Room B 235

sparkska@rss.k12.nc.us

(704) 855-7297 Ext. 1135

 

TEXTS: The British Tradition, Prentice Hall Literature; Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales; Shakespeare, Macbeth and Hamlet, Prince of Denmark; Shelley, Frankenstein; Bronte, Wuthering Heights; Orwell, 1984

 

COURSE DESCRIPTION: As English IV is intended to provide the student with a survey of British literature, we will read works from each of the main time periods in British literature.  The student will analyze texts from multiple points of view and examine complex issues.  Our writing assignments will cover the various modes of writing in order to prepare students thoroughly for college writing.  Regular writing assignments will allow students to develop their writing skills to become more sophisticated, confident writers.  

 

CLASS POLICIES:

 

Papers- All out-of-class work must be typed in 12-point font with one inch margins.  Papers are due at the beginning of class.  Please print and staple before the assignment is due.  If printing at home is a problem, papers can be emailed to me at sparkska@rss.k12.nc.us l, but I should have them in my email box in time for class.  

 

HOMEWORK POLICY/LATE WORK

 

All work is expected to be turned in or read by the assigned date.  To complete a reading assignment, you should have read carefully and looked up any words you don’t know.  These words are fair game for quizzes.  Furthermore, you should have something intelligent to say or ask about the reading.  Late work will NOT be accepted unless you were physically absent from class.  If you have been absent from school, you get a day extension for each day you were out; however, this only applies to excused absences.  Skipping doesn’t get you an extension! 

 

 

PLAGIARISM AND CHEATING

 

Don’t do either!  I will be glad to help you avoid plagiarism by properly documenting sources.  Cheating makes me angry and will earn you a zero.  Do your own work or be adult enough to accept the grade you earn.  Plagiarism doesn’t just mean copying a classmate’s work.  This also means copying and pasting papers that you are turning in as your own work. If you are assigned to write an essay, you should actually write the essay in your own words, using books and Internet sources as guides, not as the work itself. 

 

READINGS FOR ENGLISH IV

 

Beowulf/King Arthur/Sir Gawain and the Green Knight 

 

Focus: How are societal values demonstrated in its choice of heroes? 

 

Canterbury Tales- All students will read Prologue, Wife of Bath’s Tale, and The Pardoner’s Tale.  Students will then select two tales to read independently.  Based on their readings, they will generate their own essential questions to guide their research of the middle Ages.  Working in pairs the students will research 2-4 good questions and present their findings to the class.  Each pair will turn in an annotated bibliography of the sources used.  

 

Focus: How do political forces shape social, personal, and even spiritual lives? 

 

Macbeth and Hamlet- selection from Aristotle’s Poetics.  

 

Focus: Ben Jonson said of Shakespeare, “He was not of an age, but for all time!”  How are his works timeless?  

 

Renaissance Poetry- selections from text

 

Focus: How does a focus on death affect how one lives? 

 

Age of Reason- Gulliver’s Travels, Rape of the Lock, and Modest Proposal.  

 

Focus: Our writers satirize 18th century life in Britain, what elements of modern life are worth of satire?

 

Romantic Period- Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Shelley, Byron, Keats 

(from text) and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.  

 

Focus: What messages could modern American society take from the works of the Romantic Period?  

 

Victorian Period- Wuthering Heights

 

Focus: Free Will or determinism?  Explain how Heathcliff is to blame for his own downfall or explain how his downfall is caused by forces beyond his control.

 

Modern Period- 1984

 

Focus: In what ways was Orwell a prophet?  

 

Note: This syllabus is based upon one created by Melissa O. Hager.