Legacy High School
2701 West 136th Ave  Broomfield, CO 80023
Office: (720) 972-6700  Fax: (720) 972-6899
http://www.legacy.adams12.org
School Year
Office
Phone
Email
2014-2015
Brandon.sheaffer@adams12.org
Course Name
Course Description
Teacher’s Name
Website
Off Hours and
Availability
Brandon Sheaffer
English 12: Literature and Composition
English 12 students will engage in the study of literary movements to determine how various views affect the interpretation and
understanding of literature, including pieces of classical and foundational world literature. They will also understand how works of
literature are influenced by the time period in which the author lived and how that influence is reflected in the work. Students will
participate in independent inquiry in which they reflect upon how their own choices and actions affect how they are perceived in the
world as well as how they are influenced by the time in which they live. Additionally, students will produce Senior Capstone Projects
that provide a comprehensive demonstration of their skills as senior-level writers and thinkers.
Students will demonstrate comprehension through a variety of genres, including: short stories, plays, essays, poetry, novels, and nonfiction.
Students will also produce a variety of written pieces that demonstrate skill in content and development, organization, conventions, and
style with pieces that include: literary analysis, argumentative/persuasive essays, college/scholarship essay, and research paper.
Grading Scale
Gradebook Reporting Criteria/Weights
A
B
C
D
F
Reading for All Purposes = 20%
80% summative: see the gradebook reporting criteria.
20% formative: 5% each for the gradebook reporting criteria.
Writing and Composition = 20%
Research and Reasoning = 20%
Oral Expression and Listening = 20%
*Weekly progress grades are posted at https://ic.adams12.org/campus/portal/adams12.isp
90-100
80-89
70-79
60-69
59 or below
Unit of Study
Approx.
Timeline &
Thematic
Focus
Primary Text(s) with Descriptions from Amazon.com and
notation of mature content
Independent Inquiry
Research, plan, and justify an
appropriate self-selected inquiry.
Deliver an organized and effective oral
presentation for diverse audiences and
varied purposes. (CCSS: SL11-12.4)
Strategic use of digital media (CCSS: SL.
11-12.5) Demonstrate a command of
formal English with speech (CCSS: SL.
11-12.6)
Ongoing
Introspective Lenses
Analyze how authors’ choices add
meaning and purpose to their writing.
(CCSS: R1.11-12.6) Effectively use
content-specific language, style, tone,
and text structure to compose or adapt
writing for different audiences and
purposes. (CCSS: WHST. 11-12. 1-6 and
10)
Ongoing
Historical Lenses
Describe and contrast characteristics of
specific literary movements and
perspectives. Evaluate the influence of
historical context on the form, style, and
point of view of a written work
Analyze and relate a literary work to
source documents of its literary period
or to critical perspectives.
Ongoing
Critical Lenses
Literary criticism of complex texts
requires the use of analysis,
interpretive, and evaluative strategies.
(CCSS: RL.11-12.5). Independently
analyze complex texts and how authors
manipulate elements of style.
(CCSS:RL.11-12.10)
Ongoing
Unconventional Lenses
Independently analyze complex texts
and how authors manipulate elements
of style. (CCSS:RL.11-12.10). Determine
an author’s point of view…, analyzing
how style and content contribute to the
power of the text (CCSS: R1.11-12.6)
Ongoing
English 12 Literature and Composition utilizes
various texts for whole-group instruction as well as
provides multiple opportunities for choice reading.
Written works are selected for whole-group
instruction based on a number of reasons,
including their appropriateness for the course as
well as their balance of text complexity and
accessibility. Also considered is the Adams 12 High
School English Statement of Beliefs, which states:
“In teaching challenging materials to students, we
recognize the responsibility to present materials
that conform to the scope and sequence of the
course. The literature we present to classes must
be of sound literary merit, appropriate reading
level, and necessary to the understanding of
course material and the meeting of course goals.”

