Syllabus

Mrs. Carcelli:  

Junior American Literature

COURSE DESCRIPTION AND CONTENT COVERED:

This course is designed to develop an appreciation and understanding of predominately American Literature as it has progressed from colonial times.  During the course of the year, we will look at famous authors and works, as well as integrate film, extensive writing, and oral communication skills into our classroom endeavors.  In addition to our textbook, we will also explore dramas, poetry, short stories, and novels by selected authors that coincide with the topics we will study.

Junior year is also the year of The Argument Research Project.  Each student will produce one major project that has been thoroughly researched, documented, and composed on some aspect of American culture and/or literature.  This assignment will culminate with an oral presentation of your findings.

To ensure success in this course, first - - - be ready to write.  We will focus on single-paragraph short essays and lengthier papers.  From the beginning, we will work extensively with structure, organization, sophisticated language, varied sentences, and strong mechanics.  Additionally, it will be imperative for you to keep a notebook of everything we do in this class.  This includes copies of papers you write, notes on literature, any handouts, etc.  All of your hard work will build a fairly lengthy portfolio that, believe it or not, will assist you in both my class as well as in future coursework.  More importantly, skills acquisition is an ongoing process which should not be discarded after initial learning.  If you have questions about previously covered skills or content, it is your responsibility to go back and try to discover the answers for yourself.  So…hold your notebook sacred - and utilize it!!

Finally, the use of technology will be an integral component to this course.  You will submit drafts of papers through Google Classroom for review, we will employ a class blog for discussion and discovery purposes, and I will use Classroom for reminders, announcements, and the occasional deep thought. 

For a PDF of the FULL Syllabus, please access this link:

Education hopes to

eradicate ignorance, 

foster understanding, 

and strengthen 

the human condition.