English -
Great Books (Advanced)
Back to US
English Department Home
Back to
Academic Departments Home
Back to Academic Information
Home
Specific Goals & Assignments:
Great Books (Advanced) [Top of the
Page]
Admission to the advanced senior elective
depends upon grades earned in the eleventh grade, a
teacher’s recommendation, and writing samples. Students
planning to take the Advanced Placement examination in
English Literature and Composition will, in most cases, sign
up for this class. Great Books aims to expose
students to a few of the masterworks in Western comparative
literature and to equip students for more advanced literary
study by making them aware of the standard divisions in
literary history, of the traditional characteristics of
enduring literary genres, and of contemporary literary
theories.
|
[Top of the Page] |
|
READING
|
SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIALS
|
VOCABULARY
|
|
Three to five books are generally chosen
from this list each year.
Additional books will be required.
Blindness
Hamlet
Dante's Inferno
Mrs. Dalloway
Wuthering Heights
White Noise
"Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead"
|
Assorted short
stories, essays, poems, and films.
|
Students are responsible for
words from Vocabulary from Classic Roots E ; students take
cumulative quizzes throughout the year. |
|
[Top of the Page] |
|
LITERARY COMPREHENSION
|
WRITING/MECHANICS
|
STUDY SKILLS
|
|
Close reading is a primary goal,
pursued not only because the AP examinations in English
absolutely require close reading but also because advanced
literary discussion in any setting requires it. In
discussions and in their written work, students are sent
back to the text until they have explored all of its nuances
and all of its complexity. There is a considerable amount
of reading, and students have to do almost all of it on
their time.
Literary goals for this class reflect its dual identity:
it is in some ways tied to an AP examination, but it also
emulates a foundation college course in literature.
Students are encouraged to note the difference between a
personal response to a work of literature and a critical
analysis of literature; they are asked for both and need to
understand how the two can be combined. Exposure to literary
theories (Marxist, New Historical, Feminist, and so on)
gives students an enlarged sense of critical possibilities;
lessons in the history of literature and the history of
ideas help students to see historical contexts; discussion
of literary genres and their mutations helps students to
understand the role of genre in the past and in the present. |
Students pursue
- analytical writing with an incisive thesis and textual
evidence. Assigned essays include old AP questions,
comparison and contrast, definition of critical methods,
etc.
- personal writing: the college application essay which
combines analysis and personal reflection
Students will correct mechanics mistakes and learn in the
process how to spot their own chronic errors. Emphasis
is placed on
other rules of punctuation where needed. |
Students will read closely,
highlighting, marking, and writing margin notes in all of
their texts. |
|
[Top of the Page] |
|
INTEGRATED HUMANITIES
|
TECHNOLOGY
|
RESEARCH
|
|
There are occasional forays into
history or art in order to give students a richer
understanding of the characteristics of different literary
periods and styles. |
Students use the Internet for
research as the need arises.
Students maintain a portfolio of writing both electronically
and in hard copy. |
Students will do extensive
research on a topic of their choosing. Students will
- review guidelines to avoid plagiarism
- evaluate validity of print and electronic sources
- practice note-taking skills
- review documentation techniques
- pose appropriate and effective thesis statements
- synthesize research from multiple sources
- incorporate quotations
- balance their ideas with those from published sources
- progress toward a meaningful conclusion
|
|
[Top of the Page] |
|
SPEAKING AND LISTENING
|
MEDIA LITERACY
|
|
All texts are discussed in
class, and students are expected to join critical
discussions in a way that furthers the understanding of the
entire group. Each student conducts a seminar at some point
in the year. The seminar subjects are classic English and
American poems; the student must be prepare the text, survey
critical materials relevant to the poem, and present it to
the class. |
Students will conduct
research using the Internet, differentiating between
notable sites and inferior sites. Students will study
the ways in which literature is portrayed using movies,
music and television. |
|
