English IV Honors, Spring 2014

C. Brandt – Providence High School

Welcome to English IV Honors. This course is designed to enrich students’ understanding and appreciation of European (Western, Southern and Northern) Literature through reading, writing, speaking and listening.

SELECTED LITERATURE

(We will select pieces from the following list.)

Unit I – The Anglo-Saxon and Medieval Periods (449-1485)

Poetry – Beowulf (excerpts)

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight – Anonymous

The Canterbury Tales (selected tales) – Chaucer

Inferno (excerpts) – Dante

Unit II – The Renaissance and Reformation

Sonnets – Shakespeare

Other poetry – selected from Donne, Herrick, Marvell

Nonfiction – The Prince (excerpts) – Machiavelli

Drama – Hamlet – Shakespeare

Unit III –The 18th Century and early 19th Century (Romantic Movement)

Poetry – Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Shelley, Keats

Informational –Preface to Lyrical Ballads – Wordsworth

Literature Circles (various time periods) – using student-selected novels: The Picture of Dorian Gray, Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre, 1984, Frankenstein

Unit IV – The 19th Century

Poetry – selected from Tennyson, Browning, Arnold, Rossetti, Baudelaire

Drama – The Importance of Being Earnest – Wilde

Unit V– The Modern and Postmodern Periods (1900-present)

Poetry – Eliot, Thomas, Rilke, Sassoon, Auden

Essays – “The Fallacy of Success” – Chesterton

“Shooting an Elephant”- Orwell

Fiction –Brave New World – Huxley

Texts:

Elements of Literature, Sixth Course - Holt, Rinehart, and Winston

Selected novels and plays (Specific works may be changed or abbreviated to fit the academic timetable)

Course Overview and Expectations

Expectations for this course exceed those of the regular 12th grade curriculum, and students will be given one quality point in their grade point average for successfully completing this course. Honors students will be expected to write essays in response to all novels and major works read for class. Grading rubrics and expectations for essays will be given in class at the time of the assignments.

Students will maintain a journal or will receive journal assignments for responses to most major works read during the course. This process helps students be more successful in completing their essay assignments. Instructions for this journal will be given in class.

Throughout the year, students will study various areas of grammar and writing, based on student needs. Warm-up exercises or journal-writing will be given at the beginning of each class. These warm-ups will cover literary and rhetorical devices, literary analysis, vocabulary, and grammar.

It is helpful if students purchase their own copies of the supplemental novels and plays whenever possible. This allows them to mark important information in the book during class discussions and independent reading, which will aid them in preparation for writing essays.

Senior Exit Project

A major component of the senior English curriculum is the senior exit project. Students will receive written guidelines, including important deadlines, for completing the project. This information ensures that everyone fully understands expectations for all parts of the project. This major project comprises 20% of the fourth quarter grade.

Supplies one composition book (for writer’s notebook)

one 3-ring binder; dividers

loose leaf paper

Grades

Formal Assignments: Tests, projects, quizzes, seminars, and essays. Occasionally, formal assessments will be given extra weight based on the degree of difficulty.

Informal Assignments: Homework, class work, participation, discussion and other daily assignments.

The final exam comprises 25% of the yearly average.

**Class participation and daily grades can significantly improve any low grades on formal assessments.

Remember, I do not give grades…you earn them.

Assignments
All homework and assignments are to be turned in on the assigned due date. If a student knows that he/she will be absent on the date a major project or essay is due (e.g. for a field trip or college visit), he/she must make arrangements to get the assigned work to the teacher on time or early. All work should be turned in at the beginning of the class on the due date.

A student who misses assignments because of absences, whether excused or unexcused, will be allowed to make up the work; however, arrangements for completing the work should be made within five school days of the date of the student’s return to class. It is the student’s responsibility to get missed assignments and to arrange with the teacher a time to make up missed tests.

If a student was present on a given due date and fails to turn in an assignment, the work may be turned in late but will be assessed a late penalty of 10 points per day.

If a student was not present in class on the due date due to an unexcused absence, he/she will be expected to turn in missed assignments and to take any pop quizzes on the date of his/her return – only if the written work or reading selection had been assigned at least two days prior to the absence.

Tutoring

Daily: 2:20-3:00 in room 236 or by appointment

If a student is unable to come at this time, he or she may make an appointment.


Class rules

Be punctual. Be respectful. Be prepared. Water bottles are permitted in class. Cell phones will be confiscated if they are audible or visible in the classroom. Students will follow the rules set forth by Providence High School and CMS as listed in the student handbook.

Plagiarism

Plagiarism in any form will not be tolerated in this class. This includes copying or buying a paper from the internet, turning in another student’s work as your own, or not giving an author proper credit for his or her words. Plagiarism will result in a 0 for the assignment.

Contact information -

(980) 343 -5390 ext. 417

http://candacebrandt.cmswiki.wikispaces.net/

**Please read the above information carefully. Get parent signature and place the syllabus in the front of your binder. Do not cut.

Student name (print) ______

______Date ______

Student signature

______Date ______

Parent/guardian signature