Honors English

Ms. Scapatici

Texts:

The Fountainhead                           Ayn Rand

Billy Budd                                                       Herman Melville

The Scarlet Letter                                         Nathaniel Hawthorne

The Great Gatsby                                          F. Scott Fitzgerald

King Lear                                                        William Shakespeare

Ceremony                                                       Leslie Marmon Silko

Sula                                                                Toni Morrison

101 Great American Poems

The Bedford Handbook

 

Goals of the Course

The goal of Honors English is to have students reading and writing as much as possible in order to promote critical thinking, reading, and writing skills.  Literary criticism will be used as a lens through which to view certain texts, and students will also explore certain philosophies as explained through the texts.  A general survey of authors and texts will encourage students to develop a deeper understanding of literature while honing their analytical writing skills as well.

 

Writing

Our primary focus will be on analytical and expository prose writing; we will use the writing process, which allows students multiple drafts and peer editing in order to improve their skills.  Writing exercises will not be limited to analytical writing, however, and students will be called upon to explore journal writing and creative writing, along with in class timed writing assignments.  Vocabulary will be taken from the texts and from lists of most commonly used words on the SAT,

 

Trimester One

The Fountainhead

Billy Budd

The Scarlet Letter

PSAT prep

Selected poetry

 

Trimester Two

The Great Gatsby

King Lear

Selected short stories and poems

 

Trimester Three

Ceremony

Sula

Sat I and II preparation

Selected short stories and poems

 

 

Grading:  55% writing assignments and projects, 25 % quizzes and tests, and 20% class participation.