Homework for Wednesday

• Bring in 3 copies of your college essay DRAFT. If your handwriting is challenging to read, you may type your DRAFT. If you have concerns about sharing your essay in class please let me know that before class.
• Read the chapter "Liberal Humanism" in the excerpts I have copied for you from Peter Barry's book Beginning Theory.

Literary Theory: An Overview

We will be studying some of the different ways that literature has been defined, studied and read. This link provides an excellent overview that I recommend you read and consult before you read the Peter Barry selections I will hand out in class from Beginning Theory.
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/owlprint/722/

Homework for Block 1 and 2

• Be sure to revise and edit your literacy vignettes for class on Monday. I will collect the peer review sheet with your final draft.
• Remember to consult the model, "Indian Education" and the notes that we took on the model to help you with your "possibilites" for revision.
• Have a nice weekend :)

Homework Block 1 and 2

• Type your vignettes and bring THREE COPIES of your vignettes to class on Wednesday.
• Be sure that the copies of your freewrites (for college drafts) are in your writing folder.

This American Life: College Admission

If nothing else, these radio essays will make you feel that you are not alone in this craziness :)
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/504/how-i-got-into-college

Homework for Thursday

Your homework is as follows:

• Bring your literacy vignettes back to class with you!
• In twenty minutes, by hand, draft a college essay. Use a prompt from the Common Application, or any other college prompt. You MUST set an alarm and write the draft in one sitting, just get the draft on paper.
• Read Sherman Alexie's "Indian Education" (attached below) and anotate the text of the reading for answers to  the following questions:

1. What are the main ideas of "Indian Education"? How do you know?
2. How is the piece organized? Why?
3. Identify a specific vignette. What's the main idea (point) of the vignette? What specific strategies/techniques does Alexie use to create this effect?

Indian Education

(from The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven)
Sherman Alexie

Sherman Alexie is a poet, fiction writer, and filmmaker known for witty and frank explorations of the lives of contemporary Native Americans.  A Spokane/Coeur d’Alene Indian, Alexie was born in 1966 and grew up on the Spokane Indian Reservation in Wellpinit, Washington.  He spent two years at Gonzaga University before transferring to Washington State University.  In  1991, Alexie published The Business of Fancydancing, a book of poetry that led the New York Times Book Review to call him “one of the major lyric voices of our time.”  Since then Alexie has published many more books of poetry, including I would Steal Horses (1993) and One Stick Song (2000); the novels Reservation Blues (1995) and Indian Killer (1996); and the story collections The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven (1993), The Toughest Indian in the World (2000), and Ten Little Indians (2003).  Alexie also wrote and produced Smoke Signals, a film that won awards at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival, and he wrote and directed The Business of Fancydancing (2002).  Living in Seattle with his wife and children, Alexie occasionally performs as a stand-up comic and holds the record for the most consecutive years as World Heavyweight Poetry Bout Champion.

“Indian Education” – Alexie attended the tribal school on the Spokane reservation through the 7^th  grade, when he decided to seek a better education at an off-reservation all-white high school.  As this account of his schooling makes clear, he was not firmly at home in either setting.

FIRST GRADE

1.   My hair was too short and my U.S. Government glasses were horn-rimmed, ugly, and all that first winter in school, the other Indian boys chased me from one corner of the play-ground to the other. They pushed me down, buried me in the snow until I couldn't breathe, thought I'd never breathe again.

2.   They stole my glasses and threw them over my head, around my outstretched hands, just beyond my reach, until someone tripped me and sent me falling again, facedown in the snow.

3.   I was always falling down; my Indian name was Junior Falls Down. Sometimes it was Bloody Nose or Steal-His-Lunch. Once, it was Cries-Like-a-White-Boy, even though none of us had seen a white boy cry.

4.   Then it was a Friday morning recess and Frenchy St. John threw snowballs at me while the rest of the Indian boys tortured some other top-yogh-yaught kid, another weakling. But Frenchy was confident enough to torment me all by himself, and most days I would have let him.

5.   But the little warrior in me roared to life that day and knocked Frenchy to the ground, held his head against the snow, and punched him so hard that my knuckles and the snow made symmetrical bruises on his face. He almost looked like he was wearing war paint.

6.   But he wasn't the warrior. I was. And I chanted It's a good day to die, it's a good day to die, all the way down to the principal's office.

