Download Document

DHS English III H
2015-2016
DHS English III Honors
Course Syllabus- Coté
Course Description
Instruction in this honors-level course is designed for those students electing to perform at an advanced level,
features interpretive and analytical reading/writing and survey of American Literature. Research is a strong
component of this course and parallel reading during the course is also required.
GENERAL INFORMATION
Required Texts
Collections
Required Independent Reading Material
Grading Categories and Scale
Literature – 20%
Informational Text – 20%
Writing & Communication - 15%
Research & Inquiry-Based Literacy –10%
CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT
Honors College Code of Conduct
Students are expected to:

Attend classes regularly and on time

Maintain an average of a C average in each
course.

Conduct academic honesty at all times
Vocabulary - 10%
Editing & Revising - 10%
Summative Assessments – 15%



Expectations
Students are expected to:

Be responsible for personal business
(guidance, attendance, or office visits,
personal grooming, bathroom visits, etc.)
before class

Exhibit respect for faculty, staff, and school
property at all times



Maintain a strong work ethic, including
promptly turning in assignments
Maintain a positive cumulative behavioral
record
Complete DHSHC approved community
service hours as required each year.
Be in the classroom and working by the
sound of the tardy bell
Bring all necessary materials and completed
assignments to class each day
Participate in class each day
POLICIES
Failure Prevention Intervention

Essays will be revised until the polished draft is acceptable with an alternative grading scale. The following
point penalty guide will be followed:
Revision Number
1
2
3
4
5+
Maximum Grade Awarded
93
88
83
77
70

Make up work must be completed within two weeks or the student will be unable to complete the missing
assignment.

Parent contact will be made for students who fail or do not turn in and/or complete major tests, projects, or
writing assignments.
GRADING REQUIREMENTS
Reading Literature – a minimum of 4 assignments per nine weeks
Students will study a variety of literature including short stories, novels, poetry, and drama. They will compare and contrast ideas and analyze theme,
author’s craft, plot, character, and figurative language in and among texts. They will also be required to complete written assignments, give oral
Page 1
English III H
2015-2016
presentations, create projects, and participate in discussions. Assignments may include but are not limited to graphic organizers, guided or response
questions, reading or lecture notes. Grade Weighting will distinguish grades within a category.
Reading Informational Text - minimum of 4 assignments per nine weeks
Students will study a variety of informational texts. Their study will require they compare and contrast theses and information in and among texts to
draw conclusions and make inferences as well as analyze information for author’s bias. Students will analyze the impact of text elements and graphic
features. They will also be required to complete written assignments, give oral presentations, create projects, and participate in discussions in
response to informational texts. Assignments may include but are not limited to graphic organizers, guided or response questions, reading or lecture
notes. Grade Weighting will distinguish grades within a category.
Writing and Communication - minimum of 4 assignments per nine weeks
Students will produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
Writings will include arguments to support claims, informative texts to examine and convey complex ideas, and narratives to develop real or imagined
experiences or events. Assignments may include pre-writing, drafts but should include final copies. Grade Weighting will distinguish grades within
a category.
Research and Inquiry-Based Literacy - a minimum of 3 assignments per nine weeks
Students will access and use information from a variety of printed and non-printed sources to design and carry out research assignments. Students
will refine a research topic and use direct quotations, paraphrases, summaries, and a format for documentation to create written works, presentations,
and projects – complete with graphics to support presented information. Assignments may include, but are not limited to, annotated bibliographies,
reports, essays, projects, presentations, source pages, exercises, reading or lecture notes, multiple-choice test taking practice. Grade Weighting will
distinguish grades within a category.
Vocabulary Acquisition and Use – a minimum of 3 assignments per nine weeks
Students will use word analysis and vocabulary strategies, such as context clues and word part analysis, and interpret euphemisms and connotations
to read fluently. Assignments may include but are not limited to graphic organizers, lecture notes, word webs, exercises, notes. Grade Weighting
will distinguish grades within a category.
Editing and Revising - a minimum of 2 assignments per nine weeks
Students will demonstrate a command of the conventions of Standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking. Students will apply this
knowledge of conventions to understand how language functions in different contexts, to make effective choices for meaning or style, and to
comprehend more fully when reading or listening. Assignments may include but are not limited to prewriting activities, graphic organizers, outlines,
rough drafts, peer revision and editing, writing conferences, grammar and mechanics exercises, revisions, multiple-choice test taking practice. Grade
Weighting will distinguish grades within a category.
Summative Assessments - a minimum of 2 tests/projects per nine weeks
Students will complete assignments, tests, and projects requiring the integration and demonstration of skills from multiple standards. These will be
given at a minimum after a complete collection. These assignments will include cold text readings, performance tasks, research projects, benchmark 1
and benchmark 3. Grade Weighting will distinguish grades within a category.
CURRICULUM
Summer Reading
Group Discussions & Data Collection Sheets
Assessment of additional novel
-
Literary Time Period Research Project
MLA Format: Reference Page &
Parenthetical Citations
Research Emphasis
Q1- Building a Democracy