Common Texts:

Anthology:
While the texts are subject to change, please see
the pages below for the descriptions of the most
often used texts and notations of mature content.
Text(s) support students with the
following assessments:
Capstone:
 Non-fiction Book
 NF Book Speech
 Project proposal
 Annotated Works
Consulted
 Research Paper
 Product Progress
Pecha Kucha Speech
 Product
 Project poster
 Portfolio
 Presentation
Targeted Date of
Assessment
Semester 1:
Capstone:
Product
proposal, nonfiction book,
and research
paper
Semester 2:
Capstone:
Product,
Portfolio,
Poster, and
Speech
Class
assessments
and essays
throughout the
year.
Book Information
Parents or students may opt out from materials with mature content by providing an email or other written request for assignment of alternate
material to the instructor. The written notice should be provided to the instructor at least five school days prior to the planned commencement
of the mature content so that the instructor has adequate time to identify alternative materials and instructional supports for the student. An
opt-out notice provided less than five school days in advance of commencement of the material shall not preclude the students/parent from
opting out but may delay the identification of alternative materials and implementation of alternative instructional supports.
For additional information regarding primary texts please visit:

Amazon book reviews: www.amazon.com

Goodreads.com: www.goodreads.com

Common Sense Media: www.commonsensemedia.org

Thriving Family--A Focus on the Family publication: www.thrivingfamily.com/family/Media.aspx
The following links on this syllabus are mandated by Adams 12 Five Star Schools and do not necessarily reflect the beliefs of the teacher.
English 12 Book List Descriptions
Angela’s Ashes by Frank Mc Court
“When I look back on my childhood I wonder how I managed to survive at all. It was, of course, a miserable childhood: the happy childhood is hardly worth your
while. Worse than the ordinary miserable childhood is the miserable Irish childhood, and worse yet is the miserable Irish Catholic childhood.” So begins the luminous
memoir of Frank McCourt, born in Depression-era Brooklyn to recent Irish immigrants and raised in the slums of Limerick, Ireland. Frank’s mother, Angela, has no
money to feed the children since Frank’s father, Malachy, rarely works, and when he does he drinks his wages. Yet Malachy—exasperating, irresponsible, and
beguiling—does nurture in Frank an appetite for the one thing he can provide: a story. Frank lives for his father’s tales of Cuchulain, who saved Ireland, and of the
Angel on the Seventh Step, who brings his mother babies. Perhaps it is story that accounts for Frank’s survival. Wearing rags for diapers, begging a pig’s head for
Christmas dinner and gathering coal from the roadside to light a fire, Frank endures poverty, near-starvation and the casual cruelty of relatives and neighbors—yet
lives to tell his tale with eloquence, exuberance, and remarkable forgiveness. Angela’s Ashes, imbued on every page with Frank McCourt’s astounding humor and
compassion, is a glorious book that bears all the marks of a classic. (Sexual Content, Profanity)
The Awakening by Kate Chopin
The Awakening by Kate Chopin is a novel set in New Orleans and the Louisiana coast at the end of the nineteenth century. The story centers around Edna Pontellier
and her struggle to reconcile her unorthodox views on femininity and motherhood with the prevailing social attitudes of the South. (Sexual Content, Profanity,
Violence)
Beowulf
Composed toward the end of the first millennium, Beowulf is the elegiac narrative of the adventures of Beowulf, a Scandinavian hero who saves the Danes from the
seemingly invincible monster Grendel and, later, from Grendel's mother. He then returns to his own country and dies in old age in a vivid fight against a dragon. The
poem is about encountering the monstrous, defeating it, and then having to live on in the exhausted aftermath. In the contours of this story, at once remote and
uncannily familiar at the beginning of the twenty-first century, Nobel laureate Seamus Heaney finds a resonance that summons power to the poetry from deep
beneath its surface. Drawn to what he has called the "four-squareness of the utterance" in Beowulf and its immense emotional credibility, Heaney gives these epic
qualities new and convincing reality for the contemporary reader. (Sexual Content, Violence)
Fences by August Wilson
From August Wilson, author of The Piano Lesson and the 1984-85 Broadway season's best play, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, is another powerful, stunning dramatic
work that has won him numerous critical acclaim including the 1987 Tony Award for Best Play and the Pulitzer Prize. The protagonist of Fences (part of Wilson’s tenpart “Pittsburgh Cycle” plays), Troy Maxson, is a strong man, a hard man. He has had to be to survive. Troy Maxson has gone through life in an America where to be
proud and black is to face pressures that could crush a man, body and soul. But the1950s are yielding to the new spirit of liberation in the 1960s... a spirit that is
changing the world Troy Maxson has learned to deal with the only way he can...a spirit that is making him a stranger, angry and afraid, in a world he never knew and
to a wife and son he understands less and less... (Sexual Content, Profanity, Violence)
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
The Pulitzer Prize-winning epic of the Great Depression, a book that galvanized—and sometimes outraged—millions of readers. First published in 1939, Steinbeck’s
Pulitzer Prize-winning epic of the Great Depression chronicles the Dust Bowl migration of the 1930s and tells the story of one Oklahoma farm family, the Joads-driven
from their homestead and forced to travel west to the promised land of California. Out of their trials and their repeated collisions against the hard realities of an
America divided into Haves and Have-Nots evolves a drama that is intensely human yet majestic in its scale and moral vision, elemental yet plainspoken, tragic but
ultimately stirring in its human dignity. A portrait of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless, of one man’s fierce reaction to injustice, and of one
woman’s stoical strength, the novel captures the horrors of the Great Depression and probes into the very nature of equality and justice in America. The Grapes of
Wrath summed up its era in the way that Uncle Tom’s Cabin summed up the years of slavery before the Civil War. Sensitive to fascist and communist criticism,
