Unit 7: Modernism/Post-Modernism, Pop Culture, and the American Dream
During this unit students will define the modern and postmodern periods of American literature by analyzing how authors defined the American dream based on the pop culture that surrounded their experiences. During these periods, the definition of the American dream was refined as values changed over time, and in this unit students will be able to explain those changes in relation to the literature that represents these time periods.
Ram's Head White Hollyhock and Little Hills, 1935 by Georgia O'Keeffe (Mother of American Modernism)
What are the skills needed to read and understand increasingly difficult fiction and nonfiction texts? What are the skills needed to read and understand increasingly difficult fiction and nonfiction texts? What strategies can a reader use to determine the meaning of unfamiliar words? How do ideas and/or events work together and change throughout a text to create meaning?
How do the philosophies of the modernist and postmodernist literary periods contribute to an author’s choices regarding purpose, style, and content in a text?
How does an author in the modernist and/or postmodernist literary period create an effective text that represents points-of-view and purposes relevant to its cultural landscape and ideas of the American Dream?
How does an author use and adapt language to fit the cultural values and norms important to a time period/region?
How does pop culture influence modernist and/or postmodernist writers’ interpretations and responses to the idea of the American dream?
How do contemporary readers choose the best digital tools to share their knowledge of the definitions of the American dream/cultural literacy established by modernist and/or postmodernist writers? How do contemporary readers respond to and evaluate the relevancy of the definitions of the American dream/cultural literacy established by modernist and/or postmodernist writers?