website:  http://www.geocities.com/reinsteinalan                             email:  [email protected]

 

Course Definition

 

From the 2008-2009 Program of Studies:

This elective continues the work done in Sophomore English 1 and Junior English 1.  Students read Hamlet and such books as Great Expectations, Crime and Punishment, and Frankenstein. Their work includes poetry, grammar, and vocabulary as well as extensive expository and creative writing.  Courses 231 and 241 are designed so that students may take both or combine either with another elective. (20)

 

Selected course texts: 

• Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury
• Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens
• The New Folger Hamlet (William Shakespeare) [students are responsible for their own copies]
• Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley (Dover Thrift Edition) [optional outside reading]

 

Assignments and Grading.  The final grade for the course is based on the average of the two grades for Terms 1 and 2. A term grade is expressed by the following breakdown:

 

• ESSAY WRITING (50%)
• Term 1
• Personal (college) essay (15)
• Creative writing (5)
• Great Expectations in-class essay (10)
• Great Expectations final essay (20)
• Term 2
• Creative writing (5)
• Hamlet in-class essay (10)
• Hamlet final essay (20)
• Personal (end-of-course) essay (15)

 

• READING COMPREHENSION (35%)
• Passage identification quizzes (20)
• Reading assignment questions/responses (10)
• Journal responses (5)

 

• VOCABULARY (10%)
• regular quizzes (5); final test (5)

 

• PARTICIPATION.  (5%) So much of the value of the course comes from the effort you bring to coming prepared for lessons, sharing your thoughts and responding respectfully to those of others.

 

GRADING SCALE

A  92.9-100 %    A-  90-92.8    B+ 86.9-89.8    B  82.9-86.8    B-  79.9-82.8    C+  76.9-79.8   C  72.9-76.8  

C-  69.9-72.8    D+  66.9-69.8   D  62.9-66.8    D-  58.5-62.8

 

 

 

Course Schedule

TERM 1

1.     Week of 9/4 (two days—Thurs-Fri)—Course intro

2.     Week of 9/8—Fahrenheit 451—elements of fiction; blog preparation—linked conversation with freshmen

3.     Week of 9/15—Fahrenheit 451/Personal Essay

4.     Week of 9/22—Personal Essay

5.     Week of 9/29 (Mon—early release [prof devel]; no school Tuesday—Rosh Hashanah; Thurs—Back-to-School night)—Great Expectations

6.     Week of 10/6 (Mon—mid-term; no school Thursday—Yom Kippur)—Great Expectations

7.     Week of 10/13 (no school Monday—Columbus Day)—Great Expectations

8.     Week of 10/20—Great Expectations

9.     Week of10/27 (Wed—early release [prof devel])—Great Expectations

10.   Week of 11/3 (End of Term—Thursday)—Election Day; Vocabulary; Great Expectations essay due

 

TERM 2

1.     Week of 11/10 (no school Tuesday—Veterans Day)—Hamlet—Act 1

2.     Week of  11/17— Hamlet—Act 2

3.     Week of 11/24 (Thurs-Fri—THANKSGIVING BREAK)—Monday—Thank you letter—Hamlet—Act 3

4.     Week of 12/1 (Parent Conferences Tuesday)—Hamlet—Act 3—includes making of “To Be or Not To Be” video

5.     Week of 12/8 (Thurs—mid-term; parent Conferences Tuesday)—Hamlet—Act 3 in-class essay + Acts 4 and 5

6.     Week of 12/15—Hamlet scenes rehearsals and peformances

7.     Week of 12/22 (only two days—Mon-Tue)—

8.     Week of 12/29—DECEMBER RECESS—

9.     Week of 1/5—Hamlet essay

10.   Week of1/12 (Fri—early release [prof devel])—connecting it all:  Fahenheit 451/personal essay/Great Expectations/Hamlet/MLK/where you’ve been/where you’re heading

11.   Week of 1/19 (no school Monday—MLK Day; end of term—Friday)—PERSONAL ESSAY

 

 

 

Late Work/Make-up Policy.

·       Assignments turned in after the date due may receive one grade lower (for example, from a B to a C) and after one week has passed, two grades lower (from a B to a D).  If you are absent for an excusable reason and are unable to turn in an assignment on time, you have until the day you return to school to hand in the assignment.  Afterwards, the same policy applies.  Special circumstances must be discussed with the teacher.

 

·       If you miss a class, you are responsible to find out about work missed, the evening’s homework, and be prepared the following day.  Weekly assignment schedules will be given to each student as well as be available on the class website.  Please email any concerns or questions.

