English IV: 2331, Readings in
World Literature
Mrs. Buffy Rattan
e-mail: [email protected]
** In addition to the information provided here, students are required to read and abide by the policies in the
FHS Student Handbook**
Course Syllabus and Expectations
I.
Textbooks:
a. Alighieri, Dante. The Inferno. Trans. Mark Musa. Vol. 1. New York, NY: Penguin , 2003.
Print. The Divine Comedy.
b. Beah, Ishmael. A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier. New York: Farrar, Straus and
Giroux, 2007. Print.
c. O'BrienTim. The Things They Carried: A Work of Fiction. Boston: Houghton Mifflin
Harcourt, 2009. Print
d. You can buy or rent these books from area bookstores or order them from an online retailer. I have a
limited number of The Things They Carried and A Long Way Gone available for students to check out,
but you must see me as soon as possible as they will be checked out on a first come, first serve basis.
In addition, our reading list will include selections provided in school-purchased textbooks.
II.
Grading Policy:
A.
B.
C.
D.
III.
Essays are 40% of your overall grade. (responses, critiques, critical analysis essays, etc.).
Quiz grades are 20% of the overall grade and include pop quizzes.
Exams are 25% (We will have four major exams, including the final).
Daily work is 15% of your grade (class discussion, participation, homework).
Course Description and Objectives:
A. Prerequisites: ENGL 1301 and 1302. This course is a study of diverse works by writers from
various countries. Because I believe that our understanding of literature deepens
significantly when we examine it within its historical and cultural contexts, the course will
also include background material on the many social, technological, and cultural
transformations taking place throughout the world to which literary artists were responding
during their respective time periods. Please note: this is a college sophomore-level course,
so some readings contain adult language and subject matter. Students who are not
prepared for college-level content should think carefully before continuing with this course.
B. Upon completion of this course, English 2331 students should be able to
1. closely read and critically evaluate masterpieces of literature, taking time to
understand a work’s complexity, to absorb its richness of meaning, and to analyze
how that meaning is embodied in literary form;
2. understand and assess the distinguishing elements of non-fiction, fiction, poetry,
and drama, including structure, style, and themes as well as such elements as
figurative language, imagery, symbolism, and tone;
3. discuss analytically and in depth the characteristics of literature from various
counties;
4. write deliberately and thoughtfully about literature in a variety of modes in a way that
sequentially and cumulatively builds upon the writing skills developed in the writing
sequence;
5. understand and demonstrate personal and academic responsibility and integrity.
IV.
ASU Core Curriculum Objectives for Sophomore Literature
and Related Course Assessments:
Students in sophomore literature will practice the following core curriculum learning objectives in
critical thinking, communication, social responsibility, and personal responsibility. Students will
then demonstrate their capabilities in these objectives through quizzes, projects, written
analyses, reflections, or examinations.
A. Communications skills—to include effective written, oral, and visual communication.
Students will develop, interpret, and express ideas through effective written, oral and visual
communication
B. Critical thinking skills—to include creative thinking, innovation, inquiry, and analysis,
evaluation and synthesis of information. Students will gather, analyze, evaluate, and
synthesize information relevant to a question or issue by mastering a series of assigned
literary works in terms of generic conventions and content.
C. Social responsibility—to include intercultural competence, knowledge of civic
responsibility, and the ability to engage effectively in regional, national, and global
communities. Students will demonstrate ability to engage with locally, regionally, nationally,
or internationally known literary artists and the texts they create, and to reflect upon the
shared traditions of literary expression, the debates that help shape literature, and the
conflicts, cultural differences, and shared experiences.
D. Personal responsibility—to include the ability to connect choices, actions, and
consequences to ethical decision-making. Students will demonstrate the ability to evaluate
choices, actions, and consequences by identifying, analyzing, and evaluating ethical
decision-making in literary examples.
V.
Class Assignments:
A. General Note: Each assignment is a tool to reinforce skills and material taught in the
classroom. The amount of homework is carefully considered. Homework is not assigned
busy work, but rather it is assigned because of its vital importance to the learning process.
Therefore, students are expected to complete all assignments by the due date. Homework
will be posted at the beginning of class. Please note, assignments are subject to change if
the instructor deems it necessary.
