The Grapes of Wrath
by John Steinbeck

As you read The Grapes of Wrath, track the Joad's progression on "Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs." Record limitations and potential based on class and level.
Use Steinbeck's intercalary chapters as mentor texts for descriptive writing.
http://mwp.cla.umn.edu/resources/demos/2006demos/winn.pdf

Week 7: Speaking
Read Chapter 5 of The Grapes of Wrath, identify the speakers, and perform it using "Novel News."

Represent the case of a contemporary Joad family in your community. Discuss the resources that might be available to help them (employment, housing, schooling, financial support).

Discuss the connection between what is happening to "dispossessed" people throughout the world (in the U. S. and in other countries) and incidents in The Grapes of Wrath.

Write and present in class a persuasive speech in response to ABC's "Waiting on the World to Change," as though the audience is a group of community leaders. Collect peer feedback using a class generated rubric.

Work in discussion groups to respond to the issues surrounding class mobility raised by the "Horatio Alger" articles. Evaluate the statement "The promise of America leaves no one out." Analyze all sides of the issue, form a consensus, and present to the class.

Perform one of the intercalary chapters of The Grapes of Wrath. 

Big Ideas
balancing opportunities for all
social mobility
influence of class
art of argumentation and negotiation
social protest
The American Dream
Themes
The qualities of leadership transcend class.
The promise of America leaves no one out.
Upward mobility within America's class structure depends on access to educational and economic opportunities.
Money should not be the only index of class distinctions.
Great leaders can emerge from adversity.
Character counts.

Focus Questions
How can we / should we resolve the class imbalance that exists today?
What role does class play in limiting the American Dream?
What is necessary to achieve The American Dream in today's society?
When does the class of a leader matter?
How do we define class beyond just economic status?
What is the relationship between power and economic influence?
What can we do to keep class from becoming caste?
Essential Questions
What rules or principles do I use for how I treat others?
What leadership qualities will I need to take with me from high school?
What can I do to avoid repeating mistakes made in history?
Who is in a position to help me affect change?
How do I resolve my responsibilities to myself with those to my family members, my school, community, and world?
What responsibility do I have to society?
How can I create the world I want to live in?

Week 8: Authentic Writing
Using an authentic newspaper format, create a newspaper based on The Grapes of Wrath. Write on meaningful information mainly from the text and the Depression Era. Include feature articles and story, political essay/cartoons, editorials advocating social reform and leadership, and photographs from Doretha Lange. Use Steinbeck as a mentor author.
http://www.pbs.org/peoplelikeus/resources/lessonplans/media.html

Use the Library of Congress American Dreams WebQuest and the "What is the American Dream" site to learn more about the American Dreams of our past and our present; review the dreams other students posted on the "Wall of Dreams;" look for ideas to help you build your American Dream for the future. Update your classroom "Wall of Dreams" with new ideas and quotations for each time period.

What insights have you learned about issues of class, leadership, and value systems in our society? How has this unit impacted you personally? Based on your new knowledge, express your own vision of America using the American Dream collage to inspire you.
http://www.teachnlearn.org/amvispm.html

Week 9: Literary Analysis Essay 
For all options, you must use the Literary Essay instructions (Web Page or Microsoft Word)

You may use the Narrative Profundity Scale (or http://www.readinglady.com/mosaic/tools/Profundity%20Scale-Narrative%20from%20Jeff.pdf)

Quotations
"An imbalance between rich and poor is the oldest and most fatal ailment of all republics" Plutarch

Less than a week after The Kalamazoo Promise was unveiled, the scholarship program appears to be shifting the culture at Kalamazoo Public Schools' three high schools. With the pledge of a four-year college scholarship for every graduate of Kalamazoo Public Schools, schools and students are now feeling positive pressure to rise to the challenge, principals say… "So many of our kids have received varying messages about what society holds for them, and now they're being told: "You can be a part of this. ... You have the chance, you are included, you are being thought of, you are being supported." " "Schools, Students Now Driven to Achieve" The Kalamazoo Gazette. 11/16/2005

The American Dream is "that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement… It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position." James Truslow Adams The Epic of America, p. 214-215

"Thomas Piketty… warns that current policies will eventually create 'a class of renters in the U.S., whereby a small group of wealthy but untalented children controls vast segments of the U.S. economy and penniless, talented children simply can't compete.' If he's right - and I fear that he is - we will end up suffering not only from injustice, but from a vast waste of human potential.  Paul Krugman.  Goodbye, Horatio Alger. And goodbye, American Dream."

Other Writing Ideas:
In small groups, generate the most important qualities a leader should possess. Contribute to class list; support why each should be included.

Read Walt Whitman's "I Hear America Singing" and create your own free verse poem which expresses the voices and songs of today.

Create a symbolism notebook of social classes. Find, draw, and create your own symbols of class.

Keep a quotation notebook of quotes that exemplify tensions about wealth and status, and "hidden rules" of class.

Note examples of literary devices (color imagery, tone, Biblical allusion).

Ma Joad says, "When somepin happens that I got to do somepin, I'll do it." From the reading, discuss examples of Ma "doin somepin" which demonstrate her leadership qualities, her strength, and her love.

After reading and performing The Grapes of Wrath Chapter 5 using the "Novel News" activity, select one sentence that stands out for you and explain why.

Read and React: Post classify, and discuss student-generated questions involving issues of class.

