Explore American Literature in Depth

1. Advanced American and World Literature Class Expectations and Procedures, Course Syllabus

2. Course Overview • Advanced American Literature • We will be reading a sampling from major American literary time periods and authors, both from the textbook and parallel texts. • You will also use and improve your writing skills to produce analytical essays about the literature. There will also be creative opportunities for you to write fiction and poetry. • You will complete the Wordly Wise 11 vocabulary lessons 1-10 this semester. • We will be utilizing the class website, wesleyde.wordpress.com, frequently for assignments. You may also access homework assignments here as well as from your calendar syllabus, which you will receive every 3 weeks.

3. Homework Expectations • You will read an average of 15-30 pages per night for homework. • This may vary depending on the difficulty of the text. For example, 5 pages of “The Devil and Tom Walker” by Washington Irving is equal to 20 pages of Native Son by Richard Wright when comparing difficulty of the text and time it takes to read and comprehend the material. • Approximately 35% of the six weeks grade is comprised of reading quizzes. It is important that you complete the reading assignments in order to be prepared for quizzes, class discussion, writing assignments, and further analysis of the literature. • You will write, on average, 2-3 full length, formal papers/essays per six weeks. • You will have a quiz every week on Wordly Wise vocabulary lessons (typically each Friday). • Tests will be given on Tuesdays and Thursdays; projects and writing assignments will generally be due on Mondays. Reading quizzes may be given any day of the week.

4. Course Syllabus • Wordly Wise 3000 Grade 11, lessons 1-10 • Writing: • Personal Narrative • SOL practice essay • Literary Analysis • Argument/persuasion • Compare/contrast • Long essay test • Research paper • Creative opportunities

5. Course Syllabus Continued • American Literature: • Literary Periods: • Encounters and Foundations (1600-1800) • Colonialism (1600-1650)—narratives from textbook • Puritan Period(1650-1750) • Textbook: Anne Bradstreet poetry; Jonathon Edwards essay • Play: The Crucible by Arthur Miller • Parallel Reading: Excerpts from the Bible’s Genesis, Job, and Daniel will be read in conjunction with study of the Puritans and The Scarlet Letter due to prevalence of Biblical allusions in the texts • Rationalism/Revolutionary Period(1750-1800) • Textbook: Patrick Henry essay, Thomas Paine pamphlet, Benjamin Franklin autobiography, The Declaration of Independence

6. Course Syllabus Continued • American Literary Periods Continued: • 19th Century: • Romanticism(1800-1860) • Textbook: Washington Irving, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Edgar Allen Poe • Novel: The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne • Regionalism and Realism (1860-1914) • Textbook: Frederick Douglass, African-American Spirituals, Stephen Crane, Edwin Arlington Robinson, Kate Chopin, Ambrose Bierce • Novel: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain • American Masters (1850’s) • Textbook: Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman

7. Course Syllabus Continued American Literary Periods Continued: • 20th Century: • Jazz Age (1919-1929) • Novel: The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald • Harlem Renaissance (1930-1939): • Textbook: Poetry from Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen • Novel: Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston • Southern Literature (1930-1950) • Textbook: Flannery O’Connor and Eudora Welty • Novel: As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner • Contemporary Literature (1940-2000) • Textbook: Poetry from Anne Sexton, Sylvia Plath, Rita Dove, Maya Angelou, Shel Silverstein, Charles Bukowski, Ezra Pound, eecummings, T.S. Eliot • Novel: Native Son by Richard Wright

8. Course Syllabus Continued • American Literary Periods Continued: • 21st Century Literature • Novel: TheLovely Bones by Alice Sebold (2002)

9. Possible Videos Shown • The following is a list of POSSIBLE videos that may be shown during the year: • Into the Wild • The Crucible • HBO Series: John Adams • A&E Biography: Edgar Allen Poe • The Simpsons Season 2: Treehouse of Horrors: “The Raven” • The Great Gatsby • Native Son • Kenneth Branagh’s Hamlet

10. Materials • 3-ring binder with 3 sections: • calendar syllabus/rubrics • warm-ups • notes/handouts • Paper • Pens/Pencils • Wordly Wise book—check calendar syllabus for dates needed • Textbook OR novel being studied—every day • RECOMMENDED BUT NOT REQUIRED: • 3x5 index cards (for vocabulary flash cards—extra credit on Wordly Wise quizzes) • Jump drive • white out • pocket stapler

11. Expectations • You are considered LATE if you are not IN YOUR SEAT when the bell rings. Detention will be assigned for being late to class. • You have 3 restroom passes per six weeks. • You are expected to show maturity and respect during class. This means the following will not be tolerated: • Profanity • Shooting paper across the room or into the trash can • Speaking when someone else is speaking or speaking without permission • Getting out of your seat during class without permission

12. Make-Up Work/Late Work • Refer to the syllabus to see what you missed if you are absent. This is your responsibility. • You have THREE DAYS to make up work after a missed test/quiz. After three days, you will receive a 0. • You are expected to turn in writing assignments on the day you return to school if you are absent on the due date. • Late homework is not accepted. • Writing assignments will always have a due date. 10 pointswill be deducted for each day late on a writing assignment.

13. Grading Procedures • Grades will be calculated on a weighted scale: • 35%--quizzes • 55%--tests, writing, and projects • 10%--homework and participation

14. Cell Phones and Electronic Devices • Must remain unseen and unheard. • Texting during a test or a quiz is a serious offense, and will result in a 0 for that test or quiz grade, as well as a referral. • Texting during any time in class, other than during a test or quiz, will result in a detention for the 1st offense. After that, the cell phone will be taken and a referral will be issued. • Ipods, MP3 players, etc. are not permitted during class.

15. School Policies—Cheating • Cheating is unacceptable. • Cheating will automatically result in a 0 and a referral. • The honor code applies to ALL work in this class: • “On my honor, I have neither given nor received help on this work.” • This honor code should be written and be accompanied by the student’s signature on ALL work. • Copying homework or worksheets is unacceptable. • Sharing test/quiz questions or asking others about test/quiz questions is unacceptable. • Plagiarism in any form, whether copying from a classmate or from an online source, is unacceptable. • Remember that whatever grade you earn with your own work will always be better than the 0 you will receive for copying.

16. Contact Information • Visit the class website at wesleyde.wordpress.comfor information pertaining to assignments. • Students and parents may contact me anytime at wesleyde@lcsedu.net or mrs.dwesley@gmail.com