B. Methods of Evaluation: In order to successfully achieve these objectives, students are
required to write frequently and rewrite frequently, both formal, extended analyses, and
shorter, in-class responses. Likewise, the instructor will offer on-going advice, before,
during, and after students write.
1. Therefore, among those elements that will receive particular attention in
students’ writing are the following emphases:
a. building a wider-ranging vocabulary, used appropriately and effectively;
b. practicing a variety of sentence structures, beginning with basic
coordination and subordination and including verbals and absolutes and other
more complex types of syntax;
c. employing logical organization made coherent with the techniques of
repetition, transitions, and emphasis;
d. balancing the general and the specific, with particular attention to
illustrative detail;
e. controlling tone, establishing and maintaining voice, and achieving emphasis
through diction, and sentence structure, all key rhetorical concerns;
f. making connections among their observations and from these connections
drawing inferences leading to appropriate conclusions about meaning.
2. As a prerequisite for this course, students should already understand and use
standard English grammar. This course should enhance student ability to use
grammatical conventions both appropriately and with sophistication as well as to
develop stylistic maturity in their own prose.
C. Due Dates and Late Penalties: This is a college sophomore level class, so shoddy or
inferior work is unacceptable. To avoid late penalties, submit your work when I request it in
class. I will consider essays that you do not have ready to submit at the time I request it in
class as one day late. You can submit essays up to three calendar days (not blue/gold
days) beyond their due date. However, I will deduct 15 points for each day that it remains
late. After three calendar days, you will forfeit all possible points for the assignment. Unless
I say otherwise, I will only accept printed essays handed to me in class. I will not accept
emailed essays. I will not accept daily assignments late. Make sure you turn these in on
the specified date and time.
D. Lost Work: You will need to devise a strategy for securely storing digital files. I highly
recommend that you incorporate a backup file system into your storage strategy. We all
know that hard drives can fail and flash drives can disappear. Backup all your work in
multiple locations. I will not accept technological breakdowns or lost files as valid excuses
for missing assignment deadlines.
VI.
Absentee Work:
A. Since students will know in advance when an essay or assignment is due and will have
ample time to complete it, the assignment MUST be turned in the date it is due. If a student
is absent the day an essay is due, for any reason, he or she needs to make sure his/her
paper is sent to school and handed to Mrs. Rattan. Late daily work will NOT be accepted
and will receive a 0 in the grade book. If a student will be absent for an in-class essay,
he/she needs to make arrangements to complete the assignment prior to the scheduled
absence.
B. Due to the nature of the assignment, presentations will NOT be accepted late.
C. Each student is personally responsible to request information and assignments that he or
she missed while absent. The rules for late assignments still apply if the student fails to
request the missed work.
D. If a student will be absent from school for a school sponsored trip (for example, ag or
athletics), the student must turn in any work which will be due during his/her absence or
complete any tests scheduled for when he/she is absent BEFORE leaving on the trip.
E. I will not discuss absentee work with you during instructional time (either your class or
another class.) I will not discuss it in the hallway between classes. I am happy to work with
you during AP or by appointment after school.
VII.
Email:
A. When questions about course content occur to you outside of AP or our scheduled class
sessions, I encourage you to email me for assistance. I am happy to answer your questions.
However, please understand that I receive a lot of email on any given day, so it is important
that your email messages attend to some basic conventions of electronic communication.
For example, your emails to me should contain a helpful subject line. They should begin
with a salutation, such as “Dear Mrs. Rattan” or “Hi, Mrs. Rattan.” They should also contain
your full name along with the name and class period of our course. Finally, I ask that you
attempt to use properly punctuated and complete sentences in your emails to me. They
don’t have to be perfectly edited, but I will not respond to carelessly written messages
littered with typographical errors. Also, please understand that it may take up to 24 hours for
me to respond to an email during the week and that I may not check my school email on
weekends or holidays.
B. I also request that students limit the use of email to quick questions and requests. The
activity period (AP) in the morning or after school appointments are the best way for us to
address more complex questions and concerns about the course.
VIII.
Supplies:
A. BE PREPARED FOR CLASS. Always bring the following to class:
1. Text Book or other required books we are using at the time
2. Paper
3. Binder
4. One highlighter, any color.
5. Pen
6. Pencil
IX.
