Syracuse University Academy at Murry Bergtraum HS

Overview of the English Curriculum

 Fall 2013-Spring 2014: Freshmen English Curriculum: Genre Studies

Instructor: B. D’Amato

Course Descriptions: In the 9^th grade English curriculum, we will focus on the studies of various literary genres, grammar and rudimentary writing skills as well as the POWER process. Students will build their meta cognitive skills, acquire social and historical contexts, elevate the academic vocabulary level and gain critical views and sharp awareness of “reading” the mass media. Each semester, students will take two free theater trips – one at Primary Stages and the other at the Lincoln Center Theater. Not only will students be exposed to the rich theatrical experiences, they will also have the opportunity to have direct dialogues with actors and directors. LCT will bring theater workshops directly to the school site and invite  experienced teaching artists to work with our students  in a classroom setting.  As Fine Arts will be infused into poetry reading, students will take a planned trip to an art museum as part of the poetry unit activities.

As part of the Language Arts curriculum, students will work on their speech and articulation. In April of each year, during the National Poetry month, students will have their own “Moth” recital- performing story-telling and dramatic reading of poetry.

As modeling is one of the best ways of teaching and learning, after the study of each genre, students will create their own work by emulating the style, language or genre of model work. As results, students will have their own online literary magazine where selected exemplary student works will be published. Each year, students will have the opportunity to send their work to the Scholastic writing contest.

As writing is more a process rather than a “product”, students will learn and engage in peer-editing, self-editing, revision before publishing.  Grammar skills will be built into each unit study.

Academic Integrity & Plagiarism
At Syracuse University Academy, academic integrity is expected of every student in all endeavors.. Cheating in any form is not tolerated, nor is assisting another person to cheat. The submission of any work by a student is taken as a guarantee that the thoughts and expressions in it are the student’s own, except when properly credited to another. In cases where academic dishonesty is detected ,you may be subject to a failing grade for the project.

Grading Policies

 A=96-100  A-=92-95  B+=88-91 B=84-87  B-=80-83
C+=76-79     C=72-75    C-=68-71  D=60-67  F=59

• Homework, projects  & assessments 60%
• Class work, participation and preparation & readiness 30%
• Attendance and conduct 10%

 

 Course Calendar

Fall 2013

Unit 1: Vignettes, Short Stories and Novel Excerpts (Sept.9-Oct 11 Six weeks): Relationship between Man and Nature

Texts: Excerpts of Eudora Welt’s novel, My Antonia by Willa Cather, and excerpts of Hemingway’s Old Man and the Sea, “Scandal in Bohemia” by Doyle and “St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves” by Russell, “Every Little Hurricane” by Alexie

Week 1: Summer reading discussion, Cornell note-taking, syllabus review, diagnostic assessment,

“Solitude” by Henry Davis Thoreau (http://thoreau.eserver.org/walden05.html)

Week 2:   Excerpts of My Antonia by Willa Cather ,excerpts of Hemingway’s Old Man and the Sea

Week 3:    Auden, “Musee des Beaux Arts” ( poem); Lawrence, “Snake” ( poem) Bishop, “The Fish” ( poem), “Daffodil” by William Wordsworth

                        “St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves” by Russell

Week 4: “St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves” by Russell

Week 5: “St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves” by Russell, “Every Little Hurricane” by Alexie

Week 6: Writing Workshops

Assessment: Well-developed paragraphs of text-based responses, analysis and reflection,  and 3  vignettes on observations of nature, one essay on the relationship between man and nature

Unit 2: Drama (Oct.15 -Nov.22  six weeks): The Study of  Shakespeare’s Complex Characters

Text: Macbeth by Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare , ted talks (http://blog.ted.com/2009/03/08/4_great_talks_f/)

Week 1-Week 3:  Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare

Week 4-5: Excerpts from Macbeth by Shakespeare

Week 6: Writing Workshop

Assessment: Well-developed paragraphs of responses, analysis and reflection, Essays, a monologue or a one act play

 Unit 3: Creative Non-Fiction ( Nov 25-Jan. 8. Five Weeks) Data, Perspectives and Reality

Texts: Memoirs of a Catholic Girlhood by McCarthy, excerpts of a biography Mornings on Horseback by McCollough and essays- Levitt, “What Do Sumo Wrestlers and Schoolteachers Have In Common?”[4] Lessing, “To Room 19” ; Cullen, “The Depressive and the Psychopath” Editorial; Emerson, “Self Reliance” great Conversation Documents: FDR; Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet, Letters 1, 4, 7-8 ; White, “Death of a Pig”

