HAZELWOOD SCHOOL DISTRICT
HONORS MODERN LITERUATURE SYLLABUS
Course Description
The Modern Literature course explores the relationships among individuals, cultures,
and literature. Students will enhance reading and writing skills as they discover
connections between societal views and literature that reflects those views. Special
emphasis will be placed on reading a variety of genres from the modern era (late 1800’s
to the present). Students will use technology and conduct independent research. They
will read college level material with mature content, respond to AP-style essay prompts,
and generate college-level work. Students will create at least two presentations, at
least two analytical essays, and two research projects. Presentations will emphasize
speaking and listening skills as well as content. In addition, journal writing and
culminating writing prompts will require students to reflect on the course material as well
as on their personal growth as readers, writers, and thinkers.
Approved Course Materials and Resources
Text:
Literature for Composition: Essays, Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. ed. Sylvan
Barnet. New York: Longman, 2000.
$83.20
Supplementary List
All the King’s Men by Robert Penn Warren
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
The Cat’s Eye by Margaret Atwood
Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton
Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton
A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
Jasmine by Bharati Mukherjee
A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest Gaines
The Lord of the Flies by William Golding
The Member of the Wedding by Carson McCulllers
1984 by George Orwell
A Separate Peace by John Knowles
Siddhartha by Herman Hesse
The Stranger by Albert Camus
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Course Expectations
Required Texts
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The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison
A Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
Drama Choice: Trifles, Susan Glaspell; A Doll’s House, Henrik Ibsen; Hamlet,
William Shakespeare; The Man in a Case, Wendy Wasserstein; The Glass
Menagerie,
Tennessee Williams; Fences, August Wilson, Death of a Salesman, Arthur Miller
A Farewell to Arms, For Whom the Bell Tolls, Ernest Hemingway
Literature for Composition: Essays, Fiction, Poetry, and Drama, Sylvan Barnet,
Longman, 2003, 6th Edition
Lord of the Flies, William Golding
Novel of Choice: Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison; Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck;
Ethan Frome, Edith Warton; 1984, George Orwell; A Member of the Wedding,
Carson McCullers
Selected short fiction and poetry
Formal Writing Instruction and Evaluation
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Throughout the semester, the teacher will provide instruction and design
activities to enhance students’ writing skills. We will focus on Standard Written
English, effective word choice, clear thesis statements, a compelling personal
voice, sentence variety, parallelism, logical organization, exhaustive supportive
evidence, elegant connection of this support to the overall argument, and
effective use of rhetoric.
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The teacher will provide feedback and assess student writing using College
Board-developed AP English Literature and Composition scoring guides for timed
essays and a Six-Trait scoring guide for extended essays. The teacher will
present and review these scoring guides at the time the writing assignment is
given. Students will receive additional feedback from the teacher whenever they
write, especially comments on the effective use of rhetoric. For extended essays
the students will have the opportunity to engage in the Writer’s Workshop
including self-edits, peer-edits, student/teacher conferences, and rewrites.
You should understand that this it is not a college preparatory course; it is a college
level course. Therefore, the demands of reading and writing will vary from challenging
to exorbitant. Shorter works such as poems will require careful reading and rereading
due to their layers and depth. Longer works such as novels will take careful planning in
order for you to have enough time to complete them. All reading must be completed on
time for you to be successful.
Writing assignments will be often and varied, focusing on three modes of writing: writing
to understand, writing to explain, and writing to evaluate. All critical writing demands
that you evaluate literature to an extent, but to effectively evaluate you must understand
and explain. Therefore, during the first half of the course, we will focus more on writing
to understand and explain. During the second half of the course, we will focus more on
evaluating, synthesizing the three modes together.
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Course Outline
Unit 1—William Golding, Lord of the Flies
Unit 2—Introduction and Jonathan Swift: Gulliver’s Travels
Unit 3—Poetry and Short Fiction
Unit 4— Aldous Huxley: Brave New World
Unit 5— Toni Morrison: The Bluest Eye
Unit 6—Ernest Hemingway: A Farewell to Arms or For Whom the Bell Tolls
Unit 7—Literature Circles—Invisible Man, The Grapes of Wrath, 1984, Ethan Frome, or
Member of the
Wedding
Unit 8—Final Portfolio and Drama Choice—Trifles, A Doll’s House, Hamlet,
The Man in a Case, The Glass Menagerie, Fences, or Death of a Salesman.
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Course Curriculum Map
Summer:
Unit 1—William Golding, Lord of the Flies
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Students will read and study Lord of the Flies over the summer prior to the
beginning of the course.
