SPERDUTO--SENIORS - SYLLABUS - CONTEMPORARY WORLD LITERATURE

VOCABULARY:

Seniors will be exposed to several units (approximately 12) of new vocabulary in order to improve their writing/speaking/presentation skills.  

LITERATUARE:

Hamlet

The Kite Runner/The Life of Pi

Woman Warrior

Water for Elephants

Various contemporary media clips for discussion/presentation/written assignments

Various films and clips as literature for written assignments

The first semester will cover the personal narrative and Shakespeare's Hamlet.  

The second semester will delve into contemporary film and media with a breif history of film emphasizing the power of contemporary media

SENIORS WILL:  

Write and read in concert--narrative, literary analysis and Hamlet.  Minimum essay writing for seniors:  Narrative, argumentative, literary analysis, informational in MLA format.

Perform the plan Hamlet in class and write a literarary analysis based on literary terms/devices (plot, theme, syntax, diction, setting, characdter, symbols, motifs, figurative languate etc).

SENIORS WILL:

Answer essential questions:

1.  How do authors artfully manipulate language to convey ideas and opinions.

2.  What does the literature reveal about the culture that creates it?

3.  How do I use literary tools to effectively convey my ideas?

4.  How do I use my writing to argue, persuade, inform, and explore?

SENIORS WILL:

Determine two or more themes or central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to produce a complex account; provide an objective summary of the text (11-12, RL.2)

Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings.

Analyze how an author's choices concerning how to structure specific parts of a text (e. g., the choice of where to begin or end a s tory, the choice to provide a comedic or tragic resolution) contribute to its overall structure and meaning as well as its aesthetic impact.  

Analyze multiple interpretations of a story, drama, or poem(e.g., recorded or live production of a play or recorded novel or poetry); evaluating how each version interprets the source text (include at least one play by Shakespeare).

HOW WILL ALL THIS BE ASSESSED?

1.  Class discussion

2.  Informal and formal assessments

3.  Performance-play

4.  Terms/concepts quizzes

5.  Regular reading comprehension quizzes

6.  Graphic organizer for mapping conflicts

7.  Graphic organizers for character development

8.  Literary analysis essay

9.  Option - Shakespeare competition (February).

10. Regular vocabulary introduction and quizzing in writing/standard testing.