ENGLISH III—AMERICAN LITERATURE/ COLLEGE PREP
James Pace High School
Instructor: Rita Tyler-Aguilar
E-mail: riaguilar@bisd.us
Room J-107
School Phone: (956) 698-3179
Website: mstyleraguilar.weebly.com
Conference Periods:
Monday, Thursday, Friday: 2nd Period at 9:35 A.M. – 10:20 A.M.
& 7th Period at 1:40 P.M. – 2:25 P.M.
Tuesday
(Block Day) 7th Period
at 12:50 P.M. — 2:20 P.M.
Wednesday (Block Day) 2nd Period
at 8:45 A.M. — 10:20 A.M.
Welcome to English III! This will be an exciting and challenging year in your high school career. Literature in
English 3 focuses on American authors from the earliest settlers to our country’s modern authors of today. English
3 is also writing intensive, and you will do a great deal of college/TSI, ACT & SAT Prep. This Syllabus and
Course Outline is a Work in Progress; therefore, it is subject to change on whim of Ms. Tyler-Aguilar or any other
solid reason. So do not get bent out of shape if we stray or deviate from said syllabus.
Classroom Rules
1. Come to class prepared. We will be working every day. There are no “free days” in my classroom;
therefore, you should always bring paper, pencil, and the text we are reading. You will not be permitted to
leave the classroom to gather your materials.
2. No cell phones or other electronic devices unless used in class for a specific lesson. Cell phones should not
be seen or heard otherwise. If you have your cell phone out without my permission, it will be confiscated
and put in phone jail.
3. Be on time and in your seat when the bell rings. You will be counted tardy unless you are in your assigned
seat when the bell sounds. Three tardies will automatically earn you a write-up. Your “friends” can walk to
class, and if you don’t trust them then you need to redefine your relationship.
4. Respect your teacher and classmates. I will do everything in my power to make this a successful academic
year for you, so show respect and courtesy to me at all times. We will do a great deal of sharing in class;
therefore, it is imperative that you respect your classmates’ thoughts and opinions, even if they are
different than your own. This is non-negotiable. We don’t make fun of anyone in here. Period.
5. Check Ms. Tyler-Aguilar’s website regularly. Make-up work and other information will be posted on the
website regularly. My website is accessible via computer or mobile phone. If you do not have internet
access at home, it is your responsibility to find time before/after school in our library, the Brownsville
Public Library, or in any student computer lab. No excuses! http://mstyleraguilar.weebly.com
Classroom Procedures & Expectations
Procedures and Expectations are different from rules as they relate to how our classroom operates. You are
expected to follow these procedures daily.
1. Sit in your assigned seat. Seating charts will be updated periodically throughout the semester. Classes with
good behavior will be rewarded by choosing their seating chart at the end of the year.
2. The first ten minutes of class will be spent journaling silently. On some days when you come into the
classroom, there will be a prompt on the board. Other days, you will be allowed to “free write”—aka,
write about what you want. Either way, you must write ten minutes without stopping. Don’t worry about
having perfect grammar or spelling; simply put what comes to you on paper. It will be hard to write the full
ten minutes at first, but you will eventually become a pro.
3. You will be expected to share every week. Each of you will be called on at least once per week to share
your writing with the class. You can share what you’ve written that day or another piece of writing you’ve
completed in class. You get only one “pass” per semester—after that, a refusal to read will lose you fifteen
participation points a week.
4. All assignments will be collected during class. Work submitted after that will be deemed late for -10 points.
5. All make-up work will be posted on the website. Mrs. Stevens will not have make-up work. All make-up
work must be printed directly from the website. Make-up work must be turned into me in a reasonable
amount of time.
6. Restroom breaks are only granted if it is an emergency. You are not allowed to leave the classroom unless
called by the office.
7. Stay seated until the bell rings. As class time draws to a close, stay seated. Look around your area for trash
to deposit in the trash can on the way out. Desks are never to be used as a doodling area or place to put
your gum. You are not permitted to line up at the door.
8. I will make a Remind 101 Account for you and your parents. Stay tuned.
9. This is school not a nightclub, so dress appropriately.
Materials Needed
You will need a blank composition notebook that will stay in the classroom and serve as your writing journal. You
also need basic school supplies such as pens, pencils, highlighters, a folder with pockets, a glue stick or scotch
tape, and a packet of sticky notes. Please let me know if you cannot purchase supplies for any reason.
Students are strongly encouraged to download the free Dictionary.com app onto their smartphones if they own
one and are also equally strongly encouraged to register for an eSchools online grading account in order to
easily monitor their own grades as well as download any missing assignments.
What Will We Be Doing This Year?
The following is an outline of what we will be studying this year in English III. Please note that Ms. Rita TylerAguilar has the right to edit the outline for any reason. Furthermore, please be aware that all units are aligned to the
TEKS and promote college/TSI, ACT &/or SAT readiness.
