English 11
Ms. De Soto
354-2730, ext. 335; pdesoto@lgsuhsd.org
http://www.schoolnotes.com/95030/pdesoto.html
It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog.
--Mark Twain
The secret of education lies in respecting the pupil.
--Ralph Waldo Emerson
Course Overview:
The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien
The Crucible by Arthur Miller
Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman
The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail by Robert Edwin Lee and Jerome Lawrence
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams
Beloved by Toni Morrison
The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
Selected short stories, poems, and/or non-fiction excerpts by Thomas Paine, Benjamin Franklin, Edgar Allan Poe, Frederick Douglass, Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Emily Dickinson, T.S. Eliot, Allen Ginsberg, Raymond Carver, Ernest Hemingway, Kurt Vonnegut, Anne Sexton, David Sedaris, Joyce Carol Oates, Barbara Ehrenreich, Naomi Wolfe, and Michael Pollan, among others
Course Goals:
• to establish a thoughtful, respectful, safe, and supportive community for discussion and discovery;
• to improve your ability to write, speak, read, and think critically, closely, and creatively;
• to seek answers to the question, How do you want to “be” in the world—socially, culturally, intellectually, physically, politically, morally, and spiritually? Although our focus is specific to our national literature and culture, we will also always be looking at individual identity.
Course Requirements:
1. Reading: I expect you to read the assigned text in preparation for class discussion. I also expect you to come to class with one or two thoughtful questions about the day's assigned reading, having looked up all unfamiliar words, or familiar words made strange by their new contexts. Additionally, you will read 500-1000 pages per semester to fulfill the outside reading requirement.
2. Writing: For each semester, you will write several analytical essays due at the beginning of class on the announced dates. Each essay must follow the MLA standards as well as the LGHS Academic Integrity Policy and must be TYPED and thoroughly edited. Unless specified, all writing assignments outside of class should be typed. You are required to save copies of all your work on file. If computer access is problematic for you, please see me immediately.
NOTE: If you have any technical difficulties on the day (or night) before an assignment is due (i.e. your printer is cranky), you need to email your work to me (see address above) so I can verify that you completed the assignment on time. You also need to print out a hard copy of your work as soon as your printer is feeling better.
In preparation for the SAT, STAR, and other standardized tests, you will be doing a lot of in-class writing as well. Most in-class writing will be in the form of a timed essay, notes, or a journal (see below).
To keep your notes and journal entries centrally located, you are required to bring a composition notebook (9 3/4" x 7 1/2") to class every day. You must keep this composition notebook up-to-date, as I will occasionally collect them at random with little or no prior notice. (Please note that I will only read your individual journal entries. Otherwise, I will simply check to see that you have the required number of pages and that each page is filled. This may sound odd, but my goal with this particular kind of writing is simply to get you to write. The journal is about the process, not the product.)
3. Vocabulary/Grammar: We will work with vocabulary that is in the context of the assigned reading as well as on various SAT preparation lists. We will also do weekly grammar exercises, on which you will be tested occasionally. Once a concept has been taught and practiced, I expect you to eliminate this type of error from your writing. If you submit work that has egregious sentence-level errors, it will be returned immediately. If you want any credit, you must revise the work, correcting all grammatical errors, and resubmit it the next day. Note that you will receive no higher than a B for that assignment because of a 15% “discount.”
4. Attendance and Participation: I care about your attendance. I care about it so much that the penalty for cutting this class is severe: every unexcused absence will lower your participation grade by 25 points. What we do in class is essential to everyone’s intellectual and personal development—yours AND mine.
Because this course is discussion-based, participation is worth 15% of your total grade. Good participation involves more than being in class on time; you need to be an active, respectful, attentive presence in class discussions and activities. For those of you who struggle with shyness, I do pay attention to your “participation” in class, not as a speaker, but as an active listener. Being engaged in class discussions and taking careful notes will improve your participation grade. Additionally, if you have something to say but are not comfortable saying it in class, you may share it with me at tutorial or after school. I genuinely welcome your ideas and opinions.
Part of your participation grade also includes your level of preparedness: you need to come to every class with the standard school supplies, including several #2 pencils, black or blue pens, your composition notebook, and some sort of binder or folder for all hand-outs, returned papers, exams, and exercises. Being prepared also means bringing the assigned text to class, which will almost always be in the form of a paperback weighing less than 12 ounces. You do not have to lug a large textbook around for this class.
5. Due dates: I will not accept late homework unless you have an excused absence. You may receive half-credit on a homework assignment if you come into tutorial on the day the homework is due and make up the assignment. I accept late essays and major projects, but for every day the essay or project is late, your grade will be lowered by 15%. Work more than three days late will not be accepted. If a conflict in your schedule arises, please see me as soon as possible. Do not wait to tell me of your conflict on the day an assignment is due--you will receive no extension date or sympathy from me at that point.