Classroom Expectations and Procedures:
A. You are to always exhibit integrity. Any action should reflect this idea.
B. Having integrity includes adhering to the following standards:
1. Be prompt. Class begins precisely on time. After I have closed the classroom door, it
will stay locked until the end of class. After the door has been closed, no student will
be allowed inside the classroom without a tardy pass. Please, get everything from
your locker or car and go to the restroom before coming to class.
2. Be kind and respectful. All actions and words should reflect kindness and respect
for both the instructor and all other students. I will not tolerate rude or disrespectful
behavior directed at any member of this class. Anyone exhibiting disrespectful or
vulgar language and/or behavior will be subject to the school’s discipline policy.
3. Be honest. Honesty is an important part of integrity. Cheating will not be tolerated.
Cheating includes sharing homework answers, looking at another student’s test or
quiz, and talking (even whispering) during a test or quiz. Plagiarism is another form of
cheating and will be addressed in more detail in the next section of the syllabus. If
the student has a doubt as to what constitutes cheating, the instructor will gladly
answer any questions.
4. Be mentally present. Use of electronic devices during class will not be tolerated
unless the instructor has specifically directed that they be used for instructional
purposes. If you are using your phone for something other than teacher-directed
purposes, it will be confiscated and turned in to the principal’s office. A student can
pick up the phone from the office for a fee of $15. Laptop computers may not be used
in class unless prior permission has been obtained from the instructor.
5. Be on task. All materials from other classes must be put away during class time.
X.
Academic Integrity and Plagiarism
1. In my classes, I want to foster a spirit of complete honesty and a high standard of
integrity. The attempt of students to present as their own any work that they have not
honestly performed is regarded as a serious offense and renders the offenders liable
to serious consequences.
2. “All ASU students are expected to understand and to comply with the University’s
policy on Academic Honesty as stated in the ASU Bulletin and in the ASU Student
Handbook. Students who violate the Policy on Academic Honesty will be subject to
disciplinary action including a failing grade in the course.”
3. Although the school broadly defines the types of "dishonesty" that compromise
academic integrity, the most common offense for this course is plagiarism. Plagiarism
includes, but is not limited to, the appropriation of, buying, receiving as a gift, or
obtaining by any means material that is attributable in whole or in part to another
source, including words, ideas, illustrations, structure, computer code, other
expression and media, and presenting that material as one's own academic work
being offered for credit.
XI.
Students with Disabilities: Students with disabilities, including but not limited to
physical, psychiatric or learning disabilities, who wish to request accommodations in this class need to
have done so with the counselor’s office at the high school. If your accommodations are already on file,
then I already have the paper work, but would love to talk with you, privately, about which
accommodations help you the most.
XII.
Statement of Nondiscrimination: It is the policy of this instructor not to
discriminate on the basis of age, color, disability, ethnicity, gender, national origin, race, religion, sexual
orientation, or veteran status.
XIII.
Statement of Diversity: By its very design, this course engages texts that some students
might find difficult and/or controversial. It is my intention, nevertheless, to establish and support an
environment that values and nurtures individual and group differences and encourages student
engagement and interaction both with the assigned texts and each other. Understanding and respecting
multiple experiences and perspectives will serve to challenge and stimulate each of us to examine the
world in which we live. By promoting diversity and intellectual exchange, we aim not only to mirror society
as it is, but also model society as it should and can be.
Course Plan
This course schedule is subject to change at the instructor’s discretion and does not include all daily assignments. As
this is a college-level course, students are responsible for their own time and course management strategies.
Unit One
Time Frame: January-February (approximately 6 weeks)
Unit Theme: Consequences, Justice, and Fairness
Unit Quote: “Midway along the journey of our life/I woke to find myself in a dark wood/for I had wandered off from the
straight path.” –Dante Alighieri
Focus: understanding Imagery, Figurative Language, Allusion, Meaning, Tone, Rhythm and Meter
Major Works of Study:
The Inferno –Dante Alighieri
Supplemental Works:
Selected poetry
Reading Overview:
Students examine how structure signals to readers the intent of the poet, who chooses among the forms of sonnet or
lyric or rhyme (rime) royal or odes or elegies or villanelles, etc. The grouping of lines into stanzas resembles the
grouping of sentences into paragraphs, and we study how form affects meaning and how structure facilitates meaning.
