2. Hook, Housekeeping & Homework Monday
While you wait, read from your choice novel!
You’ll need to have finished reading your novel by mid-March.* Next week, you will have an assignment related to your first novel, and you will have to start a new (contemporary) novel after break!
Truth is stranger than fiction: 2 Truths, 1 Lie
Which one is the lie about Tyler Harris?
I have never been out of Colorado.
I do parkour.
Math is my favorite academic.
Homework: Read your choice modern novel!
*If you finish it, fill out a half sheet (on top of the filing cabinet) and post it on the bulletin board, then pick up another novel to read.

3. Past, Present, Future Monday
“A Good Man is Hard to Find” – fishbowl discussion
“Cat in the Rain” & “Little Things” – influences on style
“Cat in the Rain” & “Little Things” – fishbowl discussion

4. What is Modern Fiction? Short Stories
Standard(s) 2. Reading for All Purposes
1. Literary criticism of complex texts requires the use of analysis, interpretive, and evaluative strategies
Objective: you will be able
To read and respond to a work of modern fiction
To evaluate how an author’s use of literary techniques (such as imagery, mood, tone, symbolism, irony, extended metaphor, hyperbole, stream of consciousness, minimalism, text/plot structure, characters & narrative perspective) impact meaning and create theme.
Relevance: By interpreting text complex texts, providing evidence, and communicating ideas, we are practicing the skills need in any workplace or postsecondary setting. By reading modern fiction, we examine aspects of ourselves and others and how social and historical events impact the way in which we communicate.
Essential Question: What is modern fiction?
How do these short stories reflect the characteristics and themes of modern fiction?

5. Activity: You Do Monday
Purpose/Objective: to read, react, and analyze specific details in “Little Things” to create meaning
Tasks:
Read “Little Things” by Raymond Carver aloud
How is this story different than the fiction you typically have read?
Outcome/DOL: analysis of the modernist literary techniques used in “Little Things” in preparation for discussion

6. Activity: You Do Monday
Purpose/Objective: to read, react, and analyze specific details in “Cat in the Rain” to create meaning
Tasks:
Read “Cat in the Rain” by Ernest Hemingway aloud
Consider: How is this story different than the fiction you typically have read?
Outcome/DOL: analysis of the modernist literary techniques used in “Cat in the Rain” in preparation for discussion

7. Characteristics

8. Instruction: Obtain What do you know about Ernest Hemingway?
“Cat in the Rain” written in 1920s
Raymond Carver
“Little Things” written in 1970s
New style class “minimalism”
regarded as very contemporary and is still popular today.
Literature develops from the writing that came before it
Compile a list of the qualities that characterize Carver’s work

9. What is Modern Fiction? Short Stories Monday
Standard(s) 2. Reading for All Purposes
1. Literary criticism of complex texts requires the use of analysis, interpretive, and evaluative strategies
Objective: you will be able
To read and respond to a work of modern fiction
To evaluate how an author’s use of literary techniques (such as imagery, mood, tone, symbolism, irony, extended metaphor, hyperbole, stream of consciousness, minimalism, text/plot structure, characters & narrative perspective) impact meaning and create theme.
Relevance: By interpreting text complex texts, providing evidence, and communicating ideas, we are practicing the skills need in any workplace or postsecondary setting. By reading modern fiction, we examine aspects of ourselves and others and how social and historical events impact the way in which we communicate.
Essential Question: What is modern fiction?
How do these short stories reflect the characteristics and themes of modern fiction?

10. Hook, Housekeeping & Homework Tuesday
While you wait, read from your choice novel!
You’ll need to have finished reading your novel by mid-March.* Next week, you will have an assignment related to your first novel, and you will have to start a new (contemporary) novel after break!
Truth is stranger than fiction: 2 Truths, 1 Lie
Which one is the lie about Trevor Fagan?
I have been out of the country.
I used to skateboard.
I am a bowler.
Homework: Read your choice modern novel!
*If you finish it, fill out a half sheet (on top of the filing cabinet) and post it on the bulletin board, then pick up another novel to read.

11. Past, Present, Future Tuesday
Read and respond to “A Cat in the Rain” AND “Little Things”
Continue analysis of “A Cat in the Rain” AND “Little Things” for Imitations
Creative Imitation Writing & Peer Feedback time

12. What is Modern Fiction? Short Stories Tuesday
Standard(s) 2. Reading for All Purposes
1. Literary criticism of complex texts requires the use of analysis, interpretive, and evaluative strategies
Objective: you will be able
To read and respond to a work of modern fiction
To evaluate how an author’s use of literary techniques (such as imagery, mood, tone, symbolism, irony, extended metaphor, hyperbole, stream of consciousness, minimalism, text/plot structure, characters & narrative perspective) impact meaning and create theme.
Relevance: By interpreting text complex texts, providing evidence, and communicating ideas, we are practicing the skills need in any workplace or postsecondary setting. By reading modern fiction, we examine aspects of ourselves and others and how social and historical events impact the way in which we communicate.
Essential Question: What is modern fiction?
How do these short stories reflect the characteristics and themes of modern fiction?

