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English III Course Syllabus 2016-2017
Gammons, Presley, Shamgar, Strain, and Szymczak
Course Description: This course is a survey of American Literature and its purpose is to provide students with
educational opportunities that challenge them to utilize their higher level thinking skills of Analysis, Synthesis, and
Evaluation. We will study the various philosophies of American literature and how they were influenced by
historical events. Our teaching style is more of a humanities approach to literature by combining art and music along
with history. Thematically connected modern selections will be incorporated into units throughout the year which
makes it more enjoyable and adds variety to our study of American Literature.
Course Objectives:
The objectives of this course include: developing students’ understanding of the history and cultural progress of our
country through literature conveying the perceptions and experiences of primarily American authors.
Students will be able to:
• Analyze and contextualize the evolution of American culture through literature reflective of American literary
periods from the Puritan era through modern times by exploring the customs and norms of each period as revealed
through unique perspectives from a variety of authors;
• Improve their analytical skills by understanding rhetorical strategies: that form is related to function, that
meaningful writing requires authors to choose the most effective voice and genre according to their purpose and
audience;
• Ascertain an author’s purpose and find the specific strategies and techniques the author uses to achieve effective
writing;
• Convey an argument through research;
• Express maturity in their own writing through a variety of sentence structures and syntactical methods as well as
through developed diction.
Fall Semester
American Dream Unit
Primary Text: Of Mice and Men
(excerpts) The Great Gatsby
Supplemental Texts:
Short stories: “Breakfast”-Steinbeck
“Winter Dreams” & “The Diamond as Big as the Ritz”-Fitzgerald
Right to be Free Unit
Puritanism Philosophy
Primary Text: The Crucible-Miller
Supplemental Texts: Selected poems by Bradstreet
Nonfiction-The Ways We Lie –Ericsson
Writing: Snapshot Write or Where I’m From Poem (personal reflection), thematic essay,
persuasive essay (research) and journal writing
Skills: 6 Traits of Good Writing and elements of drama
Grammar: Sentence variety & Review of usage and 8 parts of speech
SAT Vocab. and Critical Reading
Rationalism Philosophy
Sinner’s in the Hands of an Angry God-Edwards (Intro. to persuasion)
Speech in the Virginia Convention-Henry
The Crisis-Paine
Declaration of Independence-Jefferson
Writing: Persuasive essay/ visual component (requires research); ad analysis; group presentation(MLA)
Grammar: parallelism, subject/verb agreement, rhetorical devices
SAT Vocab. and Critical Reading
American Gothic Unit
Romanticism Philosophy
Primary Texts: Dark Romantic selections: Short stories and poems by Poe, Hawthorne & Irving
Supplemental Texts:
Flannery O’Connor selection, “A Rose for Emily” – Faulkner and/or Cat in Glass and other Unnatural Tales-Nancy
Ethelmende
Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter( carries over to 4th six weeks)
Writing: Literary Analysis and write an original poem (MLA)requires research
Grammar: Subject/verb agreement, Pronoun/antecedent, sentence variety, comparatives, other areas of concern
SAT Vocab. and Critical Reading
Spring Semester
Spirit of Individualism Unit
Transcendentalism Philosophy
Primary Texts: Selections by Thoreau and Emerson including: Walden, Civil Disobedience, Nature, Self-Reliance
Supplemental Texts: Poems by Dickinson, Bryant, Longfellow and Frost / Contemporary non fiction Silent Spring
–Rachel Carlson
Writing: Argument and literary analysis (poetic devices)
Transcendental Project
Grammar: Consistent tense, parallelism mastered, anaphora, anadiplosis, other rhetorical patterns
SAT Vocab. and Critical Reading
Realism/Naturalism and Regionalism Unit
Philosophy
Primary Texts: by Twain, Crane, Harte and Slave Spirituals
Regionalism selections by Chopin, Jewett, and others
Emphasis on the Civil War, Women’s movement, westward expansion literature
Writing: Expository Essay
Grammar: Review necessary areas of weakness
SAT Vocab. and Critical Reading
Modernism / Existentialism-War Unit
Philosophy
Primary Text: The Things They Carried-O’Brien
Supplemental Texts: poetry, music, art, Red Badge of Courage, For Whom the Bell Tolls, Fallen Angels (novel
exerpts) Selections from World War I, II, and Vietnam (current conflicts as well)
Writing: College Essay (Texas Common Application essay prompts) and Senior Brag Sheet
Thematic Essay and journals associated with the culminating unit test
Grammar: Reinforce usage and mechanics
constraints
******some selections subject to availability and time