English III Syllabus
Mr. Mulhern
Room 2402
scholarmulhern.blogspot.com
Resources:
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt: Into Literature (Grade 11)--Access electronic version through Clever (the square brown "Ed" icon).
Course Description: The purpose of this course is to assist students in becoming critical thinkers who possess skills in reading, writing, listening, viewing, speaking, language, and literature. The content will include, but is not limited to, the following:
- using reading strategies to construct meaning from literary texts
- acquiring an extensive vocabulary through reading, discussion, listening, and systematic word study
- using process writing strategies, student inquiry, and self-monitoring techniques
- using speaking, listening, and viewing strategies in formal presentations and informal discussion
- understanding and responding to a variety of literary genres
- understanding and using language successfully to persuade readers, writers, listeners, speakers, and viewers
- developing research skills to collect and synthesize information from a variety of sources and media
Textbooks: High School Students are responsible for the care and return of all the required books and required materials/supplies on loan and will be issued an obligation for damaged or missing books and/or materials/supplies.
Note: An online textbook may be accessed through the Single Sign-On Launch Pad available at http://sso.browardschools.com You will need to download a program/plugin. Instructions on how to do this can be found at http://browardschools.com/sso :
User ID: 10 digit student number
Password: PMM/DD/YYYY (Birthdate Preceded by a capital ‘P’)
Course Overview
Students will address essential questions as springboards for relating literature to their own lives. The essential questions will help students think critically about the richness and diversity within American literature, culture, and history.
Writing Assignments: A variety of essays, including the personal, reflective, interpretive, persuasive, and research essay. Creative writing, including poetry, drama, and short story.
Projects: Oral presentations with written and visual components, skits, group activities, and research paper.
Grammar: A variety of grammar assessments and assignments that address student needs.
Literature: A variety of literary texts, ranging from the Puritan Period to the Contemporary Period in American Literature.
Evaluation
A point system is used to grade student work. Less important assignments make up fewer points in the student's overall grade, while more important work such as papers, tests, and projects are worth more points.
Broward County Grading Scale/Teacher Grading Policy
90% - 100% = A
87% - 89% = B+
80% - 86% = B
77% - 79% = C+
70% - 76% = C
67% - 69% = D+
60% - 66% = D
0% - 59% = F
Learning Standards Addressed:
The student uses the reading process effectively.
The student constructs meaning from a wide range of texts.
The student uses writing processes effectively.
The student writes to communicate ideas and information effectively.
The student uses listening strategies effectively.
The student uses viewing strategies effectively.
The student uses speaking strategies effectively.
The student understands the nature of language.
The student understands the power of language.
The student understands the common features of a variety of literary forms.
The student responds critically to fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and drama.
Sample Course Outline--Education is a fluid environment, and depending on student needs, student interests, and school events (assemblies, essential visits by Guidance and other presenters, field trips), a syllabus is quite frequently adapted:
First Unit: Essential questions--What are the origins of American culture? How do I define that culture? What is my place in the culture?
Readings will include "The World on the Turtle's Back" (24), "Coyote Stories" (39), "The Man to Send Rain Clouds" (48), "The Travels of Marco Polo" (77), "Plymouth Plantation" (81), "The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equaiano" (93), "My Sojourn in the Lands of My Ancestors" (109), and The Crucible.
Second Unit: Essential questions--What is the nature of freedom? What are my freedoms? How have definitions of freedom been different in the past? Will the idea of freedom be different in the future?
Readings will include "Speech in the Virginia Convention" (262), "The Declaration of Independence" (270), " The Declaration of the Rights of Woman" (277), "Stride Toward Freedom" (300), "Civil Disobedience" (360), "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment" (500), "In the American Society" (877), "Refugee Ship" (894), "My Dungeon Shook" (959), and "The Man Who Was Almost a Man" (1045).
Midterm Exam: The midterm exam will be cumulative from the first and second quarters. The exam will consist of multiple-choice, short answer, and essay questions.
Third Unit: Essential questions--Why don't people get along? What are the solutions to conflict, misunderstanding, and change? What must I do to help break down barriers, resolve conflicts, and create positive relationships?
