2555 Wieneke Road ●●● Saginaw, MI 48603 ●●● 989-791-4330

Syllabus

Grade 11
Course Description

This class builds upon the literary and analytical skills developed in American Literature/Composition.  Students apply these skills to selections by various British authors such as Chaucer, Shakespeare, Swift, Orwell and others.  Writing assignments will be incorporated building upon skills refined in American Literature.  The focus is upon acceleration.  The class will pursue the material at a more intense level with additional expectations.

One of the major purposes of the class is to share your knowledge and insights with your peers.  This is not structured to be a lecture class.  The focus will be on how much you are willing to initiate.  Along with this comes a certain degree of creativity and motivation.  You are responsible for developing interesting lessons and discussions.  Leadership, communication, critical thinking and application are necessary elements of the class.

Outcomes:

• Be able to interpret fiction and nonfiction and relate it to your personal life.

• Be able to identify various purposes for reading fiction and nonfiction.

• Be able to write a quality essay with an introduction, thesis, body with two or more major points supported by examples, transitions, figurative language, and conclusion.

• Be able to demonstrate quality writing through organization, research, concrete examples, and clear, logical, precise, and simple progression of thought.

• Be able to listen in order to form opinions objectively.

• Be able to read and listen in order to analyze your personal motivations, beliefs, and goals and to take stances on issues of importance.

• Be able to analyze, interpret, draw conclusions and question literary devices in literature.

Required Texts:

• The British Tradition, Prentice Hall, 1999

• Survival, T.H. Peek Publisher, 1995

• SF Writer, 2^nd Ed., Addison-Wesley Educational Publishers Inc., 2002

• Grendel, John Gardner

• The Mayor of Casterbridge, Thomas Hardy

• Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte

• 1984, George Orwell

• Lord of the Flies, William Golding

• Great Expectations, Charles Dickens

English Department Requirements:

• All major papers will be typed.

• All written work must be completed in ink.

• All written work must be completed on loose-leaf paper on one side.

• All work must be handed in on time.

• No late work will be accepted.

• No extra credit will be given.

• Any form of cheating will result in an automatic zero.

• Plagiarism is unacceptable and will result in no credit.

• Required materials are expected in class on a daily basis.

• A notebook is required (continuation of prior years).

• It is your responsibility to see the teacher (at the beginning of the class period) the day you return about missed assignments due to excused absence(s).  Quizzes and tests must be made up immediately on your own time.  Dates for these will be assigned when you return.  Assignments given on the day of the absence will be assigned a later due date.  Work given or due as result of an unexcused absence or tardy will result in a zero. 

• Prearranged absence - it is your responsibility to check before the actual absence so that work is completed upon return.

• Participation is required.

• Appropriate classroom behavior is expected.

• Writing Portfolio

• Computer disc required.

Grading:

Various methods of evaluation will be used.  The purpose of this is to give you the exposure and experience to a variety of procedures.  All work given will be assigned point values as determined by their importance.  The total points will determine the final grade.  The quarterly work and semester exam will all constitute a certain percentage of the grade as determined by the student handbook.

Composition Techniques Required:

(Each grade builds upon the prior composition formats that are required.)

• Investigative Paper

 Literature Required:

1^st Semester

• Unit I  - From Legend to History (449-1485)

• Unit II  - Celebrating Humanity (1485-1625)

• Unit III  - A Turbulent Time (1625-1798)

 2^nd Semester

• Unit IV  - Rebels and Dreamers (1798-1832)

• Unit V - Progress and Decline (1833-1901)

• Unit VI  - A Time of Rapid Change (1901-Present)

Author
1. Who is the author?
2. What do you know about the writer and/or the time period in which the poem was
    written?

Title
1. What does the title tell you?
2. What does the title suggest about the poem?

Genre
1. Is the poem a lyric, such as an ode, elegy, or sonnet?
    • Does it use musical language to express the emotions of the speaker?
    • Who is the speaker?
    • What audience is being addressed?
    • What is the occasion or situation?
2. Is it a narrative poem-that is, does it tell a story?
    • What plot, characters, settings, and point of view does the story have?
3. Is it a dramatic poem?
    • Is it a monologue or dialogue, or does it use some other dramatic technique?
    • What point of view, characters, setting, and situation does the dramatic work present?