SECOND GRADE

7.   Betty Towle, missionary teacher, redheaded and so ugly that no one ever had a puppy crush on her, made me stay in for recess fourteen days straight.

8.   "Tell me you're sorry," she said.

9.   "Sorry for what?" I asked.

10. "Everything," she said and made me stand straight for fifteen minutes, eagle-armed with books in each hand. One was a math book; the other was English. But all I learned was that gravity can be painful.

11.  For Halloween I drew a picture of her riding a broom with a scrawny cat on the back. She said that her God would never forgive me for that.

12. Once, she gave the class a spelling test but set me aside and gave me a test designed for junior high students. When I spelled all the words right, she crumpled up the paper and made me eat it.

13. "You’ll learn respect," she said.

14. She sent a letter home with me that told my parents to either cut my braids or keep me home from class. My parents came

 

in the next day and dragged their braids across Betty Towle's   desk.

15.  "Indians, indians, indians." She said it without capitalization. She called me "indian, indian, indian."

16. And I said, Yes, I am. I am Indian. Indian, I am.

THIRD GRADE

17.  My traditional Native American art career began and ended with my very first portrait: Stick Indian Taking a Piss in My Backyard.

18. As I circulated the original print around the classroom, Mrs. Schluter intercepted and confiscated my art.

19. Censorship, I might cry now. Freedom of expression, I would write in editorials to the tribal newspaper.

20. In third grade, though, I stood alone in the corner, faced the wall, and waited for the punishment to end.

21. I'm still waiting.

FOURTH GRADE

22. "You should be a doctor when you grow up," Mr. Schluter told me, even though his wife, the third grade teacher, thought I was crazy beyond my years. My eyes always looked like I had just hit-and-run someone.

23. "Guilty," she said. "You always look guilty."

24. "Why should I be a doctor?" I asked Mr. Schluter.

25. "So you can come back and help the tribe. So you can heal people."

26. That was the year my father drank a gallon of vodka a day and the same year that my mother started two hundred different quilts but never finished any. They sat in separate, dark places in our HUD house and wept savagely.

27. I ran home after school, heard their Indian tears, and looked in the mirror. Doctor Victor, I called myself, invented an education, talked to my reflection. Doctor Victor to the emergency room.

FIFTH GRADE

28. I picked up a basketball for the first time and made my first shot. No. I missed my first shot, missed the basket completely, and the ball landed in the dirt and sawdust, sat there just like I had sat there only minutes before.

29. But it felt good, that ball in my hands, all those possibilities and angles. It was mathematics, geometry. It was beautiful.

30. At that same moment, my cousin Steven Ford sniffed rubber cement from a paper bag and leaned back on the merry-go-round. His ears rang, his mouth was dry, and everyone seemed so far away.

31. But it felt good, that buzz in his head, all those colors and noises. It was chemistry, biology. It was beautiful.

32. Oh, do you remember those sweet, almost innocent choices that the Indian boys were forced to make?

SIXTH GRADE

33. Randy, the new Indian kid from the white town of Springdale, got into a fight an hour after he first walked into the reservation school.

34. Stevie Flett called him out, called him a squawman, called him a pussy, and called him a punk.

35. Randy and Stevie, and the rest of the Indian boys, walked out into the playground.

36. "Throw the first punch," Stevie said as they squared off.

37. "No," Randy said.

38. "Throw the first punch," Stevie said again.

39. "No," Randy said again.

40. "Throw the first punch!" Stevie said for the third time, and Randy reared back and pitched a knuckle fastball that broke Stevie's nose.

41. We all stood there in silence, in awe.

42. That was Randy, my soon-to-be first and best friend, who taught me the most valuable lesson about living in the white world: Always throw the first punch.

SEVENTH GRADE

43. I leaned through the basement window of the HUD house and kissed the white girl who would later be raped by her foster-parent father, who was also white. They both lived on the reservation, though, and when the headlines and stories filled the papers later, not one word was made of their color.

44. Just Indians being Indians, someone must have said somewhere and they were wrong.

45. But on the day I leaned through the basement window of the HUD house and kissed the white girl, I felt the goodbyes I was saying to my entire tribe. I held my lips tight against her lips, a dry, clumsy, and ultimately stupid kiss.

46. But I was saying goodbye to my tribe, to all the Indian girls and women I might have loved, to all the Indian men who might have called me cousin, even brother.