Preparation outside of class is vital if students are to successfully participate in class and group discussion (including
informal writing). They should take advantage of the opportunity small groups provide to discuss reactions, insights and
research, and to listen and reply to others' ideas. I call regularly upon groups to facilitate class discussion on specific
topics, texts and critical readings. I expect the groups to be prepared to lead off our discussion by presenting their
positions on the material and focus on key points in the reading. This strategy gives students opportunities to develop
critical skills through collaboration, and prevent me from dominating class discussion while still providing occasions for
sharing my perspectives with them.
I also expect students to read and reread poetry aloud so that they can better understand the tone of the piece. In
order to better understand precise diction, students are encouraged to consult a dictionary for definitions of unfamiliar
words.
At this point of the year, I will introduce students to beginning Literary Theory. The idea is to begin leading students to
the process of understanding what the relation of text is to author, to reader, to language, to society, to history. We will
discuss the basics of Traditional Theory, New Criticism, Feminist Theory, Psychological Theory, Marxist Theory,
Structuralism, and Deconstruction. The purpose of the study is to open students’ thinking to where personal and
cultural values should be placed in literature. Discussion of theory continues throughout the year when it is relevant
to supplementing understanding and enjoyment of a work.
Writing Activities: Dual credit students are required to do many types of writing, including composing literary analysis
essays, close reading journals, timed writings, and creative poems and stories.
 The opening activity of the semester requires students to compose a metacognition, evaluating their own first
semester in this class and predicting or “foreshadowing” the supposedly better choices they will make this
semester, both in reading and writing. This self-evaluation must include a close reading of their own essays,
both formal and informal.

Further keeping with the theme of introspection and self-evaluation, students write a letter to his or her
grandchild to be opened on the child’s 18th birthday. The purpose of this letter is to allow students to evaluate
and discover the principles that affect their lives as well as develop a sense of audience and a sense of self.


The letter must be neatly handwritten with much thought and effort. Inferior or shoddy work will not be
accepted and will be returned with a “zero.” A student must carefully consider how he or she wants to be
seen by his or her future grandchild.
Each letter must include a brief description of the student, an overview of goals, a portrait of the world in
which he or she lives, and any advice he or she wishes to give. Letters should also be creative, adding or
answering any questions that might open, rejuvenate, or bring closure to a unique relationship.

In order to demonstrate evidence of preparation for classroom discussion and composition, students are
expected to practice annotation as an informal and explanatory type of writing. Students are also
expected to keep a reading journal detailing their responses to the assigned literature.

For reading quizzes, students must draw upon textual details to explain and interpret the meaning of
characters, events, quotes, details, objects, images, and motifs from assigned literature. Quality answers
demonstrate effective word choice, appropriate sentence structure, and effective organization. Answers should
also suggest that the student understands the work on a concrete, abstract, and super abstract level.
In small groups, students will compile a list of excellent theme statements derived from their reading of The
Inferno. Each group will turn in one list. These thematic statements will be copied, and groups must
determine which statements are strong and which are weak, listing their defenses and evidences in their
notebooks.
As a culminating argumentative/analytical essay, students make and explain a judgment about
the The Inferno’s artistry and quality as well as its social and cultural value. In preparation,
students should gather information from the prompt and come to class prepared to put the whole
paper together in a 90-minute essay. They may wish to consider speaker, structure, imagery,


diction, allusion, tone/tone shifts, and finally theme(s). The essay may be no longer than three
word-processed pages plus a source page.
Unit Two
Time Frame: February-April (approximately 9 weeks)
Unit Theme: The Human Superpower of Story
Unit Quote: “A thing may happen and be a total lie; another thing may not happen and be truer than the truth.”– Tim
O’Brien
Focus: Setting, Voice, Allusion, Theme, Flashback, Metafiction, and Irony
Major Works of Study:
The Things They Carried – Tim O’Brien
Supplemental Works:
Selected nonfiction texts and current event connections
Selected poetry
Reading Overview: The new unit brings works more complex in structure and theme. The motifs, settings, characters,
and structure are central to the overall meanings of the works and understanding paradoxical and antithetical
elements are the bridge to thematic elements. Although The Things They Carried may seem to be about the Vietnam
War, O’Brien is actually examining the fine balance between truth and fact and why humans tell stories.
As we wrestle with The Things They Carried and our supplemental works, students will come to realize through their
own discussion and writings the differences between the authors, the characters, the genres, the themes, and the
cultural and societal values.