Form
1. Does the poem have a traditional form or pattern? If so, what is it?
2. What is the stanza form?
3. How many lines does each stanza have? Do all the stanzas have the same number of lines?
4. What are the rhyme scheme and the metrical pattern?
5. If the stanzas are written in a standard form, what is it?
6. Does the poem have a special shape or structure that enhances its meaning?

Subject
1. W11at is the subject of the poem?
2. What is this poem about?

Theme or Thesis
1. What at is the theme or central idea of the poem?
2. How is the message conveyed?

Sensory Images
1. What at details appeal to your sense of sight?
2. What details appeal to your sense of hearing?
3. What at details appeal to your sense of smell?
4. What at details appeal to your sense of taste?
5. What details appeal to your sense of touch?
6. What is the purpose of these sensory images?

Figurative Language
1. Are there any metaphors?
2. Are there similes?
3. Are there personifications?
4. Are there other less common figures of speech? What are they?
5. What purpose do the figures of speech serve?
6. Is there symbolism?
7. What do the symbols stand for?
8. What is the purpose of the symbolism?
9. Are there allusions?
10. Is the poem allegorical?

Sound Devices
1. Does the writer make use of alliteration?
2. Does the writer include assonance or consonance?
3. Does the poet use onomatopoeia?
4. Does the poet use any type of rhyme, such as end rhyme, interior rhyme, masculine
    rhyme, or feminine rhyme? What is it?
5. Are there any repetitions in words, lines, or stanzas?
6. Does the poem contain euphony, cacophony, parallel structure, or repetition?
7. What is the meter? What type and number of metrical feet are in a line?
8. How does the poem use rhythm?
9. What purpose do these sound effects serve?

Opposition
1. Are there any contrasts between people or personalities?
2. Are any places contrasted?
3. Are other elements contrasted?
4. What is the effect of the contrast?

Style
1. What is the mood or emotional structure?
2. Does the emotional structure remain constant or does it change?
3. What is the tone?
4. Does the tone stay the same or change?
5. Does the poet use any special techniques, such as unusual punctuation, capitalization,
    or spacing?
6. How does the poet use words? Does the poet use words in unusual ways?
7. How do connotations of words create figurative or extended meaning?

NOTE: Use these questions as you practice planning and writing the essay questions on poetry in this chapter. Take the answers to these questions into account as you develop your theses. Pay particular attention to how the various literary techniques contribute to the impact of the poem. Include your own reactions and feelings in your essays, but support them with specifics from the poem. By using these questions throughout this chapter, you will become so familiar with them that you will automatically turn to them to analyze any poetry you read.

Mode of Discourse
 1. What type of prose is it-fiction, exposition, persuasion, description, narrative, drama? 

 2. Are points developed by definitions, examples, facts, events, or quotations and citations?

Author
 1. Who is the author?

 2. What do you know about the writer and/or the time period in which the passage
      was written?

Title
 1. What does the title tell you?

 2. What does it suggest about the subject or the theme (meaning) of the passage?

Subject
 1. Wl1at is the subject of the passage?

 2. What is this selection about?

Setting
 1. Where and when does the action in the selection take place?

 2. What details does the writer us to create the setting?

 3. Does the setting create a mood or feeling?

 4. Is the setting a symbol for an important idea that the writer wants to convey?

 5. Does the setting play a role in the central conflict?

 Point of View
 I. Is the passage told from the first person or from the third person point of view?

 2. Is the narrator limited or omniscient?

 3. What effect docs the point of view have on the way you experience the selection?

 Central Conflict
 1. What struggle is the protagonist involved?

 2. Is the central conflict internal, within the main character's mind, or external, with another character, society, or nature?

 3. How is the conflict resolved?

 1. What events take place in the passage?

 NOTE: These questions are general. You will need to adapt them to the type of prose you are reading. Some questions are more appropriate for fiction, while others work better with nonfiction. By using them throughout this chapter, you will become so familiar with the questions that you will ktl0w automatically which ones to use with which prose passage on the test

Wright, Richard. Native Son.

What can we say about the novel?

