Unit One: What does it mean to be an American?

What is the American Dream? | How do writers of nonfiction and fiction define an idea, like what it is to be an American? | What is the difference between argument and persuasion?

What does Of Mice and Men argue about the American Dream and/or what it is to be an American?

CYCLE 1, CLASS 1 AUGUST 12, 13

Welcome, young men.

(1) We begin our class by comparing three poems about America: Emma Lazarus’s “The New Colossus”, Joseph Bruchac’s “Ellis Island”, and Claude McKay’s “America”. Find the poems here.

(2) A little about our first unit.

(3) Let’s step back and discuss what matters to me in a student. I’ll tell you my expectations for you and for myself. What are your expectations for yourself?

(4) If we have time, I’ll introduce the look of this class and its policies.

TO DO:

(1) Review ALL of the policy page. Familiarize yourself with how the class works. Look through the website to see what's available. I’ll be checking for understanding next time.

(2) Register on Turnitin. The Class ID is 30553468. The Class Enrollment Key is Magis. Please use your full first name, last name, and mail.strakejesuit email.

(3) Make sure you have the Quizlet app, Notability, Google Drive, and Google Docs loaded on your iPad.

(4) Download Socrative Student from the App Store on you iPad. You’ll use this occasionally to take quizzes.

(5) Read and annotate the packet I provided to you. The packet contains an excerpt from John Winthrop’s “A Model of Christian Charity”, an excerpt from Ronald Reagan’s “Farewell Address”, an excerpt from General Colin Powell’s speech at the RNC, an excerpt from J. Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur’s “Letters from an American Farmer”, David Frum’s 2021 editorial in The Atlantic “Is America Still the ‘Shining City on a Hill’?”, and Anna Quindlen’s “A Quilt of a Country”. Find an e-version of the packet here.

CYCLE 1, CLASS 2 AUGUST 13, 16

(1) Policy review.

(2) Today we’ll have our first discussion of the year about the “City on a Hill” readings I gave you. Messrs. Stein, Belton, and Smith will summarize the discussion at the end of class.

TO DO:

(1) Reread Emma Lazarus’s poem “The New Colossus”. This poem is the context for the remaining readings for next time.

(2) Read and annotate the packet I provided to you. The packet contains an excerpt from FDR’s “Address on the Occasion of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Statue of Liberty” and Anzia Yezierska’s essay “America and I”. Find an e-version of the packet here.

(3) Listen to Ari Shapiro’s 2012 piece, “American Dream Faces Harsh New Reality”.

CYCLE 1, CLASS 3 AUGUST 17, 18

(1) We’ll explore today the issue of the American Dream and what Of Mice and Men seems to have to say about it. A good place to start is to look at one of the operative words of the novella, found all over the book but nowhere more prominently than on pages 11, 57, 89, and 103. We should have time to look at a few Biblical passages about “the land of milk and honey”.

TO DO:

(1) Study for a combination reading / vocabulary quiz on Of Mice and Men. In addition to checking for reading, the quiz asks you to know the meaning of these words from the novella.

(2) After the quiz, we’ll turn to the two critical essays you were asked to read over the summer. If you have not read them yet, please have them prepared for our next class.

CYCLE 1, CLASS 4 AUGUST 18, 19

(1) Let’s get quizzical.

(2) After the quiz, we’ll open up discussion about the novella, especially as it pertains to the two critical essays from over the summer. Do you buy what the critics argue? Is there a connection between the novel and the world of Eden?

TO DO:

(1) If you have not finished Thesis 3 from our worksheet, do so. Begin to think about which of the readings you’re most interested in and how it better helps you understand Of Mice and Men.

CYCLE 1, CLASS 5 AUGUST 20, 23

(1) Today I’ll officially set your first writing assignment of the year, which you’ll write in during our next class. We’ll have time today to review writing skills from last year, like how to write a thesis and topic sentences, and how to incorporate evidence into your body paragraphs. Expect that you’ll write a thesis and two body paragraphs in class next time. While I will not give you the prompt beforehand, you should at this point have a general sense of what it will be about. When responding to the prompt, you will be required to quote from at least 3 but no more than 5 of the readings from the first cycle of our class in addition to Of Mice and Men, so please make sure you have them with you.

TO DO:

(1) In our next class you will write an in-class essay on Of Mice and Men. You may use your book, any handwritten notes you have, and the packet of readings from our first 5 classes. You will need a charged iPad, too. Have this template with MLA formatting ready to go. Make sure you know how to upload to turnitin.com. We'll have practiced in class.