Colorblindness? AP Language Question

To clarify: This is not a required assignment. This is an actual AP essay question which deals with questions of neutrality on issues surrounding race and society. 

AP Language Question

(Suggested time—40 minutes. This question counts as one-third of the total essay section score.)

Read carefully the passage below. Then write an essay in which you support, refute, or qualify the claim that a “neutral” stand on race perpetuates racial imbalance.

            I am saying that sometimes colorblindness is racism. I know that sounds counterintuitive, but let me go on.

            Think of society as comprised of lots of different groups of people, identified by their race, gender, etc. Neutrality in our society is supposed to be the great equalizer because we believe that, if we don’t favor any one group, things will work themselves out and become more equal. But the thing is this: neutrality has this effect only if there is no previous social or historical context. But that’s not how the real world is. There is, in fact, a social and historical context for every situation. So if I were being “neutral”  and viewing everyone as being the same, ignoring personal contexts, I would be promoting equality because I would be ignoring the differences that exist and allowing the inequalities to continue to exist, given that I wouldn’t do anything to help change them. Identifying problems and actively promoting solutions are necessary to effect useful change; being neutral is consenting to the status quo.

Brown Eyes, Blue Eyes---Why does it matter?!

Procedure

Housekeeping - Check for Annotations on Zora Neale Hurston’s “Things suffered…” worksheet H.W.  Finish the novel over your 5-day vacation break!!! Happy T-Day!

Brainstorming and Selecting Creative Pieces for Final Assessment ●      You will co-construct our final project in class ●      The final multi-genre project must have three components: 2-page essay, and two corresponding creative pieces ●      YOU MUST SUBMIT YOUR CHOICES TODAY!!! Due December 9th.

Jane Elliot's Brown eye, Blue eye Experiments

College visit

Elementary School Children

●      Mr. Johnson will assign literature circles and your task is to annotate a critique (see blog_____) on Zora Neale Hurston's work. ○      You must select 2 points of interest from the critique and discuss at least one rhetorical or literary term

H.W.  Finish the novel!!!

"How It Feels To Be Colored Me," by Zora Neale Hurston and A Review of chapters 1-13

Agenda 
Housekeeping: Just a reminder, if you do not have your blog entry done by the end of class on the day it is due then you receive a zero. Blog entries must be 200 words.

1. After completing the bell work search through the novel to review details in the text. 

2.Please take out  Hurston's essay entitled "How It Feels To Be Colored Me." Once you have finished the bellwork and have out your essay and novel I will know that you are ready to proceed. Study those details, because we will be playing a review game later! Sit quietly until everyone finishes bellwork.

Once everyone finishes the bellwork we will form groups and finish pop-corn reading Hurston's essay, "How It Feels To Be Colored Me."

After group work we will play a review game (Chapters 1-13)
Jeopardy 
Leisure reading: 
Click this link for leisure reading

( http://bestfunfacts.com/literature.html )

H.W. Read Chapters 14, 15 and Chapter 16! Create a blog entry that describes the unique diction of the novel (anywhere in the novel). Be creative and remember your post must be 200 words.  Also remember to include page number(s), author, and title of the work.  

Subjective Experiences within the Black Experience

Agenda 
"How It Feels To Be Colored Me?"
by Zora Neale Hurston

• What does Hurston think about herself? Society? "Colored people?" "White persons?"

What is a dichotomy? What is the dichotomy of thought within African-American literature during the modernist period, as it relates to Zora Neale Hurston and Richard Wright? 

• (Take a look at Richard Wright's review of Hurston's work.  It is about the sixth review in the link)

The  link above connects to website on the History of Black Writing. In that blog please check out the Link to other reviews of Hurston's work.


H.W. Read through Chapter 15

Feature Film vs. Nationally Treasured Text

Agenda

Housekeeping - Reminder of the collegiate nature of this course.

Let’s take the time to see how the novel translates into film and what, if anything, is lost in translation.   First Scenes of Their Eyes Were Watching God http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evgj1hvnqSs Discussion: How do the effects of the literary elements in the novel appear on screen? Does the scene adequately depict the author’s tone, as portrayed in the novel? What are some aspects of viewing the scene that cannot be conveyed through text? Are the characters in the film depicted on film as you imagined them through reading the text? You will be asked to blog about this experience and our discussion for homework tomorrow!!!

