English III (Credit Recovery)

Syllabus:

Semester 1:

Section 1 - Introduction and the Beginnings of American Literature

Objectives:

Section 1 includes lessons that focus on American Literature from the earliest Native American contributions to the Romantic Period.

The lessons in this section will help you:

• Demonstrate knowledge of eighteenth-, nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century foundational works of American literature
• Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research. 
• Delineate and evaluate the reasoning in seminal U.S. texts
• Analyze seventeenth-, eighteenth-, and nineteenth-century foundational U.S. documents of historical and literary significance
• Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. 

Lesson 1 is designed to provide you with the necessary tools to be successful in the course.

This lesson will:

• Provide you with several ways to use note taking for text analysis.
• Teach you how to master active reading.
• Explain how to go beyond a text for maximum comprehension.
• Show you how to organize your writing and avoid plagiarism.
• Give you the proper format for citing sources used in your writing.

Lesson 2 covers the characteristics and evolution of American Literature. You will also receive an overview of the periods of American Literature we will cover in the course.

In this lesson you will:

• Learn what makes American Literature uniquely American.
• Understand how American Literature developed over time.
• Explore sample texts from major periods of American Literature.
• Learn what makes a great piece of literature and why it is important to read the classics.

Lesson 3 focuses on using language in a formal context.

This lesson will help you:

• Understand the historical context of Native American Literature.
• Learn to write an objective summary of a text.
• Analyze a text.
• Consider how a sequence of events can create a coherent story and build toward a particular tone and outcome. 
• Understand archetypes in literature.
• Polish your writing to successfully complete the assignments related to the lesson.

In Lesson 4A, you will learn what makes a story remarkable and various tools and storytelling techniques that writers use to craft a compelling narrative.

This lesson will help you:

• Understand the importance of plot and its five parts.
• Understand multiple plot lines.
• Learn to recognize and use various storytelling techniques.
• Understand concepts like point of view, mood, and tone.
• Develop characters through narrative techniques like dialogue.

In Lesson 4B, you will analyze a piece of Colonial Period literature.

This lesson will help you:

• Use what you previously learned about plot in a practical manner.
• Understand literary devices like foreshadowing.
• Identify narrative techniques like pacing.
• Better understand point of view.
• Develop characters via various techniques.

Lessons:

• How to Be Successful in this Course
• Introduction to American Literature
• Native American Literature
• Writer’s Tools and Storytelling Techniques
• The First American Bestseller

Section 2 - Colonial Period American Literature

Objectives:

Section 2 includes lessons that focus on Colonial Period American literature.

The lessons in this section will help you:

• Understand the characteristics of Colonial Period literature and the authors who wrote it.
• Acquire a better understanding of poetry and how to analyze it.
• Read and analyze informational texts.
• Compare different writing styles.
• Understand literary attributes such as nuance, syntax, and usage.

Lesson 1 focuses on poetry and various attributes that poets use to convey meaning.

This lesson will help you:

• Use specific tools to analyze poetry.
• Extract meaning from poems by understanding figurative language and literary devices that poets use to convey meaning.
• Understand how structure impacts meaning.
• Learn about themes and how to identify them.
• Understand figures of speech, nuance, syntax, and language usage.

Lesson 2 continues your study of Colonial Period American Literature with a look at informational texts.

In this lesson you will:

• Interpret informational texts to understand how Puritan values influenced literature.
• Learn to analyze a sequence of events.
• Consider how events in a text interact to produce a particular outcome.
• Understand argument and persuasion in a text.
• Learn to develop a persuasive argument.
• Consider a visual argument.

Lesson 3 focuses on comparing texts from the Colonial Period.

This lesson will help you:

• Explore Puritan plain style writing.
• Contrast plain style and ornate style writing.
• Compare texts.

Lesson 4, you will read from Benjamin Franklin’s Poor Richard’s Almanack. This work is important because it inspired many future publications. 

This lesson will help you:

• Consider English language conventions.
• Use context clues to uncover the meaning of a text.
• Learn about connotative meaning.
• Understand how authors shape a text to create meaning.