47. I kissed that white girl and when I opened my eyes, she was gone from the reservation, and when I opened my eyes, I was gone from the reservation, living in a farm town where a beautiful white girl asked my name.

48. "Junior Polatkin," I said, and she laughed.

49. After that, no one spoke to me for another five hundred years.

EIGHTH GRADE

50. At the farm town junior high, in the boys' bathroom, I could hear voices from the girls' bathroom, nervous whispers of anorexia and bulimia. I could hear the white girls' forced vomiting, a sound so familiar and natural to me after years of listening to my father's hangovers.

51.  "Give me your lunch if you're just going to throw it up," I said to one of those girls once.

52. I sat back and watched them grow skinny from self-pity.

53. Back on the reservation, my mother stood in line to get us commodities. We carried them home, happy to have food, and opened the canned beef that even the dogs wouldn't eat.

54. But we ate it day after day and grew skinny from self-pity.

55. There is more than one way to starve.

NINTH GRADE

56. At the farm town high school dance, after a basketball game in an overheated gym where I had scored twenty-seven points and pulled down thirteen rebounds, I passed out during a slow song.

57. As my white friends revived me and prepared to take me to the emergency room where doctors would later diagnose my diabetes, the Chicano teacher ran up to us.

58. "Hey," he said. "What's that boy been drinking? I know all about these Indian kids. They start drinking real young."

59. Sharing dark skin doesn't necessarily make two men brothers.

TENTH GRADE

60. I passed the written test easily and nearly flunked the driving, but still received my Washington State driver's license on the same day that Wally Jim killed himself by driving his car into a pine tree.

61. No traces of alcohol in his blood, good job, wife and two kids.

62. "Why'd he do it?" asked a white Washington state trooper.

63. All the Indians shrugged their shoulders, looked down at the ground.

64. "Don't know," we all said, but when we look in the mirror, see the history of our tribe in our eyes, taste failure in the tap water, and shake with old tears, we understand completely.

65. Believe me, everything looks like a noose if you stare at it long enough.

ELEVENTH GRADE

66. Last night I missed two free throws which would have won the game against the best team in the state. The farm town high school I play for is nicknamed the "Indians," and I'm probably the only actual Indian ever to play for a team with such a mascot.

67. This morning I pick up the sports page and read the headline:  INDIANS LOSE AGAIN.

68. Go ahead and tell me none of this is supposed to hurt me very much.

TWELFTH GRADE

69. I walk down the aisle, valedictorian of this farm town high school, and my cap doesn't fit because I've grown my hair longer than it's ever been. Later, I stand as the school board chairman recites my awards, accomplishments, and scholarships.

70. I try to remain stoic for the photographers as I look toward the future.

71.  Back home on the reservation, my former classmates graduate: a few can't read, one or two are just given attendance diplomas, most look forward to the parties. The bright students are shaken, frightened, because they don't know what comes next.

72. They smile for the photographer as they look back toward tradition.

73. The tribal newspaper runs my photograph and the photograph of my former classmates side by side.

POSTSCRIPT: CLASS REUNION

74. Victor said, "Why should we organize a reservation high school reunion? My graduating class has a reunion every weekend at the Powwow Tavern."

Homework

Block 1

• Bring your book in (I PROMISE I'll get to it on Tuesday)
• Draft, by hand, your vignettes. If possible, skip every otther line as you draft.
• Soak in the fall sunshine and I'll see you on Tuesday!

Homework for Friday

Thanks everyone for your help with the pretest.

• Your homework is to bring in a completed literacy timeline you don't have any additional homework.
• If you forgot to bring in a book that you have read and enjoyed, please do so!
• The podcast on Fitzgerald is here: http://www.npr.org/2014/09/08/346346588/how-gatsby-went-from-a-moldering-flop-to-a-great-american-novel

Literacy History Vignettes

Your Literacy History

 

 

 

What is literacy?

 

It’s more than just reading and writing!  What does it mean to be a literate person?

 

For our purposes, literacy is:

 

·        A set of skills, behaviors, attitudes and dispositions demonstrated by people who function successfully in a field.  These skills allow people to feel comfortable and confident as they function in an educated group.

 

 

What do you think reading / writing literacy is?

 

Do you remember defining moments that shaped your reading and writing literacy?

