• The Crucible - Arthur Miller 

• Of Mice and Men   - John Steinbeck

• The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald 

Please obtain a copy of these novels as soon as possible. If you are unable to purchase a copy due to budget restraints, please come to me as soon as possible so that I can use classroom funds to purchase extra copies.

Class Outline

 The following reading list is designed to serve as a basic outline of our class. Readings may be added to or deleted as time and student comprehension

dictates.

All Semester

•      Bell work will be assigned everyday. We will concentrate on vocabulary and proofreading skills.

• Review and apply literature terms

• Learn about relevant American authors

• Build vocabulary – Specific terms unique to the reading selections

• Review and practice ACT skills
• Concentrate on Persuasiive Writing

Week 1 - Grammar Review, Literature Terms, ACT Skills, & Persuasive Essay

Unit 1:  Early American History 

Historical background – text and teacher notes

Unit 2: The American TraditionIroquois Constitution, p.76

Anne Bradstreet poetry, p. 114,215, and handouts

Jonathan Edwards, from “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” p. 118

Novel Study - The Crucible

Unit 3: The American Revolution (Rhetoric & Propaganda)

Patrick Henry, “Speech to the Virginia Convention,” p. 152

Propaganda Poster Project

Thomas Paine, from Crisis, No. 1, p. 159

Ben Franklin

Thomas Jefferson, Declaration of Independence, p. 171

Abigail Adams

Jean de Crevecoeur

Unit 4: New England Renaissance Prose (Transcendentalism)

Edgar Allen Poe, “The Pit and the Pendulum,” p. 225

Ralph Waldo Emerson, from Self-Reliance, p. 252

Thoreau, from Walden, p. 258

Nathaniel Hawthorne - Rappaccini's Daughter

Unit 5: New England Renaissance Poetry

William Cullen Bryant, “Thanatopsis,” p. 290

Oliver Wendell Holmes, “Old Ironsides,” handout

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “A Psalm of Life,” p. 350, and “The Tide Rises, theTide Falls,” handout

Edgar Allan Poe, “The Raven,” p. 338, and “Annabel Lee,” p. 348

Emily Dickinson poetry, pp. 347-348

Novel Study - Of Mice and Men

Unit 6: Slavery and the Civil War

Introduction to Slave Narratives 

Frederick Douglass, from Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, p. 364

Slave spirituals, including “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot,” p. 370

Abraham Lincoln, The Gettysburg Address, p. 374

Walt Whitman, “O Captain! My Captain!” p. 405 and “Beat! Beat! Drums,”

Unit 7: Frontiers 

Bret Harte, “The Outcasts of Poker Flat,” p. 426

Kate Chopin, “The Story of an Hour,” p. 450

Mark Twain, “The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County,” p. 455

Chief Joseph, “I Will Fight No More Forever,” p. 464

Walt Whitman, from Song of Myself

Novel Study - The Great Gatsby

Unit 8: Modern Fiction (Focus: Mississippi Writers) IF TIME ALLOWS

Assorted stories, to include

William Faulkner, “A Rose for Emily”

Eudora Welty, “Why I Live at the P.O.”

Richard Wright, from Black Boy

Tennessee Williams, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and/or The Glass Menagerie (video)

Research Paper - A detailed calendar and instruction packet will be given to each student early in the semester. All students are required to write in APA style. Each student will write a position paper on a controversial issue.

Technology Clause

Please note that failures of technology (i.e., "my computer crashed," "the file won't open," "the lab printer was broken," "my printer is out of ink," etc.) will NOT lead to an extension of any deadline. Please do all that you need to do to insure that your paper will be turned in on time! (back-up files, buy ink, etc.)! I will not accept papers via email. No excuse will result in a paper being turned in late without penalty!

Fall : Topic Due - Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Research Days in Library: September 22,23, & 26

  Research Paper Guidelines & Dates

 Fall 2008

Honors English III

S. Slay

Research Paper Guidelines

Topic- All eleventh grade students are required to write a position paper (research paper). Students should choose a controversial issue and discuss/defend it. The paper should focus on a controversial and argumentative aspect of your topic. Be sure to use persuasive transitions and not slip into informative mode. The paper should include supporting arguments that contain sufficient and specific evidence (all research must be cited within the paper).

Topic Due – September 18, 2008

Research Days – September 22, 23, & 26

Guidelines and Dates to Remember

Basic Information:

·          This is a requirement of the course

·          The body of the paper must be a three-typed page research paper following APA style. A work-cited page is also required.

·         When typing your paper, double-space it and use Times New Roman font, size 12.