6. Make-up policy: You may not make up any work, including tests, if you have an unexcused absence. Following an excused absence, it is YOUR responsibility to see me about missed work, particularly missed tests. You will receive a "0" for that test if: A) you do not see me within two days of your absence to schedule a make-up date, either at lunch, during tutorial, or after school; or B) we have agreed upon a set make-up date, and you do not show up at that time.
7. Rewrite policy: You may rewrite up to two assignments per semester, but you must meet with me first. After our meeting, you will have one week to submit both the original and revised version of that assignment. In the revised version, you must highlight the rewritten portion(s) and indicate in the margins how or what you changed from the original. Your final grade for that assignment will be an average of the original and the revised paper.
8. Plagiarism: Defined as “the act of taking someone else's ideas, language, or designs and calling them one's own,” plagiarism is a very serious offense and will be handled according to the LGHS Integrity Policy. The Internet has made it very easy for students to plagiarize, but it has made it just as easy for teachers to find the plagiarism (i.e., turnitin.com, to which you will submit nearly all written work). RESIST THE TEMPTATION NO MATTER WHAT.
9. Grading: Each assignment will be worth a number of points according to its relative importance. The remaining 15% of your grade constitutes your participation grade. Your final grade will be based on the number of points you have earned divided by the total number of points possible.
100% = A+ 80-82% = B- 63-66% = D
93-99% = A 77-79% = C+ 60-62% = D-
90-92% = A- 73-76% = C 59 & below = F
87-89% = B+ 70-72% = C-
83-86% = B 67-69% = D+
Please note that I don’t round up (e.g. 89.6% is a B+), BUT if you are on the border, good participation can push you over and give you the more favorable grade.
10. There's one last thing (for now) to remember about this class, and I found room for it here:
I wanted to write a poem
That you would understand.
For what good is it to me
If you can't understand it?
But you got to try hard...
--William Carlos Williams, "January Morning”
Monday, 8/25/08
Welcome back!!
1. Go over syllabus
2. Fill out index card
3. Read sample intro letter and explain tonight's homework
4. Summer reading quiz
HW: TYPED one-page, single-spaced letter of introduction due tomorrow, 8/26/08.
Tuesday, 8/26/08
1. Turn in letter to blue bin
2. Take reading quiz on Things They Carried
3. Distribute comment/correction chart
4. List the things YOU carry, concrete and abstract
HW: TYPE a one-page DOUBLE-spaced reflection of one thing that you carry. As you write about this one "thing," keep the following questions in mind: Why am I carrying this? Did I make the choice or is someone making me carry it? Do I wish I could put it down? What does it weigh? What does it demand of me to carry it? Be sure to proofread and use MLA (see last page of pink handout)--due tomorrow, 8/27/08.
REMINDER: You need to bring a composition notebook to class no later than this Friday, 8/29/08.
Wednesday, 8/27/08
1. Turn in "What I Carry" response to blue bin
2. Pass back reading quiz
3. Review the basics of the Vietnam War
4. Watch film excerpts
NO homework tonight IF you've read O'Brien's novel (which, judging by the quiz scores, is a very select group)--if not, get going!
Thursday, 8/28/08
1. Distribute Outside Reading Assignment #1
2. Pass back letters
3. Read pp. 78-80 (baby buffalo excerpt) in O'Brien's novel
4. Watch film excerpt
5. Share questions, concerns, and insights, esp. as both excerpts deal with shame and the "guy code"
6. Select a secondary character; explain character chart
HW: Character chart and composition notebook are both due tomorrow, 8/29/08.
Friday, 8/29/08
1. Have your character chart and comp. notebook prominently displayed on your desk
2. On the first page of the SECOND half of the notebook, do Writing Prompt #1 (see chart for details)
3. Go to small gym for pics/IDs
4. Come back to room 21 for get-to-know you activity
HW: Find an outside reading NOVEL (you must read fiction for this assignment, but you will have an opportunity to read nonfiction later) by Wednesday, Sept. 3. Happy Labor Day Weekend!
Tuesday, 9/2/08
1. Go over last week's reading quiz
2. Read pp. 56-60 (from "On the Rainy River" chapter) and discuss
HW: Outside reading check postponed until Monday, 9/8/08.
Wednesday, 9/3/08
1. Pass back papers
2. Go over quotation integration (see pink packet)
3. Discuss components of style in TTTC
4. Take grammar diagnostic
5. Do Writing Prompt #2 (see beige handout)
HW: Revise your response to Prompt 1 or 2 for Friday, 9/5/08--your revision must be TYPED, and you must cite from O'Brien's novel at least once. You must also submit your revision to turnitin.com.
Thursday, 9/4/08
1. Quick check-in
2. Stamp Writing Prompt #2 in journal
3. Assembly
HW: Revise your response to Prompt 1 or 2 for Friday, 9/5/08--your revision must be TYPED, and you must cite from O'Brien's novel at least once. You must also submit your revision to turnitin.com.
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