of this presentation as well.]  It is one of the most moving moments in the book -- and it is handled with sensitivity and creativity by the students.

When students who are artists first encounter the Illuminated Text assignment it is often love at first sight.  This exceptional presentation by Elizabeth Vaca and Monica Villegas is a labor of love.  Just as the artist Jenny Lee forever changed and influenced the concept of Illuminated Texts, so have these two students.  The presentation is on the two different worlds that genders inhabit within Espearanza's world -- and those differences are shown with masterful animation that pushes the boundaries of anything that has been done up to this point.

If you teach American Literature, it is nearly impossible to avoid the ugly language and stereotypes that have haunted some of our writing over the past two-hundred years.  If you teach Ernest Hemingway's In Our Time - one of the stories, "The Battler," contains language and images that are particularly offensive.  Though it is possible (and quite frankly, often advisable) to sidestep the story - and the issue, for some of us that are lucky enough to teach in a school where these issues can be raised - it may be worthwhile to examine the issue and to use it as a teaching moment (I do not like that term, I must confess).  This essay prompt starts with an extended quote from fellow (to Hemingway) Nobel Prize winner Derreck Wolcott - on Hemingway, racism, and the role of an artist. 

Ryan Rosiak and Adriana Brack push the limits of Power Point in this presentation.  In fact, they do things that I have no idea how they did and that give Flash a run for its money.  They do a great job of capturing the sadness and despair found in the title character of Gardner's novel - the blackness of that despair turns all to red in the presentation.  As this is a Power Point presentation be sure to view it using Internet Explorer and choose Open rather than Save when asked by your browser.