Independent Text: Their Eyes Were Watching God, The Awakening, or Scarlet Letter
Performance Tasks:
o Narrative Project / Essay: Consider how the authors of this quarter’s anchor texts had to
rethink the boundaries and relationship between citizens and government. Consider a time in your
life when you needed a change to happen in a relationship. This change could consist of creating
new boundaries in a relationship or realizing that a relationship no longer worked. Synthesize your
experience by writing a personal, nonfiction, or fictional narrative.
AND
Informative Project / Essay: Analyze and present information from multiple texts, including
both anchor pieces that identify how each author, character, or founder finds balance between
preserving individual rights and forming a strong and lasting union (Collections pg. 169).
Anchor Texts:
 The Declaration of Independence; from The United States Constitution; Poem Choice
Close Reads (and Time Period Focus):
 B.F.’s The Autobiography; “On Being Brought from Africa to America;” “Abigail Adam’s
Last Act of Defiance;” “Indian Boy Love Song (#2)”
Early American:

Declaration of Independence/Bill of Rights

Letter to John Adams by Abigail Adams
o


Page 2
English III H
2015-2016


“To My Dear and Loving Husband” by Anne Bradstreet
World on a Turtle’s Back
Q2- A New Birth of Freedom




Independent Text: Novel Choice
Performance Tasks:
o Present a Persuasive Speech: Make a claim and give valid reasoning that develops and refines a
freedom that you think should be further developed in a current society (Collections pg. 323).
Anchor Texts:
 Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address AND “Runagate, Runagate”
Close Reads (and Time Period Focus):
 from Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, The Emancipation Proclamation; from
The Iroquois Constitution; Declaration of Sentiments; “Ain’t I a Woman”
Romanticism/Renaissance/American Gothic

Civil Disobedience by Thoreau

Self Reliance by Emerson

The Minister’s Black Veil by Hawthorne

“Raven” by Poe

“The Fall of the House of Usher”

“Psalm of Life” by Longfellow

Letter to Sophia Ripley by Margaret Fuller
Realism: Regionalism & Naturalism

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs

The Emancipation of Women by Echenique or Ain’t I a Woman Sojourner Truth

Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin or Yellow Wallpaper by Perkins-Gillman

“I Hear American Singing” by Whitman

Dickinson poetry selections
Q3- An Age of Realism
Research:
Author & Literary Period Literary Analysis
4-5 typed pages
MLA format: Parenthetical Citations and Reference Page




Independent Text: Novel Choice
Performance Tasks:
o Write an Analytical Essay: Choose one text. What particular themes or central ideas does the
writer want readers to recognize about reality, and why? What stylistic choices does the author
make in order to reveal a specific version of reality? (Collections pg. 405). CHOOSE ONE - THEME
OR REALITIES.
Anchor Texts:
 “To Build a Fire” and Info Text of Choice (from textbook or close reader)
Close Reads (and Time Period Focus):
 “The Men in the Storm”; from The Jungle; “The Yuckiest Food in the Amazon”; from Fast
Food Nation; “The Story of an Hour”; “A Journey”; “From the Dark Tower”
Modernism: Jazz Age/Harlem Renaissance

A Worn Path by Welty

The Jilting of Granny Weatherall by Porter

Rose for Emily by Faulkner

Life You Save May Be Your Own by O’Connor

Thoughts on the African American Novel by Toni Morrison

“Any Human to Another” by Cullen

“America” or “If I Must Die” by Claude McKay

“I, Too, Sing America” and “Dream Deferred” by Hughes

Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka

“Chicago” by Sansburg and other poetry selections

“Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” by Eliot

“Nothing Gold Can Stay” by Frost
Page 3
English III H
2015-2016


“Mother to Son” by Hughes
“The Chrysanthemums” by Steinbeck
Q4- The Modern World




Independent Text: Novel Choice
Performance Tasks:
o Panel Discussion: Look back at the texts in this collection, including The Crucible and consider the
quote by Gertrude Stein: “Everybody gets so much information all day long that they lose their
common sense.” What influences how people react to information? How can we decide what is
credible and what is not? Synthesize your ideas by holding a panel discussion about how
information overload affects our ability to be responsible, informed, and active citizens. Use
evidence from the selections to support your ideas (Collections pg. 605).
Anchor Texts:
 The Crucible and “Why I Wrote the Crucible”
Close Reads (and Time Period Focus):
 “The Weary Blues”; “How it Feels to be Colored Me”; “Ambush”; “Why I WroteThe
Crucible”; “The Ends of the Word as We Know Them”
Contemporary:

“Mother Tongue” by Tan

“Straw into Gold” by Cisneros

“Harrison Bergeron” by Vonegut

Raisin in the Son by Hansberry

Letter from Birmingham Jail by King

The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien

Sylvia Plath poetry selections

“Revolutionary Dreams” by Giovanni

Straw Into Gold by Cisneros

Coming of Age in Mississippi by Moody

Mother Tongue by Tan

“Life for My Child” by Brooks

“Adolescents 3” by Dove
TESTING INFORMATION
PSAT
10th Grade students will also take the PSAT (Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test) in October. While this test does
not affect a student’s grade or eligibility for graduation, it is required by the state of South Carolina for all 10 th grade
students. It also serves as an excellent practice SAT opportunity. Because this test is required for 10 th grade
students, 10th grade students will not be charged a fee to take this exam. 11 grade students are also encouraged to
register for the PSAT. * ANY 11th grade student interested in being eligible for the National Merit
Scholarship MUST take the PSAT during their 11th grade year. Students who are interested in taking the
PSAT who are not first-time 10th grade students will be charged a minimal fee to take this exam and need to see
their guidance counselor.
Page 4