Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
**Student Led Chapter Expectations:
- Vocab words from the chapter
- Literary terms from the chapter and key passages
- Discussion Questions about the chapter and connection to overarching themes
- Historical video or article connecting to the context of the chapter
Tuesday, September 11th
1. Overview of AP Essay Questions
2. Poetry Lit Terms
Homework: Write a 40-min Essay on the Poem: "The Myth of Music" by Rachel M Harper
Thursday, September 13th
1. Lit Terms: metonomy, synecdoche, polyptoton, asyndeton, polysyndeton, elipsis, apostrophe
2. Annotation Warm-up: Question 2
Homework: Write a 40-min Essay on the excerpt:
Friday, September 14th
1. Lit Terms: character types
Homework: Write a 40-min Essay with the book of your choice on Question 3
Tuesday, September 18th
1. Discuss common elements of AP essays (+ & -)
3. journal: My family/ancestors
Homework: Read & Annotate Ch. 1 in Homegoing
Thursday, September 20th
1. vocab: anaphora, exposition, burgeoning, detritus, folly, contrite, virile, mirthless, lattice, supplication
3. journal: Characterization of Effia
6. Read: Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
Homework: Read & Annotate Ch. 2 in Homegoing
Tuesday, September 25th
1. vocab: rapturous, raucous, rapacious, invective, didactic, colloquial, synecdoche, metonomy
2. Article: Ghana's Slave Castles
4. Read: Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi Ch. 3
Homework: Read & Annotate Ch. 3 in Homegoing
Thursday, September 27th
1. journal: Choose ONE:
A) Characterize Quey
B) Discuss the Gyasi's cultural characterization of the juxtaposing cultures?
3. Discussion: Ch. 3
4. Read: Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi Ch. 4
Homework: Read & Annotate Ch. 4 in Homegoing
Friday, September 28th
1. Go over Multi-Choice Packet
2. journal: Cultural juxtapositions and how the author's voice impacts this antithesis on the audience
3. Discussion: Ch. 4
4. Read: Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi Ch. 5-6
Homework: Read & Annotate Ch. 5-6 in Homegoing
**Student Led Discussion Expectations:
Tuesday, October 2nd
1. vocab:
2. Student-Led Discussion: Ch. 5-6
4. Read: Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi Ch. 7
Homework: Read & Annotate Ch. 7 in Homegoing
Thursday, October 4th
1. vocab:
2. journal: Power: How is power displayed in this novel?
3. Student-Led Discussion: Ch. 7
4. Read: Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi Ch. 8-9
Homework: Read & Annotate Ch. 8-9 in Homegoing
Tuesday, October 9th
1. Lit Terms of Repitition
2. Student-Led Discussion: Ch. 8-9
4. Read: Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi Ch. 10
Homework: Read & Annotate Ch. 10 - "Willie" in Homegoing
Thursday, October 11th
--> Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
1. Finish Discussing "Akua"
2. Fante Culture 3. Asante Culture
4. "Willie"
Homework: Read & Annotate Ch. 11-12 in Homegoing
Tuesday, October 16th
1. vocab:
2. Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
Thursday, October 18th
--> Workday
Homework: Read & Annotate to end of Homegoing
CD (Quote) / Lit Term Identified/ Effect on Audience
Friday, October 19th
--> Workday
Homework: Read & Annotate to end of Homegoing
CD (Quote) / Lit Term Identified/ Effect on Audience
Tuesday, October 23rd
1. journal: Critical Review of Homegoing
2. Discussion:
CD (Quote) / Lit Term Identified/ Effect on Audience
Thursday, October 25th
Socratic Seminar on Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
Homework: Complete Socratic Seminar Reflection
Tuesday, October 30th
1. In-Class Essay: Homegoing
Homework: Work on essay
2. Independent Book - Make a 3 chart with 25 examples of :
CD (Quote) / Lit Term Identified/ Effect on Audience
Thursday, November 1st
1. journal: Critical Review of Homegoing
2. Independent Book - Make a 3 chart with 25 examples of :
CD (Quote) / Lit Term Identified/ Effect on Audience
Friday, November 2nd
1. Warm-up Poetry Annotation: "Facing It" by Yusef Komunyakaa
2. Finish Essay: Homegoing
Homegoing Essay Questions: (or create your own...)
