American Literature & Composition

Course Number:  0262
Level:  Honors
Department:  English

Course Description
Prerequisite:  Freshman and Sophomore English
Open to:  Juniors
Length:  Year
Credit:  1
Summary:  Honors  American Literature & Composition assumes dexterity in the reading, writing, and thinking skills honed freshman and sophomore years.  The attention to literature in the broader context of American culture calls for sophisticated reflection on the inquiry concerning what is peculiarly American.  Students are expected to delve into  the definition and development of  philosophical ideas, moral propositions, historical theories, and sociological and psychological concepts explicit in the writings of essayists and implicit in writers of imaginative literature.  In turn, they are to become articulate in essays of their own about these abstractions defining culture.   The research paper assigned in U.S. History will be brought to English class for the critiquing of focus, organization and development of thought, clarity of expression, and errors in grammar and punctuation.

Course Goals:

• Formulating insightful questions to aid reading comprehension
• Improving vocabulary by deciphering contextual clues and word formations
• Analyzing literature as a reflection of the prevailing consciousness and social issues of particular eras in American culture
• Becoming adept with higher levels of abstract thought in defining a topic for an essay and organizing its reasoning and development most advantageously
• Taking into account a full array of rhetorical elements in analyzing the purpose and style of both imaginative literature and argumentative writing
• Critiquing a research paper for its focus, organization and development of thought, clarity of expression, and common usage errors

Textbooks and Materials: 
Primary Texts for Annotation:  Walden and The Scarlet Letter
Other Required Texts:  The Great Gatsby, Things They Carried
Supplementary Texts:  Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Sun Also Rises, East of Eden, Cuckoo’s Nest
Assorted poems and essays

Course Outline
First Semester
Reading & Writing Experiences:
Formulating insightful questions to aid reading comprehension; rhetorical analysis of an expository or argumentative essay; defining the theme in a short story and analyzing its development; defining the experience or conviction conveyed in a poem and analyzing its depiction through imagery, figurative language, tone, and point-of-view; comparison/ contrast essays; paraphrasing and summarizing; creating a poem.
Major texts may include the following:  Walden, The Scarlet Letter, The Sun Also Rises, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Great Gatsby
Grammar:  A thorough review of grammatical elements covered freshman and sophomore year with attention to how they are included in the formats of the SAT and ACT exams.
Major Assessments:  Reading exams, essay assignments, and assessment of grammar knowledge and editing skills

Second Semester
Reading  & Writing Experiences: 
Formulating insightful questions to aid reading comprehension; defining the theme in a short story and analyzing its development; defining the experience or conviction conveyed in a poem and analyzing its depiction through imagery, figurative language, tone, and point-of-view;  comparing/contrasting essayists’ reasoning in the definition and development of a philosophical idea, a moral proposition, historical theory, or a sociological or psychological concept; analyzing rhetorical elements of an argument; composing an original argumentative essay (especially in preparation for the essay portion of the ACT/PSAE in April); critiquing a research paper for its focus, organization and development of thought, clarity of expression, and common usage errors.
Major texts may include the following:  East of Eden, A Choice of Weapons, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, The Things They Carried 
Grammar:  Absolute phrases; avoiding unnecessary shifts in sentence structure; subjunctive mood; trimming sentence structure for rhetorical effectiveness; revising pompous diction and avoiding needless nominalizations.
Major Assessments:  Reading exams, essay assignments, and assessment of grammar knowledge and editing skills

(Parents and students: please consult individual teachers for grading policies, extra credit info, class procedures, etc.)