UCS Honors English 9-10: Course Guidelines

Transcription

1 UCS Honors English 9-10: Course Guidelines Reading Expectations: 1. Honors English is a year-long course and includes an intensive study of literature, literary non-fiction, and various informational texts such as those by authors cited in the AP English Course Descriptions. More importantly, the works selected for this course require careful, deliberate reading that yields multiple meanings. 2. The primary focus is close reading skills and strategies; as such, students are expected to comprehend most texts on their own. 3. Because challenging texts require a second reading to fully understand a work s complexity, to absorb its richness of meaning, and to analyze how that meaning is embodied in rhetorical technique or literary form, Close and Critical Reading (CCR), discussions, lectures, and assignments will not focus on summary but on careful observation of textual details, considering... a work's structure, style, and themes the social and historical values it reflects and embodies such elements as the use of figurative language, imagery, symbolism, and tone. 4. There will be careful attention to... a work s literary artistry a work s historical context textual detail analysis to arrive at the understanding of multiple meanings Criteria for Supplemental Texts: Texts must correlate to the genres, themes, etc. (e.g. the Michigan Merit Curriculum Themes/Dispositions/Essential questions, the study of American Literature, etc.) You may NOT replace an existing MISD Unit Anchor text You may NOT supplement with an MISD Unit Anchor text used in another grade *NOTE: Since the availability of supplemental materials varies from building to buildings, Honors English Teachers are advised to consider AP Vertical Teaming goals within their buildings when supplementing novels, dramas, memoirs, etc. Exemplar Texts: Honors English 9 Great Expectations, Charles Dickens The Chosen, Chaim Potek And Then There Were None, Agatha Christie House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros The Hound of Baskervilles, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Honors English 10 (American Literature) The Awakening, Kate Chopin The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne The Jungle, Upton Sinclair Cat's Cradle, Kurt Vonnegut Slaughterhouse V, Kurt Vonnegut Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston A Separate Peace, John Knowles Inherit the Wind, James Lawrence & Robert E. Lee A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur s Court, Twain

2 Writing Expectations: 1. In addition to the English 9-10"Formal Writing" delineated by the English or Course Outlines, Honors English students can expect to write... (4-5) On-Demand Essays and/or Explications each semester (2-4) Formal/Process-Piece Essays each semester...with an emphasis on Response to Literature (Analytical and Explanatory) *NOTE: All student writing should adhere to the MLA guidelines using complete, in-text parenthetical citations when quoting or annotated texts. Literary Vocabulary: Honors English 9: Alliteration Allusion Antecedent Connotation Denotation Extended Metaphor Figurative Language Figure of Speech Genre Imagery Inference Irony Narrative Figure of Speech Onomatopoeia Oxymoron Personification Point of View Prose Repetition Symbol/Symbolism Theme Thesis Honors English 10 (American Literature) Allegory Alliteration Allusion Analogy Aphorism Atmosphere Caricature Colloquialism Connotation Denotation Diction Euphemism Extended Metaphor Hyperbole Imagery Irony Mood Onomatopoeia Oxymoron Paradox Parallelism Anaphora Parody Personification Point of View Repetition Rhetorical Modes Sarcasm Satire Syllogism Symbols/Symbolism Syntax Tone Understatement

3 Grammar: Parts of Speech 1. Pronouns (9.1) a. Recognize and correct pronoun usage (i.e. collective and possessive). b. Personal pronoun usage to achieve coherence in writing. c. Revise sentences by using pronouns to avoid the unnecessary repetition of nouns to achieve concision. d. Revise sentences by using relative pronouns for added detail and concision. 2. Verbs (9.1) a. Using action verbs to create strong images and metaphors in writing. 3. Adjectives and Adverbs (9.1) a. Adding adjectives and combining sentences to improve interest. b. Using strong adjectives in descriptive (narrative) writing. c. Using adverbs to better describe the way things happen in (narrative) writing. 4. Prepositions/Prepositional Phrases (9.1) a. Revise sentences using prepositional phrases to add precision in a description. b. Revise sentences using prepositional phrases to introduce a sentence, to create transition, and to vary sentence patterns for meaning. Sentence Parts 1. Subjects and Predicate (9.2) a. Revise inappropriate sentence fragments that lack either a subject or a predicate. b. Revise sentences by combining to form compound subjects & predicates. c. Revise sentences by changing the position of the subject to vary sentence patterns for meaning. Phrases 1. Appositive and Verbal Phrases (9.3) a. Revise sentences by combining through subordination using appositives, present and past participial phrases, infinitives, and gerunds. b. Recognize and correct misplaced modifiers and dangling constructions.

