10TH GRADE ADVANCED/GIFTED WORLD LITERATURE AND COMPOSITION

COURSE SYLLABUS

(23.0610000A)

DunwoodyHigh School / English Department

Teachers: Blaire Lynch / Phone Number: 678-874-8574
Room Number: 2102 / Email:
Semester: Spring 2008 / Tutorial Days: MTRF (by appointment)
Textbook: Prentice Hall Literature, Penguin Ed. / Supplemental Texts: The Bedford Anthology of World Literature, Bedford/St. Martin’s (2003) and The Human Record: Sources of Global History, Houghton Mifflin (2005)
Textbook Price: Cost of replacement / Tutorial Location: Room 2102

Department Philosophy:The Dunwoody High School English Department believes that reading and writing are two of the most demanding and essential areas of a student’s cognitive development. While they can be the source of entertainment and personal enrichment, they are also serious academic disciplines and must be treated as such. We believe that it is our duty to teach students how to read not only for entertainment value, but as a way of gleaning information, developing critical thinking skills, and understanding a variety of human experiences and perspectives. We believe that good writing is the product of significant, worthwhile ideas, fluent style, correct mechanics, and an accurate understanding of one’s audience. It is our goal to help students become effective communicators in the academic, social, and business worlds when they leave our classrooms.

Course Description:This theme-related, literature-based course provides students with an opportunity to become familiar with a wide range of literary forms, themes, cultures, and periods while developing proficiency in the use of grammar and mechanics in their compositions. Emphasis is placed on distinguishing aspects of the various genres and elements of literature. Students analyze various works of literature through oral discussions and in written compositions. They produce various types of compositions and research projects that introduce basic tools needed for research. Teachers emphasize standardized test preparation and vocabulary development.

Course Prerequisites:successful completion of 9th grade Language Arts

GPS Standards: Please see attached sheet

Course Outline:

Unit 1: / Introduction to Close Reading, Analysis, and Critical Thinking
Unit 2: / The Foundations of Civilization: The Rise of Agriculture and Agricultural Civilizations (8000 BCE – 1000 BCE)
Unit 3: / The Classical Period (1000 BCE – 600 CE)
Unit 4: / Postclassical Civilizations (600 – 1450 CE)
Unit 5: / Foundations of the Modern World: The World Shrinks (1450 – 1750 CE)
Unit 6: / Age of Revolutions: Industrialization and Western Global Hegemony (1750 – 1914)
Unit 7: / The Modern World: The 20th Century (1914 – Present)

*While all of these units will be addressed during the semester, the order in which they are taught might vary, to accommodate student needs and availability of materials.

Course Reading:

Unit 1 / Teacher and student-based selections, including (but not limited to):
  • MLK’s “I Have a Dream” speech
  • Jacob Holdt’s American Pictures project
  • Zana Briski’s Born into Brothels
  • Other selections from contemporary literature, film, poetry, art, drama, popular culture, etc.

Unit 2 / Ancient Civilizations: Mesopotamia, Egypt, Phoenicia, China, Hebrews
  • Gilgamesh
  • The Judgments of Hammurabi
  • Selected Egyptian poetry
  • The Works of Confucius (including The Mandate of Heaven and The Book of Songs)

Unit 3 / Development of Classical Civilizations: India, China, Persia, Greece, Rome
  • The Rig Veda
  • Selections from Greek Mythology and Poetry
  • Selections from The Bible
  • The Upanishads
  • The Bhagavad Gita
  • The Teachings of the Buddah
  • The Works of Laozi
  • The Greek Philosophers: Hippocrates, Thucydides, Euripides, Plato, Socrates
  • Virgil, The Aeneid
  • Sophocles, Antigone

Unit 4 / The Rise and Spread of Islam
  • Selections from The Qu’ran
  • Persian poetry
African Civilizations
  • Select African proverbs
Western Europe
  • Beowulf
  • Petrarch
  • Selections from Dante’s Divine Comedy
The Americas: Pre-invasion
  • Selections from Popol Vuh
Korea
  • The Kangnido

Unit 5 / Europe: Renaissance and Enlightenment
  • Select Shakespearean sonnets
  • Julius Caesar
  • Excerpts from Descartes, Locke, and Voltaire
Latin America
  • Excerpts from Columbus’s journals
  • Bernardino de Sahagun’s General History of the Things of New Spain
  • Antonio Vazquez de Espinosa’s Compendium and Description of the West Indies
Africa in the Age of the Slave Trade
  • Letters to the King of Portugal
  • Images demonstrating the impact of European culture on African artwork
  • James Barbot’s A Voyage to the NewCalabarRiver in the Year 1699
Russia
  • Peter the Great, Edicts and Decrees

