English I Pre-AP

Tentative Syllabus*

2007-2008

Pre AP ENGLISH I

 

First Semester

 

Novel                          Lord of the Flies

                                  Fahrenheit 451

Short Story               “Utterly Perfect Murder”

Nonfiction                 “Life without Go Go Boots”

                                 “I Have a Dream”   “Letter from the Birmingham Jail”

Poetry                      “The Tyger  “The Road Not Taken”   “Fire and Ice” “Ecclesiastes 3”

                                   “There Will Come Soft Rains”  “Passage”

                                    “The Horses”   “All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace”

                                 Ithaka   “Siren Song”  “Penelope”   “An Ancient Gesture”

Epic                          Odyssey

 

First Nine Weeks- Laying the Foundation

 

Week One:   

Intro to course and expectations

Introduction to denotation, connotation, diction, tone

Discuss summer assignment-dialectical journals and character

Week Two

Putting It All Together-Laying the Foundation tone lesson

Annotate diction; write tone sentences

Assign diction tables

Close reading-compare and contrast excerpts (Piggy and Simon)

Compose original tone sentences

Week Three

Intro a-i-q-d-c  and timed writing expectations and notes

Write TAKS short responses re: character

Intro literary terms and elements—litotes, juxtaposition, metaphor, simile, symbol, irony,

Intro court trial expectations

Grammar-prepositional phrases; find examples in  novel; write prep poetry

Week Four

Mock trial-use character to defend position

Intro allusions

Intro MLA documentation

Grammar-appositives

Week Five

Intro three levels of reading

Discuss symbol and theme; develop theme statements and questions

 “Life without Go Go Boots  Taks responses and author’s purpose

Close reading-“Utterly Perfect Murder”

Poetry connections

Week Six-Nine

Allusion reports

Annotate Fahrenheit Part One for character and tone

Discuss figurative language

Literary analysis journals over each section

Character analysis journal-Montag

Analyze allusions from novel

Inner/Outer Circle discsussion

Discuss historical context and compare/contrast contemporary events

Analyze poetry related to novel (see above); identify tone shift; discuss theme; analyze syntax

Close Reading poetry test

 

Second Nine Weeks

Analyzing Rhetoric/The Epic

 

Week One

Intro Thesis statements, sentence variation

Timed Writing- Character analysis or poetry analysis

Peer editing and revision

Weeks Two-Four

Literary terms-paradox, oxymoron, conceit

Intro Rhetorical devices- ethos, pathos logos

                                        Parallelism, antithesis, antimetabole, anaphora

Discuss logical fallacies in editorials, letters to editor, cartoons, ads

Analysis of rhetorical devices in speeches

Composition-response letter to editorials

Compose parallel character sentences and paragraphs

Identify all devices and patterns in letters, speeches

Weeks Five-Nine

Into archetypes and hero journey

Literary terms-hubris, hamartia, foil, epic, epic simile, epithet

Grammar-verbals

Read and annotate Odyssey Book Nine

Discuss hubris and link to Odysseus

Close Reading - Odyssey

Assign study groups for book presentations

Composition-Original Poetry  

Recite “Invocation to the Muse”

Research and report on assigned myths-include MLA documentation

Link archetypes and hero journey to epic

TPCASTT-poetry related to Odyssey

Discuss AP Lit 2000 Question – compare Siren episode and “Siren Song”; compose thesis

 

 

 

Second Semester

(tentative)

 

Novel                          Excerpts House on Mango Street

                                    Excerpts Angela’s Ashes

Short Story                  “Osage Orange Tree”   “The Bass, the River, and Sheila Mant

                                    “American History”   “The Scarlet Ibis”

Drama                         Oedipus Rex

                                    Romeo and Juliet

Nonfiction                     excerpts from Lives of a Cell

                                    Night by Elie Wiesel

                                    “New Directions”

                                     various Annie Dillard

Poetry                         “Root Cellar”    “Young”   “Hanging Fire”

                                    “The Seven Ages of Man”

 

 

 

ONGOING:    Vocabulary, grammar, revision techniques, daily journal responses to newspaper articles, poetry, life connections, etc.