Lessons:

• Colonial Literature
• Exploring Informational Texts via the Salem Witch Trials
• Comparing Texts
• Ben Franklin/Poor Richard’s Almanac

Section 3 - Revolutionary Period American Literature

Objectives:

Section 3 includes lessons that focus on Revolutionary Literature, which was a time of reason and rational thinking.

The lessons in this section will help you:

• Determine and analyze the theme of a text.
• Interpret words and phrases used in a text.
• Understand how and when to use formal language.
• Analyze similar themes in two different texts.
• Consider how an author’s choices impact a text.

Lesson 1 introduces Revolutionary Literature and its practical purpose.

This lesson will help you:

• Understand the historical and social context of Revolutionary Literature.
• Learn about effective nonfiction writing via foundational documents.
• Understand how structure impacts a text.
• Gain insight into author perspective and rhetorical devices in persuasive texts.
• Learn to extract meaning from a text.
• Evaluate a text for literary devices like satire and irony that can enhance meaning.

Lesson 2 focuses on Patrick Henry’s famous speech, “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death!” 

In this lesson you will:

• Learn to identify and analyze the arguments, appeals, and rhetorical strategies
• Understand the structure of a classical argument.
• Learn various rhetorical appeals and persuasive techniques.
• Consider point of view and purpose.
• Determine themes.
• Learn to detect logical fallacies (flaws in reasoning).

Lesson 3 is intended to raise our collective awareness about the plight of marginalized individuals who were enslaved in the traditional sense (held captive and used for forced labor), explore the impact on American literature, and draw logical connections between events and literature.

This lesson will help you:

• Understand the origins of slavery for historical context.
• Detects explicit, implicit, and missing information in a text.
• Consider themes and how they interact.

Lesson 4, you will analyze the Declaration of Independence, a foundational U.S. informational text.

This lesson will help you:

• Evaluate seminal U.S. documents with historical and literary significance.
• Evaluate the structure of the Declaration of Independence to appreciate the importance of structure in clarifying a text.
• Consider the meaning of words and phrases in a document and how they help convey meaning.
• Build on what you previously learned about various persuasive techniques in writing.

Lesson 5 key concepts are taught in the context of our continued discussion of slavery in America.

This lesson will help you:

• Evaluate seminal U.S. documents with historical and literary significance.
• Discuss how these documents address similar themes, topics, and ideas. 
• Further evaluate persuasive techniques in informational texts.
• Analyze a speech for meaning, explicit and implicit details, and figurative language.
• Evaluate poetry that paved the way for future African American writers.

Lessons:

• Introduction to Revolutionary Literature
• An Analysis of “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death!”
• Introduction to Slavery in America
• Slavery in Historical Context
• Confronting Slavery in America

Section 4 - Romantic Period Literature

Objectives:

Section 4 includes lessons that focus on the Romantic Period in American Literature.

The lessons in this section will help you:

• Determine and analyze the theme of a text.
• Interpret words and phrases used in a text.
• Understand how and when to use formal language.
• Compare how different authors approach similar themes.

Lesson 1 introduces Romanticism.

This lesson will help you:

• Understand literary techniques, like symbolism, that authors use to impart meaning into a text.
• Explore figurative language and literary devices in Romantic Period literature.
• Learn how to read a text to extract meaning.
• Determine theme in a text.
• Summarize key supporting details and ideas that support your analysis of the theme.

Lesson 2 covers Romantic Period author, Washington Irving, who is considered the Father of the Short Story.

In this lesson you will:

• Learn to analyze a short story.
• Understand how the author uses rich, colorful figurative language to engage readers.
• Carefully evaluate a text for rich details and elements of Romanticism.
• Learn to summarize major events in a story.

Lesson 3 focuses on the writing of Edgar Allan Poe and the elements of poetry.

This lesson will help you:

• Explore elements such as setting, tone, and point of view to garner understanding of a text.
• Uncover connotative meanings and nuance in poetry.

Lesson 4, you will compare an American Romantic Period dramatist’s writing to that of a Shakespearean play. 

This lesson will help you:

• Understand Shakespeare’s significant influence on American Literature.
• Learn more about how text structure contributes to the overall meaning of a text.
• Understand Drama as a genre of literature.
• Compare Romantic Period literature to Shakespearean drama.
• Gain further insight into the use of language and word relationships in Romantic Period literature.

