Advanced English 12
Survey of British Literature
Instructor: T.Gillie, M.Ed.
372-1100 (ext.2142)
Materials Needed
One spiral notebook
One binder with pockets
Pen or pencil
Grading
60% Formal Assessments (tests and quizzes), projects, and essays
30% Classwork (Grammar exercises, timed writings, composition notes/plans/drafts, and peer-edits); short Q & A on reading assignments and reading logs
10% Homework
Students are expected to keep up with the rigors of the assignments and to create original, academically honest work.
Course Work
- Vocabulary Assignments: Students will complete exercises with general vocabulary each week. Knowledge of the vocabulary words will be assessed through weekly quizzes and three-week unit tests.
- Formal Writing Assignments: Students will spend a significant portion of class time writing both timed and un-timed formal pieces, including responses to prompts and critical papers (primarily literary analysis and explication). Students will revise their critical papers through self-evaluation, peer evaluation, and conferences with the teacher.
- Informal Writing Assignments: Students will write weekly informal pieces in the form of reading log entries (e.g., quote logs, text-based journal writing, and creative writing).
- Grammar/Mechanics instruction will focus on crediting sources of quoted, paraphrased, and summarized ideas and using standard MLA documentation for citations.
- Reading Assignments: Students will have regular reading assignments. It is imperative that you read carefully (close reading) and that you come to class prepared to discuss your ideas about the works we study.
Survey Topics
- The Old English and Medieval Periods (A.D. 449-1485)
- Beowulf
- Canterbury Tales, by Geoffrey Chaucer
- Romance Narratives: King Arthur et al.
- The English Renaissance Period (1485-1660)
- Epigrammatic, “Carpe diem”, and Metaphysical Poetry
- The Shakespearean sonnet form andthe Scottish play, Macbeth
- The King James Bible (1611)
- The Restoration and 18th Century (1660-1800)
- Satire, parody, and the novel
- The Romantic Period (1798-1832)
- Fantasy and Reality
- Lyric Poetry: Wordsworth, Coleridge, Lord Byron, Percy Shelley, and John Keats
- The Victorian Period (1833-1901)
- The Rise of Realism
- Science Fiction novel
- The Time Machine by Hugo Wells
- The Modern and Postmodern Periods (1901-Present)
- Short Stories
- James Joyce
- Virginia Woolf
- Graham Greene
- Nadine Gordimer
- Novels
- Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
- 1984 by George Orwell
Regular Vocabulary/Spelling Homework Schedule
Monday: Introduce new words, pronunciation, definitions.
Tuesday: Unit tests
Wednesday: Weekly practice activities (handouts) are due at the beginning of class
Thursday: Spelling quiz on studied words
Friday: Usage quiz: Complete a multiple choice assessment on the meaning of new vocabulary.
If a student is absent for a spelling quiz, the quiz will be waived.
Retention of new vocabulary will be assessed the Tuesday following the completion of each successive three-week unit.
No vocabulary homework will be accepted after the due date.
Absences and Late Work
If you miss a class, you are responsible for the material discussed in class and the prompt submission of any work assigned or due that period. If you have an excused absence, you are expected to make up all work missed “…within a time period not to exceed the total number of days absent. All missed work that is not made up within the time limit will receive no higher than a grade of 63” (Faculty/Staff Handbook 9).When we have a test, quiz, or assignment previously scheduled for the day you are absent, you will be expected to take the test or quiz or submit the assignment the day you return UNLESS you make other arrangements with me prior to our class meeting (via email, for example).
Late work (reading logs, rough drafts, grammar practice, etc.) will be assessed a penalty of ten points a day. Failure to submit work within seventy-two hours of the due date (generally the end of a class period) will result in a grade of 50%.