MRS.%20CONTRERAS%20Language%20Arts%2011th%20Grade%20

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MRS. CONTRERASLanguage Arts11th Grade Eng
III Honors GiftedRoom C209
Welcome Braddock Bulldogs!!!
2005-2006
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Home Learning

• PLACE YOUR STAPLED
• ASSIGNMENT(S) IN TEACHERS IN-BOX BEFORE THE BELL
  RINGS!
• Write alternate ending to Iroquois myth pg 32 3
  "The World on the Turtle's Back"
• Write a Siren Song pg 38 2 after reading "Song
  of the Sky Loom, Hunting Song Dinni-e Sin"
• Write explaining how you would create a pantomime
  to act out before the class pg 47 "Activities
  Exploration" 1 after reading "Coyote Stories"
• Complete Pronouns and Sentences charts handouts
  (51-54, 73-76)

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Weekly Forecast8/29/05 9/02/05

• Monday discuss readings of The World on the
  Turtles Back discuss repetition in Song of
  the Sky Loom, Hunting Song Dinni-e Sin pgs
  33-36 in-class reading of The Walum Olum
  Listen! The Rain Approaches
• Tuesday Discuss romantic song Calling Ones
  Own trickster tales in Coyote Stories pgs
  39-45
• Wednesday Test (pronouns, sentences home
  learning stories) Descriptive writing (Character
  Sketch of a fictional Native American) based on
  research of one Native American tribe. Student
  will infuse fictitious character with tribal
  traits researched and write a Creation Myth or
  Trickster Tale (see PP slides)
• Thursday Meet in Media Ctr. (Lab) to research a
  given Native American tribe
• Friday use graphic organizers to define and
  identify verbs (action/linking), verb phrases
  order of subject/predicate, direct/indirect
  objects, subject/object complements (handouts
  55-60 77-82) Native American Project

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Home Learning

• By Tuesday, 9/6
• Complete verbs (action/linking), verb phrases
  order of subject/predicate, direct/indirect
  objects, subject/object complements charts
  handouts (55-60 77-82)
• Descriptive writing (Character Sketch of a
  fictional Native American) in a Creation Myth,
  Song, or Poem (1 page see PP slides)
• Read historical narratives "La Relación" pg 72,
  "Of Plymouth Plantation" pg 81 "Women and
  Children First The Mayflower Pilgrims" pg 91
  "Life of Olaudah Equiano" pg 93
• Have a great week!

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Monday, 8/29/05Timed Journal Topic 5 minutes

In paragraph form (5-7 sentences), describe your
evaluation of any one of the works read for
homework. Provide reasons to support your topic
sentence.
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Early American Literature

• Depicts life very differently from the
  experiences of the first settlers/colonists.
• Tribal literature was tightly woven into the
  fabric of daily life and reflected the
  unmistakably American experience of living with
  the land or in harmony with nature.
• Native Americans did not think of themselves as
  living in a single nation. They belonged to more
  than 200 distinct groups who spoke more than 500
  different languages.
• They had complex religious beliefs, sophisticated
  political systems and strong social values.

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Early American Literature

• Early American literature is not limited to text,
  for much in the Native American tradition was
  primarily oral. The telling of a tale could
  change with each speaker.
• Stories were passed from generation to generation
  by storytelling or performances.
• Creation myths were a widespread type of
  literature, explaining the beginnings of the
  world, tales of heroes and tricksters who
  transformed the world to its present state.

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Early American Literature

• Ritual songs and chants were not unpopular as a
  means of conveying these stories.
• Language is poetic and moving.
• Something is lost in not seeing these stories
  performed as originally intended.
• More is lost when we read a translated version of
  the manuscript.
• Modern-day Native American writers struggle with
  reconciling the old traditions and the new
  practices.

