Key Assignment Essay Choices:
English 9
-Write a reflective essay that focuses on the central questions of heroes and myths.
-Write a myth of your own, utilizing the characteristics of myths.
-Write a compare/contrast essay using either two of the major characters in the selected texts, or
two of the major texts read. Include analysis of choices, challenges, or impact of social issues, with
support from the text(s).
-Write a character sketch of one or more of the major characters, in which you demonstrate how
the character’s traits and choices are related to the plot/theme(s)/conflicts. Does the character
change, and if so, how?
-Write a narrative essay based on one of the characters in the texts read. Consider the impact of the
journey on the character or write an auto/biographical narrative based on a personal journey (lifealtering experience) of your own or someone you know.
-Write a literary response for one of the texts read. For example: analyze the effect of Boo Radley
and the children and show how it evolves as the novel progresses.
-Write a compare/contrast essay on two or more of the major characters in one of the texts read.
For example: Compare Sydney Carton to one of the other characters in the story.
-Write a research paper on a subject of interest this semester.
-Attend a play (Shakespeare or other choice) and write an essay discussing how the dynamics
compare to the reading of a play. Or view one or more of the film versions of the novels studied.
Write an essay making comparisons/contrasts to the texts.
-Write an essay that answers one of the following sets of essential questions from the four major
units of study. Include references and examples from selected text(s).
1. Heroes/Mythology. What is a hero and how does literature help us understand the
nature of heroes? When does a personality trait become a flaw? What is a myth and how can they
explain the unexplainable? Why is it important for people to construct collective narratives about
life’s experiences? Who are modern-day heroes, and do they need to be famous?
2. Choices and Challenges. How does literature present conflicts and challenges? How do
the characters’ choices in the texts reveal their personalities? How do social issues create
challenges and impact our choices? What reflections can we make about our own choices and how
do they impact those around us?
3. Personal Journeys. What is a personal journey? How does literature help us understand
the effects of life-altering events? How does change affect us and how do we grow? What journey or
event in life has made an impact on you and who you are today?
4. Events and Beliefs Systems. How does literature explore the events (personal or social)
that shape our thinking? How and why do people develop belief systems? How do leaders help
create beliefs? When and how do people act on their beliefs, alone or together?
Key Assignment Choices:
English 10
-Write an essay in which you take a position on one of the themes/issues presented in the texts
read. Example: Antigone is/is not a tragic hero. Support with examples from the play.
-Write an expository essay in which you describe and discuss adversity’s effects on the characters.
-Write an autobiographical or reflective essay in which you relate your life to the life of one or more
of the characters in the texts read.
-Write an essay in which you analyze the author’s use of literary devices to create meaning and
purpose.
-Write an expository essay on one of the themes in the texts read.
-Write a research paper on a subject of interest this semester.
-Write an essay that answers one of the following sets of essential questions from the four major
units of study. Include references and examples from selected text(s).
1. The Individual and Society. What are the essential elements of a society, and how do
they create order? What responsibility do individuals have to act as agents of change in
society, and when is subversion justified? What are the social values that you value and how
can you act to protect them? How are leaders in society formed, and what are the
characteristics that make a good/just leader?
2. Facing Adversity. How do people face adversity? What are the clashing forces in life that
cause adversity? How does literature help us better understand adversity, and how do the
characters prevail?
3. In Search of Identity. How is identity formed? What impact does history have on
identity? How does society influence identity, especially in terms of gender? How does
childhood impact identity, and what turning points determine who we become as adults?
When bombarded with ideas and images of “what we should be” how does one remain true
to him/herself?)
4. Truth and Justice. Are there certain truths that can be considered universal or absolute,
or is it subjective? What are the consequences of examining truth? How does literature help
us discover truth? How do we arrive at our own personal truth? When and how should
people stand up for truth, and is this heroic?
Key Assignment Choices:
English 11
-Write an essay in which you compare and contrast two or more characters, poems, genres. Include
textual support for your claims
- Write an essay in which you demonstrate a clear understanding of the characteristics of the oral
tradition and early colonial literature, primary sources, and how historical events were reflected in
literature.
- Write a persuasive essay in which you take a position on one of the themes or political/social
issues raised by one or more of the texts examined. For example: Hamlet is not mad at all, but
rather his madness is a strategy of his own invention. Agree/disagree.
- Write an essay in which you analyze one or more of the literary works read. Analysis may include:
uses of rhetorical devices (for example, in The Declaration of Independence), tracing the
development of a major character, discussing one of the important themes, or essential questions as
illuminated in one or more of the texts studied.
