Capital High School
English 2 Honors
Syllabus: 2015-2016
Mrs. Davis
“Literature is where I go to explore the highest and lowest places in human society and in the human spirit, where I
hope to find not absolute truth but the truth of the tale, of the imagination and of the heart.” Salman Rushdie
Over the course of this year we will focus on the study of literature from all cultures. Although the literature is broken
down into several units, we will be using the above quote as an overarching idea that all of the essential questions relate
back to.

Warm-up Unit Language
Reading Writing Listening Speaking
o Essential Question: What kind of knowledge changes our lives?
o Summer Read: The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak
o Oral Assessment: Summer Reading Project Presentations
o Related Readings
 Holocaust Poetry “Shema” by Primo Levi, “Heritage” by Hayim Gouri, “Psalm” by Paul Celan,
“The Butterfly” by Pavel Friedman, “Could Have” by Wislawa Szymborska, “Written in Pencil in
the Sealed Railway-Car” by Dan Pagis, “First They Came for the Jews” by Martin Niemoller
 “The Tenth Man” by Ida Fink
 “Auschwitz Shifts From Memorializing to Teaching” by Michael Kimmelman from The New York
Times
o Film: One Survivor Remembers Documentary
o Significant Writings: Narrative Essay inspired by a theme from The Book Thief, Argumentative Research
paper on the Holocaust

Unit 1 Cultural Conversations
o Essential Question: How do cultural experiences shape, impact, or influence our identity and
perceptions?
o Related Readings:
 “What is Cultural Identity?”
 “Ethnic Hash” by Patricia Williams
 “Legal Alien” by Pat Mora
 “By Any Other Name” by Santha Rama Rau
 “When Worlds Collide” by Pico Iyers
 “My Mother Pieced Quilts” by Teresa Palomo Acosta
 “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker
 “Two Ways to Belong to America” by Bharati Mukherjee
 “An Indian Father’s Plea” by Robert Lake
o Classroom Novel: The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
o Film: The Joy Luck Club – Directed by Wayne Wang
o Literature Circle: The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros or I Heard the Owl Call My Name by
Margaret Craven
o Significant Writings: Personal Narrative Essay reflecting on Cultural Identity, Argumentative Essay on
Cultural Influence

Unit 2 Cultural Perspectives
o Essential Questions: How can cultural experiences and perspectives be conveyed through memorable
narratives? What issues resonate across cultures?
o Related Readings:
 “Where I’m From” by George Ella Lyon
 Excerpt from Funny in Farsi by Firoozeh Dumas
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 Excerpt from Kaffir Boy by Mark Mathabane
 “Pick One” by David Matthews
 “If You Are What You Eat, Then What Am I?” by Geeta Kothari
 “Woman with Kite” by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
 “Grape Sherbert” by Rita Dove
 Excerpt from “The Hunger of Memory” by Richard Rodriguez
 “Thanksgiving: A Personal History” by Jennifer New
Classroom Novel: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Film: To Kill a Mockingbird – Directed by Robert Mulligan
Literature Circle: The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd or The Life of Pi by Yann Martel
 “Time to Assert American Values” The New York Times
 “Rough Justice” by Alejandro Reys
 Excerpt from “On Civil Disobedience” by Mohandas K. Gandhi
 “On Surrender at Bear Paw Mountain, 1877” by Chief Joseph
 “On Women’s Right to Vote” by Susan B. Anthony
 “Declaration of the Rights of the Child”
 “School’s Out for Summer” by Anna Quindlen
 “One Word of Truth” by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
 Excerpt from “Hope, Despair, and Memory” Elie Wiesel
Significant Writings: Narrative Essay on a story relating Cultural Perspective, Argumentative Essay on an
Issue Across Cultures

Unit 3 Cultures in Conflict
o Essential Question: How might a culture change when it encounters new ideas and members?
o Related Readings:
 “Prayer to the Masks” by Leopold Sedar Senghor
 “The Second Coming” by William Butler Yeats
o Classroom Novel: Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
o Literature Circle: The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver or The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
o Oral Assessments: Group Research and Presentation of Ibo Culture, Group Poetry Analysis
o Significant Writing: Informative Essay on Literary Analysis of Things Fall Apart

Unit 4 Dramatic Justice
o Essential Question:
o Related Readings
 From The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
 From The Tragedy of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare
 From Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
o Classroom Drama: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare
o Film: Much Ado About Nothing – Director Kenneth Branagh
o Literature Circle: A Separate Peace by Jonathan Knowles or Lord of the Flies by William Golding
o Oral Assessment: Oral Interpretation of a Monologue
o Significant Writing: Informative Essay on Literary Analysis of Much Ado About Nothing

Unit 5 Building Cultural Bridges-The Call to Act
o Essential Question: How do cultural differences contribute to global conflicts?
o Related Readings
 Song “I Need to Wake Up” by Melissa Etheridge
o Significant Writing: Argumentative Research Paper on a Current Controversial Issue
o Oral Assessment: Oral Prezi Presentation of Argumentative Research Paper