ENGLISH II: Critical Thinking & Literature
Instructor: Ben Haldeman
Email:
bhaldeman@punahou.edu
Office:
Pauahi Bridge
Office Hrs: On request
Course Description
Like any other course in literature and composition, sophomore English at Punahou is designed to
equip students to engage and respond to complex texts with thoughtfulness, clarity, and
sophistication. More specifically, English II seeks to provide students with a means for evaluating
these responses by considering the thought processes that support them. Students will be asked on a
regular basis to identify assumptions, to assess the implications of a variety of arguments, and most
importantly, to consider alternative perspectives. The critic Christopher Clausen has written that “All
great literature addresses directly or indirectly two questions: “What kind of world is this?” and “How
should we live in it?” Fortunately, the answers to these questions are not often the same. The
principle assumption of this course is that critical thinking will help us to navigate a plurality of
competing world views with respect and confidence.
Sundries
Readings
In addition to Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice, this course makes generous use of readings
drawing on a variety of literary forms, many of which are contained in the Sophomore CT reading
packet. Other types of media will be considered on occasion to supplement readings.
During the first quarter, students will be also be required to read and write on one of the following:
The Stranger, Albert Camus
Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe
Native Speaker, Chang-rae Lee
Mountains Beyond Mountains, Tracy Kidder
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, James Joyce
A Confederacy of Dunces, John Kennedy Toole
Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
Mother Night, Kurt Vonnegut
Life of Pi, Yann Martel
One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez
Eva Luna, Isabelle Allende
Moneyball, Michael Lewis
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, Anne Fadiman
Participation
This course makes one further trifling assumption: namely that students will arrive to class having
read the assigned work and willing to contribute to our discussions. Among other things, your grade
will reflect your ability to respond thoughtfully and thoroughly to the texts under consideration. If at
any point I feel that students are having difficulty articulating their internal ruminations, I will be
content to allow them another, more directed format for demonstrating their knowledge on paper.
Critical Thinking Journal & Cycle Papers
In the interest of saving one or two moderately-sized trees, student journals will be taking a digital
format this semester. Each student will maintain a blog—either public or private—on which they will be
required to post a number of critical thinking exercises and a comparable number of free-choice cycle
papers. These papers demand that students spend one hour of time on task, but do not specify
length, subject, or form. In the interest of combating writer’s block, it is recommended that students
begin a commonplace book in which they record one or two salient observations each day. It should
also be noted that any assignment written in response to a literary text must include correctly cited
direct quotations from the text under discussion.
Major Papers
Students will be required to complete one to two major papers or projects each quarter. These papers
will provide a forum for more extended consideration of the texts or issues being discussed in the
course, as well as an opportunity for students to demonstrate their grasp of critical thinking as a
conceptual and procedural tool.
Rewrites
English II is designed, among other things, to increase students’ facility with language and its
implementation in various forms of writing. Thus, in addition to the required drafts, students are
permitted to rewrite any paper one time. However, it is wise to meet me in conference before doing
so. In any case, students are required to underline or highlight all changes made (deletions should be
noted). Be advised that rewrites will neither be accepted more than one week after papers have been
returned nor during the last cycle of any quarter.
Unmentionables
Unexcused Absences and Tardiness
The departmental guidelines for absence will apply. One unexcused absence will lower your quarter
grade one full grade. Two unexcused absences will lower your quarter grade two full grades. Three
unexcused absences will result in a failing grade for the quarter. Three unexcused tardies will count as
an unexcused absence.
Late Work
If, for whatever reason, you feel that you will not be able to complete an assignment by the given date,
please contact me beforehand to discuss other options. In all other cases, assignments will be
reduced by a letter grade for each day after the due date until they are received.
Plagiarism
It is the student’s responsibility to cite any work derived directly (literal borrowing) or indirectly
(paraphrasing, use of ideas, etc.) from external sources. These sources include, but are not limited to,
published works, internet sites, newspapers, other students and myself.
A student’s first offense will result in failure of the assignment. Should a second offense occur, the
student may be failed from the course.
Evaluation
Evaluation will be weighted according to the following scale.
30 % Papers
25 % CT Journals
25 % Cycle Papers
20 % Participation, Presentations & Quizzes (should there be any)
First and second quarters are weighted equally for purposes of the final evaluation.
Grading will be perpetrated, as it were, in concert with one of two systems: the Sophomore Critical
Thinking Rubric (major papers) and a simple five point scale (all other assignments).
Office Hours
Students are free and encouraged to stop by my office (on the Pauahi Bridge) at any time.
Appointments can also be scheduled upon request. The surest way (for you or your parents) to get in
touch with me is by email at bhaldeman@punahou.edu.