English 11 - Introduction to American Literature (Period 5)

English 11

Introduction to American Literature

Syllabus, Fall 2018 - Spring 2019

COURSE OBJECTIVES AND DESCRIPTION Introduction to American Literature is a yearlong course that aims to deepen and broaden your relationship with American literature. We are going to investigate the great works of the American canon and the literary movements that they led. We will discover the symbiotic relationship between American history and its literature to better understand their transformations across time. Furthermore, we are going to investigate the various forms that American literature has taken and how these forms function in creating meaning and effect. Our literary sources will be diverse, drawing from immigrant and American born novelists, poets, dramatists, musicians, filmmakers, and illustrators across the centuries.

The course is organized into loosely chronological units that collect major and minor works in the American tradition from a multitude of perspectives. Students will share in the discovery of these sources, and we will study them to identify how diverse backgrounds and ideas are at the foundation of what it means to be American, then and now.

Students will engage critically with American literature and reflect that in their work. As a class, we will learn and begin to master the skills and strategies that are necessary for all students to be college and career ready, including: close reading and comprehension, the writing process, formal writing, making effective presentations, and speaking & listening effectively to learn. This course has been designed to achieve the Common Core State Standards for this grade as well as to work toward the Anchor Standards for all college and career ready students.

We will also develop our social and emotional learning throughout the year, focusing on self-management, self and social awareness, and responsible decision-making.

STUDENT SUCCESS All of the expectations that we have of our teachers are the same as those we have for our students. Students and teachers are expected to follow a simple set of rules that govern their conduct in and out of the classroom.

1. Express Yourself Appropriately. This course will investigate the scope of the human experience and we will engage with it as scholars, using academic language befitting an educational setting. This governs not what we say and do, but how we say and do it.
2. Give Learning Your Best Effort. Every person can learn and deserves that opportunity. You are not expected to be perfect. Learning results only from making mistakes with honest intentions and growing from them. This governs coming to class prepared with your materials and assignments completed, and staying focused without distractions. If you give learning your best effort, you will be successful in this course.
3. Act With Integrity. Honest, open, and ethical behavior should govern all interactions in an educational setting. This is a place where we must be fair, open-minded, non-violent, encouraging, and respectful to one another. All instances of copying, forging, or plagiarism are in direct opposition to this expectation.
4. Keep The Classroom Clean And Safe. The foundation of any learning environment is a setting that is clean and orderly. Furthermore, it must be physically safe to all people and a place that encourages our participating in learning.

Simply put, if you learn to express yourself appropriately, give learning your best effort, act with integrity, and keep the classroom clean and safe, there is no doubt that you will be successful.

OTHER CONCERNS Our classroom policies adhere directly to those outlined in the Ulysses S. Grant High School Student Handbook, which can be found on www.granths.org. This includes, but is not limited to:

The Progressive Discipline Policy - Level 1, II, or III misconduct will be noted and corrected by the appropriate parties and continued infractions will progress to higher levels of intervention.

Absence Policy - It is the student’s responsibility to inquire about any assignments, assessments, or content that they may have missed. They have one week to complete them for full credit.

Tardy Policy - Tardy lockouts are conducted every day, every period. Students not in their seat when the bell rings are considered tardy.

Electronic Devices Policy - All electronic devices when used, displayed, or turned on (unless prompted by the instructor) will be confiscated and only a parent/guardian can retrieve them from the Assistant Principal.

Food and Drink - There is no eating or drinking in class. All food and drink must be securely stowed away and left untouched until after class.

**Any exception to the rules and policies above are made on a case-by-case basis and done to accommodate students with legally mandated special needs.

ASSIGNMENTS & GRADING Students will be asked to perform reading, writing, and speaking & listening tasks continuously to demonstrate their grasp of the course’s content and performance objectives. All tasks are graded numerically against these standards and the total grade for a student is the sum of the points they have earned across all tasks divided by the total of all possible points. Letter grades are based on the following scale: