Thursday, 2 June

EXTENSION!

The deadline for Woman Warrior papers is extended until Monday, June 6th!

All students should have read "Every Tongue Shall Confess" and "Our Lady of Peace" for Friday.

Short stories due for Monday are "The Ant of Self" and "Drinking Coffee Elsewhere".

Major Due Dates till the end of the year

Accelerated Sophomore English: Due Dates till end of term.

Wednesday / Thursday 25/26 May  -- Woman Warrior Presentations Book Check out Drinking Coffee Elsewhere

Friday 27 May – Essay Preparation in class. Analytical Essay on The Woman Warrior to be due on or before the beginning of class, Friday, 3 June.

In a 3-4 page essay analyze a major theme of the The Woman Warrior explaining how the structure of the narrative helps develop and explain the theme.

Monday 30 May – Memorial Day

Tuesday 31 May – Due “Brownies” from Drinking Coffee Elsewhere

Wednesday / Thursday 1/2 June – assigned story due; group study and lesson preparation

Friday 3 June – Due Analytical Essay on The Woman Warrior

Due “Every Tongue Shall Confess” and “Our Lady of Peace” from Drinking Coffee Elsewhere

Monday 6 June – “The Ant of the Self” and “Drinking Coffee Elsewhere” from Drinking Coffee Elsewhere due

Tuesday 7 June – “Speaking in Tongues” and “Geese” from Drinking Coffee Elsewhere due

Wednesday/ Thursday 8/9 June –Drinking Coffee Elsewhere activities

Final Exam “Doris is Coming” from Drinking Coffee Elsewhere due

Period 3: 10 June; Periods 4/5: 13 June; Period 7: 14 June

In class essay: “How is “Doris Is Coming” related to the collection Drinking Coffee Elsewhere.

23 May, 2011

Today in class students presented their findings with relevant quotes on the themes of:

Voice / Speaking/ Silence
Ghosts
Males v. Females
Food
Culture.

We also reviewed the requirements for the presentations of the multimedia projects that are due tomorrow.

Presentations should be short and should explain:
What is shown by the project.
How the project shows what it does.
Why understanding this aspect of The Woman Warrior is important.

16-20 May

Students worked in small groups to analyze themes in The Woman Warrior.

Presentations were made Wednesday/ Thursday and finished on Friday.

Students did small group work on Friday for Monday presentations on the topics of

Voice/ Speaking / Silence
Ghosts
Males v. Females
Food
Culture

Monday, 16 May

Today in class we discussed a number of issues.

We considered what the first sentences of each of the sections had in common.

We considered the importance and significance of the last line of the book, "It translated well."

We began a chart that helps analyze the process of translation

Who translates    |  What do they translate?         |  For whom?          |  To whom?

Maxine               |  Chinese Culture/Traditions    | Brave Orchid        | The pharmacist

Maxine               | Story of "No Name Woman" | No Name Woman | the reader

etc.

We discussed the following major assignment:                              

NEXT MAJOR ASSIGNMENT

Woman Warrior Multi-Media Investigation  May 2011

Due: Tuesday, May 24^th. (50 points)

The memoir The Woman Warrior has many interesting themes, and an unusual and challenging structure. I find it a very rich source for discussion and contemplation.

You will be writing an essay analyzing The Woman Warrior. However, there are many ways to reach understanding of the themes raised by the complex text of the book. What questions or idas raised by the text do you find most intriguing. What do you think is the best mode to investiage this / these ideas (besides analytical essay)? Choose any (not-traditional-analytical essay) means of inquiry and investigation – drama, film, interactive web page, power point, musical performance, dance, fiction, etc. to examine a question raised by our study of the work.

Your project should help illuminate at least on of the issues and ideas raised in The Woman Warrior: Memoir of a Girlhood Among Ghosts. Including: Themes; Symbols; Structure; Style & Use of Language; and Conflicts. The best projects – which could earn extra credit – will address multiple issues and ideas. In particular a superlative project would address how these various ideas and attributes of the story interact to create meaning.

Your project must convey understanding and demonstrate analysis and be well executed.

Tuesday 10 May

Only 3rd and 4th period met.

We observed that "At the Western Palace" is written in 3rd person objective point of view and considered what this point of view meant for analyzing the story.

Students should read "At the Western Palace" for next class.

Friday-Monday 6-9 May.

Over the course of these two days we developed timelines for events portrayed in Woman Warrior, and we created a family tree for Maxine.