·         This paper should contain a compilation of ideas, opinions, and theories put forth by experts in certain fields rather than your own personal ideas and opinions. As the author of this paper, your job will be mostly that of an editor – deciding what information to include and exclude; where to put the information; and how to make a smooth transition from one set of ideas to another. Sample topics will be discussed in class.

Sources: You are required to use at LEAST five sources; try to get at least six or seven in case one or two do not have good usable information. No encyclopedias may be used – not even those on CD-ROM (no wikipedia). The sources must include at least two types. Choose from the following: Internet, books, magazine/journal articles, and newspaper articles. The sources you select should be as recent as possible. In order for me to evaluate your documentation, I must have the materials from which you citied the information. That means I must have photocopies of the following: magazine articles – the entire article; newspaper articles – the page from which the article (including page numbers); books- copy the title page, the page with the copyright date, and the pages from which you took your information (whether quoted, paraphrased, or summarized); Internet- the entire article along with the web address.

Materials Needed:

· 3x5 ruled note cards (at least 75 / white only)

·  Large cardboard or plastic expandable folder with a flap that will close; the ones that have elastic bands on them are best

·   A plain three-hole loose-leaf folder with two pockets. No plastic report covers or folders with designs on them

Thesis Statement: We will discuss thesis statements in class; yours will be due Tuesday, September 30, 2008.

 Source Cards : Due date for at least five source cards for your research paper is Tuesday, October 7, 2008: Take close note of examples given in class. Make sure you do not plagiarize – even on your note cards. All information should be in your own words except direct quotes, which you must enclose in quotation marks.

Quotations: You should use no more than two quotations in your paper, and they should not be lengthy. See me if in doubt about length.

Note Cards: Bring your sources to class every day!You will have time to write note cards in class for a few days. Remember to put the page number on each card. A total of fifty note cards are necessary to write a good paper. You will receive two points for each one. I will keep a daily tally. Your daily grade will be a ZERO if you do not meet this deadline each day: 20 due Wednesday,October15; 30 due Thursday, October 16; 40 due Friday, October 17 and all 50 note cards are due Tuesday, October 21, 2008.

Outline: Your outline should be no more than one and a half pages TYPED.

• Rough draft outline is due Thursday, October 23, 2008

• Your final outline is due Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Type in Library: Everybody will type a rough draft at school.

• Thursday, October 30, 2008

• Friday, October 31, 2008

Rough Draft/Peer edit: Tuesday, October 7, 2008. We will peer edit in class.

Final Draft:  Due Tuesday, November 4, 2008. There is no excuse for not turning your paper in on the due date unless you have been in the hospital for an extended period of time.

Technology Clause

Please note that failures of technology (i.e., "my computer crashed," "the file won't open," "the lab printer was broken," "my printer is out of ink," etc.) will NOT lead to an extension of any deadline. Please do all that you need to do to insure that your paper will be turned in on time! (back-up files, buy ink, etc.)! I will not accept papers via email. No excuse will result in a paper being turned in late without penalty!

Organize Your Materials:

• In a pocket folder:

  1.     Final typed paper (5 pages: title page, 3 pages of body, and reference page)

  2.     Rough draft that has been corrected (in side pocket)

  3.     Peer editing sheet(s)

  4. Original graded thesis and outline.

• In a large accordion folder:

  1.     Photocopies of sources highlighted with the source card for each one stapled on top of it and all sources bound together with a rubber band and labeled USED.

  2.     Note cards labeled USED(bound together with a rubber band)

  3.     Note cards labeled NOT USED (bound together with a rubber band) 

  4.     Source cards and research articles labeled NOT USED

IMPORTANT NOTE: If you are absent on the day the paper is due then you must send it by someone else, and it must be delivered to me in my room no later than 8:15 AM on the due date. This applies to all deadlines – source cards, note cards, outline, thesis, and rough draft. If you do not turn these assignments in on the correct day, you will get a 0 on the work, and you will still have to turn the work in to pass the research paper.

Late papers: If you turn in the final draft late (even if its just a few minutes after the due time period), you will lose 10 points from all four major grades. If it is two days late, you will lose 20 points of all four major grades. I will not listen to excuses on due dates – I’ve heard them all!

Break down of grades:

·         Thesis statement – one daily grade

·        Final Outline – Quiz grade

·         Source cards – daily grades

·         Note cards – daily grades

·         Rough Draft  - Must present typed copy in class on due date to receive credit for the day.

·         Final Copy – FOUR TEST GRADES (Format, Organization, Grammar, & Content)