Mr. Johnson will assign literature circles and your task is to try to recreate a scene from the novel. The scene must be: Appropriate Creative AT LEAST TWO PAGES LONG (in novel) based on at least one passage from the text and at least one paragraph must be read by the director/narrator/MC Acceptable roles for activity: Actor, Director, Writer, or MC (narrator)

H.W.  Your Homework: Continue reading the novel through chapter 9. Create a Blog which describes a character from the novel and analyze that character’s actions, personality, and behavior. Be sure to include at least one literary element or rhetorical device.

Fun and Fairness Day

I was disappointed by how many extensions were required for you to complete blog posts, but I will be consistent and work with you to understand the material, which is my primary goal. From now on, if my instructions are not clear enough I am going to ask that you schedule a time to meet with me during one of your lunch or study hall periods. If further clarification is needed I will direct you to Ms. Gamzon.

Additionally, Ms. Belair visited us yesterday during 9th period and informed me that she taught many of you in 8th grade. Ironically, Ms. Belair expressed a great dissatisfaction with my management style. Frankly, it is quite embarrassing that we have to tell AP students not to stand in chairs or use a cell phone in class, or to respect others when others are speaking. I want all of you to succeed, because I enjoy education. I love to teach, so I want this on the record: I will begin to expect college-level maturity from everyone, as well as college-level discussions and completed coursework. Can we agree to move forward from here with the intention of sharing knowledge, as well as committing to standards of excellence?

Thank you,
Mr. Johnson

Finishing Walker's Expedition Essay

Agenda

Housekeeping Again: ALL H.W. must be handed in on time.You should have 3 of the following items complete: 1. Break with Tradition Blog 2. Irony Blog 3. Rhetorical Analysis graphic organizer 4. Rhetorical Device blog Any one of these assignments not received by 11:59 pm on  11/20/13 will not be accepted.   Remember code switching with Ruby Dee?  Ruby Dee reading Their Eyes Were Watching God

Construct plot summaries for the Alice Walker expedition In your groups from yesterday please organize your portion of the text into a graphic timeline. The goal is to linearly display the events of Walker’s expedition in chronological order while providing a brief summary.

Blog Study Mr. Johnson will model your blog assignment for tonight, and provide time to clarify questions and any other concerns about blogging. Today’s blog: Character development

Literature Circle Activity Mr. Johnson will assign lit circles and your role is to try to recreate a scene from the novel. The scene must be: Appropriate Creative AT LEAST TWO PAGES LONG Acceptable roles for activity: Actor, Director, Writer, or MC (narrator)

H.W.  Your Homework: Continue reading the novel through chapter 7. Create a Blog which describes a character from the novel and analyze that character’s actions, personality, and behavior. Be sure to include at least one literary element or rhetorical device.

Interposing an Essay by Alice Walker

Agenda

Housekeeping: Again, ALL H.W. must be handed in on time.You should have 3 of the following items complete: 1. Break with Tradition Blog 2. Irony Blog 3. Rhetorical Analysis graphic organizer 4. Rhetorical Device blog Any one of these assignments not received by 11/20/13 will not be accepted.

Literary Analysis Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2Dtmhk6vJw    The Cool ONE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIhFJWVnsNw

Blogging Please spend 3-5 min alone trying to identify these AP rhetorical devices: personification, allusion, allegory, colloquialism, and irony on page 1 alone!!! Mr. Johnson will review these rhetorical devices in a few minutes as a part of Blog Instruction and Modeling Remember: Identify device/Theme→ State effect→ Describe Intent/Purpose Formative Assessment: Rhetorical Device Blog, again due 11/20.

