English Literature
Grade 12
A Guide for Parents
Rondi Aastrup, teacher
Grades and attendance
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English Literature is a required
course for graduation.
Students must maintain a “D-” or
better in all four quarters to pass the
class.
Students must attend 85% of the
quarter’s classes in order to receive
credit.
Students entering class after the first
10 minutes are marked absent.
Homework Requirements
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No late homework (with few
exceptions) will be accepted.
Major assignments must be typed;
all others neat and legible.
Daily journal entries, 5 per week,
should be written in a journal to be
turned in every Wednesday.
Weekly vocabulary quizzes
(ACT/SAT prep) on Fridays.
Monthly (assigned) book reports are
due the last Friday of each month.
Course Content
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English Literature is primarily a
(selective) chronological survey
of a couple thousand years’
worth of literature written by
British authors
We will occasionally study an
author or work in depth. A
sample unit appears at the end
of this presentation.
Textbooks and Trade Books
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Prentice Hall’s The British Tradition
Barron’s Hot Words for the SAT I
Cliffs Complete Shakespeare’s
Hamlet
John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress
Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice
Choice of 7 other selected trade
books
Parent Responsibilities and
Appointments
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Actively support all school activities,
whether your child is involved or not
(encourage them to do so as well)
Require that your child read at home
every day (try to do so yourself as
well)
Visually check their homework daily
(they will have homework from me
every day…) to see that it’s done
Attend all parent/teacher
conferences, no matter your child’s
grade or behavior. I want to see
parents of A students, too.
Sample Unit Plan—Hamlet to
Hamlet: on leadership and life
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Unit Summary: “Hamlet to
Hamlet: on Leadership and
Life” is a comprehensive unit
about relationships as
evidenced in William
Shakespeare’s play Hamlet.
It addresses issues of familial
relationships, friendship, and
leadership.
Curriculum-Framing Questions—
Essential Question
 Can
a
positive
come
from a
negative?
Unit Questions
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Can literature help us to be better
people?
What perspective on life does
Shakespeare—through his life choices,
through his writings?
What leadership lessons can be learned
from Hamlet?
What can we learn about relating to others
from Hamlet?
What life lessons can we learn from the
tragedy of Hamlet?
Can revenge ever be good?
Is it a good idea to take the law into your
own hands?
Hamlet Content Questions—1
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Who has the better
temperament to be
a leader?
Claudius or
Hamlet?
What are the
obligations and
responsibilities of a
leader [king] to his
people?
Hamlet Content Questions--2
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Who in Hamlet is the most
qualified to be king?
What went wrong between
Hamlet and Ophelia and why?
How does Hamlet’s relationship
with his father affect his
relationship with his mother,
uncle, and others?
Hamlet Content Questions--3
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Who was the better friend:
Horatio, Laertes, or Rosencrantz
& Guildenstern? Why?
Was Gertrude a better wife,
mother, or queen? Why?
What are Hamlet’s views on
women and their roles? What
are Shakespeare’s?
Hamlet Content Questions—4
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What does it take
to be a good
leader [king,
prince, counselor]?
What role does
conscience play in
leadership, in
relationships?
At what age does
leadership
responsibility kick
in?
Potential Unit Schedule—1 & 2
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Week One--Introduction to
Elizabethan Period
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Student-researched publications
Teacher-produced quizzes and
discussion guides
Week Two—Introduction to
Elizabethan Drama
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Student-researched power-point
presentations
Teacher-produced quizzes and
discussion guides
Potential Unit Schedule—3 & 4
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Week Three and Four—
Introduction to William
Shakespeare
A&E/Biography video on
Shakespeare
 Ian McKellen video Acting
Shakespeare
 PBS video on The Story of English:
A Muse of Fire
 Teacher-produced quizzes and
discussion guides
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Potential Unit Schedule—5 & 6
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Week Five—Introduction to Hamlet
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Teacher-researched power-point
presentations
Teacher-produced quizzes and discussion
guides
Week Five and Six—Watch Derek
Jacobi DVD of Hamlet
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English subtitles on and student texts
open
Act-by-Act discussions and worksheets
Potential Unit Schedule—7
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Week Seven—Watch video clips
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Scenes from several versions of Hamlet to
promote discussion of interpretation:
Lawrence Olivier, Mel Gibson, Kevin Kline,
Ethan Hawke, Kenneth Branaugh
To Be or Not to Be, Get thee to a Nunnery,
graveyard scene, library scene, duel/end
Week Seven—Small group
discussion
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Focus on unit questions
Potential Unit Schedule—8
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Week Eight—Summary and
Conclusion
Write formal essay on essential
question
 Student-researched website
demonstrating lessons learned
(they will be working on this all
unit long, building it as we go)
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Questions? Comments?
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What are your concerns for your
child working through this school
year?
How can I help you to help them to
be successful?
How can you help me to help them
to be successful?
How can we stay in touch?
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rondi2655@yahoo.com
www.Thinkwave.com
THANK
YOU FOR
COMING
TONIGHT!
LET’S STAY IN
TOUCH