Project Description

American Literature

This course introduces students to the most famous American authors from Anne Bradstreet in the Puritan period to Anne Tyler in the Post Modern.  This class explores literature from the Native Americans to the Post Modern Period.  The class will learn to discover elements of style as well as recurring themes in American literature.  Activities include discussion, imitation, analysis, essays, oral presentations, projects, and tests.  Students will read about 75 pages per week and generally have 1 written assignment per week.

Prerequisite: 10th – 12th Grade Class, completion of Cornerstone Elements of Composition & Literature or written work submission and permission from instructor

Texts:  Prentice Hall Literature:  American Experience ISBN:  0-13-698614-5
             American Literature Handbook, by Cindy Herndon  (I will order a copy for each student enrolled to be distributed at the Parent Meeting the week prior to the first day of class.  The price is determined by Office Depot at the time of copying.  I will send out the price around the first of August.  Estimated cost is $20)
                                *Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne
                                *Adventures of Huck Finn, Mark Twain
                                *Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald
                                *Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway
                                *These books are to be read over the summer for plot.  Students should make a character list while reading the book with motes as to who each character is. We will reread these books together in class for theme, symbols, and style.

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