A novel is a prose account of human experiences that are not only unique, but also universal. A novel enables man to see facets of himself, but in doses that are ordered, palatable, entertaining, or symbolic.

A novel should point out something (an experience, a thought, a condition, a possibi1ity) and spotlight it as being worth consideration because not everyone can think of or experience all the things that are worth thinking of or experiencing.

A novel is a book that tells you something. It can give you greater insight into human behavior or about the world around you. It is not some romantic story which is nothing but drivel. A novel can entertain but not just on the level of the romance.

A novel should have a plot, should have complete character development, should have a theme, should have an antagonist and protagonist.

A novel should deal with the entertainment of a person's mind. It doesn't have to be a true to life event to the reader, but should make the reader become interested in it by presenting the reader with thoughts and ideas to expand their day to day life.  It shows how everything isn't the same to everyone in the world and the possibilities of something existing that one would never find possible in their life.

A novel should be either a reading to let you escape from reality for awhile, or a reading which will teach you some knowledge about life. A good novel should do both of these; it should hold the reader's attention, provide entertainment, and also make the reader think.

A novel is a piece of life cornered by some person amateur or professional and thoroughly exposed and discussed and looked at. A novel should have some realism in it otherwise it will only amuse and not instruct as most authors wish their novels to do.  The novel should have two levels, the amusement level and the hard, deep level where I nothing is sacred and everything can be criticized or agreed upon or discussed.

E. M. Forster said: "Prose, because it is a medium for daily life as well as for literature, is particularly sensitive to what is going on, and two tendencies can be noted; the popular, which absorbs what is passing, and secondly, the esoteric, which rejects it, and tries to create something more valuable than monotony and bloodshed.  The best work of the period has this esoteric tendency. . ."

Purpose of Reading a Novel

1. Novels are representations of life, of the world, and of the peoples who make up these worlds. The reading of a novel gives a vicarious experience of some facets of the world, thus life. The reading of a novel gives one perhaps added insights or new perspectives on some parts of life.
   
   a. since they can't experience all life, novels can offer some experience not gotten in everyday world.
   
   b. since novels explore more deeply into the situation and the minds of the characters the experience can be more full, or more revealing.
    
2. Because what you understand about a novel, what you "get" from it are dependent on what you already know or have experienced, a novel can give added dimension or understanding to your own conceptions of the world. Novels may change/alter your conceptions or preconceptions.
   
   a. good novels are psychological documents.
   
   b. good novels are the depiction of one man's or Man's, or a number of peoples conflicts without life. Their solutions may offer suggestions for one's own solutions; their non-solutions as examples of poor solutions.
   
   c. good novels show characters who find or do not show their peace without life again, can offer examples.
   
   d. every novel should say something to the individual--give him something to fit to his perception of world.
   
   e. novels should entertain.

Study Guide for Any Novel

1. Theme is the central or dominating idea in a literary work. In a novel it is the abstract concept which is made concrete through its representation in person and action. It is the basic idea or general truth the author is try to present. In any novel your task is to define what you believe the theme is.
    
2. Plot or the situation or story itself; what is happening between the characters.
   
   The author has complete control of the series of actions he depicts. He chooses and arranges his incidents to focus on the theme, to build the characterization of his characters, and to create an effect that dominates the novel.
   
   Plot is not merely the random ordering of a series of incidents; the series must be unified toward a goal (that of creating a fictive world in which the theme is set forth) to be a plot.
   
   Plot is the interrelationship of the actions; these give unity to the novel.Plot sets forth the major and minor conflicts in any novel.
    
3. Conflict is the "meat" of the plot. Conflict is the struggle which grows out of the interplay of two opposing forces in the novel. Usually one of these forces is a character in the novel.
   
   The conflict may be the struggle between man and nature. A character may struggle against another person. A character may struggle against society.  The conflict may be within the character himself; his good nature may struggle against his tendency to do evil, his jealousy of a friend may be in conflict with his love for that friend, or his desire to run away from a situation may be in opposition to his feeling that to run would be cowardly. for example.  Or a character may struggle, most often uselessly, against fate, against his destiny.
   
