CONTEMPORARY FICTION & NONFICTION
SYLLABUS
HOFFMAN
OVERVIEW:
This course will explore contemporary literature. Students will be expected to critically read, comprehend and respond to the literature in class discussion and written assignments.
Although the main focus of the course is literature, speaking and writing skills will also be emphasized.
OUTCOMES:
• Read and react to varied literary genre including fiction, nonfiction, poetry, drama
(selections may be from crime fiction, suspense, adventure, science fiction, fantasy,
mystery, history, biography, memoir, travel, western, etc.)
• Consider each work through discussion and writing assignments
• Increase skill in writing about and talking about literature
• Become familiar with a variety of literary treatments of a single theme or literary type
• Develop skill in the interpretation and criticism of literature
• Develop a variety of approaches to the study of literature
• Become familiar with different genre
• Develop stylistic maturity in writing including refined sentence structure, organization
and rhetoric
• Deepen understanding of literature in finding both meaning and pleasure
• Explore the difference in purpose and effect between imaginative and informative
literature
• Become familiar with several major contemporary authors
• Use literary terms with facility
• Web-based book reviews/discussion
• Literature circles
• Refine thinking, writing, and communication skills
MATERIALS:
• Notebooks
• Pen/pencil
• USB flash drive (Recommended – NOT Required)
• Email account
• Schoolview account
ACADEMIC REQUIREMENTS/EXPECTATIONS:
• Effort/positive attitude/participation
• Late work: 1 day late = 75%, 2 days = 50%, 3 days = 25%, 4 days late = 0.
• If you are absent or tardy, YOU are responsible to find out what you missed and
complete it within the allowed time
• Grades will be posted by student I.D. #; you should know your grade! USE Schoolview!
• All formal written assignments are to be word processed and completed to
our mutual satisfaction
BEHAVIORAL REQUIREMENTS/EXPECTATIONS :
• Be on time. We follow school policy for absences and tardies.
• Passes will be virtually non-existent this trimester - Accept it when you’re denied your
request. Take a tardy if it’s that important!
• No electronic devices.
• Keep make-up confined to restrooms or home.
• NO food or drink (from an open container) is to be consumed in this room.

GRADES:
• Assignments will be graded on a point system. (92%=A, 82%=B, 72%=C, 62%=D, 59%=F)
•You must achieve at least 60% of all offered points to pass this class.
TEXTS:
Into The Wild by John Krakauer
The Lovely Bones , by Alice Sebold
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime , by Mark Haddon
Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom
One piece of Contemporary Fiction or Non-Fiction – Student Choice – Read outside of class and subject matter for online Wiki Project.
OPTIONAL TEXTS:
Ishmael by Daniel Quinn
First They Killed My Father , by Loung Ung
Selected contemporary short stories, articles, poetry, drama, memoirs, etc. with possible use of all or of excerpts from, Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri, Hiding in the Open ,
Tuesdays With Morrie , The Laramie Project , Noises Off , The Exonerated , Boy Gets Girl , Into Thin
Air , or others as time permits and as copies are available. Tapestry: A Multicultural
Anthology edited by Alan C. Purves