Language and Literature 7 Instructor: Donna Philippot Room #102 Contact Information phone: ​
952­567­8884 email:​
[email protected] webpage: ​
http://courseweb.hopkinsschools.org/course/view.php?id=1074 office hours: ​
A Day: block four; B Day: block one Course Overview Language and Literature 7 is full of excitement, mainly found in three prongs: reading, writing, and speaking. Throughout the year, we will read short stories, poetry, nonfiction pieces, plays, and novels. We will also write many pieces, including informative paragraphs, narratives, an argumentative multi­paragraph essay, scripts, and possibly, poetry. Several of these pieces will involve research with proper citations. Finally, woven into every unit, we will focus on clarity of expression and depth of meaning in spoken words. Indeed, this class is about the art of language and literature! As an IB school, many of our units are organized around “inquiry questions and/or statements,” which help focus learning, develop curiosity, and promote critical thinking. The units and some of the inquiry questions/statements we will study in this class include: Unit
Example Inquiry Question/
Statement
Summative
Assessment(s)
Short Story and Poetry Unit How does a character’s identity change, depending on their relationships with other people, places, and events? *Textual Analysis *Objective Test Grammar and Understanding of Sentence Structure How can we best understand and use multiple languages to make the purpose(s) of our communication clear, appropriate, and specific to the context? *No Red Ink *Consistent Application, as shown in writing assignments (listed next) *Argumentative Writing/Multi­ paragraph Essay *Narrative Writing *Informative Writing *Research Writing How do we utilize language with structure and *Final Draft of each type artistry to communicate purpose and style to a of writing specific audience? Mythology (mainly Greek and Roman) How do our connections to the leaders we *Narrative Story choose and/or the people we admire depend on *Objective Test(s) our personal context and values? *Archetype Analysis Driving Miss Daisy by Alfred Uhry How is a character’s perspective shaped by the *Textual Analysis setting and themes of a text as they develop *Objective Test and Essay over time? The Secret Life of Bees ​
by Sue Monk Kidd How is a character’s perspective shaped by the *Textual Analysis setting and themes of a text as they develop *Objective Test over time? Text/Resources/Materials Plays: Driving Miss Daisy​
by Alfred Uhry The Monsters are Due on Maple Street​
by Rod Serling Novels: The Secret Life of Bees​
by Sue Monk Kidd Ulysses​
as modified by Bernard Evslin * FLEX Novel options (w/​
Ulysses​
): ​
The Alchemist ​
by Paulo Coelho, ​
Touching Spirit Bear ​
by Ben Mikaelsen, or a novel of student choice (must show that it has a hero that follows the Heroic Pattern) Short Stories/Poetry (These may vary by teacher, but the core titles are listed.): Seedfolks​
by Paul Fleischmann (novella­excerpts only) “The Medicine Bag” by Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve “All Summer in a Day” by Ray Bradbury “The War of the Wall” by Toni Cade Bambara “Two Kinds” by Amy Tan “Without Commercials” by Alice Walker “Another Proclamation” by Sherman Alexie “I, Too” by Langston Hughes Mythology (vary slightly by teacher): Prometheus, Pandora, Eros and Psyche, Perseus, Demeter and Persephone, Echo and Narcissus, Arachne Non­Fiction: Throughout the course, non­fiction articles, essays, and literature will be connected to various fictional literature and writing assignments. ___________________________________________________________________________________________ Grading Scale
A
92.5 - 100%
B
82.5 - 86%
C
72.5 - 76%
D
62.5 - 66%
A-
89.5 - 92%
B-
79.5 - 82%
C-
69.5 - 72%
D-
59.5 - 62%
B+
86.5 - 89%
C+
76.5 - 79%
D+
66.5 - 69%
F
*50 - 59%
*The F grade range is 50-59%. A larger percentage range for an F skews the final academic
grade and seldom provides an accurate description of the student’s achievement. Thus,
scores will not be recorded in Infinite Campus as being less than 50% on any assessment in
the summative and formative categories.