AMERICAN LITERATURE STANDARD LEVEL ½ CREDIT JUNIOR ENGLISH REQUIRED

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1 English Department Syllabus American Literature Standard AMERICAN LITERATURE STANDARD LEVEL ½ CREDIT JUNIOR ENGLISH REQUIRED I. 11 th GRADE STANDARD AMERICAN LITERATURE II. III. IV. INSTRUCTORS Ruthie Roth and Courtney Eddleman TEXT A. Kinsella, Kate, et al. Prentice Hall Literature: Timeless Voice, Timeless Themes: The American Experience. Glenview, Illinois: Pearson Education, Inc., PREREQUISITES Students must have passed both semesters of freshman LA 9 and sophomore LA 10 English classes. V. COURSE DESCRIPTION The STANDARD LEVEL of AMERICAN LITERATURE is a semester course composed of selections representing the best American writing from four centuries. The chronological survey of American literature begins with excerpts from the Colonial Period and continues through time to modern American prose, poetry, and drama. The American dream, or our hope for the future, is shared from the writings of the Puritans and our early leaders such as Franklin and Jefferson through the selected works of some of our modern spokesmen including Hemingway, Wilder, Frost, Sandburg and other great writers. This course helps the student become aware of the changing values of Americans. Through renowned works of outstanding American authors the student gains a mastery of a sufficient portion of our nation s literary heritage to insure an appreciation of American literature as well as an awareness of our literature being an important reflection of our nation s history. Enrichment consists of reading and reporting on several books/plays each semester; students will select books from a list compiled by the instructor or by approval of the instructor. Class group study of one or more novels may also be included in the course. Writing assignments may consist of compositions based on important features of selections read, an analyzation of a work,

2 special reporting, keeping a literature notebook, etc. There may be one oral presentation during a semester. Audio-visual aids are used also. VI. COURSE CONTENT A. UNIT 1: BEGINNINGS 1750 INTRODUCTION 1. Part 1 Meeting of Cultures a. Onondaga The Earth on Turtle s Back (optional) b. Modoc Where Grizzlies Walked Upright (optional) c. Navajo from The Navajo Origin Legend (optional) d. Equiano from The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano (optional) 2. Part 2 Focus on Literary Forms: Narrative Accounts a. Smith from The General History of Virginia b. Bradford from Of Plymouth Plantation c. Wolfe from The Right Stuff (optional) 3. Part 3 The Puritan Influence a. Bradstreet To My Dear and Loving Husband b. Taylor Huswifery c. Edwards from Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God B. UNIT 2: A NATION IS BORN ( ) INTRODUCTION 1. Part 1: Voices of Freedom a. Franklin from The Autobiography b. Franklin from Poor Richard s Almanack c. Jefferson The Declaration of Independence (optional) d. Paine from The Crisis, Number 1 e. Wheatley To His Excellency, General Washington (optional) 2. Part 2: Focus on Literary Forms: Speeches a. Henry Speech in the Virginia Convention b. Kennedy Inaugural Address (optional) c. Adams Letter to Her Daughter From the New York White House d. Jean de Crévecoeur from Letters From an American Farmer

3 C. UNIT 3: A GROWING NATION ( ) -- INTRODUCTION 1. Part 1: Fireside and Campfire a. Irving The Devil and Tom Walker b. Longfellow The Psalm of Life (optional) c. Longfellow The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls d. Bryant Thanatopsis e. Holmes Old Ironsides f. Lowell The First Snowfall g. Whittier from Snowbound 2. Part 2: Shadows of the Imagination a. Poe The Fall of the House of Usher or The Pit and the Pendulm b. Poe The Raven (& others) (optional) c. Hawthorne The Minister s Black Veil Or Dr. Heidigger s Experiment d. Melville from Moby-Dick or from Redburn e. Cooper from Deerslayer or from The Prairie 3. Part 3: The Human Spirit and the Natural World a. Emerson from Nature b. Emerson from Self-Reliance c. Emerson Concord Hymn d. Emerson The Snowstorm e. Thoreau from Walden f. Thoreau from Civil Disobedience (optional) 4. Part 4: Focus on Literary Forms: Poetry a. Dickinson Because I Could Not Stop For Death b. Dickinson My Life Closed Twice Before Its Close c. Dickinson The Soul Selects Her Own Society d. Dickinson Other Poems (optional) e. Whitman When I Heard the Learn d Astronomer f. Whitman I Hear America Singing g. Whitman from Song of Myself h. Whitman By the Bivouac s Fitful Flame or Beat! Beat! Drums! i. Whitman Other Poems (optional)

