Day 8: Conrad and Achebe and Makola, oh my!

Inquiry: How might someone else see you as a single (static) story?

G block: TED Talk (20 mins)

1. Large group --> Review Achebe's argument. Do you buy Achebe's argument? Why or why not? SAS triangle.

2. Back to triads: Makola/Henry Price worksheet. What does this tell us about his character? About Makola's role in the short story? About Makola's role in Adiche's idea of no single story?

3. Find connections between “Heart of Darkness” and “An Outpost of Progress”. Where do we see the same language in Outpost?

4. Big take aways? Should we teach/read Conrad?

Day 7: Community Day Reflection

Write for 50 minutes. 1-page. Double spaced.

1. a moment you found particularly meaningful in your relationship to this community

2. a feeling you had during the day that reflects a discovery or shift you experienced during the day

Try to synthesize your ideas and come to some new conclusion.

To Submit

File name: Reflection_Name_Block.pdf

Upload to: dropitto.me/mcollie --> Password = EnglishRocks

Day 6: Community Day Prep

Inquiry
Define each term and comment on its connotation and meaning.

• Charity
• Community Service
• Service Learning
• Community Day

(How does it relate to our English curriculum?)

Discussion

Review systems and individuals → what’s the relationship between the individual and the systems?

Systems we’ve seen impacting characters and the self?

• What systems is Makola operating in? (black identity but craves white privilege)
• What systems is Kayerts operating in? (lacks white consciousness)

You → feel equal in term of system. People you meet are shaped by a system and so are you. When you’re interacting and looking around, how does the system impact others and the self? Even though the systems impact us differently, we’re all shaped by the system. Lived experience … how is it shaped by larger systems?

Community Day = connect and understand. Service is giving us a reason to be together. Everyone has a story. Humanizing the other.

Systems (family, teams, classes, school → who you are, how you see the world, what impacts your experience?)

Writing (individual, then discuss triad and then share out)

• What barriers might exist between you and the people you will meet at these places? Be realistic.
• What are our comforting myths? (Conrad = purveyor of comforting myths, example “We are not like Branson”)
• What value might this experience have?
• What apprehensions might you have?

Preview homework

Day 5: Achebe & Makola

Inquiry: What do you picture when someone says Africa? Why?

Discussion

In triads:

1. What is Achebe’s argument? What is his thesis? (eventually get thesis statements on board)

2. Cut-up work: Discuss your passage as a group. What thesis statement does your piece of evidence support?

3. Large group --> Do you buy Achebe's argument? Why or why not? SAS triangle.

4. Back to triads: Find connections between “Heart of Darkness” and “An Outpost of Progress”. Where do we see the same language in Outpost? (pushing to make connections to Makola)

D block groups
Taitum, Parker, Joe
Ryan, Ethan, Jordy
Skye, Lauren
Eric, Emmett, Zoe
Kira, Lucas, Emma

G block groups
Zach, Macie, Cate
Sierra, Katie, Isabella,
Stefan, Alexia, Siena
Miles, Coco, Anya, Matisse
Grace, Henry, Lane

Day 4: Brief discussion & IC writing

Discussion: In what way is Kayerts’ “resolution” to his conflict related to our class themes? (25 mins)

Writing: see handout (50 mins)

Day 3: Outpost of Progress Part 2

Inquiry
What does the ending of the story represent? Think about the symbols (the cross, fever, mist/fog).

Discussion
General plot run down ... what happened?

1. Handout on natives
2. Crime (ivory trade for people --> what is Makola's response? what is K&C response?)
3. Disaster (death of Carlier)
4. Death (of Kayerts --> why does he hang himself? has anything changed for him?)

Closing
Insights gained and observations made?

Day 2: Outpost of Progress Part 1

Inquiry question
How does our current position in life inform our views of the past?

Class discussion
Who wrote the story? When? SAS the story as best we can.
Who are the key characters? Kayerts, Carlier, Makola/Henry Price, Father Gobila
What is the conflict?

Partner Work
Handout on Views on the Natives --> share out --> connect to narrator

Closing write --> what did you observe? learn? What questions do you have?

Day 1: Exam review, Let's get started, Kipling & Outpost of Progress

1. This class --> review expectations sheet
2. Exam feedback

• How was the exam?
• Did you feel prepared?
• Did you feel the exam was fair, overall?

3. Writing feedback (strengths//challenges)

• Structure --> mastering organization // transitions & structure complementing argument
• Arguments --> getting more complex ideas // need to narrow (don't take on too much)
• Analysis --> more explanation + close readings // when argument is BIG, analysis suffer; more HOW + close reading needed
• Intros/Conclusions --> getting hang of it // conclusions

4. Looking at exams (How can you make your argument stronger?)

GOOD

1. Characters who don't conform are isolated and dehumanized.
2. Characters who don't conform are alienated from family and society.

BETTER

1. New identities are forces upon character who don't conform, weakening their sense of self and making them feel useless.
2. In these texts, we see non-conforming characters being isolated from their societies, destroying their identities to make them fit into existing hierarchy.

BEST

1. Vicious cycle: Striving to be accepted, characters' identities are destroyed, which isolates them from their society, leaving them to be resigned to their fate.

5. "White Man's Burden" (Kipling)

• Why are we reading this? Colonial era, colonial text. Published within two years of Outpost.
• What's the tone? Intention?
• Recall Imperialism! How does imperialism relate to systems you wrote about in exam?
• Systemic Hierarchies! How is poem related to systems?

6. "Outpost of Progress" (Joseph Conrad)

• First paragraph --> make observations about setting, narrator, tone, mood character.