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Course Description/Outline (reflects needed skills) Scholars of literature will enjoy meeting some of the great characters and authors of America from the 1600’s to the present as we trace the philosophical movements that have reflected and shaped U.S. culture. This pre-AP format offers students strategies for literary analysis, advanced essay writing, in-class timed essays, original research, vocabulary development, and SAT strategies. This class offers: the study of novels, plays, poems, and essays from classical and modern authors of the United States—including Chicano, African American, and Asian-American authors—through the prism of those "subcultures". Students also engage in a research paper, with documentation in the latest MLA style, and thorough instruction in the interpretive and controversial issue essays.

Materials Provided (name of textbook, other resources, video used,etc.)

1. Required novels: The Crucible; "Huckleberry Finn"; Bless Me, Ultima; Animal dreams
2. Secondary novel choices: The Great Gatsby, The Scarlet Letter, Catcher in the Rye, Black Elk Speaks, The Bluest Eye, Moby Dick, Native Son
3. The American Experience, an anthology of United States Literature
4. Videos: Little Big Man, Guilt by Suspicion, Dead Poets Society, An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, The Crucible, Huck Finn, clips from other films made from the novels and stories we read
5. The teacher’s knowledge and resources as pertinent to U.S. Literary History

Materials Required

1. A journal type notebook, loose leaf lined paper, 2 pens and a pencil, the assigned reading materials, an attentive and open mind; and a desire to share ideas with the authors, teacher, and peers.

Goals (knowledge to be acquired, technical skills, etc., ESLRs must be referenced, standards alignment)

Units of Study (activities) (Only the larger works are listed here.)

Native American literature and influences

The Crucible and the Puritan influence

Colonial essay formatting/ Persuasive Essay

Poe and Romanticism

Emerson, Thoreau, and Transcendentalism

The Interpretive Essay

"Huck Finn"

Realism, Naturalism, and Regionalism

Modernism

"The Harlem Renaissance"

Methods of Assessment (may include tests, portfolios, projects, essays, etc.)

Journal writings, oral presentations, written essays, class discussion, projects, research documentation, evaluation of class participation

Grading Policy

The grade is an average of all assigned work, which has varying weights. The grade for Late work is reduced daily. This class is an introduction to college level expectation, and carries a weighted GPA. For journal entries and essays, one-dimensional, superficial, unimaginative thinking does not warrant full credit; nor does obviously not putting due effort into an assignment. Essays and journals tend to be worth about 50% of the semester grade; presentations and homework, roughly 30%; and the final exam is worth 20%.

Class Procedures (missed assignments, make up work assignment format)

Late submissions are reduced a grade level (A to A- to B+ to B…) per day.

Excused absences are taken into consideration.

Some extra credit will be available to solidify a grade, but rarely to raise it a letter

Behavioral Expectations (and consequences)

This is an honors class, and I expect it to behave like one.

This includes listening to whomever has the floor, coming to class prepared to work, and observing the basic rules of social etiquette

.........American Literature, Honors...............................................................................................................

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cc: Teacher