Monday, December 6, 2010
Letter to Parents
October 23, 2010
Dear Parent(s),
I am writing to inform you of the exciting new unit your young adult will be partaking in for the next nine weeks! The unit is integrated and includes aspects of American literature and history. The primary focus will be teaching your child about minority literature, culture, and history. It will require a lot of time and effort, but the experience will be rewarding and offer a lot of information that will be new and enlightening for the students.
The unit will be broken into three major pieces, and the topics will center around three novels. The first novel is The Coquette by Hannah Foster. It is a story about a woman living in the late 1700s who wishes to be independent, but faces societal expectations and firmly set gender roles that do not allow her aspirations to be achieved. The next novel that will be covered is Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe. It is the most popular of the novels that will be taught, and it is about slavery and abolitionism in the decade preceding the Civil War. The final novel that will be taught is Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko. The novel explores ways in which Native Americans who fought in World War II were both included into American culture and excluded. It also shows the conflict between Native American government and medicine and the majority American form of government and medicine.
As the unit is integrated, special attention will be paid to historical aspects of each of the novels. Social and gender roles, along with laws that prohibited women from being self-supported will be discussed when The Coquette is being read. Slavery, abolitionism, the Fugitive Slave Act, and North and South politics will be discussed when reading Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Issues of assimilation and keeping a sense of identity and culture separate from the dominant American society will be discussed when reading Ceremony.
Many projects will be completed, including papers of varying length, a Webquest, and other more artistic, creative assignments. I will be explaining each of them in class, but I have also listed explanations for assignments on my blog, which I encourage you to access to stay in touch with what is happening in the classroom. If you have any questions regarding any of the information that has been shared, please feel free to contact me. All of my contact information is listed below. I am looking forward to an exciting, informative unit!
Sincerely,
Heather Peterson
Phone: (785) 492-8512
E-Mail: petersonh@bethanylb.edu
Dear Parent(s),
I am writing to inform you of the exciting new unit your young adult will be partaking in for the next nine weeks! The unit is integrated and includes aspects of American literature and history. The primary focus will be teaching your child about minority literature, culture, and history. It will require a lot of time and effort, but the experience will be rewarding and offer a lot of information that will be new and enlightening for the students.
The unit will be broken into three major pieces, and the topics will center around three novels. The first novel is The Coquette by Hannah Foster. It is a story about a woman living in the late 1700s who wishes to be independent, but faces societal expectations and firmly set gender roles that do not allow her aspirations to be achieved. The next novel that will be covered is Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe. It is the most popular of the novels that will be taught, and it is about slavery and abolitionism in the decade preceding the Civil War. The final novel that will be taught is Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko. The novel explores ways in which Native Americans who fought in World War II were both included into American culture and excluded. It also shows the conflict between Native American government and medicine and the majority American form of government and medicine.
As the unit is integrated, special attention will be paid to historical aspects of each of the novels. Social and gender roles, along with laws that prohibited women from being self-supported will be discussed when The Coquette is being read. Slavery, abolitionism, the Fugitive Slave Act, and North and South politics will be discussed when reading Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Issues of assimilation and keeping a sense of identity and culture separate from the dominant American society will be discussed when reading Ceremony.
Many projects will be completed, including papers of varying length, a Webquest, and other more artistic, creative assignments. I will be explaining each of them in class, but I have also listed explanations for assignments on my blog, which I encourage you to access to stay in touch with what is happening in the classroom. If you have any questions regarding any of the information that has been shared, please feel free to contact me. All of my contact information is listed below. I am looking forward to an exciting, informative unit!
Sincerely,
Heather Peterson
Phone: (785) 492-8512
E-Mail: petersonh@bethanylb.edu
WebQuest
WebQuest: Uncle Tom’s Cabin and the Fugitive Slave Law
The Task
Now that you have all completed the novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin, I want you to really think about the content and how the laws and social beliefs contributed to
the plot. You have the following tasks ahead of you:
• Summarize the Fugitive Slave Law
• Write a “portrait” of a slave auction. Tell me what sights, sounds, and smells you would encounter. Make me feel as though I am there.
• Pretend you are a senator and a slave asks you for shelter. You know it is illegal, but you are not certain if you agree with the law. Write a journal entry describing the complexity of your feelings.
• Pretend you are a Quaker. You have been sheltering slaves illegally, and you know that the slave hunters would love to turn you in for your disobedience. Write a journal entry explaining your reasons for breaking the law.
• Design a map illustrating the trip to the North made by Eliza and her family, and the trip to the South made by Uncle Tom.
The Background
You students have the background illustrated for you in Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Although the characters are fictional, the scenarios are real for the most part. Use the websites I have listed in the Resources section in order to gain more knowledge to write about the Fugitive Slave Law and different perspectives.