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Iroquois LiteratureThe World on the Turtles
Back

• Creation myth
• a traditional story passed down through
  generations that explains how the universe, earth
  and life began.
• Gives spatial account of life and its
  relationship to geological settings as well as
  alternate dimensions. Ex what creatures are
  located where on earth Sky World.

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Iroquois LiteratureThe World on the Turtles
Back

• Cause Effect relationships
• Situations where one event (cause) brings about
  another (effect), which can precipitate yet
  another.
• In this myth, the actions of supernatural beings
  cause the present features of the world to exist.
  Ex the Sky Worlds residents failure to do
  anything about the woman falling resulted in the
  turmoil of the twins, which in turn, established
  a balanced ecosystem.

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Iroquois LiteratureThe World on the Turtles
Back
Misogynous Biblical Parallels The introduction
of how the world was formed is strikingly similar
to the biblical Genesis account. The text
alludes to a Great Tree in the center of the
Sky-World, which symbolizes some sort of heavenly
paradise. This tree is not to be touched.
Additionally, it is the woman and her stubborn
will, against her husbands wishes, that causes
the hole in the on the floor of the Sky-World.
Her curiosity led to her fall and the troubles
for mankind, just as in the Genesis account. All
of creation moaned the predicament of the woman.
Her offspring grew cut off forever from the
Sky-World above (28), just like Adam Eve were
turned

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Iroquois LiteratureThe World on the Turtles
Back
away from paradise, or the Garden of Eden. The
West Wind impregnating the girl is similar to
Marys immaculate conception. The twins wrestle
in the womb just as Essau and Jacob. Their
struggle ends in death, just as Cain and Abel.
The balance struck by the quarreling of the twins
created a balanced and orderly world, and this
was good, (29) similar to Gods claim in Genesis
that creation was good.

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Iroquois LiteratureThe World on the Turtles
Back
Allegorical Elements Allegory is a work of
literature in which people, objects, and events
stand for abstract qualities. In an allegory, a
bird might represent freedom. The reader is to
take the interplay of literary elements in a
story to a higher level of meaning. Example The
mysterious man, the abstract West Wind, lays his
quiver (sack containing arrows) across the body
of the girl, who later finds out shes pregnant.
On a literal level, the arrows are representative
of sexual intercourse. From an allegorical
level, the arrows, while literally battle
weapons, symbolize and foreshadow the imminent
war between the twins inside and outside the womb.

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Iroquois LiteratureThe World on the Turtles
Back
Gender relationships Despite the misogynous
biblical parallels and references concerning
womens rationale, the role of women is
problematic in this work. First, it is not clear
whether the woman fell through the Sky-World, or
if her husband pushed her. While given reverence
for fertility and procreation, the mother of the
twins is killed by the stubborn, left-handed
twin. Later, the right-handed twin, jealous of
the love his grandmother has for her mischievous
brother, kills her by cutting off her head.

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Iroquois LiteratureThe World on the Turtles
Back

• Ambiguity
• While everything else in the poem is written in
  simple narrative style, explaining causes and
  effects, there are several elements of ambiguity
  that stand out due to the texts otherwise
  explicit style.
• Did the woman fall through the hole in the
  Sky-World or did her husband push her?
• No one knows who impregnated the girl.
• No one can say to what degree the left-handed
  twin had a hand in making man, so the matter of
  evil is not fully dealt with.

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Iroquois LiteratureThe World on the Turtles
Back

• The Indians dont call the two ways of the world
  which are in all people. The Indians do not call
  these the right and the wrong but call them the
  straight mind and the crooked mind, the upright
  and the devious man (28-29).
• The matter of both twins knowing their deepest
  minds is ambiguous. We dont know if the text
  is alluding to the ESP-related phenomenon
  attributed to twins or if supernatural powers
  were employed. Given the Native Americans
  spirituality, the matter is ambiguous.

