HAZELWOOD SCHOOL DISTRICT
ENGLISH 3A (1st SEMESTER) SYLLABUS
Course Description
This is a required class for all eleventh grade students in the Hazelwood school District.
Students will read and study drama, novels, short stories, poetry, and non-fiction
pertaining to American Literature. Activities will focus on analysis and evaluation
through writing, listening, speaking in discussions, tests, projects, and other
assignments leading to the achievement of the course performance goals. The course
will address both college and work-place readiness. Students will choose one piece to
be added to their district-wide writing portfolios.
Approved Course Materials and Resources
The Holt Elements of Literature (Fifth Course)
Holt Rinehart, and Winston 2003















$64.95
Student Edition
Teacher’s Edition
Reading Skills Strategies: Reaching Struggling Readers
Active Reader’s Practice Book
The Holt Reader: An interactive Work text
The Holt Reader: An interactive Work text Teacher’s Manual
Lesson Plans including Strategies for English-Language Learners
Graphic Organizers for Active Reading
Words to Own Worksheets
Formal Assessment
Spanish Resources
Test Prep Tool Kit
Visual Connections Videocassette Program
Audio CD Library
Great American Stories
English 3A (1st Semester)
April 2008
1
Supplementary Materials
1. Schumacher, Julie A. The Harlem Renaissance. Logan, IA: Perfection Learning
Corporation, 2001.
2. Kuehner, Karen. The Harlem Renaissance. Evanston, IL: McDougal Littell, 2001.

The following novel unit study guides from Teacher’s Discovery may be used with
the approved novels:
The Grapes of Wrath
The Great Gatsby
Their Eyes Were Watching God
The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman
The Awakening

The following novel unit study guides from HRW Library may be used with the
approved novels:
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
A Raisin in the Sun
The Scarlet Letter

The following Applied Practice Novel Units from the Applied Practice Corporation
may be used as enrichment materials:
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
American Speeches
The Awakening
The Crucible
The Grapes of Wrath
The Great Gatsby
Non-Fiction Selections
The Scarlet Letter
Their Eyes Were Watching God
English 3A (1st Semester)
April 2008
2
Supplementary Literature
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
A Raisin in the Sun
The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman
American Speeches
The Awakening
Bean Trees
Blue Highways
The Crucible
The Grapes of Wrath
The Great Gatsby
Having Our Say
The Scarlet Letter
Their Eyes Were Watching God
The Way to Rainy Mountain
CD Resources
Audio CD Library Holt supplementary materials
Choices CD Rom (See Librarian or Guidance Department)
English 3A (1st Semester)
April 2008
3
Videos
A teacher should show no more than 6 hours of video per semester and only show
Board approved videos.
Native American Voices:
Smoke Signals
Puritanism
The Scarlet Letter
In Search of History: The Salem Witch Trials
The Crucible
Arthur Miller
The Salem Witches
Chocolat-(many current-day parallels to Scarlet Letter)
The Age of Enlightenment:
1776
The Speeches of Our Founding Fathers and The American Revolution
Romanticism:
Edgar Allan Poe (A&E)
Thoreau: Life and Times
Emily Dickinson
The New England Transcendentalist
The World of Emily Dickinson
Walt Whitman and the Civil War
Field of Dreams (Will be used to help students understand transcendentalism)—Please
see Appendix B, pages 6-7.
Realism:
Mark Twain A&E)
Mark Twain (Ken Burns)
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1984)
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
American Tongues
Modernism:
The Great Gatsby
The Grapes of Wrath
The Grapes of Wrath and the Depression: A Video Commentary
I Have a Dream
Zora is My Name
The Jilting of Granny Weatherall
Contemporary Literature:
A Raisin in the Sun
The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman
Having Our Say
Sylvia Plath: The Growth of a Poet
English 3A (1st Semester)
April 2008
4
Course Expectations
Writing
Career Research Essay
Business Letter
Letter of Application
Résumé
Reflective Essay
Literary Analysis
Reading
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn or
The Way to Rainy Mountain or Blue Highways
or The Awakening
The Crucible
Independent Choice novel
English 3A (1st Semester)
April 2008
5
Sample Course Activities/Projects/Assessments
Students will examine the cause and effect relationship between the historical
occurrences and works written within a literary movement through a written constructed
response. (Each unit from the textbook, Elements of Literature, begins with a historical
and literary analysis of the time period by Gary Q. Arpin. For example, pages 138-150
contain a historical and literary analysis for Romanticism).