4 Grammar: Usage Problems 1. Subject-Verb Agreement (10.1) a. Ensure subject-verb agreement by recognizing prepositional, appositive, and participial phrases that come between a subject and its verb. b. Ensure subject-verb agreement by recognizing when the verb precedes the subject. c. Ensure subject-verb agreement when using singular or plural subjects. d. Recognize and correct contested cases of subject-verb agreement (i.e. singular subjects joined by and, subjects joined by or/nor, collective nouns, etc.). Using Verbs Correctly 1. Maintaining Verb Tense (10.1) a. Recognize and correct inappropriate shifts in verb tense (i.e. from one tense to another w/o an actual shift in the time of the action, from present tense when stating general facts that are always true, from present perfect tense when describing a past action which continues into the present). b. Revise sentences by using active verbs for directness (unless you have a good reason for using a passive verb). Clauses 1. Independent and Subordinate (10.2) a. Recognize and revise subordinate clauses written as inappropriate sentence fragments. b. Identify and differentiate adjective, adverb, and noun clauses. c. Combine sentences through subordination using adjective, adverb, and noun clauses. 2. Who/Whom Problem (10.2) a. Ensure that pronouns are in the proper case (subjective vs. objective) especially in noun clauses. 3. Parallel Constructions (10.2) a. Revise sentences by using parallel structure for style and tone. b. Recognize and correct faulty parallelisms. 4. Kinds of Sentences (10.2) a. Revise sentences to incorporate simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex sentences. b. Revise sentences to incorporate various patterns for meaning, interest, and style. c. Use semi-colons and colons as punctuation for effect. Knowledge of Language 1. Style Elements (10.2) a. Choose language that expresses ideas precisely and concisely. b. Choose language that conveys appropriate tone. c. Recognize and eliminate wordiness and redundancy. d. Use punctuation for effect (i.e. dashes, ellipsis, etc.). Sentence Parts 1. Fragments and Run-ons (10.3) a. Recognize and correct inappropriate sentence fragments and run-ons. Commas 1. Series (10.4) a. To separate items in series especially phrases and clauses. 2. Introductory word groups (10.4) a. To separate modifiers that precede the independent clause (i.e. one or more prepositional phrases, verbal phrase, adverb or an adverb clause, or a mild interjection at the beginning of a sentence). 3. Interrupters (10.4) a. To set off nonrestrictive/parenthetical elements (i.e. nonessential appositives or adjective clauses, parenthetical expressions, and direct addresses). 4. Compound sentences (10.4) a. To join independent clauses with and, but, for, yet, so, and or. b. Recognize and eliminate commas joining parts of a compound predicate.

5 Summer Assignment Expectations: Honors English Students should anticipate Multiple text selections to be read independently during the summer months. These will include various novels, dramas, memoirs, and/or informational texts assigned by the individual Honors English teacher(s). 2. One or more of the following assignments: Literary Analysis Essay(s) using MLA-Format Dialectical Journals with annotated quotations/passages Formal note taking (Reader's Notebooks, Cornell Notes, etc.) On-line Discussion Boards NOTE: All assignments will be graded and will be considered part of a student's Semester 1 course work. Assignments may be submitted on-line ( , Turnitin.com, etc.) as determined by the individual Honors teacher. Students may be formally assessed (tests, quizzes, etc.) on any or all of the summer reading within Semester 1 as determined by the individual Honors teacher. Also, late additions to the course (e.g. start of the school year) WILL be required to complete some or all of the summer assignments, OR an equivalent assignment, as determined by the individual Honors teacher.