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Students will complete an independent note-taking project after examining a
teacher prepared packet of literary devices and in conjunction with reading the
novel. The assignment requires that students focus on character, author’s style,
theme, setting (including historical and social values), vocabulary, and other
literary devices. The journal must include a one-page synthesis that examines
how the author’s use of said literary devices conveys his theme. The goal of the
project is to prepare students for the type of active and critical reading that will be
required throughout the semester.
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At the start of the semester, students will meet in small groups to discuss the
symbol, The Lord of the Flies, and how it not only conveys the author’s theme but
societal and philosophical thinking and values from the time period.
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Test
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Timed Write: Students will complete a timed essay based on a past AP prompt.
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Timed Write Discussion: Students will meet in small groups and as a class to
discuss the types and level of writing that the course requires. They will also
assess their individual writing skills and develop individual goals based on their
assessments.
Quarter 1
Unit 2—Introduction and Jonathan Swift: Gulliver’s Travels
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Introductory Research Project: The students will conduct research and present
their findings to the class of influential thinkers from 1600 to present. Their
presentations will include but not be limited to: Francis Bacon, Thomas Paine,
Charles Darwin, Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud, Albert Einstein, W.E.B. DuBois,
Betty Freidan, John Locke, and Jean-Paul Sartre. The students will write an
essay exploring a unifying connection among at least three of the thinkers.
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The teacher will provide an introduction to Jonathan Swift and his work,
Gulliver’s Travels.
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The class will focus on thematic issues such as the individual versus society and
the limits of human understanding. Students will explore in their journals
connections between these themes and their research findings from the
introductory research project.
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Multiple Choice Questions
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Socratic Seminar
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Test
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Essay Instruction: We will focus on sentence structure, organization, exhaustive
supportive evidence, and elegant connection of this support to the overall
argument (avoiding dumped quotes).
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Timed Write: Students will complete a timed essay in response to a past AP
prompt.
Unit 3—Poetry and Short Fiction
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Students will read short stories from but not limited to the following authors:
Ernest Hemingway, Flannery O’Conner, Langston Hughes, Richard Wright, D.H.
Lawrence, Rita Dove, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Zora Neale Hurston, and Kate
Chopin.
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Students will analyze the selections for style, tone, theme, point of view,
characterization, plot, structure, and figurative language.
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Students will read selections from a wide variety of poets included but not limited
to: William Shakespeare, Elizabeth Bishop, John Milton, Emily Dickinson,
Mathew Arnold, John Donne, Lucille Clifton, William Browning, Sir Walter
Raleigh, Christopher Marlowe, T. S. Eliot, Robert Frost, Langston Hughes,
Theodore Roethke, Julia Alvarez, Walt Whitman, Li-Young Li, and Pat Mora.
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Students will learn several approaches to reading poetry. Students will analyze
the poems for the following literary elements: theme, tone, diction, imagery,
figurative language and figures of speech, detail, rhythm, rhyme, meter,
metonymy, persona, symbolism, allusion, understatement, etc.
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Journal: Students will keep a journal for each story or poem that analyzes the
author’s use of one of the above literary elements.
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Socratic Seminar
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Essay Writing: Students will write several timed literary analysis essays
explaining how the authors use literary elements to convey meaning in short
fiction and poetry. At least one of the essays will be extended and graded via a
six-trait scoring guide. The students will write their extended essays in the
writer’s workshop method including self-edits, peer-edits, student/teacher
conferences, and several revisions.
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Creative Writing: Students will create several works to help them understand and
appreciate the artistic use of literary elements.
Unit 4— Aldous Huxley: Brave New World
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The teacher will provide an introduction to Aldous Huxley and his work, Brave
New World.
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We will focus on literary elements central to the novel such as setting, tone, point
of view, symbols and allusions, and theme (happiness is more important than
truth).
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Students will respond to several in class writing prompts. For example, Bernard
Marx is a major character in this novel. He makes judgments of others and
himself. How and why is Bernard different? Also consider whether or not he
really is different. Look at his behavior when he returns from the Savage
reservation with John. Does he not take advantage of all those things that he
missed out on before and are not his motives and actions like those of the rest of
the member of Brave New World? Make a study of Bernard’s own inadequacies
and the real reasons for their existence. In other words, do not just take the
other characters’ explanation that it was too much alcohol in his birth surrogate.
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Socratic Seminar
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Test
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Timed Write: Students will complete a timed essay in response to a past AP
prompt. The essay will then be extended and graded via the six-trait scoring
guide (Quarter Final).