4 D. UNIT 4: DIVISION, RECONCILIATION, AND EXPANSION ( ) INTRODUCTION 1. Part 1: A Nation Divided a. Crane An Episode of War or Crane The Open Boat b. Spiritual Swing Low, Sweet Chariot (optional) c. Spiritual Go Down, Moses (optional) d. Bierce An Occurance at Owl Creek Bridge (optional) e. Lincoln The Gettysburg Address (optional) f. Lincoln Second Inaugural Address (optional) g. Lee Letter to His Son (optional) h. Douglas from My Bondage and My Freedom 2. Part 2: Focus on Literary Forms: Diaries, Journals and Letters a. Jackson An Account of the Battle of Bull Run (optional) b. Truth An Account of an Experience With Discrimination (optional) c. Moore Gulf War Journal from A Woman at War (optional) d. Goss Reflections of a Private 3. Part 3: Forging New Frontiers a. Twain from Life on the Mississippi or The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County (optional) a. Harte The Outcasts of Poker Flat b. London To Build a Fire 4. Part 4: Living in a Changing World a. Chopin The Story of an Hour (optional) a. Robinson Luke Havergal b. Robinson Richard Cory c. Masters Lucinda Matlock d. Masters Other Poems (optional) e. Cather The Sculptor s Funeral or A Wagner Matinee

5 E. UNIT 5: DISILLUSION, DEFIANCE, AND DISCONTENT ( ) INTRODUCTION 1. Part 1: Facing Troubled Times a. Eliot The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock (optional) b. Williams, Pound, & H.D. (choose a few selections) c. Fitzgerald Winter Dreams or The Baby Party d. Steinbeck The Turtle or Flight or Migrants 2. Part 2: Focus on Literary Forms: The Short Story a. Hemingway In Another Country a. Welty A Worn Path 3. Part 3: From Every Corner of the Land a. Sandburg Chicago b. Sandburg Grass c. Porter The Jilting of Granny Weatherall d. Faulkner Race at Morning or The Bear (optional) e. Frost Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening f. Frost Mending Well (optional) g. Frost Out, Out h. Frost The Gift Outright (optional) i. Frost The Death of the Hired Man (optional) j. Frost The Road Not Taken k. Thurber The Night the Ghost Got In (optional) F. UNIT 6: PROSPERITY AND PROTEST (1946 PRESENT) INTRODUCTION 1. Part 1: Literature Confronts the Everyday a. O Connor The Life You Save May Be Your Own (optional) b. Malamud The First Seven Years (optional) c. Updike The Brown Chest d. Momaday from The Names (optional) e. Nye Mint Snowball (optional) f. Walker Everyday Use (optional) g. Kingston from The Woman Warrior (optional)