1. Overview of AP Essay Questions
2. Poetry Lit Terms
- Highlight the ones you don't know
- Discuss with a partner: Use Poetry Drill #1
- Read the Rubric for the Essay Question 1
- Read the Essays & give each a grade 1-9
- Read the AP Reader Rationale for each essay
Homework: Write a 40-min Essay on the Poem: "The Myth of Music" by Rachel M Harper
Thursday, September 13th
1. Lit Terms: metonomy, synecdoche, polyptoton, asyndeton, polysyndeton, elipsis, apostrophe
2. Annotation Warm-up: Question 2
- from The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle by Tobias Smollet
- Read the Rubric for the Essay Question 2
- Read the Essays & give each a grade 1-9
- Read the AP Reader Rationale for each essay
Homework: Write a 40-min Essay on the excerpt:
Friday, September 14th
1. Lit Terms: character types
- flat vs round
- 5 parts of a round character
- dynamic vs static
- foil
- Read the Rubric for the Essay Question 3
- Read the Essays & give each a grade 1-9
- Read the AP Reader Rationale for each essay
Homework: Write a 40-min Essay with the book of your choice on Question 3
Tuesday, September 18th
1. Discuss common elements of AP essays (+ & -)
- Structure of a good AP Essay
3. journal: My family/ancestors
- Describe your familial relationships, both nuclear family & extended relations
- What do you know about your ancestors?
- What do you want to know about your family's history?
- Why does ancestry matter?
- How Big is Africa?
- Map Projections & Distortion Discussion
- Facts on Africa
- Ghana's Slave Castles
- The Door of No Return Video Clip
- Yaa Ghasi's Background
Homework: Read & Annotate Ch. 1 in Homegoing
Thursday, September 20th
1. vocab: anaphora, exposition, burgeoning, detritus, folly, contrite, virile, mirthless, lattice, supplication
3. journal: Characterization of Effia
- How does Effia's family and culture shape who she becomes?
6. Read: Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
Homework: Read & Annotate Ch. 2 in Homegoing
- Complete AP Multi-Choice Packet
Tuesday, September 25th
1. vocab: rapturous, raucous, rapacious, invective, didactic, colloquial, synecdoche, metonomy
2. Article: Ghana's Slave Castles
- Literature (Fiction) vs Non-fiction impact of history
4. Read: Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi Ch. 3
Homework: Read & Annotate Ch. 3 in Homegoing
Thursday, September 27th
1. journal: Choose ONE:
A) Characterize Quey
B) Discuss the Gyasi's cultural characterization of the juxtaposing cultures?
- What techniques does the author use to give you a sense of the cultures/characters?
- How do these techniques affect the audience?
3. Discussion: Ch. 3
4. Read: Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi Ch. 4
Homework: Read & Annotate Ch. 4 in Homegoing
Friday, September 28th
1. Go over Multi-Choice Packet
2. journal: Cultural juxtapositions and how the author's voice impacts this antithesis on the audience
3. Discussion: Ch. 4
4. Read: Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi Ch. 5-6
Homework: Read & Annotate Ch. 5-6 in Homegoing
**Student Led Discussion Expectations:
- Vocab words from the chapter
- Literary terms from the chapter and key passages
- Discussion Questions about the chapter and connection to overarching themes
- Historical video or article connecting to the context of the chapter
Tuesday, October 2nd
1. vocab:
2. Student-Led Discussion: Ch. 5-6
4. Read: Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi Ch. 7
Homework: Read & Annotate Ch. 7 in Homegoing
Thursday, October 4th
1. vocab:
2. journal: Power: How is power displayed in this novel?
3. Student-Led Discussion: Ch. 7
4. Read: Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi Ch. 8-9
Homework: Read & Annotate Ch. 8-9 in Homegoing
Tuesday, October 9th
1. Lit Terms of Repitition
2. Student-Led Discussion: Ch. 8-9
4. Read: Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi Ch. 10
Homework: Read & Annotate Ch. 10 - "Willie" in Homegoing
Thursday, October 11th
--> Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
1. Finish Discussing "Akua"
2. Fante Culture 3. Asante Culture
4. "Willie"
Homework: Read & Annotate Ch. 11-12 in Homegoing
- "Yaw"
- "Sonny"
Tuesday, October 16th
1. vocab:
2. Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
- "Willie"
- "Yaw"
- "Sonny"
- "Marjorie"
Thursday, October 18th
--> Workday
Homework: Read & Annotate to end of Homegoing
- "Marjorie"
- "Marcus"
CD (Quote) / Lit Term Identified/ Effect on Audience
- Due November 1st
Friday, October 19th
--> Workday
Homework: Read & Annotate to end of Homegoing
- "Marjorie"
- "Marcus"
CD (Quote) / Lit Term Identified/ Effect on Audience
- Due November 1st
Tuesday, October 23rd
1. journal: Critical Review of Homegoing
2. Discussion:
- "Marjorie"
- "Marcus"
- Identify Motifs of each chapter
- Theme Statements in Homegoing
- Opening Questions
- Outside Source
CD (Quote) / Lit Term Identified/ Effect on Audience
- Due November 1st
Thursday, October 25th
Socratic Seminar on Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
Homework: Complete Socratic Seminar Reflection
- Essay Outline
- Start Essay
Tuesday, October 30th
1. In-Class Essay: Homegoing
- Peer Edit
- Teacher Conference
Homework: Work on essay
2. Independent Book - Make a 3 chart with 25 examples of :
CD (Quote) / Lit Term Identified/ Effect on Audience
- Due Friday, November 2nd
Thursday, November 1st
1. journal: Critical Review of Homegoing
- How many stars would you give it out of 5 (or 10)?
