Spring Semester Syllabus
January: Civil Disobedience?
We will be reading Elie Wiesel’s Night, and Henry David Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience.”
Our writing prompts will include writing a letter to our local congressman, in-class writing assignments, and a short essay on the following prompt: Choose an ethnic, religious, or cultural group and investigate how members of this community have been portrayed in movies or popular culture, both in the past and present. In an essay, discuss the ways in which media images and popular culture reinforce or challenge stereotypes.
We will continue working on grammar and vocabulary, but expect a little more work in this area than the first semester. We will be fine tuning our mechanics to help polish our writing skills. In January, our main focus will be on eliminating run-ons, fragments, and comma splices. There will be a short quiz at the end of the month covering this.
The topic for your final research paper will be due by the last week of class. Since you will write an 8-page paper on this topic, I suggest you choose a topic you are very interested in. What do you learn about in your free time? Do you think Minecraft has educational benefits? Are you interested in arachnids? A different culture? Maybe you love soccer and want to discuss its history or impact on the developing world. Would you like to learn more about Tolkien or Martin Luther King, Jr, or any of our other writers? Are there humanitarian or environmental causes or civil rights you are interested in protecting today? Do you think social media is beneficial or harmful? Is there a historical event or artist that interests you? There really is no limit to your options, but choose carefully. You want to enjoy your research. If you are stuck, come talk to me. We can brainstorm together.
February: Civil Rights?
Our texts this month will include The Birminghams go to Alabama, music by Billie Holiday, various articles on Flint, Michigan, and MLK’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”
Our writing prompt in class will be a deep rhetorical analysis of “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.” This assignment will be 2-3 pages in length. We will also have weekly in-class writing assignments.
Our grammar focus this month will focus on sentence variations, such as complex, simple, compound, and compound-complex sentences. Get ready to perfect the use of the semi-colon and commas!
By the end of this month, you will need an outline prepared for your final research paper along with three sources that you will use.
March: Fake News and Digital Literacy
We will be reading Fahrenheit 451 this month along with several news articles to help us learn to discern truth in our news sources.
Our writing prompts will primarily focus on in-class assignments. Your outside writing will focus on your research paper. Each week, you will bring me a sample paragraph that will be included in your research paper and a rough draft showing your progress.
This month’s grammar focus will be on transitions.
April: Escape from Reality—Maybe
This month our text will be The Hobbit! We will also read some of Tolkien’s personal letters to get a better understanding of his purpose and views.
We will have weekly in-class writing assignments over our readings. Remember, these exercises help us to construct arguments on the fly and read with a purpose. As you practice these, you will not only write better, you will write faster! This will be a huge benefit to those of you heading off to college! We will also learn to write a resume.
Our grammar focus will be on passive vs active voice and organization.
By the end of this month, you should have most of your research paper written. Each week, I will assign 1-2 paragraphs for you to work on. These added to last month’s writing assignments should have you nearly finished. We will look over your draft the end of the month and have an in-class workshop for the final drafts.
May: Homestretch
This month, you get to choose our readings! We will vote on this in March.
Your writing assignment is all focused on your final research paper. When it is turned in, you will have an outline, a minimum of 8 pages in MLA format, and an additional page for the works cited. This means that you will have a minimum of ten pages total. You will also produce a PowerPoint presentation and email me a copy. You will each give a short 3-5 minute presentation on your topic. Your final research paper is due May 9th. We will not meet for class May 16 and 23, since I will be taking a class on WWII in Normandy, France. I will schedule a make-up class on another available day, which we will discuss later. On May 30th, will celebrate the end of our school year with a potluck, play some of our favorite games, and have an open house for our parents to come in and showcase our work over the year. I will have your final essays graded and ready for you to pick up.
