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Syllabus
English 9A/B
Why do we have to take English?
“Few of us take the pains to study the origin of our most cherished convictions; most of our so-called reasoning consists in finding arguments for going on believing as we already do.” James Harvey Robinson
We study English to experience language, and through language to enrich our lives by deepening our thinking, nourishing our communication skills, thereby multiplying our opportunities for achievement, entertainment, and personal fulfillment.
What will we read this year?
We will read a number of things, long and short, fiction and non-fiction, poetry and prose, under the following curriculum.
Concept Curriculum: Coming of Age Literature
Conceptual Lenses: Responsibility
Beliefs and Values
Major Works
Title Author
Odyssey Homer
To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee
“The Taming of the Shrew” William Shakespeare (E2)
The Giver Lois Lowry (E2)
Selections from anthology, Prentice Hall, Timeless Voices, Timeless Themes.
Aren’t we going to do anything besides read?
Yes. We’re going to write; draw; speak; study grammar; develop vocabulary; make posters; act out plays; argue; eat; give thanks; we’re going to sing, dance, say it loud and shout it proud; we’ll be poets, bakers, and candle-stick makers, if there is someone it might help. You get the idea.
Week 1 Icebreakers, procedures, color code found poem.
Week 2-3 Step-Up-to-Writing.
Week 4-5 Narrative plot maps: Calvin and Hobbes comics; Senor Payroll, by William Barrett; “The Most Dangerous Game,” by Richard
Connell; “The Red-Headed League”, by Arthur Conan Doyle.
Week 7-10 Greek gods, myth and meaning; narrative structure in the Odyssey.
Week 11-17 Coming of Age in To Kill a Mockingbird.
Week 18 Semester review for final