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Iroquois LiteratureThe World on the Turtles
Back

• Balance Harmony in the universe
• While the twins turmoil, which ends in murder,
  seems harsh, their quarreling led to a balanced
  natural world including alternate dimensions. The
  right-handed twin is in control of light and day.
  The left-handed twin is in control of darkness
  and night.

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Iroquois LiteratureThe World on the Turtles
Back

• Other/Questions of Text
• The left-handed twin also has many names. One
  of them is Flint. He is called the devious one,
  the one covered with boils. Old Warty. He is
  stubborn. He is through of as being dark in
  color.
• Where does the racist remark come from? One
  thing is to associate light and dark to concepts
  of good and evil, but its quite another when
  these qualities of being are linked to skin color.

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Tewa LiteratureSong of the Sky Loom

• Sacred song sung at religious rituals.
• Sky Loom refers to small desert rains which
  resemble a loom (interweaving in right angles)
  hung from the sky.
• Repetition or the recurrence of words, phrases or
  lines.
• Tone is reverent and harmonious.

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Navajo LiteratureHunting Song/Dinni-e Sin

• A hunting song of the Navajos nomadic past prior
  to settling down to farming in the 11th C.
• Claims to have been given to the Navajo by
  Hastyeyalti, the god of the sunrise and of game
  animals.
• The Navajo prepared for the hunt by praying and
  singing hunting hymns.
• Siren Song the hunter is attempting to lure a
  deer to himself

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External Resources

• Native American Tribal Locations
• The Walum Olum pg 8, pg 9, pg 10, pg 11
• Listen! Rain Approaches pg 12

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DelawareWalam Olum

• Native American Song, a painted record that
  serves to chronicle the beginnings of the world
  and the origins of the Delaware, a tribe that
  lived in areas now called New Jersey, Delaware,
  parts of New York, and Pennsylvania.
• The myth kept the Delaware in touch with their
  past and placed them within a framework of
  history as they remembered it.
• The Manito is a supernatural force or spirit
  beleieved to be the source of good and evil.
• The Delawares language is not based on phonetics
  as ours, but on pictures. Some pictures are
  easier to understand than others.

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Navajo LiteratureListen! The Rain Approaches!

• The Navajo settled in the Southwest where their
  culture still flourishes.
• This song is one of many agricultural songs that
  celebrate the growth of crops and the vitally
  important rains.
• The repetition of words and lines is
  characteristic of Native American ritual chants
  and songs.
• This song would have been part of a ceremony with
  dancing, music and elaborate costumes.

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Tuesday, 8/30/05Timed Journal Topic 5 minutes

• In a brief paragraph, (5-7 sentences), explain
  what you think of when you hear the phrase in
  harmony with nature.

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Okanogan LiteratureCoyote Stories

• Okanogan people lived in north central Washington
  state and southern British Columbia.
• Folktales, like myths, are stories handed down by
  word of mouth through generations.
• Trickster tales are folk tales that feature an
  animal or human character who engages in deceit,
  violence, and magic. Often trickster tales are
  mythic, explaining features of the world.
• Contradictory qualities foolish yet clever,
  greedy yet helpful, immoral yet moral

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Okanogan LiteratureCoyote The Buffalo

• While the plot unfolds as a series of casually
  related events, there is a greater cause and
  effect structure because of his greed, coyote
  loses everything he ever pursued.
• Dichotomies immediately the tale sets the coyote
  and the buffalo at odds.
• Tricksters in the tale coyote and old woman
• Irony upon returning to Buffalo Bulls herd,
  Coyote sees the killed cow alive.
• Moral teaching it pays to befriend enemies,
  greed will eventually be punished, a person can
  be tricked once
• Gender roles women cook

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Okanogan LiteratureFox, Coyote Whale

• The climax of the tale is when Fox and Coyote
  rescue Foxs wife.
• Coyote is foolish because hes too blinded by his
  love for his wife to listen to Foxs comment.
• Whale transforms itself into a tall handsome man
  with long-braided hair, who made love to the wife
  of Fox.
• Violence against maidens (trick them into telling
  what they know only to kill them and steal their
  clothes)

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Okanogan LiteratureFox, Coyote Whale

• Whales no longer live in fresh water so that they
  dont steal away mens wives. The saying that
  sailors have women in every port probably
  explains the tensions behind the land people and
  water people.
• The tale is about the importance of family values
  and loyalty.
• The Coyote is a trickster in the first story but
  in this one, hes wise, loyal and hard-working.