 

 

 

·       If you miss the explanation of an assignment because of an excusable absence, you are still responsible to complete the assignment by the given due date.  In some cases, you may be given an appropriate extension.

 

ATTENDANCE. 

Below is the school attendance policy, in case you need to be reminded.  I can’t stress enough how important your consistent attendance is to the class (to every class you take, of course).  Your attendance is one way you show support both to your classmates, for the work they do that benefits from your comments, and to the teacher, who plans lessons with all of the students’ participation in mind.  According to the policy, you’re allowed two unexcused absences—and eight overall absences—before you may lose credit for the term.  Please be careful not to risk losing credit—no one wants this to happen.

 

 

You are expected to be in class, on time every day.  If you are late, you must bring a note from a teacher, counselor, nurse, or house secretary; otherwise, it will be considered an unexcused tardy.  Three unexcused tardies equal one class cut.  A first cut results in a J-block detention with me.  For subsequent cuts, your housemaster assigns administrative detentions.  Three cuts or a total of nine absences (excused or unexcused) in a term results in a failing grade (N) for that term.

 

·      Excused Absence.  If your absence from class is excused, your name will show up on the attendance list as either absent, tardy to school, dismissed early, or on an attached list from a teacher with an appropriate explanation.

 

·      Unexcused Absence.  If you are not in school and neither a parent nor guardian has called in to the house office by 10:00 a.m. the day of the absence, you will be listed in attendance as AbsUn, an unexcused absence.  The absence may become excused only with a blue note from the house secretary.  It is your responsibility to clear up with your house secretary any mistakes or misunderstandings.

 

·      Class Cut.  If you miss a class but that same day are present in advisory and other classes, it will be assumed that you have cut the class, which is of course an unexcused absence.  Again, it is your responsibility to clear things up if in fact your absence is excusable.

 

 

 

 

EXTRA CREDIT

 

·       Writing—as much as 0.5 points for each type-written, double-spaced page of writing—on any topic (but written exclusively for English extra-credit, not for another course).  Here are some suggestions:

o       Reviews—movie, music, concert

o       Essay from a journal entry

o       Essay about a personal or important experience  (This can be about anything—an important lesson from soccer practice, why you love your dog, a meaningful political cause

o       Essay/response to outside reading book

o       Any creative writing

§       Poetry  (0.5 pts per poem)

§       Short stories

·       using course vocabulary words

·       imaginary scenes from the course literature

·       modernized myths

§       personal/creative essays from important experiences or memories

§       vocabulary story—put as many vocabulary words you can into a plausible (or outlandish) story

o       Letters—0.5-1 pt.

§       Personal

·       Thank you letter to a person who has helped you at some time and has no idea how much he/she has influenced you

·       Letter to a Veteran or spouse, expressing appreciation for his or her service and/or sacrifice

§       To the editor or a newspaper

§       Complaint to a business

§       To a political representative

 

·       Artwork/Poster/Room Decorations—up to 1 pt.

o       posters for the room

§       scenes from course literature

§       interesting quotations from authors

§       public grammatical/mechanical errors

·       find a mistake made in a publication and bring it in or present  the mistake as a small poster—0.5 pts.

o       any artistic representation or reflection of course content

 

·       Vocabulary in Action

o       Make a copy of a vocabulary word found in print—0.2 pts.

o       Copy down verbatim the word used on TV or the radio (make an enlarged, readable version of it)—0.2 pts

 

·       Connected Outside Reading

o       Choose for your required outside reading a book connected to either the history or English side of the course—1 pt.

§       Examples—Homer’s Iliad or The Odyssey; a book on Oriental philosophy; any books by authors read in the English course; any history of the periods studied in the world history class; any additional Shakespeare play.

 

·       Additional Outside Reading

o       J-Block discussion (0.5 pts.)

o       Essay (up to 3 pts.)

 

·       Memorize a poem and recite it (approx. 0.5-pts. for each 50 words)

o       Recite the poem before the class—additional 0.2 pts.

 

·       Go to a play (0.5 pts.).  Go to a school play or a professional play and present the program as evidence.

 

·       Perform in a play (1 pt.)  Perform in any of the school drama productions—or anything outside of school and come in one J-Block to discuss the experience.

 

·       Join any of the school publications (yearbook, newspaper, literary magazine) (1 pt.).  Come to J-Block for a discussion of your experience.  (This is good for each term.)

 

·       See a video related to course literature

o       Come to J-Block for a short discussion of the film—0.5 pts.

o      Write an essay on the connection between the video and the literary work—up to 2 pts.