English III – Honors
B.M.C. Durfee High School Syllabus
Mrs. Pomfret email:
Welcome back to Durfee High School!
As a junior in an Honors level course, your student should possess certain academic skills and a quest for learning. I will expect a strong work ethic in the face of a challenging curriculum as your student prepares for college. This course syllabus is meant to be the first communication to keep you informed about your student’s classroom responsibilities and potential performance.
My goals are simple. I feel if the lines of communication regarding curriculum, academic strategies, and class performance issues are kept open and informative, the result will be a student who is truly connected and committed to their education.
Please take a moment to review this course syllabus and sign and return the back page.
During this course, I encourage and expect active participation in both the learning and listening process. We will be learning how to understand and connect literary styles from the early Anglo-Saxon period to more current styles and themes that have a common thread.
Course Description
Beginning with Sir Gawain and continuing to modern authors, students read literature from many different genres including poetry, drama, essay, novel, and short story. The course focuses on utilizing reading strategies, improving writing skills, mastering new vocabulary, and honing critical thinking skills.
Features of this course will include, but are not limited to, chronological selections from British literature that shows how historical and cultural changes influenced the language, writers, and their themes. A full range of poetry, drama, and fiction is included. Emphasis will be placed on written analysis and evaluation of selections read, as well as classroom discussion.
Term I:
· Summer Reading
· Introduction to the Middle Ages, Middle English, and Medieval Romance
· Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
· Everyman
· Frame Stories – The Canterbury Tales
Term II:
· The Canterbury Tales, cont.
· Shakespeare and Early Modern English
· Sonnets and Pastoral Poetry
· Elizabethan drama
· Macbeth
· The Prince
· Metaphysical Poetry
Term III:
· Macbeth, cont.
· Nonfiction: Peyps and Swift
· Frankenstein
· Origin of the Species
· Research paper
Term IV:
· Modern English
· Modernism to Postmodernism
· 1984
*The above is a tentative schedule and subject to change.
Course Objectives
· To be receptive to literary styles that are different, yet hold a common thread to modern authors, titles, and themes.
· To gain an appreciation of the variety of literatures and literary forms created throughout the early history of British literature.
· To understand what makes these works typical of their chronological literary periods.
· To understand how writers across literary chronology have treated similar themes.
· To develop skills of literary analysis and literary appreciation.
· To develop skills at presenting information in written and oral form.
· Read with more skill and more confidence.
· Recognize more vocabulary words and know how to use the literature to interpret the meaning of the words that are not understood.
· Name the characteristics of each period of British Literature, how they differ, and how they drew on elements from the past.
· Learn different styles of writing and create original and creative compositions.
· Demonstrate consistent skills to organize thoughts through discussion.
· Exhibit a mastery of paragraph structures.
· Learn strategies to interpret various types of reading materials.
· Improve reading skills by reading for a variety of purposes.
· Improve vocabulary/ study skills/research skills.
· Determine literary elements in literature.
· Demonstrate listening skills during lectures, presentations, and within cooperative groups.
· Identify main ideas/themes from a multi-genre approach.
· Use technological resources to support understanding of literary ideas.
· Identify and employ the basic rules of grammar.
· Identify and apply the necessary steps in clear, logical writing.
· Use the rules of good grammar and logical writing to produce written opinions about the literature they read.
Grading
Quarterlies 15%
Homework/Preparedness/Participation/Classwork 20%
Assessments (60%): Quizzes 20%
Presentations/Projects/Exams/Papers 40%
English III – Honors Mrs. Pomfret
After reading and reviewing all sections of this Syllabus with your child, please sign below and return this portion.
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Parent’s or Guardian’s Signature Student’s Signature