In order to focus on student success, provide quality instruction, and communicate openly and honestly
with students and parents, secondary teachers will publish a course syllabus each term.
2014-2015 Course Syllabus for English I
Term 1
Teacher: Dedra Wedgeworth
E-mail: dedra.wedgeworth@biloxischools.net
Teacher’s Web Site: http://www.biloxischools.net/Domain/1076
Objectives: This is a general overview of what the teacher will teach and what the student is
expected to master.
Week 1: August 6th & 7th
 Welcome
 Handbook rules
 Classroom rules/procedures
Week 2: August 10th - 14th
 Cite textual evidence
 Draw inferences from a text
 Summarize a text
o from O Pioneers! by Willa Cather
o The Family Farm
 Explain how a theme is developed and how it is shaped by specific details
 Analyze how complex characters develop and interact to advance the plot or
develop the theme
 Analyze how a modern work of fiction draws on themes, patterns of events, or
character types from myths, traditional stories, or religious works
o from The Open Window by Saki
o from Dead Men’s Path by Chinua Achebe (Exemplar author)
Week 3: August 17th - 21st
 Explain how a theme is developed and how it is shaped by specific details
 Analyze how complex characters develop and interact to advance the plot or
develop the theme
 Analyze how a modern work of fiction draws on themes, patterns of events, or
character types from myths, traditional stories, or religious works
o from The Open Window by Saki
o from Dead Men’s Path by Chinua Achebe (Exemplar author)
 TEST 1 August 21st
SCORE:___________
th
th
Week 4: August 24 - 28
 Interpret figurative language
 Analyze the impact of word choice on meaning and tone
 Determine the connotation and nuances in meanings of words with similar
denotations
o from Out of Africa by Isak Dinesen
o from The Happy Prince by Oscar Wilde
 Analyze how structure contributes to meaning and style
o XXI: A Book by Emily Dickinson (Exemplar author)
o When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer by Walt Whitman
o The Piano by D.H. Lawrence
o Daffodils by William Wordsworth
Week 5: August 31st - September 4th
 Analyze point of view or cultural experiences reflected in text
o from The Californian’s Tale by Mark Twain
o The Last Lesson by Alphonse Daudet
 Cite textual evidence to support analysis
 Draw inferences from a text
http://www.biloxischools.net
In order to focus on student success, provide quality instruction, and communicate openly and honestly
with students and parents, secondary teachers will publish a course syllabus each term.


Determine a central idea of a text
Summarize the text
o from Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown (Exemplar text)
 TEST 2 September 4
SCORE:___________
Week 6: September 7th - 11th (Sept. 7, Labor Day holiday-no students)
 Analyze development of a central idea and supporting details
 Analyze how ideas are presented and connected
 Identify key steps in a process
o from Who Was Atticus Finch? by Talmage Boston
 Determine figurative, connotative, and technical word meanings
 Analyze the impact of word choice on meaning and tone
o Four-Winged Birds
o from Address to Students at Moscow State University by Ronald Raegan
(Exemplar text)
Week 7: September 14th - 18th
 Analyze how ideas and claims are developed by sections, paragraphs, or
sentences of a text
 Determine an author’s point of view or purpose
o from Composition Through the Ages by Wendy Thompson (Exemplar
author)
 Evaluate arguments and claims in a text
 Identify false statements and fallacious reasoning
o from What a Woman Should Know by Mary Wood-Allen
 Analyze documents of historical and literary significance
 Identify how documents address related themes and concepts
o The Gettysburg Address by Abraham Lincoln (Exemplar text)
o from Franklin D. Roosevelt’s State of the Union Address, or Four
Freedoms Speech
Week 8: September 21st - 25th
 Argumentative writing
 Write arguments that support claims, using valid reasons and relevant evidence
 TEST 3 September 21st
SCORE:___________
Week 9: September 28th - October 2nd
 Informative writing
 Write informative texts using relevant facts and concrete details
 Narrative writing
 Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences
Week 10: October 5th- 9th
 Review
 CTA
Tests and Grades
Grading: A=90-100 B=80-89 C=70-79 D=65-69 F=below 65 I=incomplete
Grading follows the policies of Biloxi Public Schools. A mid-term progress report and a report card following the end of each term are issued.
Tests/Make up work: Comprehensive tests will be given throughout the term. An individual
copy of the test is made for each student. Students are expected to use test-taking strategies
modeled by the teacher in class to work through each test question. There will be a writing
http://www.biloxischools.net
In order to focus on student success, provide quality instruction, and communicate openly and honestly
with students and parents, secondary teachers will publish a course syllabus each term.
portion on every test. Tests will be timed. Make up work will be completed before/after school
or at the teacher's discretion. Grade Weights- 55% Tests, 35% Activities, 10% Term Test
Retesting: All students are encouraged to schedule an appointment to reteach and retest if
they are unhappy with their grade, regardless of their score. The higher of the two test grades
will be placed in the grade book. To retest, students must successfully complete a remediation
assignment (including after school tutoring) and retest within 10 days of receiving his or her
score on the original test. If, at the teacher's discretion, a student does not put forth sufficient
effort on the original test (turns test in after a very short length of time, does not appear to have
worked through EACH question thoroughly and/or to the best of the student's ability), the
teacher may elect to not allow the student to reteach/retest. All daily/missed work relating to the
test must be complete before the retesting process may begin. An English II teacher will
available for reteaching and retesting on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons.
Homework/Assignments/Projects: Homework will be given a few times a week to reinforce
objectives covered in class.
Course Requirements: Students will be expected to master appropriate skills in preparation for
the English I Common Term Assessments.
Important Dates:
Progress reports- September 11th
CTAs- October 5th - 9th
Term 1 Report Cards- October 19th
http://www.biloxischools.net