Course Syllabus
Sophomore English Honors: British Literature and the Portrayal of Good and Evil in the Western World:
This is a reading- and writing-intensive course in which students sharpen their critical and analytical reading, writing, speaking, and thinking skills through an exploration of classic British texts from the Saxon era to the late 20th/ early 21st Century. Although this honors course shares some texts and skill development activities with Sophomore English, the difficulty of the reading materials and topics covered, the amount of homework assigned, and the expectations as to the quality of that work becomes significantly more challenging as the year continues. Throughout the course, students receive extensive practice in the analysis and interpretation of literary elements, passages, and philosophical ideas. Ideas that we explore will include the nature of good and evil, the role of society in shaping the portrayal of individual characters, and how authors communicate with their readers through a text. Attention is also given to developing vocabulary, practicing grammar, and enhancing students’ persuasive writing and speaking abilities. Additionally, the course is designed to increase reading confidence and enjoyment.
Students read full-text versions or excerpts from works that may include Beowulf, The Lion in Winter, The Tragedy of Richard III, The Canterbury Tales, Frankenstein, Heart of Darkness, The Man Who Would Be King, Children of Men, and others.
OBJECTIVES:
*Students will improve in their ability to analyze texts beyond the literal and surface levels.
*Students will gain an understanding of and be able to identify and use multiple literary elements.
*Students will gain confidence in working with a text that contains high level vocabulary, complex sentence structure, and older English
*Students will continue to develop their own vocabulary.
*Students will continue to develop their ability to give oral presentations.
*Students will enhance their ability to take on other points of view and argue/communicate from those different perspectives
*Students will enhance their ability to write persuasively and edit their own/ other people's work
*Students will continue to practice research skills.
*Students will develop their ability to convey material to an audience in multiple creative ways, as well as gain an understanding of how authors and artists throughout the centuries have done that for them.
*Students will gain an overview of the history of British Literature and find the connections between it and our culture today.
* Students will stretch creatively, developing their own original takes on story telling through art and film creation.
Grading in this class will be based on homework assignments, quizzes, presentations, projects and in class work. Grades will be based on a point system with assignments be assigned 50, 100,200, 300, or 400 points each based on the difficulty of and amount of time required for each assignment.
At the end of the year, there will a final exam that will include a written in class portion + cumulative project and presentation on the representation of Good Vs Evil in British Literature that will count for 20% of the overall course grade. Students will get details about his project and begin preparing for it during the 4th quarter.
Students must maintain an overall year average of an 80 or better to take AP Lit next year, if they wish to do so.
Late policy: students may turn in one HW assignment for the course one class late without penalty for any reason.
After that, an assignment is -5 pts off a class for one week of classes (3 class periods). Late work turned more than one week late will not receive credit, unless there is a significant reason that has been approved by the teacher.
Plagiarism/AI Policy: Submitting someone else’s work as your own, including work found on the web or created with AI tools, without giving proper citation /credit and without getting prior permission from Miss McCormick will NEVER be acceptable and will result in strong consequences. More details on this policy will be shared in class on and on our class website.