- Write a character analysis of one of the major characters for this unit. Show how the character is
tied to one or more of the themes of the text and how he/she develops over the course of the
selection studied.
-Write an essay in which you analyze a selection of poetry, identifying the literary elements and
how it is representative of the time period in which it was written.
-Write an analytical essay for one of the novels read during this unit. Analysis should include a
connection of the work to political/social developments of the time period.
-Write a research paper on a subject of interest this semester.
-Attend a play (Shakespeare or other choice) and write an essay discussing how the dynamics
compare to the reading of a play. Or view one or more of the film versions of the novels studied.
Write an essay making comparisons/contrasts to the texts.
-Write an essay that answers one of the following sets of essential questions from the four major
units of study. Include references and examples from selected text(s).
1. An Emerging America Voice: What are the characteristics of early Native American oral
tradition, and how does it inform Native American writers today? What brought Europeans
to America? How did various groups and individuals begin to define America and
themselves; how is this revealed through their literature? How did various groups find
common ground? What were the consequences for those who embodied different
characteristics from the norm? What parallels exist for modern times?
2. American Literature and the Birth of American Individualism: How are the tensions
and struggles of the making of a nation reflected in the literature of America? What are the
forces, social events, historical events that drive the literature? How did the characteristics
of American literature shift over time? How did romanticism and the natural world,
westward movement, and the darker side of the imagination change the face of literature
over time? How did the experience of slavery figure in the making of our nation?
3. The American Dream. What is the American dream, and how has it changed over time?
Have gender, race and class been factors of exclusion in the American dream? How does
literature help clarify and/or define the nature of our culture in search of the American
dream? Did the American Dream pose a
dilemma for the African American during the Harlem Renaissance? How was this dream
defined by various groups, and how did race and class inform those definitions?
4. From the Modern to the Present. How did emergent political voices alter American
culture? How did war make its mark on the American voice? What is prosperity and what
were the effects of growing prosperity on various peoples in America?
Key Assignment Choices:
English 12
- Write an interpretive essay on one of the works studied in this unit. Remember that the
interpretive essay is about summary and critique, but also asks why the analysis is compelling.
- Write an essay in which you analyze one or more of the poems considered in this unit. You may
also choose to compare and contrast two poems. Include analysis of literary devices and timeperiod characteristics.
-Write a satire of your own. You may model your satire after one of the selections from this unit.
-Write an expository essay on the use of satire in one or more of the selections studied.
- Write an in depth character analysis essay of one or more of the characters studied in this unit.
OR: Write an essay focusing on an in depth analysis of one or more of the themes studied in this
unit.
- Complete a self-reflection paper in which you discuss your own life’s path. Consider the literary
characters and how they do/do not chart their own course in life. Examine their choices and the
significance of taking/or not taking ownership of one’s choices. Discuss your own plan for the
future and how you will accomplish it—entertain the idea of destiny versus freedom of choice, and
how “fine-tuning” one’s choices beforehand makes all the difference.
-Write a research paper on a subject of interest this semester.
-Write an essay that answers one of the following sets of essential questions from the four major
units of study. Include references and examples from selected text(s).
1. Making Sense of Human Experience. What influences our opinions about a culture?
What is the epic and how was it important for communication of the values and ideals of the
times? What do stories tell about the human experience, and how do stories of old relate to
contemporary life? What role do heroes play in telling the stories? How do questions of
choice and destiny pertain to the human experience?
2. Love & Death, Dark Deeds, and the Influence of Language. How does literature help
us see who we are and where we are going? What is evil and what are its motivations? What
responsibilities does freedom of choice bring with it, and how do we take ownership of life
choices? How do I define my life and how do I chart my own path?
3. Politics, Progress & Social Responsibility. How is satire and instrument of political
reform, in the past and today? What role does intellectual curiosity play in human
experience and what ethical issues arise? How was the Romanticism a reaction to scientific
and political progress? How does Victorian literature reveal an attempt to reconcile
conflicts of scientific advancements, social conventions, and the individual? What
connections can we make about progress and social responsibility in our modern times?
4. Alienation, Chaos and Clashes, & other Modern Realities. How does modern literature
reflect the chaos of the 20th century? What was the catalyst for alienation in 20th century
literature? What sense of responsibility does one have to society and humanity? How does
literature address the meaningfulness of life? How important is freedom of language in
society?