   For any novel define what struggle. or more probably struggles, is or are going on in the novel. What type of struggles are they? Once you see what conflicts are being presented. you can usually define what the central ideas or themes in the novel are.
   
   For any novel ask how do these conflicts arise from the personality and situations of the characters. how do these characters face and solve, or not solve, these conflicts.
    
4. Obviously the characters are the persons who act and are acted upon in the novel. The characters serve to carry the author's theme. It is through the actions and feeling of the characters that the theme is presented.
   
   A character is developed or shown by:
   
   a. straightforward descriptions of how the character looks.
   
   b. outright presentations of what the character is feeling.
   
   c. the author's narration of what the character does.
   
   d. what the other characters say about him, tell you about him.
   
   e. how other characters react to him, feel toward him.  how the character himself to society, and to the objects in his world.

   For any novel note how the particular author develops his characters and note at information leads you to form the opinions you do about the characters.
    

5. Setting is the physical, and sometimes spiritual. background against which the action of a narrative takes place. The elements which go to make up a setting are: (1) the actual geographical location, its scenery, its "props"; (2) the occupations and daily manner of living of the characters; (3) the time or period in which the action takes place, and (4) the general environment of the characters, that is, religious, moral, mental, social, and emotional conditions through which the people in the novel move.
   
   For any novel ask what is the actual location and physical setting, what is the daily manner of living, what is the time period and/or season, and what is the general environment of the characters (religious. moral, social, etc.).  Then ask how these relate to the theme or what theme that they could be aiming at. Ask how the setting adds to the characterization, plot, theme, etc.
    
6. The way in which the author views the story; who tells it. The most widely; used points of view are:
   
   a. omniscient (all-knowing), in which the author knows and portrays the thoughts and actions of all the characters--he is always aware of what will happen at every point of the story.
   
   b. first person, in which the story is told from the limited knowledge of the narrator--all thoughts and actions are seen through his eyes.
   
   c. partial omniscient, in which the author limits his awareness of thoughts and actions to one character.
   
   d. objective, in which the author sees and records without expressing an opinion or comment.

   Criteria for Critically Evaluating the Novel
   
   1. A good novel contains action. This action need not be physical, external action; it quite often is internal action.
   
   a. The action of a good novel is based on a condition of suspense. Suspense in a novel is defined as a means of developing and maintaining interest by creating expectations (through uncertainty and anticipation) in the reader.

   The major characters of a good novel are believable. This is not to say that they are people who seem familiar to the average reader. A "real" character should grow and change as a personality, yet he must remain a fairly consistent being; an author cannot make you believe in a character if that. character suddenly commits an action against his established nature.
   
   a. The author builds his character carefully, always preparing the way for a major change or decision.
   
   b. Stereotyped characters are those that are rigid; they never change. A good novelist rarely uses a stereotyped character in a major position.
   
   3. A good novel will build to a climax or climaxes. Climax here shall be defined as a turning point in the situation of the major character(s) or an incident that brings about a crisis in the character's situation. This turning point or crisis sets the way for the outcome of the novel.
   
   a. The climax may be action-oriented or may be an internal event.
   
   b. A climax need not be an especially dramatic or exciting point; it need only be significant.
   
   4. A novel of value will have a theme. Any good novel will have an idea, a philosophy, a message to communicate.
   
   a. This theme is not necessarily world-shaking, but it will be some point that a reader can ponder. This requirement of theme satisfies the intellect of the reader; he wants to find something more than a mere story.
   
   b. However, a good novel should not obscure its theme, thus leaving the reader wondering exactly what the point of the narrative is. A good novelist will not bludgeon you over the head with his message, yet he also will not beat around the bush.
   
   5. A satisfying novel will have a "good ending." Loosely defined, a good ending is one that seems appropriate to the action that has preceded it.
   
   a. The ending should fit the mood of the novel. If the novel has been extremely pessimistic, the famous "happily-ever-after" ending may seem wrong or ridiculous.
   
   b. The surprise ending will be appropriate only if there have been some hints that this surprise could happen. Otherwise the reader may feel that the author has used a gimmick to merely make his novel "different."
   
   c. The "leave-you-hanging" ending will satisfy only if the novelist has previously given enough information to let the reader piece together his own ending. Otherwise the reader may feel that the author himself didn't have any idea of an ending.

   d. The novelist therefore must always prepare the way for his ending or the ending will not be believable.

