American Literature and Composition 2013 - 2014
Instructor:
Michael Thornton
email:
michael_thornton@dpsk12.org
voicemail:
720.424.1794
room: B202 office: B204
Office hours: Tuesday, Thursday – 2:50-3:20 pm
website:
http://dsapresents.org/staff/michael-thornton/american-literature-andcomposition/
This required literature and composition course explores the literature of the United
States, focusing on American themes and values, as well as literary movements and
theories. Students will study and work on composition, comprehension, oral
communication, and reference skills. Grammar and knowledge of literary terms will be
emphasized as part of the composition exercises.
Materials, Products, and Expectations
Notebook (three-ring binder or divided notebook, brought to class daily):
 literary terms
 literary themes and movements
 grammar rules
Class Reading and Writing: discussions and writing exercises
 follow handouts and read during class
 participate in discussions and writing forums
Independent Reading and Writing:
 Literary Response
 Digital Story
 Creative Writing
 Research Paper
 Photographic Essay
Expectations: This class reads literature from a variety of genres with an emphasis on
social, artistic, and literary movements. This literature provides the basis for our
discussions in class and models for writing. Students cannot eat in class, can only bring
water, and should be in class on time, ready to work. All assignments will be posted on
the class website, with links to downloads. If you miss a class, you are responsible for
making up missed material. In-class essay questions and quizzes on required reading
should be made up before the next class period after returning to school. If you miss a
class presentation by a group you are a member of, upon returning to class you must
make an appointment with the instructor to decide on a makeup assignment. Late work
will be penalized 10% of the possible grade. Plagiarism found in any assignment will
result in a grade of 0% for the assignment, parental contact, and a conference tab entry.
Any exceptions to these rules require the instructor’s permission in advance. Process and
product tasks are weighted 35 and 55% respectively, and account for 90% of the semester
grade. The semester final counts for 10%.
In order to receive Honors credit for this class, you will be asked to (1) read at least one
extra novel per semester; (2) write a synthesis argument essay focusing on this extra
novel; and (3) complete all assignments, including a research paper. If you receive a D or
F first semester as part of the Honors section, you will be placed in the Regular section
second semester. The grading scale for this class is defined by the school district:
A = 93-100%
B = 83-86%
C = 73-76%
F = 0-59%
A- = 90-92%
B- = 80-82%
C- = 70-72%
B+ = 87-89%
C+ = 77-79%
D = 60-69%
Spring Semester, 2013 - 2014
CLASS WEEK
LITERATURE “Themes”
Week 1:
Stephen Crane; Hurston’s Their
January 7-10,
Eyes Were Watching God;
2014
Sinclair’s Oil
Week 2:
Twain’s “Gilded Age”, James’
January 13-17
Pragmatism, Carnegie’s
philanthropy; Anderson’s “The
Thinker”
Week 3:
“Civil Rights and Civil War”
January 21-24
Suffragette City – James’ Daisy
Miller, Chopin’s The Awakening,
Capote’s Breakfast at Tiffany’s
Week 4:
Alcott’s Little Women, Brooks’
January 27-31
March and carpetbaggers, Uncle
Tom’s Cabin and John Brown
Week 5:
“Nature Writing” – Silko and
February 3-7
Momaday; National Parks
Week 6:
Thoreau’s Walden, Chief Joseph,
February 10-14
Battle Hymn of the Republic,
American ingenuity;
Transcendentalism and Abolition
Weeks 7-9:
“Depression and Dustbowl” –
February 19 –
Agee and Evans; Egan’s The
March 7
Worst Hard Time; Steinbeck’s
Grapes of Wrath
Tentative Schedule for Course
COMPOSITION Literary Movements
Paired Novel Presentations
Realism There Will Be Blood
American philosophy
Psychoanalytic theory
Civil Rights Cases, 1883
Feminist literary interpretation
Equal Rights Amendment, 1972
Memoirs in historical fiction
Letters in realistic fiction
Romanticism Natural description and
author’s voice
Marx’s Machine in the Garden and
Koyaanisqatsi as models of pastoral
and industrial conflicts for Write-like
Denver photography project
Modernism Depression era movies:
Grapes of Wrath, The Wizard of Oz,
Citizen Kane; Honors Assignment on
Boyles’ Tortilla Curtain
Grammar Post-Test
Gothic writing formula
Key’s “Star Spangled Banner”
Burn’s Brooklyn Bridge; Hart Crane
Second Paired Novel Assignment
America’s Epic Journey and Romantic
landscape: Hudson River School
“American Renaissance” –
Whitman’s Leaves of Grass and
“Lilacs”, Emerson, Hawthorne,
Dickinson, Melville
Weeks 12-13:
“The Frontier” – “Frontier
March 24 - April Thesis”, Cather’s O Pioneers!
11
and Proulx’s Accordion Crimes
Weeks 14-15:
“Lost Generation” – Fitzgerald, American literary style: note-taking,
April 14-25
Hemingway, Faulkner; Williams journalism, stream-of-consciousness;
and cummings; Albee’s Sandbox imagist poetry
Weeks 16-17:
“Chaos Theory” – GenrePostmodernism
April 28-May 8
splitting in Calvino’s If on a
Cultural epoch novel groups
winter’s night a traveler,
Combined genre write-like
Palahniuk’s Rant, Danielewski’s
House of Leaves
Weeks 18-21:
Review of “Themes” and
Group cultural presentations
May 12 – June 5 Movements
The scope and sequence of some of the included topics may be expanded, reduced or
shifted to accommodate class needs.
Weeks 10-11
March 10-21