ENGLISH I
Revised 5/10/90
Course Name: English I
Course Number: 110
Level: Honors
Credit: 1
I. Course Goal:
To use the study of various literary genre (short story, essay, poetry,
drama, novel) as a means to deepen and expand the student's ability to
read, write, and speak effectively and to understand and appreciate literature.
II. Course Objectives:
The student will:
A. identify major writers, their major works, style, and influence.
B. identify the technical aspects that regulate the development of a
good literary piece by studying specific literary tools that the writer
uses and explaining how these affect and control the message.
C. write essays that display an ability to interpret and analyze such
things as character, theme, and style.
D. compare written and video versions of literature studied in class.
E. reinforce and refine grammatical skills through required exercises
and written revision of essays.
F. develop speaking skills -- interpreting, analyzing, and summarizing
-- which allow the student to engage in discussion both as speaker and
listener.
III. Unit I: The Short Story:
A. Content:
1. The Secret Life of Walter Nitty, James Thurber
2. The Most Dangerous Gome, Richard Connell
3. Sonata for Harp, Bicycle, Joan Aiken
4. The Interlopers, Saki
5. The Lady or the Tiger, Frank Stachton
6. All the Years of Her Life, Morley Callaghan
7. A Mother in Mannville, Marjorie Rowlings
8. The Woman Who Had No Eye for Small Detail, William Maxwell
9. The Invalid's Story, Mark Twain
10. Before the End of Summer, Grant Moss
11. The Good Deed, Pearl Buck
12. The Cask of Amontillado, Edgar Allan Poe
13. Beware of the Dog, Roald Dahl
14. The Man to Send Rain Clouds, Leslie Silks
15. If I Forget Thee, O Earth, Arthur Clark
16. The Gift of the Magi, O'Henry
17. The Scarlet Ibis, James Hurst
18. The Necklace, Guy de Maupassant
19. Literary terms:
a. Plot
b. Point of view
c. Suspense
d. Conflict
e. Dilemma
f. Characterization
g. Motivation
h. Setting
i. Theme
j. Symbols
k. Irony
l. Protagonist
m. Antagonist
20. Selected vocabulary
21. Selected biographical information
B. Unit Objectives:
1. Read and appreciate short stories
2. Explain, define, and model the elements of the short story
3. Use critical thinking and reading strategies to gain a fuller understanding
of the short story
4. Develop strategies for understanding and appreciating words in a
story
5. Use short stories for imaginative and critical writing
C. Approximate Time:
One semester
D. Major Resources:
1. Prentice Hall Literature
2. English Language and Writing
3. Outside research
E. Additional Resources:
1. Audio-visual support programs:
a. Exploring the Short Story: For Entertainment and Comprehension
(Center for the Humanities) 808.2
b. The Short Story (Guidance Associates) 808.3
2. Teaching Portfolio (Prentice Hall)
a. Fine arts transparencies
b. Usage and mechanics worksheets
c. Critical thinking and reading worksheets
F. Suggested Activities:
1. Library search
2. Literary journal
3. Research reports
4. Group analysis and presentation of a particular story
5. Contrast writing styles
6. Look for historical information revealed in stories
G. Evaluation:
1. Frequent quizzes
2. Objective and essay tests
3. Class participation
4. Compositions
5. Oral presentations
IV. Unit II: Drama:
A. Content:
1. "The Boor" - Anton Chekhov
2. "The Pen of My Aunt" - Gordon Daviot
3. The Miracle Worker - William Gibson
4. Romeo and Juliet - William Shakespeare
5. Literary Terms:
a. Farce
b. Staging
c. Theme
d. Inference
e. Imagery
f. Blank verse
g. Tone
h. Dramatic irony
i. Allusions
j. Puns
k. Soliloquy
l. Aside
m. Monologue
n. Foil
6. Selected vocabulary
7. Selected biographical information
B. Objectives:
1. Read and appreciate drama
2. Explain, define and model the elements of drama
3. Use critical thinking and reading strategies to do an analysis of
drama
4. Develop strategies for understanding and appreciating the words in
a plan
5. Use drama for imaginative and critical writing
C. Approximate Time:
4 weeks
D. Major Resources:
1. Prentice Hall Literature
2. Outside research
E. Additional Resources:
1. Audio-visual support programs:
a. Drama/Comedy (Guidance Assoc. Sound Filmstrip)
b. Drama/Tragedy (Guidance Assoc. Sound Filmstrip)
c. Drama of the Twentieth Century - (E.A.V. Sound Filmstrip)
d. What is Drama? - G.A. Sound Filmstrip
e. Miracle Worker - video
f. Romeo and Juliet - video
F. Suggested Activities:
1. Have students perform plays
2. Group analysis of specific plays
3. Pantomime activities in order to emphasize importance of body language
4. Study the role of minor characters in relation to major characters
G. Evaluation:
1. Quizzes
2. Essay tests
3. Class participation
4. Oral presentations
5. Play performance
V. Unit III: Poetry:
A. Content:
1. "The Charge of the Light Brigade" - Alfred Lord Tennyson
2. "Incident in a Rose Garden" - Donald Justice
3. "The Runaway" - Robert Frost
4. "Winter" - William Shakespeare
5. "The Funeral" - Gordon Parke
6. "Meeting at Night" - Robert Browning
7. "Macavity: The Mystery Cat" - T.S. Eliot
8. "Solace" - Dorothy Parker
9. "I Wandered Lonely on a Cloud" - William Wordsworth
10. "A Dream Deferred" - Langston Hughes
11. "The Sky is Low" - Emily Dickinson
12. "maggie, milk, molly and may" - E.S. Cummings
13. Random selections from text made by the teacher
14. Literary terms:
a. Symbols
b. Narrative poetry
c. Ballad
d. Dramatic poetry
e. Lyric poetry
f. Dramatic monologue
g. Sonnet
h. Haiku
i. Repetition
j. Rhythm
k. Analogy
l. Tone
m. Viewpoint
