1. Things Fall Apart Chinua Achebe Mrs. Redmond’s overview

2. Pair-share  What does it mean to be civilized? Should we all strive to be civilized?  What makes up a culture?

3. Fiction and history  Julius Caesar by Shakespeare –Elizabethan era  Caesar and Cleopatra by Shaw –British in Ireland  Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe –Getting freedom in a couple of years –Fictionalized (not real events)

4. Achebe comments: "The last four or five hundred years of European contact with Africa produced a body of literature that presented Africa in a very bad light and Africans in very lurid terms. The reason for this had to do with the need to justify the slave trade and slavery… This continued until the Africans themselves, in the middle of the twentieth century, took into their own hands the telling of their story." (Chinua Achebe, "An African Voice", The Atlantic)

5. Novel: Things Fall Apart  Set in Nigeria in the 1890s (fictional town: Umuofia)  http://www.mapsofworld.com/africa/ http://www.mapsofworld.com/africa/  http://exploringafrica.matrix.msu.edu/images /colonialism1914.jpg http://exploringafrica.matrix.msu.edu/images /colonialism1914.jpg http://exploringafrica.matrix.msu.edu/images /colonialism1914.jpg

6. More information More information  Chinua Achebe in 1958  Nigeria was a British colony from the end of the 19 th century to 1960  Lens we see the rest of the world: –http://www.bu.edu/africa/files/2010/10/covimg11.gif http://www.bu.edu/africa/files/2010/10/covimg11.gifhttp://www.bu.edu/africa/files/2010/10/covimg11.gif –Stereotype of African men  Reading it 50 years after it was written

7. Unit Overview “We will read the African novel Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, the classic imperialist story Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad and several African short stories. We will get to know and understand many characters and learn about tribal traditions and cultures throughout this unit. We will also challenge our own assumptions about the world we live in and discuss how we can make it a better place.” Ms. Thorsen

8. Big Ideas for the Unit  What does it mean to be civilized?  Should all people strive to be civilized?  What are the benefits? The drawbacks?  In the books we are reading, what is the tension surrounding civilized societies?

9. Unit Goals  Contemplate what makes up a culture and how cultures differ from each other.  Develop strong research and research writing skills.  Break down and analyze specific passages, going beyond the words on the page.  Break down and analyze specific passages, going beyond the words on the page.  Ask questions and find connections in what we read

10. Grading for the Unit Major assignments: –Scoodle Journal entries –Group VIP activities –Single Story writing assignments –Essay test –Class participation Other assignments will be added as needed.

11. Class resources  From Ms. Thorsen’s website: Advanced English 10 tab. Whole unit overview.  On my wiki that links from Ms. Thorsen’s site (as we go.) http://redmondadvancedenglish10.wikispaces. com/Things+Fall+Apart+and+Heart+of+Dark ness http://redmondadvancedenglish10.wikispaces. com/Things+Fall+Apart+and+Heart+of+Dark ness

12. Tonight’s Homework  Read Chapters 1-3, and write Scoodle Journal for Wednesday, November 6, 2013. It should be at least five sentences and incorporate/analyze at least one quote from the text. Include a page number for your quote.  Read Chapters 1-3, and write Scoodle Journal for Wednesday, November 6, 2013. It should be at least five sentences and incorporate/analyze at least one quote from the text. Include a page number for your quote.  Journal Entry Chapters 1-3: What is the significance of the three proverbs in Chapter One? What is Achebe's purpose in using Igbo proverbs in the novel? How do proverbs promote the narrative action in the novel? What do they reveal about Igbo culture?

13. Pass out books. We will start reading it together.