6 2. Part 2: Focus on Literary Forms: Essay a. McCurllers from The Mortgaged Heart (optional) 3. Part 3: Social Protest a. Bladwin The Rockpile (optional) b. Hersey from Hiroshima (optional) c. Jarrell Losses (optional) d. Miller The Crucible (optional) G. NOVELS/PLAYS 1. Hawthorne The Scarlet Letter (optional) 2. Twain The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (optional) 3. Wilder Our Town (optional) 4. Miller - The Crucible (optional) VII. COURSE FORMAT The following instructional strategies may be used in the teaching of this course: lecture, mini-lecture, small-group collaboration, discussion, projects, and technology-based learning. VIII. COURSE EXPECTATIONS Students will be expected to complete all reading, writing, and speaking assignments and fulfill all tasks for daily homework. All will be expected to contribute to discussions and in-class activities as well as individual and group presentations. Book/play reviews may be included. Some cooperative learning experiences, individual projects, vocabulary study, and research work may also be expected. IX. GRADES Final course grades may include the following forms of assessment: daily work, class participation, quizzes, exams, projects, essays/compositions, oral presentations, technologybased presentations, semester final exams, and alternative assessments as determined by individual instructors.

7 X. COURSE OBJECTIVES A. Literature 1. The student will be able to trace the concept of the American dream as it develops and changes throughout the various literary periods. 2. The student will be able to compare and contrast the way of life of the Puritan and Cavalier. 3. The student will be able to explain Calvinism. 4. The student will be able to recognize the major kinds of Colonial literature and the important Colonial writers. 5. The student will be able to identify and define the conceit. 6. The student will be able to name and explain the major ideas/themes found in selections studied from the Colonial Era. 7. The student will be able to define deism. 8. The student will be able to contrast deism to Puritanism. 9. The student will be able to recognize the elements and purpose of persuasive writing of deistic/revolutionary writers. 10. The student will be able to name and explain major ideas/themes found in selections studied from the Revolutionary Era. 11. The student will be able to define and explain satire. 12. The student will be able to define classicism. 13. The student will be able to define romanticism. 14. The student will be able to recognize romantic qualities in romantic literature. 15. The student will be able to define/explain the characteristics of a romantic hero. 16. The student will be able to identify/define blank verse. 17. The student will be able to name and explain major ideas/themes found in selections studied from the period of romanticism. 18. The student will be able to define transcendentalism. 19. The student will be able to explain the ideals of Emerson and Thoreau. 20. The student will be able to name and explain major ideas/themes found in selections studied from the period of transcendentalism. 21. The student will be able to explain why the style and themes of the Fireside Poets were popular. 22. The student will be able to define/explain the sonnet. 23. The student will be able to name and explain major

8 ideas/themes found in selections of some of the Fireside Poets/Cambridge Writers. 24. The student will be able to identify the impact of the style and subject matter of the poetry of Emily Dickinson on the Modern Era. 25. The student will be able to recognize the importance of Walt Whitman in the development of modern poetry. 26. The student will be able to name and explain the major ideas/themes found in the selections of Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman that were studied in class. 27. The student will be able to define realism. 28. The student will be able to identify the viewpoint of a realistic writer. 29. The student will be able to name and explain the major ideas/themes found in realistic works studied. 30. The student will be able to define naturalism. 31. The student will be able to identify the viewpoint of a naturalistic writer. 32. The student will be able to name and explain the major ideas/themes found in naturalistic works. 33. The student will be able to recognize the characteristics of local color writing. 34. The student will be able to analyze the five parts of a plot of fiction. 35. The student will be able to explain how the modern short story deals with contemporary themes. 36. The student will be able to recognize revelations about the author as a person from his/her work. 37. The student will be able to recognize the function of setting in a literary work. 38. The student will be able to analyze an author s methods of characterization. 39. The student will be able to explain the function of tone in a specific literary work. 40. The student will be able to analyze the function of point of view in a specific literary work. 41. The student will be able to name and explain the major ideas/themes found in modern short stories studied in class. 42. The student will be able to recognize poetic feet. 43. The student will be able to recognize poetic meter. 44. The student will be able to recognize the power of suggestion of figurative language. 45. The student will be able to recognize free verse. 46. The student will be able to recognize experimental forms in

9 modern poetry as opposed to traditional. 47. The student will be able to name and explain the major ideas/themes found in modern poetry studied in class. 48. The student will be able to state and explain the major ideas/themes found in novels and plays studied in class.