 

Do you like writing and reading?  Do you avoid reading or writing at all costs?  When was the first time you wrote or read something you loved?  Did you write or read because you wanted to, or did someone make you write?  What kind of feedback did your parents/ teachers/ friends give you on your writing or reading?

 

On the back of this sheet of paper is your literacy timeline.  Brainstorm moments in your life that most stick out as having shaped your views on writing.

 

Assignment:  Pick any five of these moments that you feel best represent your life as a writer (or non-writer, as the case may be!).  Write at least six sentences per memory relaying that experience to your reader.  How old were you?  How did you feel?  You may use my example to guide you in terms of format, content, etc.  REMEMBER TO CONSIDER YOUR VOICE AS A WRITER!  I want to hear you in your writing.

 

This assignment MUST be typed, 12 pt standard font, STAPLED!

Welcome to 12H

Dr. Kelly Moore

Fall 2014

kmoore@niskyschools.org

http://niskayun.blogspot.com/

 

 

English 12H Advanced Placement Literature

Welcome to Advanced Placement Literature! English 12 Honors AP, a college-level course, involves a critical study of selected major works of drama, poetry, fiction and nonfiction, tracing recurrent concerns of mankind as expressed in a variety of texts. The course includes much reading and writing, and asks students to study and apply critical theory and work with literary criticism. A high level of verbal competence and skill of writing, as well as the power of sustained independent inquiry, is required. Students completing English 12Honors AP are prepared to take the AP examination in Literature and Composition.

 

Objectives from the NYS Common Core for English:

 

1.Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence. Explore and inquire into areas of interest to formulate an argument.

 

2.    Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. (Grade-specific expectations for writing types are defined in standards 1–3 above.)

 

3.    Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on addressing what is most significant for a specific purpose and audience. (Editing for conventions should demonstrate command of Language standards 1–3

 

4.    Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question) or solve a problem; narrow or broaden the inquiry when appropriate; synthesize multiple sources on the subject, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.

 

5.    Gather relevant information from multiple authoritative print and digital sources, using advanced searches effectively; assess the strengths and limitations of each source in terms of the task, purpose, and audience; integrate information into the text selectively to maintain the flow of ideas, avoiding plagiarism and overreliance on any one source and following a standard format for citation.

 

6.    Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 11–12 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.

 

7.    Apply knowledge of language to understand how language functions in different contexts, to make effective choices for meaning or style, and to comprehend more fully when reading or listening.

 

 

Texts:

 Because of the nature of the course, a substantial amount of reading and writing will be assigned. Some of the reading will be in the form of photocopied essays, articles, short stories, literary criticism and poems. Some of the longer titles that we may read and discuss this year are:

 

No Exit and Other Plays by Jean-Paul Sartre

Metamorphosis and other stories by Franz Kafka

The Dubliners

Beloved

Heart of Darkness

Catch 22

The Shawl

Ragtime

The Bell Jar

One Flew Over the Cuckoos’ Nest

Brave New World

Slaughter-House Five

Hamlet

The Tempest

The Sound and the Fury

 

 

Collateral Reading:

In addition to in-class readings, at least one collateral reading will be assigned per quarter. The collateral reading activities will be included in the quarter grades. Please remember that reliance upon Spark Notes is a violation of the Academic Integrity Policy of Niskayuna, and students who substitute ideas (NOT JUST TEXT) from Spark Notes or other such sources may incur serious academic and disciplinary penalties.

 

 

 

 

Student Expectations:

 

Improving your reading, writing, listening and speaking skills will require that you work diligently over the course of the year. In order to reach our goals for this year it will be necessary for students to meet the expectations below.

 

• Thoughtful and productive class participation in class activities and discussion
• Serious effort in all class and independent endeavors
• Ability to work independently on long term projects
• Maturity of thought and expression
• Willingness to work both collectively and independently
• Willingness to revise written work
• Willingness to read and take notes on difficult  reading assignments
• Adherence to assignment due dates and requirements

 

 

Materials:

• A notebook devoted only to English
• An assignment notebook
• A folder or binder devoted to English handouts
• A blue or black pen

 

Evaluation:

           

Students will be evaluated on a wide-range of assignments, both individual and collective. Students will be evaluated through tests, writing, discussion, projects, research and presentations.

 

Reading Quizzes and Notes Quizzes                                    

Tests                                                              

Major Writing Assignments                                                 

Major Projects                                                                                   

Presentations                                                             

Homework                                                                             

Participation

Writing Folders                                                                                 

 

• Students will keep a writing folder in class with their beginnings, in-class writings and drafts. The writing folder will be assessed every quarter on effort, completeness and organization.

