Syllabus

11th Grade – American Literature and Composition Syllabus

Contact information: – Ms. B.D’Amato,

Email: bdamato@schools.nyc.gov

Phone #: 212.964.9610

Conference Period:  by appointment

        Texts:

  • Conversations in American Literature by Aufses, Shea and Scanlon
  • The American Tradition in Literature by George Perkins and B. Perkins, 11th Edition
  • The Norton Anthology of Drama
  • Required Materials:
  • Student composition book
  • Spiral
  • USB (Must have by 1st week of school)
  • Blue/black/red pen/pencils
  • Post-its
  • Highlighters (4 colors)

Structure of the Course
Honor American Literature course is designed to strengthen and refine your ability to analyze and write about literature. You will examine and learn about the American literary history through representative work by American authors. You will compare the literary traditions American authors developed in various eras throughout history. In the end, you will examine the American ideas of society, man , beliefs and practices. In addition to the content, you  will also grow in these key areas that are essential to succeeding in college: \

You will:

  • hone your ability to look beyond the obvious and make careful observations, inferences, and conclusions.
  • gain the analytical skills necessary to write college-level essays..
  • discover new ideas and connect them to all areas of knowledge and experience.
  • explore ideas from other cultures and time periods, and how they relate to our Western Culture.

 

Objectives:

  • To strengthen the Common ore skills of analysis and argument
  • To examine American history, philosophy and ideology through various literary works
  • To learn various styles of expression
  • To evaluate various literary work and their role & impact on American history
  • To compare various perspectives presented by different literary work
  • To research about authors, cultural contexts and social issues embedded in literary works
  • To analyze how literary elements or techniques contribute to the overall themes of a literary work
  • To argue your point of view based on textual evidence

 

GRADING

Daily reading and homework: 25%-

Tests/Quizzes/Assessments: 25%

Essays: 30%

Attendance and Class Participation: 20%

 

ABSENCES AND MAKE-UP WORK

  • Make-up work is accepted one day after you return to school

 

LATE WORK

  • Homework and daily assignments are due upon request as assigned
  • 10 points per day will apply to homework.
  • 1 letter grade per day for major projects & essays.

 

PLAGIARISM STATEMENT

Plagiarism is the use of another’s words or ideas and the presentation of them as though they were entirely one’s own.  Acts of plagiarism might include, but are not limited to:

  • using words or ideas from a published source without proper documentation
  • using the work of another student (e.g. copying homework, composition, or project)

Tips for Editing: questioning and cueing.  For example: “Is this word strong enough? Interesting enough? Specific enough?”  “Can you think of another word that would fit better?”  “Does this sentence seem awkward?”  “What exactly do you mean?”  “I don’t understand what you are trying to say here; can you say it more clearly?” “This sentence has a powerful verb; can you find one as powerful for that other sentence?”

These kinds of questions and statements allow the students to think and write independently.  Students should be allowed to find their own voices and to develop their own writing skills.

Plagiarism on any project or paper will result in a zero for the assignment.  Unless strictly stipulated by the teacher, collaboration on written work is not acceptable.  Students who willingly provide other students with access to their work are in violation.

11th Grade ENGLISH UNIT CONTENT

The order of these units may be changed within the semester.  Please note that the syllabus may be amended and altered as time and class needs demand.  Changes will be made at the discretion of the teacher.

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Unit 1: 1600-1800- An Emerging Nation: Early American Writing (Beginnings of American Literature, Review of Persuasive Writing, Language, and Vocabulary)

Synopsis:  The Colonial Period in American literature will be introduced with sample literary works from the period. Emphasis will be placed on nonfiction Colonial texts, as well as on persuasive and expository writing.

Students will research and analyze the various contributions of the American Colonial Period by developing both written and oral presentations.  A review of persuasive texts will also help students incorporate persuasive

writing techniques into an essay and presentation. Throughout the unit, various forms of nonfiction texts will be utilized by students to explore the characteristics of the Colonial Period in American literature.  Content and SAT vocabulary will be studied, acquired, and applied throughout the unit. Students will apply this vocabulary throughout their study of American literature.

Week 1: Texts Covered

“”Horrors ofa Slave Ship”, “He Purchases his Freedom” p.272-280

from The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano

(http://chnm.gmu.edu/cyh/case-studies/141?section=primarysources&source=143)

Week 2: Texts Covered

from Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God p. 168

“To My Dear and Loving Husband” p. 77

The Crucible by Arthur Miller                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             Week 3:

 “Information about Non-Fiction Literature” (hand-out)

 “On Reading Trash (hand-out)                              “Graduation” (hand-out)

 

 

 

 

 

Additional:

Grammar

Literary Terms

Figurative Language

Writing Strategies

Range Finders

Analyze Visual Representations

Exposure to non-fiction articles that will promote analytical thinking and synthesis.

