Syllabus

Mrs. Carcelli:  Junior Honors American Literature

This course is designed to develop an appreciation and understanding of 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 or world culture that could benefit from education or collective action.  This assignment will culminate with an oral presentation of your findings.

         

To ensure success in this course, it will be imperative for you to keep a physical and electronic 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 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.  If this technology aspect will be difficult for you due to lack of access, please let me know ASAP so that we can pursue other avenues.

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

Education hopes to

eradicate ignorance, 

foster understanding, 

and strengthen 

the human condition.