Lesson 5, you will learn how four specific years of the American Romantic Literary Period: 1861-1865, when the Civil War occurred, impacted American literature. 

This lesson will help you:

• Understand why the Civil War had a significant impact on American Literature.
• Read and comprehend wartime poetry and further your understanding of poetic devices.
• Deepen your understanding of point of view through works by female Romantic Period authors.
• Explore key literary concepts through a historical novel and a controversial text said to spur the Civil War’s beginning.

Lessons:

• Introduction to Romanticism
• Father of the American Short Story – Washington Irving
• Poe’s Literature
• Shakespeare’s Influence on Romantic Literature
• Civil War Literature (1861-1865)

Semester 2:

Section 1 - Transcendentalism

Objectives:

Section 1 focuses on Transcendentalism in American Literature (1830-1860). In this section, you will learn about this literary movement and significant authors of the period. 

The lessons in this section will help you:

• Cite evidence to support analysis of explicit information, draw inferences, and determine where the text leaves matters uncertain.
• Identify themes.
• Understand word relationships, figurative language, and nuances in word meaning.

• Analyze authors’ choices regarding structure and development of story elements.
• Understand how language functions in different contexts.

Lesson 1 is designed to provide you with a thorough introduction to the Transcendentalist movement in American Literature.

This lesson will:

• Provide you with the fundamental beliefs of Transcendentalism.
• Highlight key authors and works from the period.
• Teach you how to use context clues to determine meaning.
• Explain how figurative language enhances a text.
• Show you how language is creatively used to convey meaning.

Lesson 2 covers the writing of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and considers his writing alongside Emerson’s.

In this lesson you will:

• Underscore the importance of figurative language to convey meaning.
• Understand the use of multiple meaning words.
• Explore how the tenets of Transcendentalism are reflected in literature from the period.
• Learn about explicit versus implicit information in a text.

Lesson 3 focuses on another prominent 19th century Transcendentalist author, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

This lesson will help you:

• Compare poems with different topics by the same author.
• Expand your knowledge of figurative language and literary devices authors use to convey meaning.
• Explore imagery and symbolism as poetic devices.
• Understand how the fundamental beliefs of Transcendentalism are highlighted in literature from the period.

Lesson 4 you continue our survey of the Transcendentalist Period as we focus on analyzing story elements in American Fables. 

This lesson will help you:

• Understand the importance of personal experience and storytelling in literature.
• Understand plot, characters, conflict, and theme.
• Learn the key elements of literature.
• Understand the difference between theme and moral.
• Delve further into figurative language.
• Analyze a fable.
• Write an objective summary.

Lesson 5, you will explore the writing of Henry David Thoreau.

This lesson will help you:

• Explore Thoreau’s famous work, Walden.
• Analyze Civil Disobedience.
• Consider explicit, implicit, and missing information in a text.
• Consider the meaning of words and phrases in a text and their impact.
• Use context to extract meaning.
• Examine themes and how they are developed and intertwined.

Lessons:

• Introduction to Transcendentalism
• Longfellow and Emerson
• Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. Poetry Comparison
• American Fables
• Thoreau

Section 2 - Realism and Naturalism in American Literature

Objectives:

Section 2 focuses on two closely related literary movements – Realism and Naturalism.

The lessons in this section will help you:

• Understand these related movements.
• Acquire a better understanding of how literary movements overlap but maintain distinction.
• Read and analyze poetry, prose, short stories, and informational texts.
• Understand rhetorical analysis.

Lesson 1 introduces Realism in American Literature.

This lesson will help you:

• Learn how this literary movement began and the societal influences and circumstances that led to a literary shift in our changing nation.
• Understand the focus of Realism.
• Explore important authors and writings from this period.
• Understand the role of social criticism in Realist literature.
• Continue to explore figurative language as a way authors convey meaning.

Lesson 2 explores the Realist Period in American literature through the works of three prominent poets: Walt Whitman, Robert Frost, and Emily Dickinson.

In this lesson you will:

• Interpret figurative language and symbols in poetry.
• Consider themes of the Realist Period in American Literature.
• Understand how your personal style can be used to write poetry.
• Learn about creating poetry of your own.