   6. An effective novelist will always be conscious of his style. If his style is not appropriate to his subject matter, the novel will not satisfy the reader.

   a. The language the author uses should fit the characters; the dialogue should be part of the character. Thus the author must make his words fit the economic background, the social environment, and the age of the characters.

   (1) the language of the novel should always be consistent with the mood of the novel.

   b. The amount of description an author will use will depend partly on the author's preference for prose description. Yet a good novelist also realizes that there are guidelines to the amount of description that is satisfying to the reader.

   (1) the amount of description should be enough to let the reader "see" the environment and "feel" the mood. Once this has been accomplished any more may clog "the novel. Thus exotic places and unusual environments will warrant more elaboration than the commonplace.

   (2) the amount of description should be parallel to the emphasis the novelist wants to place on the places/things described. Thus if a novelist emphasized the appearance of a certain place, it should contain some importance to the narrative. For example, Lewis, in Babbit, wanted to show how "thing-conscious" George Babbitt was, so he detailed a description of Babbitt's bathroom.

   (3) description should not be hung on the reader all at once; it gets weighty. A good novelist will interweave; his description with his action.

   c. A good novelist will be careful to project a tone that is consistent with the story. An experienced novelist can find that his choice of words or arrangement of events has projected an attitude he never meant to give; a reader will sense this.

Vocabulary

Lesson #1

abound    annals    automaton     badger    compound    drudgery    eminent    implore    indiscriminate   interminable  matron    paradox     perceive     prognosticate     realm     replete    steeped    technology    tinge    voracious

Lesson #2

 accost    adroit    avid    cajole    enhance    fabricate    felon    furtive    gesticulate    hapless    intrepid   irate    laconic  nuance    plethora    pretext    reticent     rudimentary     throng     vigilant

Lesson #3

 bristle    caustic    cessation    condolence     dupe    euphemism     inadvertent     incipient     incongruous     infamous  jostle     lackluster     loathe     mundane     ominous     reprimand    repudiate    stipulate     tremulous    wrest

Lesson #4

 alacrity    aspirant    belligerent    belittle    brash    castigate    disdain     dregs     feint     frenzy     intimidate    laceration     octogenarian     promulgate     pugnacious    scoff     scurrilous    solace     sordid     tangible

Lesson #5

 acrimonious     admonish    clandestine    concur    construe    culprit    distraught     duplicity    duress    egregious    elicit     ethics    flagrant     impunity    inane     inexorable     paucity     pernicious    rampant     tolerate

Lesson #6

affluent    chagrin    confidant (e)    consternation    deride    discern    disparage
dubious    eschew    feasible    fiasco    laudable    masticate    obsolescence    perfunctory    perverse    precocious quell    sally    voluble

Lesson #7
                                                                                                    
arbitrary    cognizant    effigy    exacerbate    flout    forthwith    fray    harass     implacable     indigent     jurisdiction monolithic    oust    paroxysm    reprehensible    revert    skirmish    stymie    terminate    turbulent

Lesson #8

 afflict    ascend    besiege    emaciated    excruciating    fretful    harbinger    malignant    malnutrition    privation    remote    respite    reverberating    sanctuary    sinister    succumb    surge    thwart    tranquil    ubiquitous

Lesson #9

 Adverse    Advocate    Amicable    Asset    Astute    Bigot    Blatant    Entourage    Extortion    Impresario    Ineffectual    Loath    Malady    Nefarious    Scrutinize    Solicit    Spew    Venom    Vexatious    Virulent

Lesson #10

 Desist    Doleful    Elusive    Engrossed    Frustrate    Histrionics    Imminent    Inclement    Inert    Interject    Mastiff    Obsess    Pertinent    Peruse    Premonition    Recoil    Salient    Squeamish    Symptomatic    Wan

Lesson #11

 Coerce    Comprehensive    Conjecture    Corroborate    Domicile    Elapse    Fruitless    Garbled    Inundate    Lax    Lurid    Meticulous    Obviate    Phlegmatic    Poignant    Quip    Rash    Sanguine    Sporadic    Zealous

