Teacher: Ms. Nicole Hayes (hayesn@fulton.k12.ga.us)

Course Title: American Literature, 2008-2009

Grade Level: 11th

1. Textbooks and Replacement Prices

Prentice Hall Timeless Voices, Timeless Themes: The American Experience	$70

Prentice Hall Grammar and Writing	$60

Hardback supplementals	$15

Paperback supplementals	$10

Students are financially responsible for all books issued by CHS. Textbooks may not be left in classrooms and teachers are not responsible for the whereabouts of your book. The copy which was issued must be turned in at the end of the course. You will not receive credit for turning in another student’s book and may not turn in replacement books. The cost of replacement will be assessed to any student that fails to turn in the book they were issued or turns in a damaged book.

2. Course Overview

In 2004 the Georgia Department of Education adopted new Georgia Performance Standards for grades 9-12. Consistent with state curriculum, the Fulton County Schools English language arts curriculum implementation aligns with state standards. The content standards for this course are clustered by strands: Reading and Literature, Reading Across the Curriculum, Conventions, Writing, and Listening/Speaking/Viewing.

American Literature and Composition will continue to build on the reading and language curriculum established in tenth grade. Throughout this course, students will have opportunities to develop and expand their knowledge of American literature and demonstrate their mastery level of new learning through performance tasks and assessments. At the completion of this course, students will take the American Literature and Composition End-of-Course Test required by state law.

Reading and Literature

Focusing on a chronological study of American literature, students will develop an understanding of the importance of various periods of literature that characterize and reflect the American experience. They will read, interpret, analyze, and apply knowledge of the structures, themes, and elements of American fiction and nonfiction. Examining letters, journals, diaries, and speeches, students will trace the history of the development of American literature. They will also consider the influence of mythical and classical texts on American authors. Through extensive reading, students will acquire new vocabulary specific to the study of American literature and apply that knowledge in their writing.

Reading Across the Curriculum

To encourage students to become life-long readers, the curriculum includes standards that address both academic and personal habits of reading. Students will read approximately one million words per year from a variety of subject disciplines including language arts. In the English language arts classroom, students will learn the vocabulary of literature, writing, and listening, speaking, and viewing.

Works of literature the students will be reading to uncover these standards may include but are not limited to:

from The Navajo Origin Legend	"The Crisis, Number 1"

from The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano "The Devil and Tom Walker"

from “Of Plymouth Plantation”	"The Fall of the House of Usher"

from “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”	from "Nature"

“Poor Richard’s Almanac”	Walt Whitman Poetry

from “Self-Reliance” and “Civil Disobedience”	Emily Dickenson Poetry

Novels read in class may include but are not limited to:

The Crucible	The Great Gatsby

Ethan Frome	A Farwell to Arms

The Red Badge of Courage	A Raisin in the Sun

Writing

Expository writing is the focus for eleventh grade; however, students will continue to produce a wide range of writings including polished narratives, persuasive pieces and technical documents. Students will practice both timed and process writing to develop compositions that demonstrate an understanding of tone, point of view, style, organization, author's purpose, and audience. Students will continue to use research and technology to support reading and writing. Students will write a persuasive essay, a timed writing, a short story, journals and reading logs, and a reflective paper about their writing process.

Conventions

Students will increase their knowledge of the conventions of language in reading, writing, and speaking. They will demonstrate their control of the rules of English, focusing on the correct use of clauses, phrases, and the mechanics of punctuation. Sentence construction and usage will continue to be a focus for eleventh grade. Students will apply their knowledge of the conventions of format when producing expository text including research based papers.

Grammar and Format Conventions that we will cover this semester include:

Review of parts of speech, parts of the sentence, Sentence types, Comma Usage

Tips and strategies for writing narrative essays, persuasive writing and research summations.

Listening/Speaking/Viewing

Students will continue to develop their critical listening skills. Through presentations and interactions with the teacher and other students, they will apply effective speaking techniques in small and large group settings. The viewing standards will enable students to develop media literacy skills through the careful examination of contemporary texts including television, radio, film productions, and electronic media.

The complete list of all the Performance Standards for the course are available online at www.georgiastandards.org/langart.asp under American Literature and Composition.

3. Classroom Management

Students are expected to have the appropriate materials, arrive promptly, and behave in a respectful manner towards teacher and fellow students. Continuous disruptive behavior will result in contact with the parents. Depending on the severity of an offense, detention, office referral, and possible suspension may be necessary.

4. Grading Scheme

Homework/Class work:	15%	90-100 = A

Tests:	30%	80-89 = B

Writing/Projects:	25%	70-70 = C

Final Exam:	15%	69 and below = F

Quizzes:	15%

5. Homework Expectations

Homework is crucial to a student’s mastery of skills they have learned in class. Students should expect homework most nights. Homework will not be accepted late. Incomplete homework will only receive partial credit of 50% or less. Major assignments (writings or projects) will be accepted late with a penalty of 10 points per day and will not be accepted after 3 school days.

6. Provisions for Improving Grades

a. Opportunities designed to allow students to recover from a low or failing cumulative grade will be allowed when all work required to date has been completed and the student has demonstrated a legitimate effort to meet all course requirements including attendance.

Students should contact the teacher concerning recovery opportunities. Teachers are expected to establish a reasonable time period for recovery work to be completed during the

semester. All recovery work must be directly related to course objectives and must be completed ten school days prior to the end of the semester.

Teachers will determine when and how students with extenuating circumstances may improve their grades.

c. Recovery Policy

Recovery is available to students with a cumulative grade below 74% after a minimum of two (2) major grades. The maximum grade a student can earn for a recovery activity is 70%. There will be only one recovery opportunity per failed major assignment or test. The individual teacher will determine the means of recovery. THE STUDENT MUST INITIATE THE PROCESS WITHIN FIVE (5) DAYS OF NOTIFICATION OF A FAILING GRADE ON A MAJOR ASSIGNMENT/TEST.

