Class Expectations and Procedures, Course Syllabus
ADVANCED AMERICAN
AND WORLD LITERATURE
Course Overview
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Advanced American Literature
 We
will be reading a sampling from major American literary
time periods and authors, both from the textbook and parallel
texts.
 You will also use and improve your writing skills to produce
analytical essays about the literature. There will also be
creative opportunities for you to write fiction and poetry.
 You will complete the Wordly Wise 11 vocabulary lessons 110 this semester.
 We will be utilizing the class website,
wesleyde.wordpress.com, frequently for assignments. You
may also access homework assignments here as well as from
your calendar syllabus, which you will receive every 3 weeks.
Homework Expectations
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You will read an average of 15-30 pages per night for homework.
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This may vary depending on the difficulty of the text. For example, 5
pages of “The Devil and Tom Walker” by Washington Irving is equal to 20
pages of Native Son by Richard Wright when comparing difficulty of the
text and time it takes to read and comprehend the material.
Approximately 35% of the six weeks grade is comprised of reading
quizzes. It is important that you complete the reading assignments in
order to be prepared for quizzes, class discussion, writing assignments,
and further analysis of the literature.
You will write, on average, 2-3 full length, formal papers/essays per
six weeks.
You will have a quiz every week on Wordly Wise vocabulary lessons
(typically each Friday).
Tests will be given on Tuesdays and Thursdays; projects and writing
assignments will generally be due on Mondays. Reading quizzes may
be given any day of the week.
Course Syllabus
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
Wordly Wise 3000 Grade 11, lessons 1-10
Writing:
Personal Narrative
 SOL practice essay
 Literary Analysis
 Argument/persuasion
 Compare/contrast
 Long essay test
 Research paper
 Creative opportunities
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Course Syllabus Continued
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American Literature:
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Literary Periods:
 Encounters and Foundations (1600-1800)
Colonialism (1600-1650)—narratives from textbook
 Puritan Period (1650-1750)
 Textbook: Anne Bradstreet poetry; Jonathon Edwards
essay
 Play: The Crucible by Arthur Miller
 Parallel Reading: Excerpts from the Bible’s Genesis, Job,
and Daniel will be read in conjunction with study of the
Puritans and The Scarlet Letter due to prevalence of
Biblical allusions in the texts
 Rationalism/Revolutionary Period (1750-1800)
 Textbook: Patrick Henry essay, Thomas Paine pamphlet,
Benjamin Franklin autobiography, The Declaration of
Independence
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Course Syllabus Continued
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American Literary Periods Continued:
 19th
Century:
 Romanticism
(1800-1860)
 Textbook: Washington Irving, Ralph Waldo Emerson,
Henry David Thoreau, Edgar Allen Poe
 Novel: The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
 Regionalism and Realism (1860-1914)
 Textbook: Frederick Douglass, African-American
Spirituals, Stephen Crane, Edwin Arlington Robinson,
Kate Chopin, Ambrose Bierce
 Novel: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark
Twain
 American Masters (1850’s)
 Textbook: Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman
Course Syllabus Continued
American Literary Periods Continued:
 20th Century:
 Jazz Age (1919-1929)
 Novel: The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
 Harlem Renaissance (1930-1939):
 Textbook: Poetry from Langston Hughes, Countee
Cullen
 Novel: Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora
Neale Hurston
 Southern Literature (1930-1950)
 Textbook: Flannery O’Connor and Eudora Welty
 Novel: As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
 Contemporary Literature (1940-2000)
 Textbook: Poetry from Anne Sexton, Sylvia Plath,
Rita Dove, Maya Angelou, Shel Silverstein,
Charles Bukowski, Ezra Pound, ee cummings, T.S.
Eliot
 Novel: Native Son by Richard Wright
Course Syllabus Continued
 American
 21st
Literary Periods Continued:
Century Literature
 Novel:
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold (2002)
Possible Videos Shown

The following is a list of POSSIBLE videos that may be
shown during the year:
Into the Wild
 The Crucible
 HBO Series: John Adams
 A&E Biography: Edgar Allen Poe
 The Simpsons Season 2: Treehouse of Horrors: “The Raven”
 The Great Gatsby
 Native Son
 Kenneth Branagh’s Hamlet
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Materials
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3-ring binder with 3 sections:
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calendar syllabus/rubrics
warm-ups
notes/handouts
Paper
Pens/Pencils
Wordly Wise book—check calendar syllabus for dates needed
Textbook OR novel being studied—every day
RECOMMENDED BUT NOT REQUIRED:
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3x5 index cards (for vocabulary flash cards—extra credit on Wordly
Wise quizzes)
Jump drive
white out
pocket stapler
Expectations
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You are considered LATE if you are not IN YOUR SEAT
when the bell rings. Detention will be assigned for being
late to class.
You have 3 restroom passes per six weeks.
You are expected to show maturity and respect during
class. This means the following will not be tolerated:
 Profanity
 Shooting
paper across the room or into the trash can
 Speaking when someone else is speaking or speaking without
permission
 Getting out of your seat during class without permission
Make-Up Work/Late Work
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Refer to the syllabus to see what you missed if you are
absent. This is your responsibility.
You have THREE DAYS to make up work after a missed
test/quiz. After three days, you will receive a 0.
You are expected to turn in writing assignments on the
day you return to school if you are absent on the due
date.
Late homework is not accepted.
Writing assignments will always have a due date. 10
points will be deducted for each day late on a writing
assignment.
Grading Procedures
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Grades will be calculated on a weighted
scale:
 35%--quizzes
 55%--tests, writing, and projects
 10%--homework and participation
Cell Phones and Electronic Devices
 Must
remain unseen and unheard.
 Texting during a test or a quiz is a serious offense, and will
result in a 0 for that test or quiz grade, as well as a
referral.
 Texting during any time in class, other than during a test or
quiz, will result in a detention for the 1st offense. After
that, the cell phone will be taken and a referral will be
issued.
 Ipods, MP3 players, etc. are not permitted during class.
School Policies—Cheating
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Cheating is unacceptable.
Cheating will automatically result in a 0 and a referral.
 The honor code applies to ALL work in this class:
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“On my honor, I have neither given nor received help on this work.”
 This honor code should be written and be accompanied by the student’s
signature on ALL work.
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Copying homework or worksheets is unacceptable.
 Sharing test/quiz questions or asking others about test/quiz
questions is unacceptable.
 Plagiarism in any form, whether copying from a classmate or
from an online source, is unacceptable.
 Remember that whatever grade you earn with your own work
will always be better than the 0 you will receive for copying.
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Contact Information
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Visit the class website at wesleyde.wordpress.com for
information pertaining to assignments.
Students and parents may contact me anytime at
wesleyde@lcsedu.net or mrs.dwesley@gmail.com