Steinbeck insisted that “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” be printed in its entirety in the first edition of the book—which takes its title from the first verse: “He is
trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored.” At once a naturalistic epic, captivity narrative, road novel, and transcendental gospel, Steinbeck’s
powerful landmark novel is perhaps the most American of American Classics. (Sexual Content, Profanity, Violence)
Hamlet by William Shakespeare
One of the greatest plays of all time, the compelling tragedy of the tormented young prince of Denmark continues to capture the imaginations of modern audiences
worldwide. Confronted with evidence that his uncle murdered his father, and with his mother’s infidelity, Hamlet must find a means of reconciling his longing for
oblivion with his duty as avenger. The ghost, Hamlet’s feigned madness, Ophelia’s death and burial, the play within a play, the “closet scene” in which Hamlet accuses
his mother of complicity in murder, and breathtaking swordplay are just some of the elements that make Hamlet an enduring masterpiece of the theater. (Sexual
Content, Profanity, Violence)
The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde
Here is Oscar Wilde's most brilliant tour de force, a witty and buoyant comedy of manners that has delighted millions in countless productions since its first
performance in London's St. James' Theatre on February 14, 1895. The Importance of Being Earnest is celebrated not only for the lighthearted ingenuity of its plot,
but for its inspired dialogue, rich with scintillating epigrams still savored by all who enjoy artful conversation. From the play's effervescent beginnings in Algernon
Moncrieff's London flat to its hilarious denouement in the drawing room of Jack Worthing's country manor in Hertfordshire, this comic masterpiece keeps audiences
breathlessly anticipating a new bon mot or a fresh twist of plot moment to moment. A selection of the Common Core State Standards Initiative. (Sexual Content,
Profanity)
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
Invisible Man is a milestone in American literature, a book that has continued to engage readers since its appearance in 1952. A first novel by an unknown writer, it
remained on the bestseller list for sixteen weeks, won the National Book Award for fiction, and established Ralph Ellison as one of the key writers of the century. The
nameless narrator of the novel describes growing up in a black community in the South, attending a Negro college from which he is expelled, moving to New York and
becoming the chief spokesman of the Harlem branch of "the Brotherhood", and retreating amid violence and confusion to the basement lair of the Invisible Man he
imagines himself to be. The book is a passionate and witty tour de force of style, strongly influenced by T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land, Joyce, and Dostoevsky. (Sexual
Content, Profanity, Violence)
Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
The New York Times bestseller and international classic loved by millions of readers. The unforgettable, heartbreaking story of the unlikely friendship between a
wealthy boy and the son of his father's servant, Kite Runner is a beautifully crafted novel set in a country that is in the process of being destroyed. It is about the
power of reading, the price of betrayal, and the possibility of redemption; and an exploration of the power of fathers over sons—their love, their sacrifices, their lies.
A sweeping story of family, love, and friendship told against the devastating backdrop of the history of Afghanistan over the last thirty years, Kite Runner is an unusual
and powerful novel that has become a beloved, one-of-a-kind classic. (Sexual Content, Profanity, Violence)
Like Water for Chocolate by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Earthy, magical, and utterly charming, this tale of family life in tum-of-the-century Mexico became a best-selling phenomenon with its winning blend of poignant
romance and bittersweet wit. Combining a relatively simple narrative with stylistic ingenuity, Like Water for Chocolate's author, Laura Esquivel, captures the essence
of young adult love and ensuing conflict, and thus has been a huge success in classrooms worldwide, for its literary merit and its accessibility. (Sexual Content,
Profanity, Violence)
Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven by Sherman Alexie
Sherman Alexie’s celebrated first collection, The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, established its author as one of America’s most important and
provocative voices. The basis for the award-winning movie Smoke Signals, it remains one of his best loved and widely praised books twenty years after its initial
publication. Vividly weaving memory, fantasy, and stark reality to paint a portrait of life in and around the Spokane Indian reservation, this book introduces some of
Alexie’s most beloved characters, including Thomas Builds-the-Fire, the storyteller who no one seems to listen to, and his compatriot, Victor, the sports hero who
turned into a recovering alcoholic. Now with an updated introduction from Alexie, these twenty-four tales are narrated by characters raised on humiliation and
government-issue cheese, and yet they are filled with passion and affection, myth and charm. Against a backdrop of addiction, car accidents, laughter, and basketball,
Alexie depicts the distances between men and women, Indians and whites, reservation Indians and urban Indians, and, most poetically, modern Indians and the
traditions of the past.(Sexual Content, Profanity, Violence)
Macbeth by William Shakespeare
No dramatist has ever seen with more frightening clarity into the heart and mind of a murderer than has Shakespeare in this compelling tragedy of evil. Taunted into
asserting his “masculinity” by his ambitious wife, Macbeth chooses to embrace the Weird Sisters’ prophecy and kill his king–and thus, seals his own doom. Fastmoving and bloody, this drama has the extraordinary energy that derives from a brilliant plot replete with treachery and murder, and from Shakespeare’s compelling
portrait of the ultimate battle between a mind and its own guilt. (Profanity, Violence)
Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chobsky
Standing on the fringes of life offers a unique perspective…but there comes a time to see what it looks like from the dance floor. Since its publication, Stephen
Chbosky’s haunting debut novel has received critical acclaim, provoked discussion and debate, grown into a cult phenomenon with over three million copies in print,
