Course Description
A survey of the important works of British literature for the last 1000 years or so, divided into 4 genre units (poetry, nonfiction, fiction, plays), each of which traces that particular genre over time, and a fifth unit on dystopian literature to close out the year. Other works from other cultures may be thrown in as well, but reading these classic books will probably take up quite a bit of time. We will try to read Shakespeare's Hamlet, Dickens' Tale of Two Cities, as well as works by Jane Austen, James Joyce, Joseph Conrad, George Orwell and Aldous Huxley, plus smaller works by many more authors.
Why British lit? Traditionally taught in the 12th grade, British literature, also known as English literature, informed virtually all American writing up until the 1950's or so, and a well-read American has almost always spent a considerable amount of time reading the Brits. In the same way that American history and culture have deep roots in English history, it would be difficult to understand the American literary tradition without also looking into that of Great Britain.
Students will read daily from a variety of sources, study vocabulary lists each week, write daily in a journal, write paragraphs and short essays periodically, and write five significant essays over the year. Graded oral recitations (from memory) will also occur several times during the year, and students should expect quizzes and exams regularly.
Students are encouraged to bring fully charged laptops, tablet computers and smart phones into class every day, in addition to notebooks, texts and writing materials, as the class will rely heavily on internet search engines, blog entries and word processing capabilities.
Philosophy
The study of English fundamentally affects our ability, personally and socially, to express our intelligence. Think of intelligence as the depth and complexity of our thoughts. If we do not have language to define those thoughts, they remain unformed and stay within us. As we acquire more sophisticated language, we both understand and communicate more sophisticated thoughts. The more words we know (vocabulary), the more sentences we construct (grammar and syntax) and the more pages we write and read (literature and analysis), the more complex our thoughts become, and the more easily we are able to express them. Thus, increasing our language abilities increases our intelligence.
The goal of this class is therefore quite simple: express more complex thoughts when you have finished the year than when you began it.
Achieving this goal requires two simple steps. First, practice. Learn more words, write more sentences, read more books and essays, wrestle with more questions. Second, push. Push yourself to learn ever-harder words, to write more elegant sentences, to read more dense books.
Practice and push. You could learn anything with these two steps.
Classroom
Imagine students grouped around tables in the center of the room, computers and smart phones open, notebooks, textbooks, journals, pens and slips of paper scattered here and there. The teacher asks a typical English class question: Can anyone tell us a little bit about the poet Andrew Marvell? Rapid clicking of keyboards and touch screens, hands slowly rise, one or two impulsive folks shouting out facts. Within a few minutes, a number of important facts about Marvell have been jotted down on the chalk board, and most of the students in class are writing them down on screens or in notebooks. Somebody volunteers to read one of Marvell's poems, then another poem is found, and another. One student sends a Facebook message to a college professor friend at Berkeley, who sends back an answer a few minutes later. Information is shared, knowledge and passion build up, bubble over. Together, we learn, we study, we grow.
Not everyone studies or speaks out or participates, of course. One student nuzzles her boyfriend's neck, a second sneaks in a little Halo time during the discussion, a third misspells Marvell and starts looking into the development of comic books in 1950s America. Maybe one sends a text: i m so BORED :( to another, who rolls her eyes and texts back: where r u going 4 lunch? But even these students eventually get pulled into the conversation, cajoled and encouraged to participate, to discover something new, to speak up, to ask questions, to speculate.
In this classroom, the students and teacher are engaging in collective inquiry; asking a question together, and using the power of a dozen minds and a couple gigs of computer memory to find answers. They are thinking, speaking, reading, writing; step one for achieving the goal of the class, in other words. The teacher may prompt another question or two, steer the discussion one way or another, produce some facts of her own, read a particular poem, ask a student to post the finding on the classroom blog - all activities designed to push the students past the most obvious understandings and into more complex and compelling discussions. The second step for achieving the goal.
Many things may come out of this process: a poem, an essay, a journal entry, a speech, another discussion, some quiz or exam questions. All of these are opportunities for the students and the teacher to practice and push.
In a perfect world, the above scene might include a parrot in the corner, an espresso machine, a plate of fresh fruit slices and fewer folks off-task. In an even more perfect world, it would be held on the deck of a big boat just off the coast of Italy. But since we don't inhabit a perfect world, we'll just go with the picture we've got.