The Things They Carried requires careful close reading. Just as he does not observe the traditional separation
between characters and audience, O’Brien does not restrict his storytelling technique to linear chronology. The book
jumps around in time from chapter to chapter. Students are expected to clarify their understanding through participation
in class discussions.
Writing Activities:





In order to demonstrate evidence of preparation for classroom discussion and composition, students are
expected to practice annotation as an informal and explanatory type of writing. Students are also
expected to keep a reading journal detailing their responses to the assigned literature.
For reading quizzes, students must draw upon textual details to explain and interpret the meaning of
characters, events, quotes, details, objects, images, and motifs from assigned literature. Quality answers
demonstrate effective world choice, appropriate sentence structure, and effective organization. Answers
should also suggest that the students understands the work on the concrete, abstract, and super abstract
level.
In small groups, students compile a list of excellent theme statements derived from their reading of The Things
They Carried. Each group will turn in one list. These thematic statements will be copied, and groups must
determine which statements are strong and which are weak, listing their defenses and evidences in their
notebooks.
The next assignment requires students to use both parts of their brains. For the “Body Biography” assignment,
students will analyze a character from The Things They Carried through both visual and written means. The
body biography design will include a portrait that illustrates the chosen character’s traits through placement,
symbols, color, reflection, evolution, and textual evidence.
For the culminating unit assignment, students will combine their analytical writing skills with their knowledge of
various forms of literary criticism to complete an argumentative/analytical research paper. Students find
textual details and critical articles to make and explain judgments about their chosen work’s artistry and quality
as well as its social and cultural values. The essays demonstrate the most mature rhetoric of the year,
because students control tone, maintain, voice, improve diction and sentence structure, thus creating
appropriate emphasis and coherence.
Unit Three
Time Frame: April-May (approximately 4 weeks)
Unit Theme: Companionship, Hope, and Self
Unit Quote: “In the sky there are always answers and explanations for everything: every pain, every suffering, joy, and
confusion.” – Ishmael Beah
Focus: Genre, Tone, Theme, Parable, Text and Subtext
Major Works of Study:
A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier – Ishmael Beah
Selected poetry
Selected nonfiction and current event texts
Reading Overview: A Long Way Gone is a unique memoir about the children who are trapped in a cycle of brutality
and abuse during civil war in Sierra Leone. It is also a story about family, community, and survival. It will coax us into
confronting difficult questions about human rights and planetary relations. Understanding the troubling figure of the
child soldier through Beah’s writing will require examining global politics and the relation between the author, the
characters, and the audience. We should also consider how memoirs such a Beah’s function in the treatment of
vulnerable populations and work within human rights networks.
Writing assignments:




In order to demonstrate evidence of preparation for classroom discussion and composition, students are
expected to practice annotation as an informal and explanatory type of writing. Students are also
expected to keep a reading journal detailing their responses to the assigned literature.
For reading quizzes, students must draw upon textual details to explain and interpret the meaning of
characters, events, quotes, details, objects, images, and motifs from assigned literature. Quality answers
demonstrate effective word choice, appropriate sentence structure, and effective organization. Answers should
also suggest that the students understands the work on the concrete, abstract, and super abstract level.
Students will research an assigned topic related to A Long Way Gone and present their research to the class
visually. The presentations will include a thesis statement, in-text citations, necessary definitions and
background information, visuals, and a works cited page.
Students will compose an in-class formal expository/analytical essay by drawing upon textual details to
explain the artistry and quality and social and cultural values of A Long Way Gone. Students write on one of
the following topics:
o The structure of the story is in three worlds: past, present, and dreams. Why do you think the author
chose to write the book in this manner as opposed to chronologically? How do you think it enhanced
the story? What does Beah mean when he writes “these days I live in three worlds: my dreams and
the experiences of my new life, which trigger memories from the past”?
o Ismael Beah opens his memoir with a dialogue between his American high school friends and himself
in New York. What is their perspective on war? How does it compare to the perspective that Beah
provides in the book? Are there similarities in how they view war?
o What role do parables and storytelling play in the community? Can you identify any themes in the
parables that the author included? Consider the following parables and discuss what lessons the
author learned from the stories. What lessons can the reader learn from these stories?
 The wild boar parable
 The story of Bra Spider
 The trickster monkey
Final Exam
 May 11 (blue) and 12 (gold)