spent over one year at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list, and inspired a major motion picture starring Logan Lerman and Emma Watson. The Perks of Being a
Wallflower is a story about what it’s like to travel that strange course through the uncharted territory of high school. The world of first dates, family dramas, and new
friends. Of sex, drugs, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Of those wild and poignant roller-coaster days known as growing up. (Sexual Content, Profanity, Violence)
Pygmalian by George Bernard Shaw
Pygamalion tells the story of Henry Higgins, a professor of phonetics, who makes a bet with his friend Colonel Pickering that he can successfully pass off a Cockney
flower girl, Eliza Doolittle, as a refined society lady by teaching her how to speak with an upper class accent and training her in etiquette. In the process, Higgins and
Doolittle grow close, but she ultimately rejects his domineering ways and declares she will marry Freddy Eynsford-Hill-- a young, poor gentleman. (Sexual Content,
Profanity)
Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
Milkman Dead was born shortly after a neighborhood eccentric hurled himself off a rooftop in a vain attempt at flight. For the rest of his life he, too, will be trying to
fly. With this brilliantly imagined novel, Toni Morrison transfigures the coming-of-age story as audaciously as Saul Bellow or Gabriel García Márquez. As she follows
Milkman from his rustbelt city to the place of his family’s origins, Morrison introduces an entire cast of strivers and seeresses, liars and assassins, the inhabitants of a
fully realized black world. (Sexual Content, Profanity, Violence)
The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
The quintessential novel of the Lost Generation, The Sun Also Rises is one of Ernest Hemingway's masterpieces and a classic example of his spare but powerful writing
style. A poignant look at the disillusionment and angst of the post-World War I generation, the novel introduces two of Hemingway's most unforgettable characters:
Jake Barnes and Lady Brett Ashley. The story follows the flamboyant Brett and the hapless Jake as they journey from the wild nightlife of 1920s Paris to the brutal
bullfighting rings of Spain with a motley group of expatriates. It is an age of moral bankruptcy, spiritual dissolution, unrealized love, and vanishing illusions. First
published in 1926, The Sun Also Rises helped to establish Hemingway as one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century. (Sexual Content, Profanity, Violence)
Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare
A robust and bawdy battle of the sexes, this ever popular comedy captivates audiences with outrageous humor as Katharina, the shrew, engages in a contest of wills–
and love–with her bridegroom, Petruchio. Their boisterous conflict is set off against a more conventional romantic plot involving the wooing of Katharina’s lovely and
compliant sister, Bianca. Rich with the psychological themes of identity and transformation, the play is quintessentially lighthearted, filled with visual gags, witty
repartee, and unmatched theatrical brilliance from Petruchio’s demand, “Kiss me, Kate!” to the final spectacle of the wedding feast. (Profanity, Sexual Content)
The Tortilla Curtain by TC Boyle
Winner of the Prix Medicis Etranger. Topanga Canyon is home to two couples on a collision course. Los Angeles liberals Delaney and Kyra Mossbacher lead an
ordered sushi-and-recycling existence in a newly gated hilltop community: he a sensitive nature writer, she an obsessive realtor. Mexican illegals Candido and
America Rincon desperately cling to their vision of the American Dream as they fight off starvation in a makeshift camp deep in the ravine. And from the moment a
freak accident brings Candido and Delaney into intimate contact, these four and their opposing worlds gradually intersect in what becomes a tragicomedy of error
and misunderstanding. (Sexual Content, Violence, Profanity)
General Expectations
 Grades are based upon the demonstration of proficiency on units associated with a standard given during each formative or summative
assessment. Formative grades in addition to summative unit assessments will be used to holistically determine your grade.
 Summative: 90% Summative measures of achievement are taken when unit master is expected. (i.e., unit tests, culmination of a project,
embedded assessments, etc.)
 Formative: 10% Formative assessments measure the scaffolding skills and/or content embedded in the unit. Formative assessments are taken
frequently, after a student has practiced a skill or become familiar with content. Examples of formative assessments include but are not limited
to exit tickets, paragraphs, oral check for understanding, warm-ups, stages in a large project, etc.
 Assessments will be graded based on teacher/district/state rubrics.
 On group projects, students will receive a grade for individual work and a group grade.
 Grades are based on achievement of Content Standards and Grade Level Expectations.
Class Expectations
Missing or incomplete assignments/assessments for this course: Superintendent Policies 6280 Homework and 6281 Make-Up Work will be
followed for this course.
Student Expectations
Grading Policy
The purpose of grading is to communicate to both students and parents what a student knows and can
demonstrate at a given point during the course.
Testing Policy
Formative work, including practice quizzes and reviews, will prepare students for summative assessments. Any
missed tests must be made up within one week.
Assignments
Students will be informed as to the due dates for assignments, whether it is homework, a quiz/test, or a project.
Papers must be submitted to turnitin.com as assigned.
Late work Policy
All homework and assignments are due at the beginning of class on the designated deadline, unless otherwise
noted.
Absence Policy
You are expected to make up any work missed because of any absence. You are responsible to request the makeup assignment(s). You will have the number of days absent plus one additional day to make up missed work.
However, long-term assignments (one week or more from the assignment date to the due date) are due on the
stated due date, regardless of the absence and are not accorded extra days upon return to school. Some
assignments, particularly those that require class discussion or presentations, cannot be made up since the class
situation cannot be duplicated. Long-term illnesses will be dealt with on an individual basis.
Tardy Policy
Students are expected to be on time to every class, every day. Beginning each semester, if tardy:

