Gilmour Academy: English 11

Storytelling and Moral Leadership
2010-2011

"We read to know we are not alone." --C.S. Lewis

Course overview
We read to learn-not just how to assemble a bookcase or write an analytic essay, but how to be a better person. We learn connection-to other individuals, cultures, times and places. Transformation occurs when we learn compassion. In English 11 readings about media culture, 21st century storytelling, race, and war help us to appreciate others, value diversity, and understand compassion-even to exercise moral leadership. Emphases on storytelling, writing in various forms and genres, Socratic seminar and writing workshop help place independence, process, collaboration and an expanded worldview at the center of our curriculum
Texts include short stories(by Alice Munro and Dan Chaon); film (including Il Postino and Avalon); novels (The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison, Geraldine Brooks' March, and The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien) selections from contemporary narrative poetry, and articles from The Atlantic (Nicholas Carr's "Is Google Making Us Stupid?") and The New York Times as well as selections from Sven Birkerts' The Gutenberg Elegies, and Neil Postman's classic, Amusing Ourselves to Death. We will read some in their entirety and examine excerpts from others.

Instructors' goals & course outcomes
This junior English course and its stated objectives directly stem from the Gilmour Academy outcomes. It is our hope that our graduates are effective communicators, collaborative learners, critical thinkers, problem solvers, lifelong learners and morally responsible women and men.
The objectives of this course are as follows. Students will be able to: -Understand and recognize the elements of literature in various genres including short stories, essays, novels, and poems
- Read and critically respond to selections in American and world literature
- Write in various genres and modes
- Incorporate authentic and meaningful research in their writing with grace and sophistication
- Use the elements of good writing to give and receive feedback on their own and other?s writing
- Demonstrate a willingness to consider new perspectives
- Assess their own growth as readers and writers
- Demonstrate that their perspectives are evolving
- Demonstrate independence and creativity as they take ownership of their learning processes

Grading/assessment
a. Daily preparation
Preparation and participation are crucial to success in this course. Daily reading and writing assignments, formal and informal, individual and collaborative, in-class and assigned, will be used to assess preparation
and growth in critical reading and writing skills. Socratic seminars and writing workshops will be regularly scheduled in order to support and promote fluency and sophistication in writing and in reading comprehension.
All students are expected to demonstrate that they have read and prepared for class. Failure to do so will result in a zero for daily work and may also result in exclusion from full participation in class activities, particularly in Socratic seminars and writing workshops where full participation by all students is expected. It is an expectation of the Gilmour English department that student work be made public.
If you know that you are going to miss a class, see your teacher to get the assignment. If you miss class due to illness or another unanticipated reason, e-mail your teacher. It is YOUR responsibility, NOT your teacher?s, to inquire about making up any missed work. Be vigilant. We will adhere to the policy as stated in the Student Handbook: If you are absent (excused) on the day a paper is due, it is due upon your return to class. You are expected to be fully prepared for class on the day you return.
Approximately fifty percent of the grade is based on preparation and participation, including class discussion, Socratic seminars, and in-class writings and writing workshop. The other fifty percent is based on evaluation of exhibitions, including formal writing assignments.

b. Late/missing work
You must arrive at the classroom with assigned work printed and ready to submit. COMPUTER MALFUNCTION WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED AS AN EXCUSE FOR LATE ASSIGNMENTS. IF YOUR PRINTER FAILS, COME IN EARLY AND PRINT IT IN THE LIBRARY OR FIND AN ALTERNATIVE PRINTING SOURCE.
Work submitted late due to an excused absence will be accepted without penalty according to the guidelines set forth in the 20010-2011 Student-Parent Handbook. It is due upon your return to class. Late papers will lose 10 points per school day for every day after the due date up to a maximum of 50 points. If a paper or assessment is not submitted within two weeks of the due date no credit will be given for that assignment. All assignments are due immediately upon return to school following an absence. If a student has missed part but not all of one school day, or if the absence is unexcused, assignments are due THAT DAY.
Juniors in English 11 are permitted to submit ONE paper late each semester, with a grace period of up to one week. In order to use your extension, you must submit your request IN WRITING when the rest of the class submits the paper. If we don?t receive notification at that point, the paper will be classified as late, and the late policy (see first paragraph) will be in effect. This only applies to major papers. There are no extensions for homework and daily work.
If there are extenuating circumstances, discuss the situation with the teacher, and submit the late work within a reasonable amount of time, usually by the next class period. Communication is the key when you find yourself in a tough spot.

c. Extra credit
On the rare occasion that there are activities outside of the work of the course (a play, reading, or movie to attend, an extra book to read, etc.) that might enrich class discussion, the opportunity to engage in those activities for credit will be made available only to those students who have completed all assigned work to date.

Instructor availability:
We are available each day (except Wednesday) after school until 4:15 p.m. We check our Gilmour accounts on a regular basis. It is an efficient and effective way to reach us.

Plagiarism:
"Plagiarism is the dishonest act of presenting the words or thoughts of another writer as if they were your own. You commit plagiarism whenever you use a source in any way without indicating that you have used it." (Heffernan & Lincoln, Writing: A College Handbook, 1986). Flagrant, unacknowledged use of another's material is a grave matter. All acts of plagiarism will be referred directly to the Honor Council.

Classroom discourse:
Classroom behavior should, of course, be courteous and orderly. We will not, under any circumstances, tolerate behavior that is hurtful toward other students. Showing lack of respect toward another student is a direct violation of the Honor Code and will be directly referred to the Honor Council.

Classroom/School Policies:
Dress code: Any student not in compliance with the dress code as described in the Gilmour Handbook will be sent to the Main Office until such time as the offense is corrected. The time out of class will be considered unexcused. As examples of dress code enforcement, students in this classroom will have their shirts tucked in at all times; gentlemen?s neckties will be adjusted appropriately; ladies skirts will be at a proper length; and outer wear that is neither a blue blazer nor a Gilmour sweater will not be permitted and will be confiscated and given to the Dean of Student Life?outer wear that is not permitted is inclusive of "hoodies".

Cell Phones: In addition to being distracting, cell phone usage in this classroom poses a threat to the integrity of the learning process; they are not permitted in class. If cell phones are seen, or if their use is otherwise detected, they will be confiscated and given to the Dean of Student Life. Keep it in your locker. Please remember that cell phones and saved content are subject to search when confiscated.

Tardiness: Tardiness disrupts the class and takes away from valuable time in class. If you come with a valid pass, you will not be subject to a detention, but tardiness with a pass should not be a regular occurrence.

Semester one overview

"Storytelling in the 21st Century"

Essential questions:
- What IS "story?" (characteristics; elements (plot?); synonyms (narrative, etc.)?
- What makes a good story?- Signal; cues?
- Why are stories important?
-How do we tell stories in the 21st century?
- Is it different than how we told stories in the 20th century? The 19th? Before that?

Summer reading
Discuss summer reading
Reading survey/Wendy Bishop, etc (journal)

Introduction to course/Importance of story
"Ordeal by cheque"
Birkerts; Postman; Carr; NYT (Ning)
Seminar: are people today wired differently??
Avalon
Storytelling timeline (grand narratives/myth/cultural stories; metaphors we live by (Lakoff & Johnson))
Il Postino
Poetry (found digital poetry)
This American Life (w/podcast)
Short Stories

Biography/autobiography
Sylvia Plath case study (w/trailer)

Digital storytelling
Nov/Dec