Lesson 3 focuses on Naturalism.

This lesson will help you:

• Understand the common themes of Naturalism.
• Consider how vivid descriptions, imagery, and dialogue develop a text.
• Learn how to detect themes and determine how they are developed and how they interact in a text.
• Explore narrative techniques and literary devices used in Naturalism.

Lesson 4 you will learn to conduct a rhetorical analysis.

This lesson will help you:

• Learn the importance of rhetorical analysis and its goals.
• How to conduct a rhetorical analysis of a text.
• Understand rhetorical appeals.
• Understand arguments, claims, supports, and warrants.
• Explore and analyze nonfiction texts.

Lessons:

• Realism in American Literature
• Walt Whitman, Robert Frost, Emily Dickinson
• Naturalism
• Rhetorical Analysis

Section 3 - Modernism

Objectives:

Section 3 includes lessons that focus on Modernism in American Literature.

The lessons in this section will help you:

• Determine the meaning of words and phrases in a text.
• Interpret figurative language used in a text.
• Analyze an author’s choices for how to structure a text and relate story elements.
• Conduct research and write effectively.

Lesson 1 introduces Modernism as a literary movement in America. 

This lesson will help you:

• Understand the societal factors that influenced Modernism.
• Learn about the characteristics of Modernist literature.
• Explore free verse poetry and analyze the impact of structure on meaning.
• Continue to learn how figurative language impacts meaning in literature.
• Consider the impact of word choices and dialogue on a literary work.

Lesson 2 highlights female authors of the Modernist period in American literature.

In this lesson you will:

• Understand the importance of women in Modernist literature.
• Consider works by female authors in societal context.
• Learn more about how authors use figurative language to convey meaning.
• Learn about stream of consciousness writing and its key features.
• Fine tune your writing skills.

Lesson 3 features The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. You will use this text to learn various literary concepts and evaluate the novel in the context of Modernism.

In this lesson you will learn about:

• The impact point of view has on a narrative.
• Symbolism and how authors use this literary technique to enhance a story.
• Setting and how it is developed through figurative language and imagery.
• Characterization.

Lesson 4, you will explore Southern literature and focus on William Faulkner’s writing.

In this lesson you will:

• Learn the primary themes in Southern literature
• Explore the Southern Gothic genre
• Consider setting and structure of a narrative
• Understand how an author uses various voices in narration
• Learn how word choice impacts a story

Lessons:

• Introduction to Modernism
• Women in Modernism
• The Great Gatsby
• Southern Literature – Faulkner

Section 4 - Contemporary American Literature

Objectives:

Section 4 includes lessons that focus on the Contemporary Period in American Literature.

The lessons in this section cover narratives and informational texts. You will learn to:

• Cite textual evidence that is explicitly stated and that which is implied.
• Determine themes in a text.
• Understand how language works in different contexts.
• Understand and interpret figurative language.
• Develop your presentation skills.

Lesson 1 introduces Contemporary American Literature.

This lesson will help you:

• Understand literary techniques, like symbolism, that authors use to impart meaning into a text.
• Explore figurative language and literary devices.
• Learn how to read a text to extract meaning.
• Determine theme in a text.
• Summarize a text.
• Respond to diverse perspectives and present information clearly.

Lesson 2 covers novels set in historical context.

In this lesson you will:

• Cite textual evidence to support your analysis of a text.
• Analyze the impact of an author’s choices regarding how to structure a text.
• Understand how language functions in different contexts.
• Write effective arguments.

Lesson 3 focuses on key works from the Civil Rights Movement and other texts that explore civil rights and equality.

This lesson will help you:

• Analyze informational texts.
• Determine an author’s point of view or purpose.
• Evaluate a speaker’s point of view, reasoning, and use of rhetoric.
• Write informative texts effectively.

Lesson 4, you will explore how social issues are depicted in literature.

This lesson will help you:

• Understand the impact an author’s choices have on a text.
• Determine multiple themes in a text.
• Consider how words and phrases are used in a text.
• Write explanatory essays effectively.
• Use a formal and objective writing style.

Lessons:

• Introduction to Contemporary American Literature
• Novels Set in Historical Context
• Literature and Civil Rights
• Social Issues and Literature