Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby

Today, we will watch the first half of Baz Luhrmann's adaptation of The Great Gatsby. While a bloated production, there are some faithfully good nuggets within the film (namely the casting of Gatsby and Daisy). But there are some serious problems--here is a critical review of the film (spoiler alert). My major issue is the fact that Nick is writing this story from a sanitarium--a complete departure from the book. At any rate,  as we watch, take note of the visuals and how the use of the film form can both aid and detract from the understanding of a novel!

1920s-Gatsby Chapter 5

Agenda:

• Reading quiz chapter 5 of Gatsby
• "Notes & Quotes" discussion of chapter 5

The Century: America's Time. "From Boom to Bust: 1920-1929" or Baz Luhrman's Gatsby movie...

1920s/Gatsby

• Last day to work on Projects!
• Quiz chapters 1-4 of Gatsby
• HOMEWORK: READ CHAPTER 5

1920s--Gatsby chapters 1-4

Split class

Chapter 4: Notes & Quotes

Review chapters 1-4: work on those questions! Open note quiz tomorrow!

1920s-Gatsby Chapter 4

Split class today. Half the class will work on projects (here are the groups as well as 4-5 guiding questions), half the class will study chapter 4 of The Great Gatsby.

Discuss chapter 3--check out my "Notes & Quotes"

Chapter 4: Lunch with Gatsby...and Meyer Wolfsheim

"I wondered if there wasn't something a little sinister about him, after all."

Gatsby Rolls Royce Phantom Ascot Sport. Gatsby Luxury. https://gatsbyluxury.wordpress.com/2013/06/05/gatsby-rolls-royce-phantom-ascot-sport/

1920s-Gatsby chapter 3

Split class today. Half the class will work on projects (here are the groups as well as 4-5 guiding questions), half the class will study chapter 3 of The Great Gatsby.

Discuss chapter 2: Check out my "Notes & Quotes"

Chapter 3: Gatsby's Party!

"People were not invited--they went there."

Flapper Girls. From Mumfection under Creative Commons Licence. http://mumfection.com/poetry-can-heal/

1920s-Gatsby Chapter 2

Split class today. Half the class will work on projects (here are the groups as well as 4-5 guiding questions), half the class will study chapter 2 of The Great Gatsby.

• Review chapter 1-who are these characters?

The Valley of Ashes

“This is a valley of ashes—a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens; where ashes take the forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke and, finally, with a transcendent effort, of men who move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air.”

Think of the symbolic nature of the Valley of Ashes and the eyes of TJ Eckleberg. Who lives there? How do they fit into their environment? What happens there?

Twenties

Agenda:
Organization of groups for twenties projects/presentations Here is a libguide!
Continue/finish chapter 1 of Gatsby

Resources: Check out a list of allusions in the book, as well as pertinent vocabulary!

The Jazz Age-1920s and The Great Gatsby

Agenda:

• Collect Hemingway paragraphs
• Background/Discussion of new unit
• Talking points
• Calendar
• The Great Gatsby chapter 1!

Hulton Archive / Hulton Archive / Getty Images / Universal Images Group

Rights Managed / For Education Use Only

Imperialism/WWI

EXAM TODAY

Hemingway paragraph(s) due tomorrow! If you finish the exam early, work on that.

Imperialism/WWI

Agenda:

• Quiz: Chapter 18 Sections 3 and 4
• Review for unit exam (tomorrow!)
• Take home: WWI and Hemingway prompt--in one or two paragraphs, explain how the work of Ernest Hemingway reflects the idea of "post-war disillusionment." Your response should define post-war disillusionment, the Lost Generation, and have supporting textual evidence from "In Another Country" and "Soldier's Home."

Unit-Imperialism/World War I

Today's Agenda:

Now Showing at the Boston Museum of Fine Art: Exhibit on WWI posters
Finish Chapter Attack: Chapter 18 Sections 3 and 4

James Montgomery Flagg, I Want You for U. S. Army (detail), 1917. Poster, color lithograph. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Unit-Imperialism/World War I

Today's Agenda:

Review: Chapter 18 Sections 1 and 2
Analyze: President Wilson's Message to Congress (to declare war)
View: video of WWI
Chapter Attack: Chapter 18 Sections 3 and 4
Read: New York Times article from August 2014

President Woodrow Wilson

WWI

Agenda:

• Discuss "Soldier's Home" and "The Lost Generation"

WWI Propaganda Activity
PROPAGANDA: The organized dissemination of information to influence thoughts, beliefs, feelings, and actions.

• Groups of 2 or 3 
• Go to this website: http://www.learnnc.org/lp/editions/ww1posters/4963
• Each group will be assigned 2 propaganda posters. 
• Go to the Google Doc for your class (Block 1 or Block 2) 
• For each piece:
• Describe the image and text. 
• What is the overall message? 
• What emotions does it play on? 
• What effect would the poster most likely have on American citizens of the time? 
• What is pointed out that YOU can do directly to help the war effort? 
• How are the symbols, images, and words arranged to convey a message?

Unit-Imperialism/World War I

Todays Agenda:

• Review: Chapter 18 Sections 1 and 2
• Discuss: Hemingway's "Soldier's Home"
• Interactive: the Geography of WWI
• View: The Technology of World War I

Chapter 17 Sections 3 and 4

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f5/Royal_Irish_Rifles_ration_party_Somme_July_1916.jpg

World War I

Agenda:

• Finish Chapter 18 textbook work
• Read Hemingway's "Soldier's Home"
• Finish story/questions for HOMEWORK