Readings will include "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass" (562), "Free Labor" (574), "The Gettysburg Address" (605), "Ballad of Birmingham" (618), "I Will Fight No More Forever" (651), "We Wear the Mask of Sympathy" (835), "Adolescence--III" (802), "How It Feels to be Colored Me" (950), "The Legend" (1210), "Ambush" (1105), and "Why Soldiers Won't Talk" (1088).
Fourth Unit: Essential questions--What is the American Dream? How has the American Dream changed through time? What is my American Dream?
Readings will include "America and I" (863), "The New Immigrants" (875), "In the American Society" (877), "When the Negro Was in Vogue" (932), "The Weary Blues," (925), "Harlem" (926), "I, Too" (925), "In Praise of Robert Frost" (1012), "Teenage Wasteland" (1168), "Hostage" (1200), "Straw into Gold: The Metamorphosis of the Everyday" (1227), "Mother Tongue" (1215), "Wandering" (1150), "The Life You Save May be Your Own" (528), "I Hear America Singing" (397), "Walden" (381), and The Great Gatsby.
Final Exam: The final exam will be cumulative for the third and fourth quarters. The exam will consist of multiple-choice, short answer, and essay questions.
Sample Unit Plans (Scope and Sequence)
Unit One
1. Introduction to the concept of myth/stories and what a particular group of people's stories reveals about their attitudes and societal mores and norms.
2. Analysis of the Native American Literature in the Language Arts textbook focussing on an origin tale, a folk tale, and a trickster tale of various Native American tribes with comparison to Western European "myths," such as the Christian account of the origin of the world as revealed in Genesis.
3. Evaluative Assessment--Essay on Native American Literature (MLA format, textual evidence)
4. Visual Media Tie-In: Viewing/analysis/connection of movie Dreamkeepers with the Native American Literature we have discussed.
Unit Two
1. Frontloading information about Puritan worldview, theology.
2. Close reading and analysis of "Of Plymouth Plantation," and "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" (both in the Language of Literature textbook).
3. Discussion of language and syntax from different time periods, i.e., compare and contrast contemporary American English with English of the Puritans.
4. Comparison/Contrast of Puritan worldview and Native American worldview.
5. Learning of Persuasive Techniques and the power of particular rhetorical devices to effect reactions and persuade audience members.
6. Evaluative Assessment--Essay on the Puritan Worldview (MLA format, textual evidence)
7. Visual Media Tie-In: Viewing/analysis of movie The Crucible, with particular attention paid to cinematic and visual persuasive techniques, directorial choices.
Unit Three
1. Frontloading information on characteristics of the Enlightenment, and the idea of America as the ultimate "Enlightenment Experiment."
2. Comparison/Contrast of Puritan worldview with Enlightenment worldview--emerging concepts of democracy, equality, religious tolerance, progress, rise of secularism and the scientific worldview.
3. Close reading and analysis of Patrick Henry's "Speech in the Virginia Convention" and an excerpt from Franklin's Autobiography. Discussion of Franklin as prototypical Enlightenment figure. Comparison of Franklin with Edwards, the Puritan author of "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God."
4. Increased attention to the power of rhetoric and persuasive techniques, using "The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano" (Language of Literature textbook)
5. Evaluative Assessment--Essay evaluating the power of persuasive rhetoric based on Henry's Speech or Edwards' sermon and/or discussion of how much modern America is still influenced by both the Puritan worldview and the Enlightenment worldview (MLA format, textual evidence).
6. Visual Media Tie-In: Any one of Ken Burns's biographical films about the Founding Fathers or another movie on the Revolutionary War Period.
With all units above, SAT vocabulary development, Grammar activities focussing on basic sentence components--clauses (different types), phrases; lessons on specificity in language as a powerful vehicle of expression, i.e., diction; the difference between abstract/concrete and general/specific language; figurative language and imagery.
Materials Needed: Three-ring binder with dividers, folder, ballpoint pens, highlighters, pencils, white loose-leaf paper.
*Please note that this syllabus is subject to change by the instructor if deemed necessary.
*All school and county policies will be followed as per the Broward County Student Code of Conduct.
*Attendance/Field Trip Policies observed as outlined in the Student Code of Conduct.