.

 

 

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Unit 1 (cont.): 1600-1800- Writers of the Revolution (Revolutionary Ideas in Revolutionary Literature)

 

Synopsis:  Non-fiction texts from the American Revolutionary period will be studied and analyzed with an emphasis on their use of persuasive rhetorical strategies. Emphasis will be placed on the lasting impact of these texts and their role in shaping an emerging and new form of government on the world stage.  After whole class discussion of specific strategies and stylistic devices (parallelism, repetition, allusion, etc.), students will work in pairs and groups to analyze text and evaluate persuasive techniques. Students will practice incorporating newly learned rhetorical and stylistic devices into their own persuasive writing.  Students will read and discuss representative American poetry and evaluate emerging American voices.  The culminating project will allow students to showcase their persuasive skills in writing and speaking.

 


Week 4: Texts Covered

Philip Freneau, To the Memor of the Brave Americans p288

The Wild Honey Suckle p.289

James Cooper “fromteh Pioneers” p.336

Week 5: Texts Covered

The Declaration of Independence p. 259

Speech in the Virginia Convention p. 265

Letter to John Adams p. 267

 

 

Week 6: Texts Covered

Thomas Paine from Common Sense p. 242

 

Additional:

Grammar

Literary Terms

Figurative Language

Writing Strategies

Range Finders

Analyze Visual Representations


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Unit 2:1800-1855- Celebrating the Individual- American Romanticism (A National Literature Expands– How does freedom spark a Renaissance in American Literature?)

Synopsis: Texts from the American Romantic Period will be examined, with an emphasis on poetry and on student generated expository writing. Skills of analysis and interpretation will be developed and practiced using the poetry of the period.  Students will acquire and apply content vocabulary.  Students will analyze and interpret an assigned poem in groups and create a written or oral product.  Students will individually compose an expository essay analyzing and interpreting an assigned (and unfamiliar) poem using the correct content vocabulary and references to the primary document.


 

Week 7: Texts Covered

“Washington Irving Rip Van Winkle p. 303

William Bryant Thanatopsis p.348

The Yellow Violet p.350

 

Week 8: Texts Covered

“Nature and Land p.295

The Death of Lincoln p.358

The Prairies p.355

 

 

 

 

Additional:

Grammar

Literary Terms

Figurative Language

Writing Strategies

Range Finders

Timed Writings

Analyze Visual Representations

 

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Unit 2:1800-1855- Marching to the Beat of a Different Drum (The Impact of Transcendentalism and Early Romanticism in American Literature)

Synopsis: The focus of the unit deals with American nonfiction and poetry.  American transcendentalist texts will be analyzed to determine author’s purpose, themes, and specific use of stylistic devices.  Students will demonstrate comprehension by applying knowledge of literary devices to identify and to explain supporting evidence.  Expository writing strategies continue. Content vocabulary will be applied throughout the study of nonfiction works. Patterns and themes related to recurring topics (the American Dream, individualism, classical influences, etc.) will be identified, analyzed, and validated.  Students will respond to transcendentalist texts and will conclude with a culminating activity that combines comprehension, writing, and listening, speaking, and viewing.

 


Week 9: Texts Covered

from “Nature” p.368

from “Self-Reliance” p.419

“Civil Disobedience”

from “Walden” p.545

 

Week 10: Texts Covered

from “Woman in the Nineteenth Century” p. 466

Fall of the House of Usher p. 591

To Helen p.570

“Because I could not stop for Death” p. 986

“I heard a Fly buzz—when I died” p. 998

“The Soul selects her own Society p.994

 

 

 

 

Week 11: Texts Covered

“The Raven P.574,

“The Minister’s Black Veil” p. 649

Moby Dick p. 725

Scarlet Letter by Hawthorne

 

Additional:

Grammar

Literary Terms

Figurative Language

Writing Strategies

Range Finders

Timed Writings

Analyze Visual Representations

 

 

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Unit 3:  1855-1870- An Age in Transition- From Romanticism to Realism (Realism and Naturalism in American Literature)

Synopsis:  This unit focuses on the literature Naturalism and Realism in American literature with an emphasis on expository writing. After studying and evaluating representative works of Realism and

Naturalism along with their characteristics, students work individually, in small groups, and in the class as a whole to analyze and evaluate representative works. In addition, students will write a reflective essay.

