chinua achebe’s things fall apart, fall 2019
things fall apart 1 11/4, 11/5
Set Things Fall Apart Reading Schedule and Team Teaching Assignment
What is the Harkness method?
We’ll begin out study of TFA by looking at European imperialism and conquest during the late 19th century and early 20th century. Who was Joseph Conrad, and why am I having you read excerpts from his novel, Heart of Darkness?
The danger of telling a single story
Riz Ahmed’s address to the UK House of Commons
HOMEWORK: Read Chinua Achebe’s Obituary from the New York Times and the excerpts provided from Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. These readings are found in your packet, pages 1-8.
things fall apart 2 11/6, 11/7
Excerpts from Heart of Darkness
HOMEWORK: Read Things Fall Apart, chapters 1-3.
things fall apart 3 11/7, 11/8
Things Fall Apart, Chapters 1-3 Harkness Discussion
HOMEWORK: Read Things Fall Apart, chapters 4-5.
things fall apart 4 11/11, 11/12
Things Fall Apart, Chapters 4-5 Harkness Discussion
Sentence Imitation, Day 2
HOMEWORK: Read Things Fall Apart, chapters 6-7. Also, read the excerpts from Genesis provided in the packet.
things fall apart 5 11/13, 11/14
Things Fall Apart, Chapters 6-7 Harkness Discussion
Things Fall Apart Vocabulary Quiz
HOMEWORK: Read Things Fall Apart, chapters 8-9.
things fall apart 6 11/15
Things Fall Apart, Chapters 8-9 Harkness Discussion
HOMEWORK: Read Things Fall Apart, chapters 10-11.
things fall apart 7 11/18, 11/19
Things Fall Apart, Chapters 10-11 Harkness Discussion
HOMEWORK: Read Things Fall Apart, chapters 12-13.
things fall apart 8 11/20, 11/21
Things Fall Apart, Chapters 12-13 Harkness Discussion
HOMEWORK: Read Things Fall Apart, chapters 14-16.
things fall apart 9 11/21, 11/22
Things Fall Apart, Chapters 14-16 Harkness Discussion
HOMEWORK: Read Things Fall Apart, chapters 17-19.
things fall apart 10 12/2, 12/3
Things Fall Apart, Chapters 17-19 Harkness Discussion
HOMEWORK: Read Things Fall Apart, chapters 20-22.
things fall apart 11 12/4
Things Fall Apart, Chapters 20-22 Harkness Discussion
HOMEWORK: Read Things Fall Apart, chapters 23-25.
things fall apart 12 12/5, 12/6
Things Fall Apart, Chapters 23-25 Harkness Discussion
HOMEWORK: Read “Words and Behavior”, pages 15-19 in your packet.
things fall apart 13 12/9, 12/10
“Words and Behavior”
Sentence Imitation, Day 3
HOMEWORK: Read “Shooting and Elephant”, pages 20-23 in your packet.
things fall apart 14 12/10, 12/11
“Shooting an Elephant”
Review
things fall apart 15 12/12, 12/13
Review
what's due?
Persepolis essay FINAL - 11/4
Sample Persepolis thesis statements
Team Teaching Harkness discussions begin - 11/4
Things Fall Apart Vocabulary Quiz - 11/13, 11/14
current text to bring daily
things fall apart Study Links
Annenberg Media’s Introduction to World Literature - TFA
ongoing extra credit
Required reading can at times feel like drudgery. And while it's important to do the reading I set for the class, I fully recognize that you'd rather have a say in what it is we read. Unfortunately the freshman curriculum has little student choice built in, so your ongoing extra credit gives you the opportunity to read an outside text in your own time at some point during the semester. I'm very happy to reward you with additional course credit if you take it upon yourself to read a text outside of class and meet with me to discuss it. A few things:
(1) This must be a text you've never read before.
(2) It should be imaginative and of recognized literary merit. The text must be approved beforehand.
(3) The amount of credit awarded is variable depending on the chosen text and how our follow up conversation goes.
(4) While you may read as much as you'd like, I will only award extra credit once per semester.
enjoying literature
“In the realm of narrative psychology, a person’s life story is not a Wikipedia biography of the facts and events of a life, but rather the way a person integrates those facts and events internally—picks them apart and weaves them back together to make meaning. This narrative becomes a form of identity, in which the things someone chooses to include in the story, and the way she tells it, can both reflect and shape who she is. A life story doesn’t just say what happened, it says why it was important, what it means for who the person is, for who they’ll become, and for what happens next.”