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External Resources

• Calling Ones Own pg 13

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Ojibwa/ChippewaCalling Ones Own

• A people who lived around the Great Lakes and
  throughout the Great Plains.
• Song that sounds like love songs in English
  poetry.
• The imagery is drawn from natural world, showing
  the close relationship between the Ojibwa and the
  landscape of waters, flowers, trees, and skies
  that surrounded them.

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Thursday, 9/1/05Timed Journal Topic 5 minutes
Think for a moment about the various artistic
forms weve examined in Native American
literature (sacred songs, creation myth,
hunting/siren song, and trickster tales). Take
any one of the characters in the tales and begin
to describe what he/she/it would look like.
After youve written your description, draw a
simple picture to illustrate some of your details.

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Friday, 9/2/05Timed Journal Topic 5 minutes

• Briefly define the following and describe the
  corresponding work we covered in class
• Creation Myth
• Sacred Song
• Hunting Song
• Trickster Tale

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What is Descriptive Writing?

• Creates mood such as in a screenplay or movie
  script to help actors visualize how they should
  act in a given scene. Mood shifts alert readers
  to change in feeling toward the subject.
• Goes beyond simple facts to convey sensory
  details, an effective picture to arrest the
  reader and solicit an emotional response.
• The topic sentence in a descriptive paragraph
  should be an overview of the scene and
  summarize the content of the paragraph,
  establishing its mood.
• Spatial order (nearest to farthest).

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What is Descriptive Writing?

• Use of transitions that connect one sentence or
  idea to the next and help show the relationship
  between the two words like before, then, next,
  under, in front of, to the right of, and inside.
• Use precise and vivid nouns for creating the
  effect you envision. By using words like Count
  Dracula and hurricane, instead of vampire and
  storm, you give a clearer, more complete picture
  to your reader. Keep your reader interested in
  what you have to say!

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What is Descriptive Writing?

• Select vivid modifiers like Adjectives and
  Adverbs to bring your descriptions to life. Make
  sure that each words connotation fits the
  impression you desire. Its not the same to say
  the shinning sword to the blazing sword.
• Dont settle for dull, overused modifiers like
  bad or good. Select more vivid words like
  wicked or honorable.
• Focus on the senses (touch, smell, sound, sight,
  taste)

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Describing an Imaginary Person

• What are my characters prominent features? What
  does he/she look like? What does his/her
  appearance suggest about his personality?
• What is the characters behavior? How does my
  character move and talk/communicate?
• What traits set my character apart from others?
• Does my characters appearance fit his/her
  personality?
• Does my character have any unique quirks,
  strengths, or habits

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Describing an Imaginary Person

• The most inconsistent or unusual details usually
  convey a three-dimensional quality.
• The order and way in which details are presented
  may be important. Placing the most important
  facts first may impress the reader
• The characters thoughts, words, actions, or
  reactions to other characters may or may not be
  consistent with his/her appearance. Dont
  disregard these powerful elements that allow your
  reader to get a reading of your character.
• Click for Sample

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Weekly Participation -Please pass up the
following

• 9/2 Journal Topic
• Place these items by date order. A stapler will
  be coming around for your use.

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Resources/Handouts

• Grammar handouts Verbs 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60
  Order of Subject/Predicate 77, 78 Direct/
  Indirect Object 79, 80 Object/ Subject
  Complements 81, 82
• (answers 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 77, 78, 79, 80,
  81, 82)