n. Connotation
o. Meaning
p. Personification
q. Alliteration
r. Imagery
s. Parallelism
t. Free verse
u. Concrete poetry
15. Selected vocabulary
16. Selected biographical information
B. Unit Objectives:
1. Read and recognize the techniques and analyze function of techniques
within poem
2. Define and recognize the types of poetry
3. Use critical thinking and reading strategies to do an analysis of
poetry
4. Use poetry as a springboard for creative writing
5. Use poetry as a springboard for critical writing
C. Approximate Time:
4 weeks
D. Major Resource:
1. Prentice Hall Literature
2. Random poetry collections selected by students
E. Additional Resources:
1. Audio-visual support program:
a. Poetry (Guidance Assoc. Sound Filmstrip)
b. Records of poetry readings
F. Suggested Activities:
1. Oral reading of favorite poems
2. Exercises in writing poetry
3. Group analysis
4. Small group analysis and presentation
5. Illustrate poetry with visual images - color, pictures, shapes
6. Contrast to musical selections that communicate the same mood
G. Evaluation:
1. Interpretive reading
2. Oral presentation
3. Essay test analysis
VI. Unit IV: Novel:
A. Content:
1. Choose five novels:
a. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
b. Human Comedy, William Saroyan
c. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
d. I Never Promised You a Rose Garden, Joanne Greenburg
e. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, Carson McCulliss
f. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Betty Smith
2. Literary Terms:
a. Subplot
b. Review of terms studied in short story unit
B. Unit Objectives:
1. Read and appreciate the novel
2. Identify and explore setting, plot, characters, theme of the novel
3. Examine stylistic techniques of the author and develop strategies
for determining the purpose of these techniques
4. Use critical thinking and reading strategies to do an analysis of
the novel
5. Use the novel for imaginative and critical writing
C. Approximate Time:
Three weeks
D. Major Resources:
1. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee (paperback)
2. Human Comedy, William Saroyan (paperback)
3. Prentice Hall abridged version of Great Expectations, Charles
Dickens
4. Selected paperbacks
E. Additional Resources:
1. Audio-visual support program:
a. The Novel, Guidance Assoc. Filmstrip
b. Videos
(1) To Kill a Mockingbird
(2) Great Expectations
F. Suggested Activities:
1. Rewrite key incident in novel as a play
2. Keep a literary journal
3. Compare novel to movie interpretation
4. Have the student write from the perspective of hero or heroine in
response to a specific question
G. Evaluation:
1. Quizzes
2. Essay analyzing character, theme, etc.
3. Class participation
VII. Unit V: Non-fiction:
A. Content:
1. A Neighbor of Mine, Dorothy Canfield
2. A Lincoln Preface, Carl Sandburg
3. Saynnara, Ann Morrow Lindbergh
4. The Loch Ness Monster, John McPhee
5. I Have a Dream, Martin Luther King
6. Georgia O'Keeffe, Joan Didion
7. Other selections from text or outside sources as determined by the
teacher
8. Literary terms:
a. Anecdotes
b. Biography
c. Autobiography
d. Narrative essay
e. Expository essay
f. Persuasive essay
g. Allusion
h. Inference
B. Unit Objectives:
1. Read and identify the elements of narrative, descriptive, expository,
and persuasive non-fiction
2. Use critical thinking regarding strategies for an analysis of the
words in a non-fiction selection
3. Use non-fiction for imaginative and creative writing
C. Approximate Time:
1½ weeks
D. Major Resources:
1. Prentice Hall Literature
2. Current magazine articles and newspaper editorials to be determined
by the teacher
E. Additional Resources:
The Essay and the Article (Guidance Assoc. Filmstrip)
F. Suggested Activities:
1. Imitate style
2. Address topic in student essay
3. Compare styles
4. Search for other articles that deal with the same topic and compare
the techniques of writers
G. Evaluation:
1. Writing activity
2. Class participation
3. Oral presentation analyzing essay
VIII. Unit III: Composition/Grammar:
A. Content:
1. Paragraph
a. Description
b. Narrative
2. Essay - expository
3. Elements of grammar
a. Parts of speech
b. Clauses and phrases
c. Punctuation
B. Unit Objectives:
1. Study the elements of grammar in terms of the writing process
2. Study the elements of the paragraph such as topic sentence, methods
of development, transition, clincher sentence
3. Practice writing strategies such as brainstorming, journal, rough
draft, outline
4. Develop a thesis in a five paragraph essay
5. Improve self-evaluation skills
C. Approximate Time:
One year incorporated with the study of literature
D. Major Resources:
1. Prentice Hall Literature - "Writing Handbook"
2. Holt English Language and Writing
E. Additional Resources:
Audio-visual support
1. Becoming a Better Writer - Guidance Assoc. filmstrip
2. Writing Skills - The Final Touch - Center for Humanities filmstrip
F. Suggested Activities:
1. Take students outside to experience nature first hand and record
those experiences using sense appeal description.
2. Use pictures selected by the teacher as subject for descriptive paragraphs.
3. Team student with a partner and have them do a two-paragraph character
analysis of their partner beginning with a physical description and ending
with a personality analysis.
4. Model writing for the students. Let them watch the teacher as he/she
goes through the process of composing at the board.
G. Evaluation:
1. Essay work
2. Self evaluation
3. Peer evaluation
4. Grammar exercises