Behavior Expectations
Again, simple. If a student (we'll call him Rascal) interferes with the learning process, he'll be asked to stop, hopefully by another student feeling protective about class time. If Rascal does not stop, he'll be asked to wait in the hall until class is finished. If he repeatedly chooses to spend time in the hall, he will inevitably lower his grade, and maybe even fail the class. Simple.
It is assumed you are familiar with (and perhaps have practiced over the last 13 years) many activities which interfere with other people's learning and thus compromise the goal of our class. Sadly, you will not be given any opportunities to practice these distracting behaviors in 12th grade English, and will have to use your homework time to work on them instead. Or grow out of them, perhaps.
Sabotaging your own learning is a slightly different matter. Spending a half hour re-Tweeting party pictures when you should be looking up new words isn't likely to increase your vocabulary, which'll probably lower your grades. Late work won't count, so that'll lower your grade. Copying essays from friends or from the web is a bad option because you won't learn much, and if you are caught, you'll fail the assignment. Lots of folks read SparkNotes, or something like it, rather than reading novels, then attempt to fake their way through quizzes and essays and classroom discussions. Some people are really good at this. I personally believe novels are worthy art, and strongly encourage you to read them rather than skip them.
Grading
Several methods will be used to assess your progress toward achieving the stated goal. You will have quizzes, exams and finals, short, medium and long writing assignments, oral presentation of poems and speeches, daily journal writing and reading requirements. You will be expected to talk in class on most days as well; to participate, that is, in classroom discussions.
Your grade in class will consist of numbers crunched from the following categories:
Category |
Weighting |
Letter Grades |
Participation (in class, on the blog, reading quiz scores) |
10% |
A: |
90% & above |
Practice ((Journal writing, vocabulary assignments, other homework) |
20% |
B: |
80% & above |
Skills (Vocabulary quizzes, short writing assignments, first drafts, exams) |
30% |
C: |
70% & above |
Mastery (Final drafts, speeches, final exams) |
40% |
D: |
60%& above |
|
|
F: |
below 60% |
Go back to the picture we painted earlier of the classroom. Notice some folks are present and alive to the purpose of the class while others are not. They may be present and alive–no argument there–but not to the purpose of the class. Here's the truth: if you show up, commit time and energy to learning, engage in the material even when it is difficult, speak during class discussions, do your best to be honest and organized, you'll do fine. Guaranteed.
Please bring the following things to class every day:
A binder with paper
Pens
Your journal (electronic or hand written)
The book we are currently reading
The handouts or other materials with which we are working
A cheerful attitude
If you have a laptop, netbook, tablet, smart phone or any other way of connecting with the outside world (a tin can and a string?), please bring that every day too.
Senior Seminar
In addition to all of the traditional features of an English class, seniors will spend quite a bit of time wrestling with two core questions this year: What do I want to do after high school? and, How can I make a positive difference in the world, right here, right now? With those questions in mind, we have created the Senior Seminar, a chance to explore and prepare for academic and career paths after graduation, and simultaneously to choose a topic you love, learn as much as you can about it, and construct some kind of project around that passion.
Senior Seminar will take up approximately 20% of our year (about one day a week). Participation is mandatory (it is a graduation requirement), and 5 additional credits will be earned for the class upon successful completion. Senior Seminar will have its own assignments, schedules, due dates and grades, but will share the classroom, the teacher and the behavioral expectations already established for Senior English.
In essence, Senior Seminar consists of 4 tracks. In the fall, we will focus on college entrance exams such as the SAT, on college applications, including the personal essay, and on college selection criteria. We will also discuss and identify ambitions, drives, passions, interests and dreams, with an eye toward finding a fulfilling work life as well as picking a research paper topic for the Senior Project.
In the winter, we will complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), an online document which must be completed by all students in order to qualify for a number of grants, loans and scholarships. Completion does not commit a student to college, by the way. We'll complete the Senior Project research paper, and support one another to complete the projects themselves.
In the spring, we'll practice and then present the project speeches and posters on Big Night I and II, May 23rd and 24th, a chance to celebrate you for all of your hard work and effort.
Finally, in the spring we'll also begin planning the graduation festivities, including the senior trip.
Grades will consist of an accumulation of points assigned to certain tasks (visiting a college, completing the SAT, selecting a topic, etc.), and to the completion of the research paper, project paperwork, project, poster and speech.
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