This course is based on a reading and writing program designed to broaden high school students’ literary background. This course is designed as a survey course – which means it covers many important works, both large and small, from cultural viewpoints throughout history. Authors that may possibly be studied include Geoffrey Chaucer, Joseph Conrad, Charles Dickens, William Faulkner, Nathaniel Hawthorne, H.P. Lovecraft, Edgar Allan Poe, Mary Shelly, and others (tbd). Students read widely and deeply and are asked to analyze and write about how the genres relate to each other.
Major concepts and primary focus:
Major concepts and primary focus:
- Focus on organization and content
- Word choice, syntax, and style
- Understand and use essay format, including movement beyond the 5-paragraph essay
- Conventions of Standard English and usage
- Use a variety of appropriate transitions to clarify relationships, connect ideas and claims, and signal time shifts.
- Increase writing fluency through journals
- Writing error analysis (run-ons, comma errors, verb tense errors, parallelism)
- Develop vocabulary through word association and context
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