English 9
Journalism
English 11
English 10
English 11 Honors
Creative Writing
English 11 Honors

English11

Mr. Lettire

  Textbook pass=  cea9815586    http://www.glencoe.com/ose

All students must have a dedicated notebook for this class and come prepared to work each day

 

COURSE DESCRIPTION

The content of this course focuses on language arts skills developed in the study of classic and contemporary literature. You will begin refining your ability to critically analyze, discuss, and write intelligently and insightfully about a piece of literature. Thinking about what you read (as you read it) is essential. Writing effectively first depends on your willingness to understand what you have read, consider it thoughtfully, and reach your own conclusions about the ideas presented. Although formal, academic writing will continue to be emphasized, you will explore various kinds of informal writing including personal expression, fiction, and poetry. Developing your voice as a writer will be important; we will focus on the distinctive writing styles of our authors to discover how their choice of diction, sentence patterns, etc. contribute to the uniqueness of their styles. In addition, this course is taught in conjunction with U.S. History; thus, we will understand American literature in its historical, philosophical, and cultural contexts. Grammatically, we will work on specific areas that need improvement. Finally, we will regularly target vocabulary in preparation for upcoming testing. 

 

Rationale and Philosophy

 

The English II Honors course is dedicated to engaging enrichment students in a rigorous chronological study of American literature through reading, comprehending, analyzing and interpreting classic novels, plays, short stories, and various literary selections from various time periods in American history.  This curriculum provides an accelerated and intensive study of theses American literary works and a comprehensive study of a variety of writing genres.  All language arts skills are included to help the students demonstrate mastery and proficiency in writing and reading comprehension skills while meeting NJ Core Content Curriculum standards and the NJ HSPA criteria.  The English II Honors course is designed to provide a learning environment in which the students will be exposed to an extensive variety of challenges to develop their talents and reach their highest potentials.

 

 

Goals and Objectives (outcomes)

 

•to read developmentally appropriate materials at an independent level

•to use appropriate rhythm, flow, meter, and pronunciation when reading  

•to read a variety of genres with fluency and comprehension

•to use knowledge of word origins and word relationships, as well as historical and literary context clues, to determine the meanings of specialized vocabulary

•to analyze how works of a given period  reflect historical and social conditions

•to interpret how literary devices affect reading emotions and understanding

•to analyze how an author’s use of words creates tone and mood and how choice of words advances the theme or purpose of the work

•to demonstrate command of a variety of writing genres, such as

opersuasive essay

opersonal narrative

oresearch paper

oliterary essay

odescriptive essay

oresponse to literature

oparody of a particular literary style

opoetry

 

•to develop increased ability to critically select works to support a research topic

•to use strategies such as graphic organizers and outlines to plan and write drafts

according to the intended message, audience, and purpose for writing

•to review and edit work for spelling, usage, clarity, and fluency

•to use a scoring rubric to  evaluate and improve own writing and the writing of others

•to reflect on own writing and establish goals for growth and improvement

•to draft a thesis statement and support/defend it through highly developed ideas and

content, organization, and a paragraph development

•to write a range of essays and expository pieces across the curriculum, such as

persuasive, analytic, comparison/contrast, or position paper, etc.

•to write a research paper that synthesizes and cites data using researched information and technology to support writing

•to provide clear, focused openings and strong closure to written pieces

•to employ relevant graphic organizers to develop and arrange ideas

•to use standard English conventions in all writing

•to use transitions to reinforce a logical progression of ideas

•to use a variety of reference materials, such as a dictionary, grammar reference, and/or internet software resources

•to demonstrate personal style and voice effectively to support the purpose and engage the audience in a piece of writing

•to speak for a variety of purposes

•to assume leadership roles in student-directed discussions, projects and forums

•to demonstrate effective delivery strategies

•to use a rubric to self-assess and improve oral presentations

•to participate actively in class discussions

•to analyze, evaluate and modify in group activities

•to listen  attentively, summarize, make judgments and evaluate oral presentations

•to listen skillfully and distinguish persuasive arguments

•to identify and evaluate media forms and respond appropriately to material

 

 

Units of study

 

American literature takes a chronological approach to its curriculum; its units of study are a follows:

 

•Puritanism

•Transcendentalism

•Romanticism

oGothic

•Civil War

•Regionalism/Local Color

•Modern Age

•Harlem Renaissance

•Depression to 1960s

•Into the 21st century

 

COMMON THEMES (CONNECTIONS WITH U.S. HISTORY)

 

·        There is a universal element to all human culture.

·        Perspective influences perception.

·        What does it mean to be civilized?

·        Politics and religion are intertwined.

·        Is the American Dream attainable? Is America the “promised land?”

 

ABSENCES & MAKE-UP WORK

Absences and make-up work will be handled according to school policy. e-mail me (or a friend) to find out what you have missed in your absence.

 

Redoing Work for Full Credit

Since most of our projects will be undertaken in a workshop setting where frequent feedback from me and from peers is the norm, you'll usually have ample opportunity to rework and revise your projects before submitting them for a final assessment. Even so, some projects may not meet expectations for a variety of reasons. In general, graded projects may be redone for full credit, with these conditions:

 

--All redone work is done at the discretion of the teacher. If you have made a good effort on your project but there is still more to do before it reaches competency, or if you have specific ideas for improving an already competent project, then I will welcome your request to redo work.

--To request a redo, meet with me to develop a specific plan for improving your work, and then put the plan and a completion date in writing.

--Your parents must sign your redo request, attached to the original project.

--If redone work is not submitted by the completion date, the original grade becomes permanent.

--Redone work may not be submitted during the last week of the grading period.