American Literature
| Level: | 9th-12th grade |
| Pre-requisite: | General knowledge of US History is recommended. Alternatively, students may elect to take the American History class immediately preceding this literature class on the schedule.
*Students will need to read The Adventures of Tom Sawyer during the summer or before November. |
| Credit: | 1 high school English credit |
| Class limit: | 10 students |
| Class minimum: | 4 students |
| Price: | $35.50 per 2 hour class
16 classes/semester = $568/semester for a total of $1,136 per year |
| Terms:
Note: This is a two-semester class |
Payable in 9 monthly payments or 2 semester payments |
| Schedule: | Tuesdays, 1:30-3:30 P.M. |
| Description: | American Literature: To see America’s history through her literary classics and respond in oral and written form. We will cover short stories, poetry, prose, and novels from each major American time period and literary movement. The writing assignments will include literary analysis essays, creative writing projects, and a position/research paper. I will also teach the literary analysis method laid out by Lesha Myers in the IEW text, Windows to the World: An Introduction to Literary Analysis |
| Honors Option: | Students who pursue the literature Honors option will read an additional novel and write an accompanying literary analysis essay per semester. The Honors student’s level of completed work must be on a high level of rhetoric (reasoning and writing). |
| Novels: | I have purposely avoided the most controversial novels read by high school students in literature classes. Instead I have chosen those rich in examples and non-examples from which students can learn. Our dialogues will include literary criticism and character evaluation based on the precepts of God’s word and how reading quality literature can help a Christian’s thought and walk.
(Required novels provided by Powers Classical School.) The Scarlet Letter by Hawthorne The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Twain *Students will need to read The Adventures of Tom Sawyer during the summer or before November. The Call of the Wild by London Our Town by Wilder The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald To Kill a Mockingbird by Lee The Giver by Lowry Optional Honors novels/plays: A Raisin in the Sun by Hansberry 1984 by Orwell Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography Of Mice and Men by Steinbeck The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway The Pearl by Steinbeck (For 9th graders only) |
Texts to be Used
(Good used copies will be supplied by Powers Classical School, and are to be returned at the end of the school year.)