Week 1: Memoirs of a Catholic Girlhood by McCarthy

Week 2: excerpts of a biography Mornings on Horseback by McCollough

Week 3: Levitt, “What Do Sumo Wrestlers and Schoolteachers Have In Common?”[5] Lessing, “To Room 19”

Week 4: Cullen, “The Depressive and the Psychopath” Editorial; Emerson, “Self Reliance” , Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet , great Conversation Documents: FDR

Week 5: Writing Workshops

Assessment: Well-developed paragraphs of responses, analysis and reflection,  a well-crafted personal essay

Unit 4: Presentation– performing a dramatic reading of a creative work from the portfolio of a personal story, a monologue or vignette ( Jan. 8- Jan. 17 2014  One and Half weeks)

Texts: Audio and video clips from Moth( art of story-telling), Ted talk,

3 days: Moth, Ted Talk

2 days: preparation

3 days:  presentation

Assessment: Performance

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Spring 2014

Unit 5: Media Study ( Feb. 1, 2014-March 7 Four weeks) Media and Ideology

Texts: Cartoons from The New Yorker magazine online, commercial ads, photographs, Rereading America

Week 1: understanding semiotics, cultural paradigm, reading cartoons and ads

Week2: Rereading America

Week 3: Rereading America

Week 4: working on creating a personal media project using cartoons or photos

Assessment: Media Analysis essay and an original group of photos documenting or commenting on a particular American Culture

Unit 6: Poetry Unit ( trip to an Art Museum)( March 10-March 28, 2014 Three weeks) Authors’ Views and Diction

Texts:

• Introduction by Billy Collins
• Lift Every Voice and Sing” by J.W. Johnson
•  Yet Do I Marvel by Countee Cullen
• We grow accustomed to the Dark – by Emily Dickinson
• Loveliest of trees, the cherry now…”by A.E. Housman
• ·         Musee des Beaux Arts by W.H. Auden
• Landscape with the Fall of Icarus by William Carlos Williams
• Raven by Edgar Allen Poe
• Shelley, Percy Bysshe “Ozymandias
• Pound, “The River-Merchant’s Wife: A Letter”
• Bishop, “One Art,” ” In the Waiting Room”, “The Fish”
• Lawrence, “Snake”
• Neruda, “You’re the Result of Yourself”

Week 1: elements of poetry, “Introduction” by Billy Collins; Lift Every Voice and Sing” by J.W. Johnson; types of poetry- Yet Do I Marvel by Countee Cullen(sonnet); We grow accustomed to the Dark”(free verse) – by Emily Dickinson ; Bishop, “One Art,”( villanelle) ” In the Waiting Room”, “The Fish”

Weeks 2-3: sources/ contents of poetry & author study-“Loveliest of trees, the cherry now…”by A.E. Housman , Musee des Beaux Arts by W.H. Auden ;”Landscape with the Fall of Icarus” by William Carlos Williams, “Anna Bell Lee” by Edgar Allen Poe ,Shelley, Percy Bysshe “Ozymandias”, Pound, “The River-Merchant’s Wife: A Letter”, Lawrence, “Snake”

Week 5: writing about poetry, creating an original poem, preparation to recite the poem

Assessment: Well-developed paragraphs of responses, analysis and reflection and an original poem; poem recitation

Unit 7: Creative Non Fiction –Essays (March 31-April 11, 2014  Two Weeks) Self-Reliance

Texts: Cullen, “The Depressive and the Psychopath”[6] Editorial, White, “Death of a Pig” (essay), Lessing, “To Room 19” (essay), Emerson, “Self Reliance” (essay), Great Conversation Documents: FDR[7] (essay), other argumentative essays

Week 1: Identifying and developing thesis of an essay: White, “Death of a Pig” (essay), To Room 19” (essay), Emerson, “Self Reliance”

Week 2: Using rhetorical devices such as ethos, pathos, logos- Cullen, “The Depressive and the Psychopath”[8] Editorial, Great Conversation Documents: FDR[9] (essay)

Assessment: annotations of articles and a well-developed argument essay

Unit 8: Novel (April 23 –May 30 Five weeks)  Change

Text: Mitchell, Black Swan Green (coming of age novel), Lord of the Flies, Kafka, Metamorphosis

Week 1: Elements of novel- Black Swan Green (coming of age novel)

Week 2: Lord of the Flies,

Week 3: Lord of the Flies,

Week 4: Kafka, Metamorphosis

Week 5: Writing a literary essay

Assessment: Well-developed paragraphs of responses, analysis and reflection and a literary analysis essay

Unit 9: PACCS Exam Review (June 2- June 16 Two Weeks): Final Assessment, group project presentation

Week1: preparing for the presentation of the final project

Week 2: Project Presentation, Portfolio Display

Assessment: Portfolio and oral presentation, group presentation