13. Instruction: Obtain Tuesday
Who is author Ernest Hemingway? (“Cat in the Rain”)
Quick Facts
BIRTH DATE: July 21, 1899
DEATH DATE :July 02, 1961
EDUCATION: Oak Park and River Forest High School
PLACE OF BIRTH: Cicero (now in Oak Park), Illinois
PLACE OF DEATH: Ketchum, Idaho
Full Name: Ernest Miller Hemingway
Best Known For
Nobel Prize winner Ernest Hemingway is seen as one of the great American 20th century novelists, and is known for works like A Farewell to Arms and The Old Man and the Sea.

14. What is Modern Fiction? Short Stories Tuesday
Who is author Raymond Carver?
1938–1988
one of a handful of contemporary short story writers credited with reviving what was once thought of as a dying literary form
stories mainly take place in his native Pacific Northwest region
Carver's own life paralleled that of one of his characters
born in an Oregon logging town
married and the father of two before twenty years old
worked at a series of low paying jobs
Stories peopled with the type of lower-middle-class characters
world of the desperation of ordinary people, Carver created tales that are "brief but by no means stark," notes Geoffrey Wolff
the author's "first book of stories explored a common plight rather than a common subject," notes New York Times Book Review critic Michael Wood.
Carver also wrote extensively as a poet.

15. Activity: Develop
Literature develops from the writing that came before it
Compile a list of the qualities that characterize Carver’s work
What specific details support items on your list?
Basic Qualities of Minimalist Fiction – handout
“Less is More”
“Tell it like it is”
compare this list of characteristics to those evident in Hemingway’s "Cat in the Rain."
compare the plot, setting, conflict, and themes of both stories
Both stories relate an unhappy moment in the lives of the two couples and this brief glimpse is likely indicative of a larger problem in both relationships.

16. Hemingway’s well-known concept of the iceberg structure:
“If a writer of prose knows enough about what he is writing about he may omit things that he knows and the reader, if the writing is writing truly enough, will have a feeling of those things as strongly as though the writer had stated them. The dignity of movement of an iceberg is due to only one-eighth of it being above water.” Death in the Afternoon (Scriber’s, 1932), p. 192.

17. Social/Historical Influences
We Do
Imagine why the minimalist style might have developed in the 1970s and remained popular in contemporary times.
Look at your Social/Historical Notes on Modern Fiction
Compare these to Reasons for the Development and Continued Popularity of Minimalism
writers are also influenced by the styles of their literary predecessors
Early minimalists of the 1970s (a group that includes Raymond Carver, Ann Beattie, Grace Paley, and Mary Robison) had a strong influence on another generation of writers, the “Brat Pack” of the 1980s (a name coined by the media for a group of young writers that includes Jay McInerney, Susan Minot, Lorrie Moore, Peter Cameron, and Tama Janowitz).

18. Activity: Develop
What characteristics make “Little Things” similar to elements you know of a standard short story?
What elements of “Little Things” break away from the norms of a standard short story?
What characteristics/criteria should be established for a creative imitation of this work?
Brainstorm a list of topics involving human interaction.
Which of these (above) would make for a good story?

19. Activity: Develop & Apply
What criteria should be for a creative imitation base on “Little Things” (and “Cat in the Rain”)?
Assignment sheet
Spend the rest of the class period quietly doing 1 of 2 activities:
Begin brainstorming and writing a draft for your creative imitation
Read your choice modern novel

20. Hook, Housekeeping & Homework Thursday
While you wait, read from your choice novel!
You’ll have about 20 minutes of reading time today!
You’ll need to have finished reading your novel by mid-March.* Next week, you will have an assignment related to your first novel, and you will have to start a new (contemporary) novel after break!
Returns
Truth is stranger than fiction: 2 Truths, 1 Lie
Which one is the lie about Heather Rehnborg?
I’m a vegetarian.
I speak German.
I ride horses.
Homework: Read your choice modern novel!
*If you finish it, fill out a half sheet (on top of the filing cabinet) and post it on the bulletin board, then pick up another novel to read.

21. Past, Present, Future Thursday
New stories! Read, respond, and discuss to “A Cat in the Rain” AND “Little Things”
Fishbowl Discussion (??)
Creative Modern Fiction Imitation and peer feedback (due tomorrow)

22. What is Modern Fiction? Short Stories Thursday
Standard(s)
1. Oral Expression and Listening
2. Reading for All Purposes
Literary criticism of complex texts requires the use of analysis, interpretive, and evaluative strategies
Objective: you will be able
To read and respond to a work of modern fiction
To evaluate how an author’s use of literary techniques (such as imagery, mood, tone, symbolism, irony, extended metaphor, hyperbole, stream of consciousness, minimalism, text/plot structure, characters & narrative perspective) impact meaning and create theme.
Relevance: By interpreting text complex texts, providing evidence, and communicating ideas, we are practicing the skills need in any workplace or postsecondary setting. By reading modern fiction, we examine aspects of ourselves and others and how social and historical events impact the way in which we communicate.
Essential Question: What is modern fiction?
How do these short stories reflect the characteristics and themes of modern fiction?