• The final examination will consist of a written exam worth twenty percent of the student’s final course grade.
• Each quarter grade will be calculated by a point system; the grade will be determined by dividing the number of points the student earned with the number of possible points in the quarter.

 

 

Course Requirements: Completion and demonstration of proficiency on the final examination and the major research assignment in the fourth quarter is required for the successful completion of the course.

 

Policies:

 

• Students who miss 15 class periods will be denied credit for the class. Any absence of more than twenty minutes constitutes an absence.
• Students are encouraged to seek extra help; please make an appointment.
• Students may be offered the opportunity to redo certain assignments after a conference.
• No papers will be accepted via email, unless given prior permission by the instructor.
• No late homework will be accepted, unless a student has been absent.
• Ten points will be deducted each school day an assignment is late.
• Tests, presentations and quizzes missed due to absence must be makeup within one week. Failure to make up work within one week will result in a zero. All missed quizzes will be available in the English department. It is not necessary to make an appointment.
• Students are expected to follow the guidelines for academic integrity and plagiarism outlined in the Niskayuna Student Handbook. All work a student hands in is expected to be wholly his or her own. If a student consults outside sources, he or she must properly cite his or her work using MLA format. Students are encouraged to consult their teachers, the MLA handbook, the media center, and the Niskayuna Research Guide with any questions. All suspected violations of this policy will be reported to the administration. Students found guilty of academic dishonesty will be subject to failure, reduction of grades and disciplinary action.
• The use of Spark Notes is considered a violation of the Academic Integrity Policy. The use of Spark Notes requires citation; to fail to do this constitutes a Violation of the Academic Integrity Policy.
• Students who fail to complete major assignments in the fourth quarter will not be allowed to take the final examination. A grade of zero will be assigned for the final exam grade.

 

           

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dr. Kelly Moore

Fall 2014

kmoore@niskyschools.org

http://niskayun.blogspot.com/

 

 

English 12H Advanced Placement Literature

Welcome to Advanced Placement Literature! English 12 Honors AP, a college-level course, involves a critical study of selected major works of drama, poetry, fiction and nonfiction, tracing recurrent concerns of mankind as expressed in a variety of texts. The course includes much reading and writing, and asks students to study and apply critical theory and work with literary criticism. A high level of verbal competence and skill of writing, as well as the power of sustained independent inquiry, is required. Students completing English 12Honors AP are prepared to take the AP examination in Literature and Composition.

 

Objectives from the NYS Common Core for English:

 

1.Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence. Explore and inquire into areas of interest to formulate an argument.

 

2.    Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. (Grade-specific expectations for writing types are defined in standards 1–3 above.)

 

3.    Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on addressing what is most significant for a specific purpose and audience. (Editing for conventions should demonstrate command of Language standards 1–3

 

4.    Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question) or solve a problem; narrow or broaden the inquiry when appropriate; synthesize multiple sources on the subject, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.

 

5.    Gather relevant information from multiple authoritative print and digital sources, using advanced searches effectively; assess the strengths and limitations of each source in terms of the task, purpose, and audience; integrate information into the text selectively to maintain the flow of ideas, avoiding plagiarism and overreliance on any one source and following a standard format for citation.

 

6.    Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 11–12 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.

 

7.    Apply knowledge of language to understand how language functions in different contexts, to make effective choices for meaning or style, and to comprehend more fully when reading or listening.

 

 

Texts:

 Because of the nature of the course, a substantial amount of reading and writing will be assigned. Some of the reading will be in the form of photocopied essays, articles, short stories, literary criticism and poems. Some of the longer titles that we may read and discuss this year are:

 

No Exit and Other Plays by Jean-Paul Sartre

Metamorphosis and other stories by Franz Kafka

The Dubliners

Beloved

Heart of Darkness

Catch 22

The Shawl

Ragtime

The Bell Jar

One Flew Over the Cuckoos’ Nest

Brave New World

Slaughter-House Five

Hamlet

The Tempest

The Sound and the Fury

 

 

Collateral Reading:

In addition to in-class readings, at least one collateral reading will be assigned per quarter. The collateral reading activities will be included in the quarter grades. Please remember that reliance upon Spark Notes is a violation of the Academic Integrity Policy of Niskayuna, and students who substitute ideas (NOT JUST TEXT) from Spark Notes or other such sources may incur serious academic and disciplinary penalties.

