Literature & Composition I /II and III/IV

Teacher: James Jennings, Community High School
Year Course 10 units of English credit
Prerequisite: Desire to read, discuss, and write critically about good literature.
Homework: Approximately four hours per week.

Description: We start with a three-week section studying great poets and writing poetry of various structured styles and free verse.
We will read great literature from around the world, from the classics and from contemporary authors, written by both male and female authors. We will work on how to write critical persuasive essays, short descriptive pieces and narration as well as Modern Language Association citations, bibliographies, and footnoting procedures required for the longer expository research paper. Daily discussions will compare and contrast styles, use of literary devices, points of view, as well as political, social and philosophical issues.
Reading List: Some of the following: 50 Great Short Stories, The Gold Bug, The Hobbit, The Old Man and the Sea, Of Mice and Men, The Pearl, The Good Earth, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, The Outsiders, Princess Bride, House on Mango Street, Catcher in the Rye, Sula, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Be True to Your School, The Alchemist, A Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man, Tale of Two Cities, Alice in Wonderland, Walkabout, The Pearl, So Long a Letter, Animal Dreams, The Bridge of Luis Rey, The Golden ***, Black Elk Speaks, Medicine Woman, Beowulf, Moll Flanders, The Call of the Wild, Ender's Shadow and Three Bags Full.

Assignments: There will be reading assignments of about 50 pages per week. There will be a comprehension quiz covering reading assignments on a weekly basis (usually Frdiday). Creative writing assignments embedding vocabulary words may be done in class if students are efficient with time management, otherwise they will become homework due on Friday before quiz.