Quarter 2
Unit 5— Toni Morrison: The Bluest Eye
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The teacher will provide an introduction to Toni Morrison and some of her major
works including The Bluest Eye. The class will discuss how certain groups such
as African-Americans have been underrepresented and/or ignored in American
History.
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We will focus on the myriad of symbols, motifs, and themes throughout the book
such as the house, blue eyes, the marigolds, seeing oneself and others, sexual
abuse, invisibility, whiteness, the importance of stories, and the need for love.
We will also focus on the style and tone of the author
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Multiple Choice Practice
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Socratic Seminar
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Timed Write: Students will complete a timed essay in response to a past AP
prompt.
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Critical Perspectives Activity: In small groups, students will read an article of
literary criticism on The Bluest Eye from a particular critical perspective, including
post-colonialist, Marxist/materialist, new historical, and feminist. The students
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will discuss the thesis and the major supporting arguments of the article and
evaluate the plausibility of the critic’s interpretation of the novel. The small
groups will then present their conclusions to the class and lead a large group
discussion.
Unit 6—Ernest Hemingway: A Farewell to Arms or For Whom the Bell Tolls
(The class will vote on which novel to read).
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The teacher will provide an introduction to Ernest Hemingway and his novel, A
Farewell to Arms or For Whom the Bell Tolls. The class will discuss Hemingway
as a minimalist.
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We will focus on thematic issues and literary elements central to the novel:
setting, tone, point of view, symbols and allusions, and theme (love is merely an
escape from reality and/or love is salvation).
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Literary Analysis: The students will compose their original thesis statements for
a literary analysis essay. The students will write their essays in the writer’s
workshop method including self-edits, peer-edits, student/teacher conferences,
and several revisions.
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Literary Critique: Students will write a literary critique of the author’s use of at
least three of the following but not limited to: theme, setting, characterization,
symbolism, diction, quality/appeal of work, relevance, comparison with other
novels, and influence of author’s culture. The students will then present their
critiques to the class.
Unit 7—Literature Circles—Invisible Man, The Grapes of Wrath, 1984, Ethan Frome, or
Member of the Wedding
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Students will keep a journal focusing on character, author’s style, theme, setting
(including historical significance), vocabulary, and other literary devices.
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Literature Circles: Several times throughout the unit, students will meet in a
literature circle discussion format based on their choice of novel. Students will
write several open ended questions based on their above journals for the
literature circle discussion.
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Timed Write: Students will respond to several past AP prompts.
Unit 8—Final Portfolio and Drama Choice—Trifles, A Doll’s House, Hamlet,
The Man in a Case, The Glass Menagerie, Fences, or Death of a Salesman.
(The final work will be chosen based on the interest and needs of the class).
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The teacher will provide an introduction to the author and selected play.
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Journal: Students will keep a journal focusing on character, author’s style, theme,
setting (including historical significance), vocabulary, and other literary devices.
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Socratic Seminar
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Test
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Literary Critique: Students will write a literary critique of the author’s use of at
least three of the following but not limited to: theme, setting, characterization,
symbolism, diction, quality/appeal of work, relevance, comparison with other
works, and influence of author’s culture.
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Final Portfolio Project: The students will compile a writing portfolio with the
following requirements (including graded scoring guides):
1.
2.
3.
4.
Any piece of writing that demonstrated writing to understand.
A persuasive essay.
An expository essay.
A literary critique.
Students should include what they feel were their best examples of writing. For
each artifact the students will be required to discuss their strengths and
weaknesses (with examples) and defend each piece’s worthiness for inclusion in
the portfolio. The students will also discuss their growth as writers from the
beginning of the semester to the end.
Optional Unit
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One week prior to the AP Literature and Composition Test, students will have the
option of meeting with the teacher for an intensive one-week review outside of the
normal school day. Students will receive instruction and complete practice on
multiple choice test-taking strategies, what an exam reader is looking for, thesis
writing, six-trait writing (including style, voice, and diction), and proofreading.
Students will also have the opportunity to practice with past AP prompts and receive
feedback from the teacher regarding their writing, especially comments on the
effective use of rhetoric.
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Lesson Protocol
High School English
Hazelwood Power Standard _________________Grade: ________________
#1: Anticipatory Set – introduction of lesson and objective
5%
#2: Modeled Activity
25%
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#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
#5: Summarization of Lessons Learned
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10%
5%
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Power Vocabulary
Archetype
Articulation
Extended Quotation
Hierarchic Structure
Incongruity
Methodology
Neoclassic Literature
Nuance
Sarcasm
Sociocultural Context
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