 

 

 

 

Student Expectations:

 

Improving your reading, writing, listening and speaking skills will require that you work diligently over the course of the year. In order to reach our goals for this year it will be necessary for students to meet the expectations below.

 

• Thoughtful and productive class participation in class activities and discussion
• Serious effort in all class and independent endeavors
• Ability to work independently on long term projects
• Maturity of thought and expression
• Willingness to work both collectively and independently
• Willingness to revise written work
• Willingness to read and take notes on difficult  reading assignments
• Adherence to assignment due dates and requirements

 

 

Materials:

• A notebook devoted only to English
• An assignment notebook
• A folder or binder devoted to English handouts
• A blue or black pen

 

Evaluation:

           

Students will be evaluated on a wide-range of assignments, both individual and collective. Students will be evaluated through tests, writing, discussion, projects, research and presentations.

 

Reading Quizzes and Notes Quizzes                                    

Tests                                                              

Major Writing Assignments                                                 

Major Projects                                                                                   

Presentations                                                             

Homework                                                                             

Participation

Writing Folders                                                                                 

 

• Students will keep a writing folder in class with their beginnings, in-class writings and drafts. The writing folder will be assessed every quarter on effort, completeness and organization.

• The final examination will consist of a written exam worth twenty percent of the student’s final course grade.
• Each quarter grade will be calculated by a point system; the grade will be determined by dividing the number of points the student earned with the number of possible points in the quarter.

 

 

Course Requirements: Completion and demonstration of proficiency on the final examination and the major research assignment in the fourth quarter is required for the successful completion of the course.

 

Policies:

 

• Students who miss 15 class periods will be denied credit for the class. Any absence of more than twenty minutes constitutes an absence.
• Students are encouraged to seek extra help; please make an appointment.
• Students may be offered the opportunity to redo certain assignments after a conference.
• No papers will be accepted via email, unless given prior permission by the instructor.
• No late homework will be accepted, unless a student has been absent.
• Ten points will be deducted each school day an assignment is late.
• Tests, presentations and quizzes missed due to absence must be makeup within one week. Failure to make up work within one week will result in a zero. All missed quizzes will be available in the English department. It is not necessary to make an appointment.
• Students are expected to follow the guidelines for academic integrity and plagiarism outlined in the Niskayuna Student Handbook. All work a student hands in is expected to be wholly his or her own. If a student consults outside sources, he or she must properly cite his or her work using MLA format. Students are encouraged to consult their teachers, the MLA handbook, the media center, and the Niskayuna Research Guide with any questions. All suspected violations of this policy will be reported to the administration. Students found guilty of academic dishonesty will be subject to failure, reduction of grades and disciplinary action.
• The use of Spark Notes is considered a violation of the Academic Integrity Policy. The use of Spark Notes requires citation; to fail to do this constitutes a Violation of the Academic Integrity Policy.
• Students who fail to complete major assignments in the fourth quarter will not be allowed to take the final examination. A grade of zero will be assigned for the final exam grade.

 

           

Dr. Kelly Moore

Fall 2014

kmoore@niskyschools.org

http://niskayun.blogspot.com/

 

 

English 12H Advanced Placement Literature

Welcome to Advanced Placement Literature! English 12 Honors AP, a college-level course, involves a critical study of selected major works of drama, poetry, fiction and nonfiction, tracing recurrent concerns of mankind as expressed in a variety of texts. The course includes much reading and writing, and asks students to study and apply critical theory and work with literary criticism. A high level of verbal competence and skill of writing, as well as the power of sustained independent inquiry, is required. Students completing English 12Honors AP are prepared to take the AP examination in Literature and Composition.

 

Objectives from the NYS Common Core for English:

 

1.Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence. Explore and inquire into areas of interest to formulate an argument.

 

2.    Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. (Grade-specific expectations for writing types are defined in standards 1–3 above.)

 

3.    Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on addressing what is most significant for a specific purpose and audience. (Editing for conventions should demonstrate command of Language standards 1–3

 

4.    Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question) or solve a problem; narrow or broaden the inquiry when appropriate; synthesize multiple sources on the subject, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.