Diagnostic Testing: TSI, SAT, &/or ACT Pre-Test
First Semester:
Classic American Author Book Club: Novels to choose from include:
Catcher in the Rye,
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,
The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman
Fallen Angels
My Antonia
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
1st Six Weeks: August 24-September 25, 2015
THEME: Self-Discovery
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from Way to Rainy Mountain by N. Scott Momad
How the Leopard Got His Claws ‐ retold by Chinua Achebe and John Iroaganchi (myth)
from The Life of Olaudah Equinao by Olaidah Equiano (autobiography) and Grammar Workshop
The Declaration of Independence by Thomas Jefferson (public document)
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2nd Six Weeks: September 28-October 30, 2015
THEME: Being a good follower
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Comparing Literature: from Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau (essay),
Comparing Literature: On the Eve of Historic Gandi March by Mohandas K. Gandhi (speech)
from Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela (autobiography)
From A Distant Mirror,185‐187 The Raven and The Pit and the Pendulum by Edgar Allen Poem (narrative poem and
short story) and Vocabulary Workshop
Excerpts from the Gothic Novel Example: The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne
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3rd Six Weeks: November 2-December 18, 2015
THEME: Rebellions and Betrayals
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from My Bondage and My Freedom by Frederick Douglass (autobiography), Frederick Douglass by Robert Hayden
(poem), In Texas Grass by Quicy Troupe (poem)
And Ain't I a Woman? by Sojourner Truth (speech)
Letter to His Son by Robert E. Lee (letter)
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce (short story)
The Gettysburg Address by Abraham Lincoln
A Sight in Camp in the Daybreak Gray and Drum and Beat! Beat! Beat!; from Specimen Days; from Song of Myself
by Walt Whitman (poems); Success is counted sweetest, Emily Dickinson
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Second Semester:
Economics/The American Dream: Novels to choose from include:
The Great Gatsby
The Richest Man in Babylon
Freakonomics
Their Eyes Were Watching God
4th Six Weeks: January 4-February 19, 2016
THEME: Tolerance, Awareness, Acceptance of Others (who are different than we are)
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The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County by Mark Twain
from Two Views of the River by Mark Twain
Informational Text: Life Along the Mississippi River by Nancy Gibbs, I Will Fight No More Forever by Chief Joseph
(speech)
The Open Boat by Stephen Crane (short story)
Comparing Literature: The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin (short story), The Darling by Anton Chekhov (short
story), and Richness by Gabriela Mistral (poem) Douglass and We Wear the Mask by Paul Laurence Dunbar (poems)
Richard Cory and Miniver Cheevy by Edwin Arlington Robinson (poems)
Gender in Society
o Desiree’s Baby
o Good Country People
o X: A Fabulous Child’s Story
o A Jury of Her Peers
o The Short Happy Life of Frances Macomber
o Gender in Advertising
o How to be a Good Housewife
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5th Six Weeks: February 22- April 15, 2016
THEME: Searching for Self, Discovery and Realization of Truth, Self-Expression
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Symbolist and Imagist Poetry In a Station of the Metro and A Pact by Ezra Pound (poems) The Love Song of J.
Alfred Prufrock by T.S. Eliot (poem) The Red Wheelbarrow and This is Just to Say by William Carlos Williams
(poems) and Vocabulary Workshop somewhere I have never travelled, gladly beyond and anyone in a pretty how
town by E.E. Cummings (poems) Chicago and Grass by Carl Sandberg (poems) Mending Wall, Birches, Stopping By
Woods on a Snowy Evening, Acquainted with the Night, and The Death of the Hired Man by Robert Frost (poems)
Literary Period: The Modern American Short Story In Another Country by Ernest Hemingway (short story) or Winter
Dreams by F. Scott Fitzgerald (short story)
The Jilting of Granny Weatherall by Katherine Anne Porter
My City by James Weldon Johnson (poem) from Dust Tracks of New York by Zora Neale Hurston (autobiography)
Informational Text: Stanzas from a Black Epic by Robert Hughes
I, Too; The Negro Speaks of Rivers and When the Negro Was in Vogue by Langston Hughes (poems and
autobiography)
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Gender in Society
o Desiree’s Baby
o Good Country People
o X: A Fabulous Child’s Story
o A Jury of Her Peers
o The Short Happy Life of Frances Macomber
o Gender in Advertising
o How to be a Good Housewife
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6th Six Weeks: April 18- June 3, 2016
THEME: Indifference, Judgements, Inequality, Alienation
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Breakfast by John Steinbeck (short story) and Vocabulary Workshop
from Black Boy by Richard Wright (autobiography) Historical Perspective: from You Have Seen Their Faces by
Erskine Caldwell and Margaret Bourke‐White
Drama: The Crucible, Act I‐IV, by Arthur Miller and/or The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Comparing Literature: Ambush by Tim O'Brien (short story), The Gift in Wartime by Tran Mong Tu (poem), from
Stay Alive, My Son by Pin Yathay with John Man, Camouflaging the Chimera by Yusef Komunyakaa (poem)
Thoughts on the African‐American Novel by Toni Morrison (essay) and Vocabulary Workshop Literary History:
From Comic Strips to Graphic Novels
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Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God
Change of Heart
Nonfiction articles about jail, the death penalty, public punishment
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FINAL EXAMS
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TSI/SAT/ACT Post-Test
Respectfully,
_______________________________
Ms. Rita Tyler-Aguilar
Please sign this portion of the syllabus and return to Ms. Tyler-Aguilar no later than August 28th, 2015 for fifteen
points. The dress code is on the back, so you are agreeing to that contract as well.
Students: By signing your name, you agree that you understand my rules and procedures. Furthermore, you agree
that you are aware of my website (http://mstyleraguilar@weebly.com) and know that your make-up work and
assignments will be found there. You acknowledge that there are no excuses for not obtaining and completing your
work.
Student’s Signature: _____________________________
Student’s Name (print):____________________________
Date: __________________________________
Parents: By signing your name, you acknowledge to reading your child’s syllabus thoroughly. You are aware of
the class website (http://mtyleraguilar@weebly.com) and know that your child’s make-up work and weekly
assignments can be found there. Please do not hesitate to contact me should you have questions or concerns.
Parent/Guardian’s Signature: _______________________________
Parent/Guardian’s Name (print): ____________________________________
Date: _________________________________
Preferred e-mail and/or phone number: ________________________________________