(2014-2015)
English 1 Honors: 1st Semester Textbook Course Outline (PLEASE KEEP)
English 1 Honors is a college-prep, Common Core-aligned course designed to develop and to enhance skills in critical
reading, critical writing, speaking, listening, and thinking through an in-depth, integrated approach to literary development. It
includes the analysis and interpretation of short stories, poetry, dramas, novels, and non-fiction work with discussion and writing
as prime areas of focus. Students will also be challenged to read and to research extended novels beyond the regular class
assignments.
Through this intensive college-prep course, students will learn to utilize reading strategies and skills to improve
comprehension at the literal, interpretive, and applied levels. Additionally, critical writing experiences will include dialectical
journals, constructed responses, personal narrative essays, interpretative essays, autobiographical essays, expository essays,
timed essays, and poetry writing, and individual/group research.
SEMESTER ONE
Course Preview: Literary Analysis Workshop – Introduction to Fiction and Nonfiction
 Freshmen-Level Core Curriculum/Standards
 Literary Terms for Fiction, Non-fiction, Drama, and Poetry
 Overview of Literary Periods and Genres in Textbook
 Introduction to strategies for critical reading: “from I Stand Here Ironing” (SS-9)
Unit 1: Fiction and Nonfiction
(SS – Short Story; P – Poetry; M – Memoir; A – Autobiography; NE – Narrative Essay; HE – Humorous Essay; IT –
Informational Text; SP – Speech; PE – Persuasive Essay; PS – Persuasive Speech; F – Fiction; NF – Non-fiction; FT –
Functional Text; HFT – Humorous Folk Tale)
Part 1. Fiction and Non-Fiction
 Determining Themes in Fiction (IE- 6)
 Determining Central Ideas in Nonfiction (IE-7)
 from I Stand Here Ironing (SS-9)
 from State of the Union Address (1941) (HA-17)
 The Washerwoman-Singer (NE-26)
 The Cask of Amontillado-Poe (SS-60) / Poe and the Gothic Tradition (IT-65)
Part 2. Analyzing Functional and Expository Text
 The Girl Who Can-Aidoo (SS-88) / Country Profile: Ghana (IT-91)
 My English -Alvarez (A-114) / The Dominican Republic (IT-115)
 Uncle Marcos-Allende (F-138) / Magical Realism (IT-147)
Part 3. Analyzing Functional Test
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Pascack Valley Line Train Schedule-New Jersey Transit (FT-155)
Georgia Railway Museum Brochure (FT-157)
Unit 2: Short Stories
Part 1. Short Stories
 The Most Dangerous Game-Connell (SS-214) / World War I Trenches (IT-233)
 American History – Ortiz Cofer (SS-240)
 The Gift of the Magi-O. Henry (SS-260) / Watch Fob Chain (IT-263)
 The Interlopers-Saki (SS-270)
Part 2. Analyzing Functional and Expository Texts
 The Man to Send Rain Clouds – Silko (SS- 292)
 Old Man of the Temple – Narayan (SS- 298) / Hinduism (IT – 302)
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Rules of the Game – Tan (SS-316) / Endgames (IT- 322)
Blues Ain’t No Mockin Bird-Bambara (SS-350) / Hawks: Tales and Truths (IT-354)
Part 3. Analyzing Functional Text
 The Scarlet Ibis-Hurst (SS-384) / Scarlet Ibis (IT-386)
Unit 3: Types of Nonfiction
Part 1.Analyzing Arguments
 I Am an American Day Address- Hand (HA-431)
 Before Hip-Hop was Hip-Hop-Walker (NE-435)
 Single Room, Earth View - Ride (EE-468) / The Changing Planet: Continental Drift (IT-472)
 “I Have a Dream” – King (PS-542)
 First Inaugural Address-Roosevelt (PS-552)
 from Nothing to Fear: Lessons in Leadership from FDR - Axelrod (AT-567)
 from Radio Address on Drought Conditions-Roosevelt (AT-571)
MIDYEAR/MIDTERM EXAM (DATE AND TIME-TBA)
NOVELS:
Various English department-recommended core novels will be assigned throughout the school year including, but not
limited to the following:
*Of Mice and Men
*Mythology /The Odyssey
*To Kill A Mockingbird
*The House on Mango Street
*Romeo and Juliet
*Tales of Two Cities