Analyze poetry and song lyrics; take annotated notes based on the OWL "Writing About Poetry" resource in preparation for writing poetry, lyrics, or argumentative essay.

Migrant camp
Steinbeck's Harvest Gypsies Articles
Media
"Voices from the Dustbowl" and "Surviving the Dust Bowl"
Music Lyrics
Springsteen, Bruce.  "Ghost of Tom Joad" Rage Against the Machine
Guthrie, Woody.  "Ballad of Tom Joad" NPR - The Grapes of Wrath
Songs and Resources for The Grapes of Wrath/American Dreamers
"Bound for Glory: A tribute to Woody Guthrie"
Social Class
Media Documentaries
PBS Documentary "People Like Us: Social Class in America" So What Class Are You? interactive site and activities
Teacher resource - Social Strata
Zarroli Jim.  "The Haves and Have-Nots".  All Things Considered.   NPR Documentary. 
XXX Part 1: The View from the Top
XXX Part 2: Ivy Tower, Blue Collar 
Frontline: Is Wal-Mart Good for America (video)
Sawyer, Diane.  "Waiting on the World to Change" ABC 20/20
"Living on Minimum Wage" (Morgan Spurlock)
Elizabeth Warren interview with Bill Moyer (Harvard Law Professor and author)

Texts
Dobbs, Lou.  Excerpt from War on the Middle Class.  Chapter 1, p.13-22, Addendum
Ehrenreich, Barbara. Excerpts from Nickel and Dimed .
Madrick, Jeff.  "Goodbye, Horatio Alger: Moving Up Economically is Now Impossible for Many, if not Most, Americans" The Nation.  Article posted January 21, 2007 (February 5, 2007 issue)
Krugman, Paul.  "The Death of Horatio Alger" The Nation article posted December 18, 2003 (January 5, 2004 issue)
White, E. B.  "We're All American" essay New York Times, March 6, 1954 in Writings from the New Yorker, p. 65
"Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs"

Poetry
Mohawk, Maurice Kenny.  "Reading Poems in Public" On Second Thought, 1995
Hemphill, Essex. "American Hero"
P Medley
Whitman, Walt. "I Hear America Singing"
Hughes, Langston.  "Let America Be America Again," "I, Too" "Harlem" ("Dream Deferred") 
The American Dream
"American Dreams Through the Decades" WebQuest Library of Congress
"What is the American Dream?"

Genre Study
Characteristics of social protest novels
biography
poetry
Author Study
F. Scott Fitzgerald
John Steinbeck
Literary Elements
structure - Steinbeck's use of intercalary chapters; Fitzgerald's use of episodic structure
Social Protest Novels
commentary on social institutions
use characters to communicate a message for social change
purpose is to evoke social change
Poetry/Lyrics
theme
genre
versification
figures of speech
cultural content

Literary Devices
The Great Gatsby
point of view: Nick - first person detached narrator becomes first person engaged narrator
flashback
tone - from non-judgmental to critical
color connotation
imagery
language
The Grapes of Wrath
point of view: third person limited
tone - Steinbeck's emerging anger
language
Biblical allusion
foreshadowing

Historical/Cultural Perspectives
Jazz Age
Great Depression and Dust Bowl
Historical, political and cultural themes and perspectives
Critical Perspectives
Analyze The Grapes of Wrath or The Great Gatsby from the sociological, political, and historical perspectives
Quotable lines
Connect to self - own perspectives on issues of class, leadership, and value systems in our society

Informational Text
Genre Study
Characteristics of informational reports
journalism (muckraking vs. investigative)
political essays
documentary
Expository Elements
irony
sarcasm
denotation
connotation
complex symbolism
extended metaphor and analogy
paradox
contradictions and incongruities
ambiguity

Types of Exposition
using illustration
using definition
using identification
using classification and division
using comparison and contrast
using process analysis
analyzing cause and effect relationships
using analogy as an expository device
explaining aided by description/evidence
explaining aided by narration
reasoning by the use of induction and deduction using reflection
Features of Documentaries
present in-depth analysis of events from real world
focus strictly on facts of events as known
avoid overt commentary
avoid authorial editorializing
avoid creator's own point of view or belief
use literary and narrative techniques
Text Criteria
ACT Characteristics of Complex Text

"Argumentation/Persuasion: Logic in Argumentative Writing"

"Writing a Research Paper: A Possible Outline Template for an Argumentative Paper"

From The AP Vertical Teams Guide for English:
    "Rhetoric," p.123-162
Elements of Argumentation, p.123-4
Purpose
XXX - Support a cause
XXX - Promote a change
XXX - Refute a theory
XXX - Stimulate interest
XXX - Win agreement
XXX - Arouse sympathy
XXX - Provoke anger
Audience
Appeals
XXX - Logic Appeals (logos)
XXX - Emotional Appeals (pathos)
XXX - Ethical Appeals (ethos)
Logical Fallacies (errors in reasoning)
XXX - Do not claim too much
XXX - Do not oversimplify complex issues
XXX - Support your argument with concrete XXX XXX evidence and specific proposals
Modes of Discourse
XXX - Description
XXX - Narration
XXX - Exposition
XXX - Argumentation/Persuasion
Rhetorical Analysis, p.129
Introduction
XXX - Issues and Image
XXX - Background Information
XXX - Definition of Terms
Claim (Thesis statement)
Reason and Evidence
Emotional Appeals
Opposing Viewpoints
Conclusion