Clarify expectations of the analytical response assignment
Identify themes in Sherman Alexie's stories
Make interpretive claims about literature
Verbal Starter: Turn to a partner and discuss your reaction to reading Alexie's stories. What do you notice about his style? Do you like his work? Why or why not?
GO OVER: Analytical Response Writing
What questions do we have?
GROUP WORK: "A Drug Called Tradition"
- Take notes on a shared google document
with me and all group members
- Elect one note-taker. Put everyone's name on the document and share with all.
- Everyone should have their book open and be working to analyze the lit
- Don't divide and conquer- work through
each question as a group and make sure everyone understands.
1. What does it mean to be a "real Indian" according to the characters in "A Drug Called Tradition"?
2. How does Alexie divide dreams from reality? What is the difference between dreams and reality for the three boys?
3. What does this quote mean: "When Indians make lots of money from corporations that way, we can all hear our ancestors laughing in the trees. But we never can tell whether they're laughing at the Indians or the whites. I think they're laughing at pretty much everybody"(13).
4. Where else do you see evidence of a tension between Western society, or the U.S. government and Native culture? What does Alexie seem to suggest about the way these boys feel about the government and/or white society?
5. How does tradition function like a drug for Native Americans? What does it offer them? What does it let them dream of?
6. The narrator talks about skeletons that represent the past and the future. How does he describe these skeletons and how must a young Indian relate to them? What is he saying about tradition in this selection?
WHOLE CLASS: What do you think are the primary "thematic concepts" in this story? What are the passages and quotes that seem to represent the themes?
What do we mean when we say "Make an interpretive claim about literature?"
INDEPENDENT WORK: "Indian Education"
- Re-read story and revisit annotations
- Exit Ticket: Make a claim! Write a paragraph explaining what you think might be the "thematic statement" of the story. That is to say, what does the story "say" about the subject matter, in this case, Indian education. What evidence in the story points to this theme?
HOMEWORK:
"This is What is Means to Say Phoenix, AZ" (p. 59) and "The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven" (p. 191)
(Read and annotate with larger assignment in mind. Interpret, analyze, identify evidence that may help you on the writing assignment.)
Essays from First Person, First Peoples (for Monday)