1st-3rd: Verbal warning by teacher and parent contact on 3rd.

5th: Teacher will speak with parent/guardian.

7th: 30 minute after school detention served with the teacher in the classroom. Teacher will speak to
the parent/guardian again.
After the 8th tardy, teacher discretion may be used for consequences. Once a student has served three 30minute detentions with the teacher, a student may be referred to the Deans’ Office for defiance of authority.
Student Integrity Oath
I agree to conduct myself with integrity in all regards. I commit to presenting my own work, writing, words, and
ideas at all times, unless otherwise attributed. In addition, I will not copy, use communication devices during
tests, post assessments for public access, falsely identify myself, or use inappropriate materials. Engaging in any
of these activities represents a breach of this oath and subjects me to the disciplinary code of Legacy High School
and the Adams 12 Five Star School District. It is my honest intention to uphold this oath.
Plagiarism/Cheating Policy: Plagiarism means to present, as one’s own, the work, writing, words, ideas, or computer
Plagiarism/Cheating Policy
information of someone else. (Sources could be published or unpublished.) Cheating is supplying, receiving or using devices.
(Examples: looking at or using someone else’s work, using crib notes/stolen notes, or using disallowed equipment, etc.)
Consequences for plagiarism and cheating (cover all classes and discipline carries over year-to-year):
Matrix for Plagiarism/

1st – 0 on the assignment, teacher calls home and referral

2nd – 0 on the assignment, 1 day suspension, parent/teacher conference, referral

3rd – 0 on the assignment, 2 days suspension, referral

4th – 0 on the assignment, referral to District Discipline Hearing