7. Scheduled Help Sessions

Students are responsible for scheduling help sessions with me.

8. Teacher/Parent Communication

I check the e-mail listed below most evenings and periodically throughout the school day. E-MAIL IS THE PREFERRED METHOD OF REACHING US: hayesn@fulton.k12.ga.us, nealt@fulton.k12.ga.us

9. Absences/Make-Up Procedures

In my classroom will be an Absentee Folder, where each day’s lessons, notes, assignments, handouts, etc. will be kept. It is a STUDENT’S responsibility to check the binder whenever they return from an absence. Make up work is to be completed within the same amount of time as the student was absent (i.e. if the student misses two days of class, the work is expected to be turned in two days upon returning). Refer to the CHS Student Handbook for more information. If a student is absent on a test day, the test will be administered during class on the next day he or she is present. If a student is absent prior to an announced test or presentation, but returns on the day of the assessment, the student will be expected to participate. Cases of extended absence will be dealt with on an individual basis.

10. Tardiness

In accordance with the Tardy to Class policy, students will NOT be admitted to class without a pass from another staff member, OR a tardy slip from the attendance office.

11. Policies and Procedures

English department plagiarism statement:

Plagiarism is the use of another’s words or ideas and the representation of them as though they are entirely one’s own. Acts of plagiarism might include, but are not limited to:

USING WORDS OR IDEAS FROM A PUBLISHED SOURCE WITHOUT PROPER DOCUMENTATION (INTENTIONALLY OR UNINTENTIONALLY)

USING THE WORK OF ANOTHER STUDENT (E.G.COPYING ANOTHER STUDENT’S HOMEWORK, COMPOSITION, OR PROJECT)

USING EXCESSIVE EDITING SUGGESTIONS OF ANOTHER STUDENT, TEACHER, PARENT, OR PAID EDITOR

Plagiarism on any project or paper will result in a zero for the assignment and an Honor Code Violation. Unless strictly stipulated by the teacher, collaboration on written work is not acceptable. Students who willingly provide other students with access to their work are in violation of the Honor Code.

A NOTE ABOUT WHAT CONSTITUTES “EXCESSIVE EDITING”: Students learn to write well by writing well. Struggling independently through the writing process produces growth (as well as a certain amount of agony), and eventually the student’s own voice. When well meaning parents, siblings, tutors, or others contribute their own ideas, words, phrases, revisions, etc. to students’ writing, student writers miss the opportunity to achieve literary self reliance. So, what is helping, but is NOT excessive editing? The answer is: questioning and cueing.

For example—“Is this

word strong enough? Interesting enough? Specific enough?” “Can you think of another word that means the same thing?” “Does this sentence seem awkward?” “What exactly do you mean here?” “I don’t understand what you are trying to say; can you say it more clearly?” “This sentence is interesting.” “That is a forceful verb; can you find one as forceful for that other sentence?” These kinds of questions and statements are powerful helpers, yet allow the students

to think and write independently. Please help students to achieve their own voices and to develop their writing skills by allowing them to write and revise independently.

12. Materials

- 3 ring binder for English only

- #2 Pencils

- 5 Dividers

- A box of tissue (for the first day of class only)

Students are expected to have the above materials in class every day. Paper, pens/pencils will not be provided by the teacher. Dividers should be headed as follows:

Warm-ups

Class work/homework

Class notes

Writing

Assessments

Please see next page…

Please sign and return this page to Ms. Hayes or Ms. Neal

I have read and understand all of the information outlined in Ms. Hayes’ and Ms. Neal’s syllabus.

Parent Signature_________________________________________Date________________

Student Signature________________________________________Date________________

Video Permission

It is possible that I may show films in class to enrich student understanding of the texts we will be reading and discussing in class. All film titles have been approved by the administration, but parental permission is needed in order for students to view these films. Occasionally, I may also use music or audiotapes from the school media center. All selections are pertinent to the curriculum and are used solely for enrichment, never as substitutes for reading.

Please indicate by initialing in the blanks below that your child has permission to view the films listed below. Be assured that should you choose not to allow your child to view a film, he or she will be allowed to complete an alternative assignment.

Sincerely,

Nicole Hayes

Teacher

11th grade American Literature

The films I may show in class include but are not limited to:

_____ Amistad - Rated R for some scenes of strong violence and some related nudity

_____ The Crucible - Rated PG-13 for intense depiction of the Salem witch trials and some sexuality

_____ The Great Gatsby - Rated PG for mild sexuality and violence

_____ Sleepy Hollow - Rated R for violence/gore and a scene of sexuality

_____ A Raisin in the Sun - Not Rated

______ Glory- Rated R for Violence

Should it occur that a film I plan to show is not on the above list, I will send home with the student individual permission forms for each film.

Parent Signature:_________________________________________________________________

Child’s Name:____________________________________________________________________

Date:___________________________________________________________________________

*Syllabus is subject to change at instructor’s discretion

11th grade Fall 2008 Semester Plan

Aug 11-15th: Introduction to Classroom Procedures

Aug 15th – Sep 11th: Origin Myths/Early Beginnings

-Unit Test

Sep 12th - Oct 26th: The Crucible

-Unit Test

- Film: The Crucible

-FaceBook Projects

-Research Paper

Oct 29th –Nov13th: Age of Enlightenment

-Film: America Rock

-Mega Quiz (Counts as Two Quiz Grades)

Nov14th –End of Semester: Slave Narratives/ Intro to Romanticism

-Film: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

-Film: Amistad

-Essay: Figurative Language Analysis in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

*Reading selections, dates, and assignments are subject to change at the teacher’s discretion