TEACHER RESOURCES: Holt Reading Strategies (pg. 133-142)
Sample Activities
Students participate in a Socratic Seminar over a piece of literature.
Socratic Seminar Instructions
adapted from Lisa Giusto, Berkeley H. S., Trish Wilson, Newark Memorial H. S. and
Teaching in the Block: Strategies For Engaging Active Learners
The purpose: Socrates’ approach was to take a subject, idea, statement, or argument
and then raise thoughtful questions without proposing to have the answers. These
instructions are modified from that idea; instead of the teacher posing the questions, the
students pose the questions or topics to be discussed. Reasons for this are that
students get a chance to talk about what they want to talk about, students are more
likely to want to participate if they choose the topics, and students will more likely talk to
each other than the teacher if the questions come from each other.
1. Give students a reading assignment. You can do this at any point in the novel.
2. Give students an index card to write out a question, comment, or favorite quote from
the reading assignment. It can be a quote that they think is important or a quote that
contains language they like. The question can be something they are confused
about, or something they have an answer to but would like to explore with the group
more. The comment could be something about the writing style or an aspect of the
reading the student finds interesting. Regardless of the type of discussion prompt, it
must be literature-based.
English 3A (1st Semester)
April 2008
6
3. The day of the seminar, have students sit in a circle. The teacher is in the circle, but
not a participant. If some students don’t bring their index cards, you might try using
an outer circle for them; they have to take notes on the seminar, but can’t
participate. They can summarize the seminar at the end.
4. Pick or ask for volunteers to be facilitators. Try to choose two students – different
students each time. Their job is to ask students what topics they want to discuss
first, keep discussion going or move on if the topic is dead, keep side conversations
at a minimum, and make sure everyone, especially the quiet student, participates.
They can ask the group, “Where do we want to start?” or choose a topic that many
students seem to be interested in or have questions about.
5. Remind students of the rules for discussion: take turns, don’t talk over each other,
everyone participates (what works for Mary Kay Henderson is giving each student 5
poker chips, they all have to be used, and you can’t use more than what you have),
no yelling, if you disagree, do it politely and respectfully, they don’t need to raise
their hands but don’t interrupt, don’t speak to the teacher but to the group…
6. The teacher only gets involved if student behavior isn’t being addressed by the
facilitators and is disruptive to the group. Don’t answer questions or jump in for any
other reason.
7. Each student reads what is on their index card until everyone in the circle has read.
This is a good time to check off who has done the assignment.
8. The rest of the seminar will run itself if you have two good facilitators. Students will
choose what they want to discuss until all of the topics on their index cards have
been discussed in the group. You may want to talk about good follow-up/clarifying
questions for students to ask of each other (are you saying that…?). Let the
students get off topic, share anecdotes, and debate…eventually they will bring it
back to the reading and move on. Also, allow for silence, even if it makes everyone
nervous. Eventually, they will remember something they want to discuss.
English 3A (1st Semester)
April 2008
7
9. At the end of the seminar, process how the discussion went that day. What went
well? What didn’t go so well? What can we do about it next time so it works more
efficiently? Sometimes, the problem could be in their questions/quotes/comments,
so they may have to work on higher level discussion topics. Students can discuss
for an hour or more if they have good questions or quotes that interest them.
10. Grading: grades can be based upon having their index cards ready for the
discussion, points for participation, but not by the number of times they speak, extra
points for facilitators, etc…You can chart student responses by marking the
following:
check mark – a comment
number – student cites a page number
+ - student’s comment is insightful, clarifies, draws a conclusion
R – student comments but it’s repetitious/someone else’s though
P – student paraphrases
It might look like: check mark with a + 9 (insightful, clarifies, or draws conclusion
and cites a page number) or a check mark with R. You could also just use a lone
check mark if the student comments just to get points.