Lesson #12

 Anathema    Diatribe    Expunge    Flamboyant    Fortuitous    Fractious    Ilk    Incoherent    Inhibition    Integral    Jaunty    Nominal    Ostentatious    Placard    Prestigious    Remuneration    Schism    Timorous    Truncated    Utopia

Lesson #13

 Cryptic    Curtail    Emit    Eventuate    Haven    Importune    Inchoate    Incontrovertible    Incredulous    Jeopardize    Permeate    Premise    Propitious    Repress    Subjugate    Subterranean    Surmise    Surreptitious    Ultimate    Viable

Lesson #14

aspire  bias  havoc  incisive  inveigh  lethal  mammoth  nettle  overt  precipitate  raze  relegate  repulse  scurry  sinecure  singular  stentorian  stereotype  supine  valor

Lesson #15

abrogate  access  accomplice  alleged  asperity  complicity  controversial  culpable  declaim  epithet  extrinsic  fetter (v.)  invalidate  landmark (adj.)  liquidation  nomadic  paragon  persevere  preclude  recant

Lesson #16

altruistic  amorous  antitheses  bulwark  cache  coterie  cupidity  cursory  embellish  frugal  gregarious  habitat  indigenous  interloper  progeny  prolific  saturate  sedentary  temerity  virtuosity

Lesson #17

assiduous  attest  component  concoct  consummate  deploy  enigma  evaluate  exult  fallacious  fraught  gullible  hoax  impeccable  labyrinth  manifold  murky  perpetrate  resourceful  subterfuge

Lesson #18

abortive  accommodate  barometer  buff (n.)  conjugal  crave  deem  inherent  innate  irrelevant  itinerant  latent  modify myriad  peregrination  romp  spontaneous  tortuous  urbane  veneer

Lesson  #19

amnesty  balk  blunt  coup  dismantle  exonerate  expatriate  fiat  legion  mendacious  megalomania  nostalgia  parsimonious  pecuniary  profligate  restrictive  rife  strife  sumptuous  underwrite

Lesson #20

abstemious  derogatory  disparate  edifice  extant  indict  levity  lugubrious  maudlin  nebulous  omnivorous  pesky  puissant  redolent  repose  reviled  sultry  trenchant  unabated  vicissitudes

Lesson #21

ascetic  bona fide  decadence  destitution  desultory  disciple  fulsome  indoctrinate   lush  materialism  metamorphosis  nirvana  nurture  obsequious  opulence  penance  ponder  salvation  scion  supplication

Lesson #22

acknowledge  appellation  chimerical  connubial  cope  covert  cumulative  delude  demur  escalation   fabricate  incapacitated  incompatibility  indifference  juxtapose  palliate  plight  potential (adj.)  prelude  recondite

Lesson  #23

analogous  catastrophic  compensatory  decade  enunciate  gamut  heterogeneous  inordinate  introspective  irascible  maladjusted  mandate  mortality  neurotic  neutralize  pedagogue  perpetuate  perspicacious  phenomenon  susceptible

Lesson #24

abhor  absurd  anthropologist  artifact  bigot  bizarre  contemptuous  entreaty  fetish  imperative  imprudent  inanimate  inviolable  originate  prohibition  taboo  taint  tradition  universal  vulnerable

Lesson #25

aegis  awesome  conflagration  congenial  debris  deplorable  detriment  dispersed  doddering  eruption  hoard  imbibe  initiate  longevity  obliterate  puny rue  sage  senile  virile

Lesson #26

acute  aversion  cogent  evince  gist  hostile  inevitable  intrinsic  jettison  lucrative  paramount  prevalent  rebuke  remiss  superficial  lethargic  terse  transient  tussle  vogue

Lesson #27

adamant  ardent  array  bereft   besmirch  constrict  culminate  egotist  exultation  falter  humility  invective  inveterate  obscure  pinnacle  prodigy  pungent  retrospect  vitriolic  voluminous

Lesson  #28

avarice  bedlam  cacophony  compatible  disgruntled  equanimity  eradicate  exploit  impede  infallible  insatiable  irrational  moribund  nadir  panacea  propinquity  revere  sedate  serenity  vulnerable