Tuesday, August 31
Day 1
Students received a course syllabus and a letter to take home to their parents or guardians.
We started with the big picture: what do we mean by American Literature? And to begin with, what do we mean by American?
Students took a brief pretest with questions including "When was the place we now call America first settled?" Those who answered 1492 (when "Columbus sailed the ocean blue") or the like were reminded that Columbus found people already here when he arrived. The answer -- at least 10,000 years ago -- revealed that what we most often mean by "American literature" or "American history" is actually European-American literature and history. Mr. P acknowledged that our course will be primarily that, but students learned that we will be starting with a brief unit on Native American literature.
HW due Wednesday:
(1) Read the syllabus carefully. There will be a short quiz over it on Wednesday.
(2) Go over the syllabus with your parents and/or guardians and have them read and sign the
the accompanying letter. Return it by Friday.
