Ms. Drew
Class Announcements

 Bring a 3-ring binder, writing utensil, and a 70-count
notebook to class tomorrow
 Carefully read the course description, policies and
procedures tonight. You will take a short quiz on
these tomorrow (Wednesday)
 The East of Eden reading check (60 points) will be
Monday, 9/13
 You will complete a take-home written reflection on
your selected honors reading due Wednesday, 9/15.
Course Highlights

 Studying a nation’s literature, how it has grown and
developed
 How does American literature and an understanding of its
chronology and themes show how we as a people came to
be who we are today?
 Who am I as an American? Who do I want to be? How can
a study of literature aid me in developing my identity?
 What is the American Dream? How has it changed over
time? What is its role in American literature? What is its
role in my life? What are the problems with the American
Dream? To what extent is it achievable for all Americans?
Course Highlights

 Core works: The Crucible, The Great Gatsby, Of Mice
and Men, Catcher in the Rye, and Fences.
 Writer’s notebook
 Writing modes:
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Personal narrative
Persuasion
Literary analysis
Comparison/contrast
Research
Policy Highlights

 Be prepared – everyday, no excuses.
 Be respectful – lots of peer feedback and discussion;
do your discussing with your classmates at
appropriate times
 Have INTEGRITY – on all fronts (state your
opinions, back them up; don’t sit back passively and
wait for others to do the discussing; keep cell
phones and mp3 players off and away during class
time; when you’ve been absent, contact me to make
up the work or check my website; no nonsense
bathroom visits..
Policy Highlights

 Be prepared – everyday, no excuses.
 Be respectful – very unpleasant when we’re not.
 Show INTEGRITY through your words and actions
in class.
Late Policy

 Late work is marked down 10% for each day it is
late. The research paper is the only exception.
 If a paper is not printed and ready to be turned in at
the beginning of class, it counts as late.
 I expect you to approach me about missed tests,
quizzes, etc. as soon as you return.
 Check the website! Contact me with questions.
http://www.wssd.org/shhs/site/default.asp
American Literature

"To be yourself in a world that is
constantly trying to make you
something else is the greatest
accomplishment."
Ralph Waldo Emerson
“I celebrate myself, and sing myself.”
Walt Whitman
"I cannot live without books."
Thomas Jefferson
“A guy needs somebody – to be near him…a
guy goes nuts if he ain’t got nobody. Don’t
make no difference who the guy is, long’s he’s
with you. I tell ya…I tell ya a guy gets too
lonely an’ he gets sick.”
John Steinbeck
Crooks, Of Mice and Men
"Every individual has a place to fill
in the world and is important in
some respect, whether he chooses to
be so or not."
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Author of The Scarlet Letter
”We hold these truths to be selfevident: that all men and women are
created equal."
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
History of Women’s Suffrage
"Twenty years from now you will be
more disappointed by the things that
you didn't do than by the ones you did
do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away
from the safe harbor. Catch the trade
winds in your sails. Explore. Dream.
Discover."
Mark Twain
“If you had a million years to do it in, you
couldn’t rub out even half the “F*&^ you”
signs in the world. It’s impossible.”
J.D. Salinger
Holden Caulfield, in Catcher in the Rye
"If we had no winter, the spring
would not be so pleasant: if we did
not sometimes taste of adversity,
prosperity would not be so
welcome."
Anne Bradstreet
Puritan Poet
"When it is dark enough, you can
see the stars."
Ralph Waldo Emerson
“The thing with kids is, if they want to grab
for the gold ring, you have to let them do it,
and not say anything. If they fall off, they
fall off, but it’s bad if you say anything to
them.”
J.D. Salinger
Holden Caulfield, in Catcher in the Rye
Don’t go around saying the world
owes you a living. The world owes
you nothing. It was here first."
Mark Twain
"When the sins of our fathers visit us
We do not have to play host.
We can banish them with forgiveness
As God, in his His Largeness and Laws."
August Wilson
In his epigraph to Fences
"Whenever you feel like criticizing any
one...just remember that all the people in
this world haven't had the advantages that
you've had.”
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Nick Carraway, in The Great Gatsby
"Do not go where the path may
lead, go instead where there is no
path and leave a trail."
Ralph Waldo Emerson
"If a man does not keep pace with
his companions, perhaps it is
because he hears a different
drummer. Let him step to the music
he hears, however measured or far
away."
Henry David Thoreau
from Walden
"Follow your inner moonlight; don't
hide the madness."
Allen Ginsberg
Modern Poet
"A character is defined by the kinds
of challenges he cannot walk away
from. And by those he has walked
away from that cause him remorse."
Arthur Miller
Playwright, The Crucible
“Glass, china, and reputation
are easily cracked, and never
well mended.”
Ben Franklin
“And there is no trade or
employment but the young
man following it may become
a hero.”
Walt Whitman
"If there's a book that you want to
read, but it hasn't been written yet,
then you must write it."
Toni Morrison
Author of The Bluest Eye
"Education is the ability to listen to
almost anything without losing
your temper or your selfconfidence."
Robert Frost
Poet
“Energy and persistence
conquer all things.”
Ben Franklin
"We die. That may be the meaning
of life. But we do language. That
may be the measure of our lives."
Toni Morrison
Author of The Bluest Eye
“A man, after he brushed off the
dust and chips of his life, will have
left only the hard, clean, questions:
Was it good or was it evil? Have I
done well – or ill?”
John Steinbeck
East of Eden