- Comment on:
- What you liked/disliked
- Plot development and how it relates to overarching themes
- Character development and how they relate to overarching themes
- Lit Terms used and how they affected the audience
- Success of diction, syntax, figurative language
- Success of overarching themes and why
- Read
- Annotate
- Discuss
2. Independent Book - Make a 3 chart with 25 examples of :
CD (Quote) / Lit Term Identified/ Effect on Audience
- Due Friday, November 2nd
Friday, November 2nd
1. Warm-up Poetry Annotation: "Facing It" by Yusef Komunyakaa
2. Finish Essay: Homegoing
- Teacher Conference
- Final Draft
Homegoing Essay Questions: (or create your own...)
- How does lineage affect identity?
- Determine two or more themes or central ideas of the text and analyze their development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to produce a complex account; how does plot, character development, and structure of book contribute to these themes?
- Several characters continue speaking African languages (Ma Aku, Ness) even when punished by white slaveholders. Others, like Marjorie, know Twi and speak it to remain connected to her grandmother in Ghana. What is the importance of the “mother tongue” for characters?
- Consider the rites of passage that prepare young women for marriage and the characters who are most impacted by these decisions (Effia, for example). What does the adherence to beliefs about puberty, marriage, and other decisions suggest about cultural values, gender, and personal choice? What is the relationship between tradition and choice?
- Marjorie travels back and forth between Alabama and Ghana, feeling “I don’t fit here or there” (p. 278). Analyze the ways she attempts to forge connections to her identity as Ghanian-American and how that complex identity helps us understand the complexity of identity. How does receiving the necklace from her grandmother help to ground Marjorie’s idea of home? How does the motif of the necklace affect the structure and overall themes and effectiveness of the book?
- Explain how characters either continue or reject the legacy of colonialism. In that analysis, think, too, about the role of agency: which characters are able to reject colonialism (i.e., Quey and James), and which are not (i.e., Effia, etc.), and the significance of those abilities.
- How do characters grapple with the longstanding impact of race and racism? Consider the impact of interracial marriage and sexual assault on characters. What are the physical and internal scars characters carry? Discuss the consequences of these scars.
- How do characters practice resistance in the novel? Analyze the characters who were physically enslaved (Ness, H), and ones who were attempting to escape mentally (James, Willie), and still others who lived in fear of being enslaved after escaping to freedom (Kojo). What conclusions can be drawn about the importance of resistance in the face of difficulty?
- In an interview with the Guardian, Gyasi said one of her goals with Homegoing involved “trying to trace the trail of trauma reinvented.” That trail begins early in the novel, as Effia lives in Cape Coast Castle above the dungeons that hold the enslaved. A place Effia explains, where “all beasts were ascribed worth” (p. 25). How does Gyasi’s statement establish an understanding of how humans were devalued and how does it also help to think about the lasting impact of enslavement? Link to article: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/jan/08/yaa-gyasi-slavery-is-on-peoples-minds-it-affects-us-still-interview-homegoing-observer-new-review
- Consider Maame’s loss of her children and also when Esi realizes she would “learn what it meant to be un-whole” (p. 42). Other women are separated from their children, while others, like Esi, who feels a sense of loss when she learns she has a sister. What do these instances suggest about the impact of loss and familial separation on parents and their children?
- Analyze the moment of negotiation between Abeeku and James Collins for Effia’s hand in marriage. James Collins pays “thirty pounds up front and twenty-five shillings a month in tradable goods to Baaba as a bride gift” (p. 15) for Effia. What does Abeeku’s final decision suggest about the role of women in this community? How does Abeeku leverage Effia’s beauty and what does his willingness to do so help us to understand about the relationships between women, beauty, and economics?