 

5.    Gather relevant information from multiple authoritative print and digital sources, using advanced searches effectively; assess the strengths and limitations of each source in terms of the task, purpose, and audience; integrate information into the text selectively to maintain the flow of ideas, avoiding plagiarism and overreliance on any one source and following a standard format for citation.

 

6.    Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 11–12 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.

 

7.    Apply knowledge of language to understand how language functions in different contexts, to make effective choices for meaning or style, and to comprehend more fully when reading or listening.

 

 

Texts:

 Because of the nature of the course, a substantial amount of reading and writing will be assigned. Some of the reading will be in the form of photocopied essays, articles, short stories, literary criticism and poems. Some of the longer titles that we may read and discuss this year are:

 

No Exit and Other Plays by Jean-Paul Sartre

Metamorphosis and other stories by Franz Kafka

The Dubliners

Beloved

Heart of Darkness

Catch 22

The Shawl

Ragtime

The Bell Jar

One Flew Over the Cuckoos’ Nest

Brave New World

Slaughter-House Five

Hamlet

The Tempest

The Sound and the Fury

 

 

Collateral Reading:

In addition to in-class readings, at least one collateral reading will be assigned per quarter. The collateral reading activities will be included in the quarter grades. Please remember that reliance upon Spark Notes is a violation of the Academic Integrity Policy of Niskayuna, and students who substitute ideas (NOT JUST TEXT) from Spark Notes or other such sources may incur serious academic and disciplinary penalties.

 

 

 

 

Student Expectations:

 

Improving your reading, writing, listening and speaking skills will require that you work diligently over the course of the year. In order to reach our goals for this year it will be necessary for students to meet the expectations below.

 

• Thoughtful and productive class participation in class activities and discussion
• Serious effort in all class and independent endeavors
• Ability to work independently on long term projects
• Maturity of thought and expression
• Willingness to work both collectively and independently
• Willingness to revise written work
• Willingness to read and take notes on difficult  reading assignments
• Adherence to assignment due dates and requirements

 

 

Materials:

• A notebook devoted only to English
• An assignment notebook
• A folder or binder devoted to English handouts
• A blue or black pen

 

Evaluation:

           

Students will be evaluated on a wide-range of assignments, both individual and collective. Students will be evaluated through tests, writing, discussion, projects, research and presentations.

 

Reading Quizzes and Notes Quizzes                                    

Tests                                                              

Major Writing Assignments                                                 

Major Projects                                                                                   

Presentations                                                             

Homework                                                                             

Participation

Writing Folders                                                                                 

 

• Students will keep a writing folder in class with their beginnings, in-class writings and drafts. The writing folder will be assessed every quarter on effort, completeness and organization.

• The final examination will consist of a written exam worth twenty percent of the student’s final course grade.
• Each quarter grade will be calculated by a point system; the grade will be determined by dividing the number of points the student earned with the number of possible points in the quarter.

 

 

Course Requirements: Completion and demonstration of proficiency on the final examination and the major research assignment in the fourth quarter is required for the successful completion of the course.

 

Policies:

 

• Students who miss 15 class periods will be denied credit for the class. Any absence of more than twenty minutes constitutes an absence.
• Students are encouraged to seek extra help; please make an appointment.
• Students may be offered the opportunity to redo certain assignments after a conference.
• No papers will be accepted via email, unless given prior permission by the instructor.
• No late homework will be accepted, unless a student has been absent.
• Ten points will be deducted each school day an assignment is late.
• Tests, presentations and quizzes missed due to absence must be makeup within one week. Failure to make up work within one week will result in a zero. All missed quizzes will be available in the English department. It is not necessary to make an appointment.
• Students are expected to follow the guidelines for academic integrity and plagiarism outlined in the Niskayuna Student Handbook. All work a student hands in is expected to be wholly his or her own. If a student consults outside sources, he or she must properly cite his or her work using MLA format. Students are encouraged to consult their teachers, the MLA handbook, the media center, and the Niskayuna Research Guide with any questions. All suspected violations of this policy will be reported to the administration. Students found guilty of academic dishonesty will be subject to failure, reduction of grades and disciplinary action.
• The use of Spark Notes is considered a violation of the Academic Integrity Policy. The use of Spark Notes requires citation; to fail to do this constitutes a Violation of the Academic Integrity Policy.
• Students who fail to complete major assignments in the fourth quarter will not be allowed to take the final examination. A grade of zero will be assigned for the final exam grade.