The Process
1. Use the websites listed below to learn about the Fugitive Slave Law.
2. Write me a 250-word explanation about the law.
3. Use the descriptions in Uncle Tom’s Cabin along with the descriptions in the websites listed below to illustrate (through words) the scene at a slave auction. Use very precise language. This description should be roughly 500 words in length.
4. Look at the encounter in Uncle Tom’s Cabin where Eliza asks for shelter from a senator and his wife. Consider the consequences for being caught sheltering a slave that you have found in your research. Write a journal entry telling me about the decision you would make in that situation about illegally protecting a slave. Explain to me the complexities of the decision. This should also be roughly 500 words in length.
5. Look at the situation in Uncle Tom’s Cabin where Eliza and her family were being sheltered by the Quakers. Also use the information on Quakers from the links given below. Put yourself in the shoes of a Quaker, and describe your feelings about the law and why you disobey even knowing the consequences of being caught.
6. Use Google Earth to draw a possible route taken by both Eliza and Uncle Tom.
7. Compile all of your responses and works into one Word Document, and e-mail the document to me as an attachment.
The Resources
Use the following websites for your research:
• http://www.nationalcenter.org/FugitiveSlaveAct.html (Fugitive Slave Law)
• http://www.nationalgeographic.com/railroad/index.html (Underground Railroad)
• http://www.slaveryinamerica.org/history/hs_es_overview.htm (Slavery/Fugitive Slave Law)
• http://www.religioustolerance.org/quaker2.htm (Quaker Religious Beliefs)
• http://www.google.com/earth/index.html (Map site for drawing the route)
The Conclusion
I hope that this exercise has encouraged you to think critically about Uncle Tom’s Cabin and the United States in the 1850s. Have you learned anything through this exercise? Have your opinions about the slaves, owners, or abolitionists changed at all as a result?
The Task
Now that you have all completed the novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin, I want you to really think about the content and how the laws and social beliefs contributed to
the plot. You have the following tasks ahead of you:
• Summarize the Fugitive Slave Law
• Write a “portrait” of a slave auction. Tell me what sights, sounds, and smells you would encounter. Make me feel as though I am there.
• Pretend you are a senator and a slave asks you for shelter. You know it is illegal, but you are not certain if you agree with the law. Write a journal entry describing the complexity of your feelings.
• Pretend you are a Quaker. You have been sheltering slaves illegally, and you know that the slave hunters would love to turn you in for your disobedience. Write a journal entry explaining your reasons for breaking the law.
• Design a map illustrating the trip to the North made by Eliza and her family, and the trip to the South made by Uncle Tom.
The Background
You students have the background illustrated for you in Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Although the characters are fictional, the scenarios are real for the most part. Use the websites I have listed in the Resources section in order to gain more knowledge to write about the Fugitive Slave Law and different perspectives.
The Process
1. Use the websites listed below to learn about the Fugitive Slave Law.
2. Write me a 250-word explanation about the law.
3. Use the descriptions in Uncle Tom’s Cabin along with the descriptions in the websites listed below to illustrate (through words) the scene at a slave auction. Use very precise language. This description should be roughly 500 words in length.
4. Look at the encounter in Uncle Tom’s Cabin where Eliza asks for shelter from a senator and his wife. Consider the consequences for being caught sheltering a slave that you have found in your research. Write a journal entry telling me about the decision you would make in that situation about illegally protecting a slave. Explain to me the complexities of the decision. This should also be roughly 500 words in length.
5. Look at the situation in Uncle Tom’s Cabin where Eliza and her family were being sheltered by the Quakers. Also use the information on Quakers from the links given below. Put yourself in the shoes of a Quaker, and describe your feelings about the law and why you disobey even knowing the consequences of being caught.
6. Use Google Earth to draw a possible route taken by both Eliza and Uncle Tom.
7. Compile all of your responses and works into one Word Document, and e-mail the document to me as an attachment.
The Resources
Use the following websites for your research:
• http://www.nationalcenter.org/FugitiveSlaveAct.html (Fugitive Slave Law)
• http://www.nationalgeographic.com/railroad/index.html (Underground Railroad)
• http://www.slaveryinamerica.org/history/hs_es_overview.htm (Slavery/Fugitive Slave Law)
• http://www.religioustolerance.org/quaker2.htm (Quaker Religious Beliefs)
• http://www.google.com/earth/index.html (Map site for drawing the route)
The Conclusion
I hope that this exercise has encouraged you to think critically about Uncle Tom’s Cabin and the United States in the 1850s. Have you learned anything through this exercise? Have your opinions about the slaves, owners, or abolitionists changed at all as a result?
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