Have you ever done puzzle-reading? We will interpose our discussion of TEWWG with an essay by Alice Walker entitled “Looking for Zora.” Each group will read 5 pages of text and report back to the class with a summary of the passage you read, noting key points and themes You must have a role: group orator, group scribe, group facilitator, group readers. Questions to consider for the class discussion: Where are we in the story? What are the key points? What are some quotes from the text that support your summary? What is the author’s purpose? Focus Questions to Consider: How is Eatonville characterized? How does the author

H.W.  Your Homework: Continue reading the novel “Their Eyes Were Watching God,” Read chapter 6

Procedure

House-Keeping, Hand in Blogs, Homework, etc. ALL H.W. must be handed in on time from now on unless there is an emergency

Alone in your seat, try to identify 3 literary terms/concepts/devices (terms from AP) be sure to cite page number and clearly identify 3 concepts Along with identifying these three concepts, please note which  literary technique was the most effective and why Your reflection should begin with: “In Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston, there are three literary concepts which are impressively (add your own adverb or use mine) woven into the text. These concepts are…”

Synthesize readings from previous night in groups Use groups to examine the most  identified themes among its members Also answer these questions: What do the townspeople think of Janie? What do the men think of Janie and how do we know this? Who is Janie’s best friend? Why are the women mad at Janie? What does Janie’s best friend bring her?

Checking for understanding with class quiz http://www.proprofs.com/quiz-school/story.php?title=their-eyes-were-watching-god-chapter-1-reading-check-quiz

Your Homework: Continue reading the novel “The Eyes Were Watching God,” Read chapters five and six.

Essential Question: In what ways is African-American literature segmented from modernist writing in the early 20th century?

Visual Arts Slideshow: PowerPoint

Introduction to Harlem Renaissance and Zora Neale Hurston in Modernism Video on Harlem Renaissance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9idqeiACqn4 Explore origins of the New Negro Movement http://www.biography.com/tv/classroom/harlem-renaissance jazz movement integration of music but not literature: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/books/chap1/historyofjazz.htm connection to Zora Neale Hurston: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/255397/Harlem-Renaissance/272828/Fiction Biography of Zora Neale Hurston: Biographical Information http://zoranealehurston.com/about/

Pick up “Their Eyes Were Watching God” from the Library

Introduction to AAVE http://www.pbs.org/speak/seatosea/americanvarieties/AAVE/ AA Women Writers http://www.pbs.org/speak/seatosea/powerprose/hurston/ Code Switching: Ruby Dee Reading TEWWG http://zoranealehurston.com/audio/their-eyes-were-watching-god#audio Homework: Read Chapters 1-4

A Clean Well-Lighted Place

 

“A Clean, Well-Lighted Place” is one of Hemingway’s most acclaimed short stories, as much for its exquisitely sparse writing style as for its expertly rendered existentialist themes. Existentialism is a philosophical movement whose adherents believe that life has no higher purpose and that no higher being exists to help us make sense of it. Instead, humans are left alone to find meaning in the world and their lives. In “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place,” the older waiter sums up the despair that drives him and others to brightly lit cafés by saying simply, “It is a nothing.”

The term Lost Generation refers to the writers and artists living in Paris after World War I. The violence of World War I, also called the Great War, was unprecedented and invalidated previous ideas about faith, life, and death. Traditional values that focused on God, love, and manhood dissolved, leaving Lost Generation writers adrift. They struggled with moral and psychological aimlessness as they searched for the meaning of life in a changed world. This search for meaning and these feelings of emptiness and aimlessness reflect some of the principle ideas behind existentialism. Existentialism is a philosophical movement rooted in the work of the Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard, who lived in the mid-1800s. The movement gained popularity in the mid-1900s thanks to the work of the French intellectuals Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, and Albert Camus, including Sartre’s Being and Nothingness (1943). According to existentialists, life has no purpose, the universe is indifferent to human beings, and humans must look to their own actions to create meaning, if it is possible to create meaning at all. Existentialists consider questions of personal freedom and responsibility. Although Hemingway was writing years before existentialism became a prominent cultural idea, his questioning of life and his experiences as a searching member of the Lost Generation gave his work existentialist overtones.

Interactive Quiz on Shmoop

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QAxqhkuZAU 

HMWK:  You should be familiar with modernist writing and Modernism by now. Irony is a primary characteristic/feature/theme of modernist literature (please see this abstract for a deeper level understanding of Ironic vision in Modern Literature). Your homework is to blog about how a modernist author uses irony to describe a specific character in one of the short stories we’ve read. Remember to do further research on text, here are a few resources: 

Literary Commentary on "A Clean Well-Lighted Place"
Annotations on "The Wasteland"
"A Rose for Emily" resources and information