English 3A (1st Semester)
April 2008
8
Course Outline
Unit 1 Native American Voices, selection from pages 1-26; possible choice of novel
The Way to Rainy Mountain or Blue Highways; journal entry and oral tale.
Unit 2 Puritanism The Crucible is required; Scarlet Letter is a choice; essay and
constructed responses.
Unit 3 The Age of Enlightenment from Narrative of Oluadah Equiano is required; style
analysis and evaluation.
Unit 4 Romanticism from Self-Reliance is required; language and style analysis,
analysis of poetic elements, historical and literary cause and effect essay, group
discussion.
Unit 5 Realism “The Yellow Wallpaper,” is required; The Adventures of Huckleberry
Finn or The Awakening are choices; historical and literary analysis, bias and perception
analysis, language analysis.
Unit 6
Most of the English teachers teach The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn because it
shows an important period of our cultural development and it is recognized by
Advanced Placement and college entrance exams as having literary significance and
merit. Teachers have other choices as listed in the curriculum for the shared text.
Whichever novel is taught, this unit will require a significant amount of time and will be
taught wherever it best fits into the semester.
Unit 7
There are five objectives that address career research, a business letter, a letter of
application, and a résumé that may be done as a separate unit, or may be taught
throughout the semester.
English 3A (1st Semester)
April 2008
9
Course Curriculum Map
The amount of hours listed under the units is a guideline to ensure that all course
objectives are taught.
Unit 1 Native American Voices
The student will read myths, chants, and written versions of oral tales of Native
Americans and will create an oral tale to share with the class.
1 ½ weeks
Unit 2 Puritanism
The student will read background information about Puritanism and the Salem witch
trials and will read The Crucible. The student will write a problem/solution essay.
3 weeks
Unit 3 The Age of Enlightenment
The student will read the excerpt from The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah
Equiano and write a literary analysis that evaluates the style and effectiveness of the
writing.
1 ½ weeks
Unit 4 Romanticism
The student will read from Self-Reliance and write language and style analysis. The
student will also read poetry and other selections from this period and write an analysis
of poetic elements, historical and literary cause and effect essay, and participate in a
group discussion.
2 weeks
Unit 5 Realism
The student will read “The Yellow Wallpaper,” and other short selections from this
period and write a historical and literary analysis, bias and perception analysis, and a
language analysis.
1 ½ weeks
Unit 6
Most of the English teachers teach The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn because it
shows an important period of our cultural development and it is recognized by
Advanced Placement and college entrance exams as having literary significance and
merit. Teachers have other choices as listed in the curriculum for the shared text.
Whichever novel is taught, this unit will require a significant amount of time and will be
taught wherever it best fits into the semester.
4 weeks
Unit 7
There are five objectives that address career research, a business letter, a letter of
application, and a resumé that may be done as a separate unit, or may be taught
throughout the semester.
2 weeks
English 3A (1st Semester)
April 2008
10
Lesson Protocol
High School English
Hazelwood Power Standard _________________Grade: ______________
#1: Anticipatory Set – introduction of lesson and objective
5%
#2: Modeled Activity
25%
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
#3: Fiction and Non-fiction Reading and Writing
55%
(emphasis on reading strategies, vocabulary, writing, and analyzing)
Cooperative Student work or Independent Practice
#4: Sharing of product or new understandings
10%
#5: Summarization of Lessons Learned
5%
English 3A (1st Semester)
April 2008
11
Power Vocabulary
Attack ad hominem
Cohesion
Faulty mode of persuasion
Logical fallacy
Literary criticism
Memorandum
Modern Language Association
Nuance
Pastoral
Performance Review
Persona
Satire
Semicolon
Soliloquy
Stream of consciousness
Universal Theme
Warranty
English 3A (1st Semester)
April 2008
12