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Syllabus
English 11A/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 pieces, long and short, fiction and non-fiction, poetry and prose. Our aim is to gain from the experience of literature a variety of perspectives on what it means to be an American.
Major Works
Title Author
The Crucible Arthur Miller
Of Mice and Men John Steinbeck (E6) Selections from Nature Ralph Waldo Emerson (E6)
Selections from anthology, Prentice Hall, Timeless Voices, Timeless Themes, The American Experience.
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 gonna sing, dance, say it loud and shout it proud; we’ll be poets, bakers, and candle-stick makers, if that’s what it takes for someone to learn. You get the idea.
Week 1 Icebreakers, procedures, Intro to Genres.
Week 2-3 Narrative plot maps of Native American creation stories;
Myth and Meaning.
Week 4-6 Narrative colonial literature from the anthology; literal and figurative meaning of language: Ben Franklin-The Autobiography; Poor Richard’s Almanack; “The First Snowfall”, James Russel Lowell; “Seeing”, Annie Dillard, among others.
Week 7-10 Literature of the Revolution: Patrick Henry and Thomas Paine;
Persuasive Writing using Step-Up to Writing techniques;
500 word persuasive piece; Write-Traits rubric.
Week 11-17 Puritanism and the American Dream: “Sinners in the Hands of An
Angry God”, by Jonathan Edwards; The Crucible, by Arthur Miller
Week 18 Semester review for final