American Literature

This course is designed to familiarize students with the development of American literature. Students will focus on the study of all genres of American literature by analyzing, discussing and writing about what they have read. Students will employ the use of the writing process learned in English I as they learn to write the Formal Essay. Students will also be required to master the knowledge and use of new vocabulary met in the literature studied.

Reading List: 

Quarter One

• The Crucible by Arthur Miller
• 5 short stories & works of poetry by Edgar Allen Poe
• Short selections from colonial and early post-post colonial American writers: John Smith, Jonathan Edwards, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Paine, and James Fenimore Cooper.
• Works of poetry by Anne Bradstreet, Phillis Wheatley, and Edgar Allen Poe.

Quarter Two

• Excerpts from Walden by Henry David Thoreau
• Short selections from Emerson, Hawthorne, Crane, Cather, and Jack London or a longer work by Anne Bradstreet, Phillis Wheatley, or Edgar Allen Poe.
• Poetry selections by Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, and Paul Laurence Dunbar.

Quarter Three

• Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
• Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
• Short selections from Black Hawk, Chief Joseph, or other Native American compositions.

Quarter Four

• Reading will include: My Antonia or O Pioneers by Willa Cather
• How the Garcia Girls’ Lost Their Accents by Julia Alvarez or
• The Natural by Bernard Malamud
• Selections of poetry by the following poets:Langston Hughes, Claude McKay, Jean Toomer.

COMPETENCY GOAL 1: Language - Students will demonstrate effective use of language for an intended audience. Objectives:
Students will

• Be able to pose questions, listen to the ideas of others, and formulate and contribute their own information or ideas in group discussions in order to acquire new knowledge an critical skills.
• Formulate and follow agreed-upon rules for effective discussions in small and large groups.
• Learn to demonstrate a recognition of their audience, the purpose of their presentation or writing, and the information to be conveyed in making oral and written communication.
• Recognize how the English language has developed, changed, and influenced as well as been influenced by other languages.
• Primarily through particular pieces of literature, come to an understanding of how oral dialects of particular regions and periods differ from each other in English, and how they differ from written standard English. They will be able to analyze when differences between standard and non-standard dialects are a source of negative or positive stereotypes among social groups. Emphasis will be placed on standard American English and why it is important in informal and formal communication.

COMPETENCY GOAL 2: Composition—Students will demonstrate proficiency in preparation for and the construction of formal essay and research paper. Objectives:
Students will

• Develop the ability to write coherently with a clear controlling idea and adequate detail, and be able to focus and plan strategies as needed to generate and organize their ideas.
• Be able to tailor their writing to different audiences and purposes.
• Improve their ability to organize, select content, develop paragraphs, and choose words, detail, style and tone effectively in their writing, using a variety of revising strategies as needed.
• Be able to demonstrate an understanding of English grammar and standard English conventions for sentence structure, usage, punctuation, capitalization and spelling, and use their knowledge to edit their writing.
• Demonstrate an understanding of theme through formal essay writing.
• Demonstrate an understanding of character development through formal essay writing.
• Be able to use Writers Inc: A Student Handbook for Writing and Learning, and other reference works as resources.
• Develop note-taking skills, summarizing, paraphrasing and outlining skills, and the ability to generate questions as learning and research aids.
• Develop his or her own voice in writing.
• Improve their research skills. They will learn to use open-ended research questions, different sources of information, and appropriate research methods to gather information. They will improve their facility with the various resources available in a library, both printed and electronic.
• Be able to evaluate the utility and credibility of information sources.
• Write descriptive, narrative, and persuasive essays
• Write a three to five page research paper

COMPETENCY GOAL 3: Literature—Students will demonstrate knowledge of the elements of literature, literary criticism, and the many methods used by writers. Objectives:
Students will

• The ability to accurately decode and understand new words encountered in their reading materials, drawing on a variety of strategies including effective use of the dictionary; analysis of context; analysis of roots, suffixes and prefixes; and reading aloud
• The ability to recognize which strategies are appropriate in a given context
• The ability to use these words accurately in speaking and writing

Students will improve the following skills in the recognition of basic facts and ideas in literature and other media:

• Focusing skills
• Planning, monitoring, re-reading, paraphrasing and assessing skills.
• The ability to differentiate factual statements from opinion, the realistic from fantasy; and to recognize narrative, speculation, expression of emotion, prejudice and editorial when encountered.
• Recognizing which skills to draw upon in a given situation.
• providing relevant and convincing reasons.
• using various types of evidence, such as experience or facts.
• using appropriate and effective language, reasons, and organizational structure for the audience and purpose.
• demonstrating awareness of the possible questions, concerns, or counter arguments of the audience.

Students will improve skills in the understanding of genres:·

• The ability to recognize that there are different genres in literature.
• Recognition of prose, including the ability to demonstrate an understanding of the concept of fiction, specifically the novel and the short story; also including the ability to recognize non-fiction in its various forms, specifically biography, autobiography, the journal, history, editorial and various types of essays.
• Recognition of poetry and its forms and conventions, as well as the ability to appreciate reading poetry critically, analytically and enjoyably; also, the ability to demonstrate a general familiarity with some of the major American poets through history.
• Appreciation of drama and the ability to approach it critically and find the theme, purpose and levels of meaning in a dramatic work, as well as evaluate its impact.

Students will improve the following skills in understanding. Theme:

• The ability to identify theme in a work of literature.
• The ability to provide evidence to support their understanding of theme in specific works of literature.
• The ability to identify and analyze the ways in which historical and cultural contexts influence literature.

Students will improve the following skills in Understanding Structure, elements and Meaning:

• The ability to understand the structure and elements of a work of fiction and demonstrate this by supporting their ideas with evidence from the text
• The ability to understand the structure, elements and meaning of a piece of non-fiction or informational material, and demonstrate this
• The ability to demonstrate an understanding of the structure, elements and meaning of poetry

Students will improve the following skills in the recognition of the methods used by writers:

• The ability to see how an author’s choice of words appeals to the senses, creates imagery, suggests mood, and sets tone.
• The ability to analyze and compare figurative language, imagery and symbol in literature.
• The ability to analyze and evaluate the style of various authors.
• The ability to understand how a writer creates character.
• The ability to recognize when and how a writer makes use of allusion.

Students will improve the following skills in becoming familiar with Literary Criticism:

• A familiarity with the idea of interpreting the meaning of literary works, non-fiction, films, drama and media.
• Improved skill in interpreting the meaning of literary works, non-fiction, films, drama and media by using different critical lenses and analytic techniques.
• The ability to analyze the moral and philosophical arguments presented in novels, films, plays or poems, including the ability to recognize political ideology and archetypal patterns and weigh their significance in a work of literature or non-fiction.

COMPETENCY GOAL 4: Media—Students will demonstrate knowledge of the uses of media. Objectives:
Students will

• Obtain information by using a variety of sources.
• Analyze visual or aural techniques used in a media message for a particular audience and evaluate their effectiveness.

Technology Learning Outcomes:
Students can

• Employ simple troubleshooting strategies when computer/printer problems occur.
• Specify the difference between a directory, search engine, and meta-search engine.
• Write a report from the outline feature of a graphic organizer.
• Do a Boolean word search.
• Develop a project using both printed and online resources.
• Take notes in a word processing program while researching on the Internet.