ABOUT THE COURSE
This course is centered around the study of the major authors, poets, and playwrights who contributed to the development of a truly World literature. This course will also include intensive evaluation of nonfiction and informational text. Students will employ critical thinking skills in evaluating the literature and nonfiction pieces selected for Honors English 3. This course also includes a thorough review of grammar skills, extensive writing, and the continuing mastery of vocabulary. Sophistication of content and instructional pace will be increased for the honors level of instruction.
UNITS (and tentative dates)
Everything's An Argument (8/21-10/10)
Essential Questions:
How does a writer use language to build, substantiate, and sustain a credible thread of argument?
How can I effectively articulate my opinions and perspectives?
How do I handle others’ points of view?
How do I recognize and evaluate bias?
Possible Texts: Outliers, "To His Coy Mistress", "Hope is the Thing with Feathers", "Lamb to the Slaughter", "Out, Out'--", "Thanatopisis", “Ain’t I a Woman?”, “The Declaration of Independence”,“The Declaration of Sentiments”, “How to Teach a Child to Argue”, Federalists, Supreme Court Opinions and dissents
Writing and Related Vocabulary: Argument writing (argument, claim, counterargument, reasoning, logic, ethos, pathos, logos, rhetoric/rhetorical analysis, tone (language), analogy, antithesis, assumption, authority, connotation, conviction, credibility, evidence, fallacy, parallelism, precedents, premise, propaganda, qualifiers, rebuttal, thesis, warrant)
Essential Questions:
How does a writer use language to build, substantiate, and sustain a credible thread of argument?
How can I effectively articulate my opinions and perspectives?
How do I handle others’ points of view?
How do I recognize and evaluate bias?
Possible Texts: Outliers, "To His Coy Mistress", "Hope is the Thing with Feathers", "Lamb to the Slaughter", "Out, Out'--", "Thanatopisis", “Ain’t I a Woman?”, “The Declaration of Independence”,“The Declaration of Sentiments”, “How to Teach a Child to Argue”, Federalists, Supreme Court Opinions and dissents
Writing and Related Vocabulary: Argument writing (argument, claim, counterargument, reasoning, logic, ethos, pathos, logos, rhetoric/rhetorical analysis, tone (language), analogy, antithesis, assumption, authority, connotation, conviction, credibility, evidence, fallacy, parallelism, precedents, premise, propaganda, qualifiers, rebuttal, thesis, warrant)
The Quest (10/13-12/5)
Essential Questions:
Do the attributes of a hero remain the same over time?
How do archetypes inform our understanding of literature and the world?
How are the Hero, his/her quest, and his/her ideals still valid and useful in today’s world?
Possible Texts: The Canterbury Tales, Beowulf, excerpts from Gilgamesh, The Iliad, The Odyssey, Life of Pi, The Leatherstocking series, Shakespeare's "Sonnet 50," Tolkien's "Journey's End," "Wheatley's "On Being Brought from Africa to America", Informational text on background (feudalism, Anglo-Saxons, etc.), chapters from Tracy Kidder's Mountains Beyond Mountains or Strength in What Remains
Writing and Related Vocabulary: Narrative writing (epic, epic hero, archetype, physiognomy, tone, allusion, romantic hero, satire, antihero,sonnet, iambic pentameter, couplet, quatrains, syntax)
Essential Questions:
Do the attributes of a hero remain the same over time?
How do archetypes inform our understanding of literature and the world?
How are the Hero, his/her quest, and his/her ideals still valid and useful in today’s world?
Possible Texts: The Canterbury Tales, Beowulf, excerpts from Gilgamesh, The Iliad, The Odyssey, Life of Pi, The Leatherstocking series, Shakespeare's "Sonnet 50," Tolkien's "Journey's End," "Wheatley's "On Being Brought from Africa to America", Informational text on background (feudalism, Anglo-Saxons, etc.), chapters from Tracy Kidder's Mountains Beyond Mountains or Strength in What Remains
Writing and Related Vocabulary: Narrative writing (epic, epic hero, archetype, physiognomy, tone, allusion, romantic hero, satire, antihero,sonnet, iambic pentameter, couplet, quatrains, syntax)
Loyalty (12/8-2/6)
Essential Questions:
When is ambition good and when is it bad?
Does the end justify the means?
When is loyalty to myself and my beliefs more important than loyalty to a friend?
What is loyalty and how does one handle conflicting loyalties?
When would betrayal be acceptable?
Possible Texts: Julius Caesar, Antigone, Oedipus, Macbeth, The Book Thief, Richard III, Black Like Me, "Caesar" by Paul Valery, Connection pieces in text ("Uses of Superstition," "Rule by the Rich," "LIfe of Caesar," "Aristotle's View of Tragedy and the Tragic Hero," "Julius Caesar: An Absorbing Production," "Kennedy Killed by Sniper as He Rides in Car in Dallas," "The Fear and the Flames," "The Elizabethan Stage," "Background on the Play: The Results of Violence")
Writing and Related Vocabulary: Expository writing (tragic hero, tragic/fatal flaw, tragedy, dramatic irony, dramatic monologue, in media res, soliloquy, hubris, blank verse, puns, anagorisis, hamartia, nemesis, peripeteia, catharsis, topic, details, thesis, syntax, style, transitions)
Essential Questions:
When is ambition good and when is it bad?
Does the end justify the means?
When is loyalty to myself and my beliefs more important than loyalty to a friend?
What is loyalty and how does one handle conflicting loyalties?