 


Week 12: Texts Covered

“I Hear America Singing” p. 898

“from “Song of Myself”

“Ode to Walt Whitman

“A Noiseless Patient Spider”

from Preface to Leaves of Grass

from Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

 

Week 13: Texts Covered

“An Episode of War” by Stephan Crane p.1367

“Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” Johnny Cash

“Go Down Moses” p. 583

“An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce

from Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass,” An American Slave” p. 874

 

 

Week 14: Texts Covered

The Open Boat by S.Crane

“The Wind begun to knead the Grass” Emily Dickinson

“Patroling Barnegat”Walt Whitman

 

 

Crosscurrents: Prosperity and Social Justice at THE Turn of the century

 

Week 15: Texts Covered

Andrew Carnegie “ From Wealth” p. 1329

W.E.B.Du Bois “The Souls of Black Folk” p.1337

Edith Wharton “Roman Fever”  p.1355

 

Week 16: Frontier literature-The First Wave

Willa Cather EXCERPTS FROM My Antonia

Jack London “ To Build a Fire”. The Call of the Wild

Dreiser “The Second Choice” p.1386

 

Additional:

Grammar

Literary Terms

Figurative Language

Writing Strategies

Range Finders

Timed Writings

Analyze Visual Representations

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


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Spring Term

Unit 4 (1870-1910), Unit 5 (1910-1940), Unit 6 (1940-Present): Capturing the American Landscape- Regionalism and Naturalism, The Harlem Renaissance and Modernism, Contemporary Literature (Studying the American Identity, American Dream, and the American Hero in Modernism and Postmodernism)

Synopsis:  Students will analyze American Modern and Postmodern fictional texts to determine author’s purpose, themes, and specific use of stylistic devices. Students will demonstrate comprehension by applying knowledge of literary devices to identify and to explain supporting evidence.  Expository writing strategies will be refined. Content vocabulary will be applied throughout the study of fiction. Patterns and recurring topics (the American Dream, individualism, classical influences, etc.) will be identified and analyzed.  Students will respond to fictional passages or texts and film both orally and in writing, concluding with a culminating activity that combines comprehension, writing, and listening, speaking and viewing. The focus of the unit deals with American Modern and Postmodern fictional texts and film. Dramatic literature will be the focus of this unit. The modern playwright’s use of language and dramatic elements will be analyzed and responded to orally and in writing.  Content vocabulary will be studied, acquired, and applied throughout the unit. Expository writing will be emphasized.  Literary devices that create meaning will be emphasized. Themes and literary characteristics of works across time and genre will be compared.  Students will respond to dramatic passages. ** We will adapt this unit to the specific needs of the class, and tailor reading selections to the interests of the students.

 


Week 17: Texts Covered

from The Autobiography of Mark Twain p. 658

from The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn p.694

“The Outcasts of Poker Flat” p. 696

Week 18: Texts Covered

“The Law of Life” p. 768

“The Story of an Hour p. 782

“The Yellow Wallpaper”

Calvin and Hobbes cartoon p. 793

from Ethan Frome  p. 818]

Week 179 Texts Covered

“Richard Cory” p. 920

“Out, Out–” and other Robert Frost poems

“Now the Negro Speaks of Rivers” p. 882

How it Feels to Be Colored Me p. 898

“The Death of a Hired Man” p. 943

from Letter from Birmingham City Jail p.1202

Martin Luther King Jr.: He Showed Us the Way p.1230

 

Week 20: Texts Covered

“The Life You Save May be Your Own” p. 1078

“A Worn Path” p. 1048

from The Grapes of Wrath p. 1024, 1026

from The Great Gatsby p. 1002

from A Raisin in the Sun p. 1168

“A Rose for Emily” p. 1064

Additional:

Grammar

Literary Terms

Figurative Language

Writing Strategies

Range Finders

Timed Writings

Analyze Visual Representations

Exposure to non-fiction articles that will promote analytical thinking and synthesis.

 

 

ADDITIONAL MAJOR ASSESSMENT FOR THIS UNIT (subject to change):

Reflective/ Analytical/Argumentative Paper/Book Project (2 weeks each)

Compiling Information into a Formal, Documented MLA Research Paper/Citing Sources and Preparing Manuscript

Analytical/Argumentative Paper (3-4 pages) that:

  • culminates multi-media research on a self-selected (and teacher-approved) topic;
  • uses outside source information to support a sufficiently-narrowed controlling idea;
  • integrates source information using paraphrase, summary, and direct quotation;
  • demonstrates an understanding of MLA documentation style,
  • is accompanied by works cited page.

 

Research Resources:

TAMIU Writing Center: http://www.tamiu.edu/uc/writingcenter/resources1.shtml