23. Activities: Develop & Apply We Do Thursday
Demonstration of Learning: Fishbowl Discussion
What are your initial reactions to the story?
How does the story follow (or not) the typical arc for a short story?
How is this story different than the fiction you typically have read?
What are the characteristics of this story?
What does the dialogue reveal about the characters?
How does the narrator’s voice compare/contrast with the dialogue?
Symbolism – What does the baby represent? The cat?
How do the story’s sight & sound images function?
If “Little Things” represents a movement or style with Modern Fiction, what would you say it is? “Cat in the Rain”?
How are they similar AND different?

24. What is Modern Fiction? Short Stories Tuesday
Standard 3 Writing and Composition
Objective: you will be able to develop a clear and coherent story that imitates the characteristics of modern fiction
Relevance: By interpreting text complex texts, providing evidence, and communicating ideas, we are practicing the skills need in any workplace or postsecondary setting. By reading modern fiction, we examine aspects of ourselves and others and how social and historical events impact the way in which we communicate.
Essential Question: What is modern fiction?
How do these short stories reflect the characteristics and themes of modern fiction?
What social or historical events seem to have influenced these works?
What can you incorporate from today’s discussion into your own creative imitation?

25. What is Modern Fiction? Short Stories Thursday
3. Writing and Composition
1. Style, detail, expressive language, and genre create a well-crafted statement directed at an intended audience and purpose
Objectives: you will be able show your understanding of minimalist fiction by writing a creative imitation of “Little Things”
Relevance: By interpreting text complex texts, providing evidence, and communicating ideas, we are practicing the skills need in any workplace or postsecondary setting. By reading modern fiction, we examine aspects of ourselves and others and how social and historical events impact the way in which we communicate.
Essential Question: What is modern fiction?
How do these short stories reflect the characteristics and themes of modern fiction?

26. Hook, Housekeeping & Homework Friday
While you wait, read from your choice novel!
You will have about 15 minutes to read today 
You’ll need to have finished reading your novel by mid-March.* Next week, you will have an assignment related to your first novel, and you will have to start a new (contemporary) novel after break!
Truth is stranger than fiction: 2 Truths, 1 Lie
Which one is the lie about Martin Dosal?
I like to ski and mountain bike on my free time.
I have a dog named Hope.
I don’t lie.
Homework: Read your choice modern novel!
*If you finish it, fill out a half sheet (on top of the filing cabinet) and post it on the bulletin board, then pick up another novel to read.

27. Past, Present, Future Friday
Fishbowl analysis of “A Cat in the Rain” AND “Little Things”
Creative Modern Fiction Imitation (due today)
New story excerpt – The Harlem Renaissance

28. What is Modern Fiction? Short Stories Friday
3. Writing and Composition
1. Style, detail, expressive language, and genre create a well-crafted statement directed at an intended audience and purpose
Objective: to provide written feedback to a peer based on the elements of modern fiction listed on the peer feedback sheet.
Relevance: By interpreting text complex texts, providing evidence, and communicating ideas, we are practicing the skills need in any workplace or postsecondary setting. By reading modern fiction, we examine aspects of ourselves and others and how social and historical events impact the way in which we communicate.
Essential Question: What is modern fiction?
How do these short stories reflect the characteristics and themes of modern fiction?
What social or historical events seem to have influenced these works?
Outcome/DOL: Print and turn in creative imitation WITH completed peer feedback sheet TODAY!

29. 12th Standards
1. Oral Expression and Listening 1. Effective speaking in formal and informal settings requires appropriate use of methods and audience awareness 2. Effective collaborative groups accomplish goals 2. Reading for All Purposes 1. Literary criticism of complex texts requires the use of analysis, interpretive, and evaluative strategies 2. Interpreting and evaluating complex informational texts require the understanding of rhetoric, critical reading, and analysis skills 3. Writing and Composition 1. Style, detail, expressive language, and genre create a well-crafted statement directed at an intended audience and purpose 2. Ideas, evidence, structure, and style create persuasive, academic, and technical texts for particular audiences and specific purposes 3. Standard English conventions effectively communicate to targeted audiences and purposes 4. Research and Reasoning 1. Independent research designs articulate and defend information, conclusions, and solutions that address specific contexts and purposes 2. Logical arguments distinguish facts from opinions; and evidence defines reasoned judgment

30. Coming Soon Harlem Renaissance
(2:54)
Zoran Neale Hurston