When would betrayal be acceptable?
Possible Texts: Julius Caesar, Antigone, Oedipus, Macbeth, The Book Thief, Richard III, Black Like Me, "Caesar" by Paul Valery, Connection pieces in text ("Uses of Superstition," "Rule by the Rich," "LIfe of Caesar," "Aristotle's View of Tragedy and the Tragic Hero," "Julius Caesar: An Absorbing Production," "Kennedy Killed by Sniper as He Rides in Car in Dallas," "The Fear and the Flames," "The Elizabethan Stage," "Background on the Play: The Results of Violence")
Writing and Related Vocabulary: Expository writing (tragic hero, tragic/fatal flaw, tragedy, dramatic irony, dramatic monologue, in media res, soliloquy, hubris, blank verse, puns, anagorisis, hamartia, nemesis, peripeteia, catharsis, topic, details, thesis, syntax, style, transitions)
The Dark Side (2/9-4/17)
Essential Questions:
What does the term "gothic" mean?
What is psychological horror?
How do authors/poets use elements of writing to create suspense?
How do the elements of Gothic literature reflect the dark side of Romanticism?
Possible Texts: Columbine (excerpts or full text), Scarlet Letter, Frankenstein, Tale of Two Cities, Emily Dickinson poems, Edgar Allan Poe poems, "Fire and Ice" by Robert Frost, "Frankenstein" by Edward Field, "A Rose for Emily" Faulkner, "Black Cat" Poe, "The Fall of the House of Usher" Poe, "The Masque of the Red Death" Poe, "Prometheus" - A Greek Myth retold by W.T. Jewkes, "The Lottery" Shirley Jackson, "The Landlady" Roald Dahl, Stephen King short stories, "We Have the Awful Knowledge to Make Exact Copies of Human Beings" by Willard Gaylin, "A Special Report on Cloning" by Charles Krauthammer (Time Magazine)
Writing and Related Vocabulary: Literary Analysis (doppelganger, gothic, romanticism, sublime, grotesque, dark romanticism, supernatural,
macabre, superstition, motif, theme, mood, credible, MLA, analysis,evaluation)
Essential Questions:
What does the term "gothic" mean?
What is psychological horror?
How do authors/poets use elements of writing to create suspense?
How do the elements of Gothic literature reflect the dark side of Romanticism?
Possible Texts: Columbine (excerpts or full text), Scarlet Letter, Frankenstein, Tale of Two Cities, Emily Dickinson poems, Edgar Allan Poe poems, "Fire and Ice" by Robert Frost, "Frankenstein" by Edward Field, "A Rose for Emily" Faulkner, "Black Cat" Poe, "The Fall of the House of Usher" Poe, "The Masque of the Red Death" Poe, "Prometheus" - A Greek Myth retold by W.T. Jewkes, "The Lottery" Shirley Jackson, "The Landlady" Roald Dahl, Stephen King short stories, "We Have the Awful Knowledge to Make Exact Copies of Human Beings" by Willard Gaylin, "A Special Report on Cloning" by Charles Krauthammer (Time Magazine)
Writing and Related Vocabulary: Literary Analysis (doppelganger, gothic, romanticism, sublime, grotesque, dark romanticism, supernatural,
macabre, superstition, motif, theme, mood, credible, MLA, analysis,evaluation)
The World Around Us (4/20-6/3)
Essential Questions:
What rules or principles do I use for how I treat others?
What responsibility do I have to society?
How do I resolve my responsibilities to myself with those to my family members, my school, community, and world?
What criteria do I use to judge my values?
What qualities define a good world citizen?
How do I demonstrate that I am open-minded enough to learn from my experiences?
Why is it important to see an event using multiple perspectives?
How can viewing multiple perspectives of an event change the way we see things?
Possible Texts: Life of Pi, A Thousand Splendid Suns, The Joy Luck Club, The Importance of Being Earnest, Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre,
William Blake's "The Tyger", Billy Collin's "Taking off Emily Dickinson's Clothes", Samuel Taylor Coleridge "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" (Life of Pi), Saib-e-Tabrizi's "Kabul" (A Thousand Splendid Suns), Li=Young Lee's poetry (Joy Luck Club)
Writing and Related Vocabulary: ISSN Task (Mulitcultural Literacy, Direct and Indirect Characterization, Allusion, Point of View, Flashback, Symbols and Symbolism, Theme, Irony, Allegory, Figurative Language, Bildungsroman)
Essential Questions:
What rules or principles do I use for how I treat others?
What responsibility do I have to society?
How do I resolve my responsibilities to myself with those to my family members, my school, community, and world?
What criteria do I use to judge my values?
What qualities define a good world citizen?
How do I demonstrate that I am open-minded enough to learn from my experiences?
Why is it important to see an event using multiple perspectives?
How can viewing multiple perspectives of an event change the way we see things?
Possible Texts: Life of Pi, A Thousand Splendid Suns, The Joy Luck Club, The Importance of Being Earnest, Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre,
William Blake's "The Tyger", Billy Collin's "Taking off Emily Dickinson's Clothes", Samuel Taylor Coleridge "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" (Life of Pi), Saib-e-Tabrizi's "Kabul" (A Thousand Splendid Suns), Li=Young Lee's poetry (Joy Luck Club)
Writing and Related Vocabulary: ISSN Task (Mulitcultural Literacy, Direct and Indirect Characterization, Allusion, Point of View, Flashback, Symbols and Symbolism, Theme, Irony, Allegory, Figurative Language, Bildungsroman)