Senior English HonorsSyllabus
2013 – 2014
Mrs. Hoffland
MAN AS PAGAN OR CHRISTIAN – CHARACTERISTICS OF ANGLO SAXON
LITERATURE
August 26th through 30th
Orientation, grading policy, class rules. New vocabulary introduced. Parts of speech
review sheet distributed for diagnostic grammar quiz. Writing workshop. Epic
conventions. Themes on symbolism and allegory. Anglo-Saxon/Medieval man.
Characteristics of Anglo- Saxon literature. Beowulf. Vocabulary test.
Sept. 2nd through Sept. 6th
Labor day holiday. Beowulf. Vocabulary test.
Discussion comparison and contrast paper. Paper is due September 16. “The Seafarer”
and Anglo-Saxon riddles. History of the English language.
Sept. 9th through Sept.13th
Epic concluded. Review for unit test which includes essay. Conclude discussion on
comparison/contrast paper essay and assign. Vocabulary test. The evolution of the
Anglo-Saxon warrior into the medieval knight. The paper is due September 16th at the
beginning of class. “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.”
Sept. 16th through Sept. 20th
Comparison/contrast paper due September 16th. Unit test. Students will review selected
scenes from First Knight. Vocabulary test. Sir Gawain, Arthurian romance, and the
chivalric ideal of behavior.
Sept. 23rd through Sept. 27th
Chaucer and The Canterbury Tales. lines from the Prologue assigned to memorize.
vocabulary test. Chaucer’s satire
September 30th through October 4th
The Canterbury Tales concluded. “The Wife of Bath’s Tale”, “The Loathly Lady” and The
Pardoner’s Tale” assigned. Chaucer unit reviewed. Unit test. Vocabulary test.
Persuasive paper introduced. Paper is due October 22, 2013 at the beginning of class.
SENIOR ENGLISH HONORS SYLLABUS
October 7th through October 11th
Chaucer memory work due Oct. 8th. Topics for persuasive paper discussed. Vocabulary
assigned. An author’s style – creating one’s style in writing – transition, tone and mood.
RENAISSANCE MAN AS DECISION MAKER
Shakespeare’s sonnets and explication. Topics and thesis approved for persuasive.
Vocabulary test.
October 14th through October 18th
Presentation of sonnets concluded. Fragments/run-ons. Peer evaluation and student
presentation of thesis for topics. Final check for paper. Vocabulary test. Lyrics of the
early Renaissance. Shakespeare and the Renaissance.
October 21ST through October 25th
Persuasive paper is due at the beginning of Class. Elizabethan concepts. Macbeth is
introduced. Study questions assigned. Quiz on Macbeth. Vocabulary test.
October 28th through November 1ST
Macbeth. Freytag’s Pyramid. the theatre of Shakespeare. In-class writing. Macbeth
quiz. Students will view selected scenes from play. Vocabulary test.
November 4th through November 8th
Macbeth. Themes of ambition. Selection of motifs with response to study questions.
Correct documentation of lines from the play. Conclude Macbeth. Vocabulary test.
November 11th through November 15th
Review Macbeth for unit test to include essay. Begin discussion on Greek culture and
contributions to western literature. Vocabulary test. Origins of drama. Introduce
Oedipus.
The Greek Vision:
“A Man’s character is his destiny”
Herodotus
“From high good fortune in the blood blossoms the quenchless agony.”
Aeschylus
SENIOR ENGLISH HONORS SYLLABUS
“How mere a shadow… where is the Mortal who wins more happiness than just the
seeming and after the semblance, a falling away?”
Sophocles
November 18th through November 22th
Assignment in Oedipus. Student presentation assigned the Greek theatre and
conventions of classical drama. Vocabulary test.
November 25th through November 29th
Thanksgiving holiday.
December 2nd through December 6th
Greek tragedy/Aristotle-Plato and nature of tragedy. The hero myth. Library for
presentations on the Golden Age of Greece. Conclude Oedipus review.
December 9th through December 13th
Unit test Oedipus. Student presentations. Review for midterm exam.
December 16th through December 20th
Return persuasive paper. Conclude review. Exams
December 23rd through January 6th
WINTER BREAK
January 7th through January 10th
Introduce Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Study questions assigned – The Renaissance
viewpoint. Quiz Hamlet. Vocabulary test.
January 13th through January 17th
Hamlet. Turmoil and conflicting emotions. Quiz Hamlet. Vocabulary test. Senior thesis
discussion. Internal documentation – works cited.
January 20th through January 24th
Monday – holiday. Hamlet. Students will view selected scenes from play. Plagiarism.
Motifs in Hamlet. Vocabulary test.
SENIOR ENGLISH HONORS SYLLABUS
January 27th through January 31st
Hamlet concluded. Review unit test. Journals collected. Check on selected motifs and
preliminary thesis statements for research papers. Vocabulary test.
February 3rd through February 7th
Library for senior thesis. Daily grades taken on – source cards, note cards, works cited,
rough draft, thesis statement. Senior Thesis is due February 21, 2014 at the beginning
of class. No exceptions
February 10th through February 14th
In-class exercise on completing works cited preliminary rough draft. Exercises in writing.
Thesis statement for the research paper. Peer editing. Metaphysical poetry – the works
of John Donne. Vocabulary test.
February 17th through February 21st
Final check on thesis and rough draft. Jonathon Swift and satire – “A Modest Proposal.”
SENIOR THESIS DUE February 21, 2014.
February 24th through February 28th
MAN IN SEARCH OF INDIVIDUAL FREEDOM. THE ROMANTIC. Frankenstein and
Mary Shelley study questions and vocabulary assigned. Vocabulary test.
March 3RD through March 7TH
Conclude Shelley – review. Unit test Frankenstein. The romantic poets: Wordsworth,
Coleridge, Shelley, Keats, Byron. Poetry explication assigned for student presentation.
Vocabulary test.
March 10th through March 14TH
SPRING BREAK
March 17th through March 21ST
Student presentations for poetry explications. The Byronic hero.
March 24th through March 28th
VICTORIAN MAN IN CONFLICT WITH TRADITION AND CHANGE
SENIOR ENGLISH HONORS SYLLABUS
The Brontes – elements of nature, emotion and mysticism. Jane Eyre. Vocabulary test.
March 31st through April 4th
Jane Eyre. Vocabulary test. Quiz on Jane Eyre. Semi-colons, colons and the
apostrophes.
April 7th through April 11th
Class discussion on creative writing exercise to be accomplished in class. Conclude
Jane Eyre. Vocabulary test.
April 14th through April 18th
Tennyson/Browning and the dramatic monologue. The role of figurative language,
symbols, and images as they enhance meaning in the poetry and prose of Victorian
literature. Vocabulary test. Student Holiday April 18.
April 21st through April 26th
Analysis and guidelines for reading the short story. “The Rocking Horse Winner.”
Vocabulary test.
April 28th through May 2ND
The short story assignments, selected short stories – group discussions. Student
presentations. Vocabulary test.
May 5th through May 9th
Brave New World introduced. Huxley and satire reviewed. Vocabulary test.
May 12th through May 16th
With the novel Brave New World as the focus, instruction and evaluation will center on:
concepts inductive and deductive, reasoning of logic, arguments, doublespeak/jargon
and mind control. Vocabulary test.
May 19th through May 23RD
Conclude Brave New World. Unit test. Vocabulary test. How to take good lecture notes
to respond to the college essay exam.
SENIOR ENGLISH HONORS SYLLABUS
May 26th through May 30th
Memorial Day Holiday. Exams.
June 2nd
Graduation
Thank you dear students for your hard work. Very best wishes always.
Mrs. Hoffland