Unit 6 / The Industrial Revolution
  • Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations
  • Upton Sinclair, The Jungle
  • Sergi Witte’s “Secret Memorandum on Industrialization”
Imperialism: The Colonizer and the Colonized
  • Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart
  • Thomas Paine, Common Sense
  • Simon Bolivar, The Jamaica Letter
  • Images of Imperialism in Great Britain
Poetry of the Romantics and Realists
  • Selections from Blake, Byron, Wordsworth, Shelley, Coleridge, Keats, and Goethe

Unit 7 / Nationalism and Global Conflicts
  • William Golding, Lord of the Flies
  • Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf
  • Elie Wiesel, Night
Literary Criticism and Secondary Sources
  • John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men
  • Selections from Contemporary Literary Criticism

Grading Scale:

Class Work/Daily Work / 15%
Homework / 10%
Projects / 20%
Tests / 20%
Performance/Participation / 10%
Reading/Writing / 10%
Final Exam / 15%
Total: / 100%

REMEDIATION:Students are expected to keep up with the pace of the class by putting forth his/her effort on each assignment. Struggling students may arrange before or after school tutorial with their teacher.

LATE ASSIGNMENTS/MAKE-UP POLICY: All work must be turned in at the beginning of the period on the day it is due. If a student has an excused absence, he or she must make up missing work within one week. It is the student’s responsibility to check for all missed assignments and to complete the work in a timely manner. If a student misses a test or quiz, it will be his or her responsibility to schedule a time before or after school to complete the assignment. If accepted at all, work turned in late for reasons of negligence or disorganization will receive a point deduction of 10 percentage points for each day past the due date, with the exception of major papers and projects. Major papers and projects may be turned in one day late for half credit. It is DekalbCounty policy that work from unexcused absences may not be made up for credit. Classwork MUST be completed in class on the day it is assigned.

EXTRA CREDIT: Extra credit opportunities may be offered at the teacher’s discretion. Assignments will be offered to all students in a class, and may not hurt a student’s grade. However, extra credit should not be viewed as a means of avoiding daily work. Students who do not complete the minimum expected of them in class should not expect to salvage a failing grade with extra credit assignments.

OUTSIDE READING: Some class time will be used for the reading and discussion of outside novels; however, most reading will be completed as homework. Tests, quizzes, and/or projects will be assigned for each book. Students will be responsible for obtaining some or all of these works from local bookstores, libraries, the school library, etc. Parents will be notified of the books to be read during each semester.

PLAGIARISM/CHEATING: Using the words or ideas of another person without giving credit for them is plagiarism. When multiple students turn in duplicate answers or compositions, all students will receive a zero. Essays obtained from a book jacket, the internet, or any other source will immediately receive a zero. Students should observe and abide by the policies outlined in the Dunwoody High School Plagiarism and Cheating Policy, which can be found on the first page of the student Code of Conduct. Students will be asked to submit papers to turnitin.com prior to turning papers in to the teacher to help identify any weaknesses in their use of citations and quoted material.

HALL PASSES: It is the teacher’s responsibility to keep students on task and in the classroom, and it is the student’s responsibility to come to class prepared. Students should not expect to run errands or attend to personal business during class. Every student who comes to class late must bring a legible note from a teacher or administrator explaining the reason for the student’s tardiness. Any student without a note will be counted Tardy-Unexcused in smartweb. On the first offense, students will receive a warning. Upon the second offense, they will be assigned paragraphs to copy from the student handbook. Parents will be contacted after the third offense. Any subsequent tardies will result in a referral to the Attendance Office. Students may not leave the room without the express consent of the teacher and a hall pass written in the Dunwoody High School Agenda. The teacher reserves the right to limit hall passes of students who seem to be abusing the privilege.

DISCIPLINE: The following policies of DunwoodyHigh School will be strictly enforced. Students are expected to: 1. Follow all school rules.

  1. Be prepared for anything and everything.
  2. Be in your seat with all materials ready to go when the bell rings.
  3. Respect yourself, others, and property.
  4. Talk at appropriate times, using appropriate language.

The teacher reserves the right to assign detention or other consequences for unacceptable behavior. Any materials that distract the student from the class such as homework for another class, makeup, personal grooming implements, pictures, magazines, or toys of any sort will be collected by the teacher. No outside homework will be returned.

THE TEACHER RESERVES THE RIGHT TO ADJUST THE WORKLOAD AND MODIFY THE GRADING PROCEDURES LISTED HERE TO MEET THE NEEDS AND ABILITIES OF THE STUDENT.

We have read the above course syllabus and agree to support and abide by the above policies and procedures.

Parent signature: Date:

Parent comments/questions:

Student signature: Date: