Welcome!English 10 Honors: American Literature

Ms. Drew

Bring a 3-ring binder, writing utensil, and a 70-

count notebook to class tomorrow Carefully read the course description, policies

and procedures tonight. You will take a short quiz on these tomorrow (Wednesday)

The East of Eden reading check (60 points) will be Monday, 9/13

You will complete a take-home written reflection on your selected honors reading due Wednesday, 9/15.

Class Announcements

Studying a nation’s literature, how it has grown and

developed How does American literature and an understanding of

its chronology and themes show how we as a people came to be who we are today?

Who am I as an American?  Who do I want to be?  How can a study of literature aid me in developing my identity?

What is the American Dream?  How has it changed over time?  What is its role in American literature? What is its role in my life? What are the problems with the American Dream?  To what extent is it achievable for all Americans?

Course Highlights

Core works: The Crucible, The Great Gatsby,

Of Mice and Men, Catcher in the Rye, and Fences.

Writer’s notebook Writing modes:

Personal narrative Persuasion Literary analysis Comparison/contrast Research

Course Highlights

Be prepared – everyday, no excuses. Be respectful – lots of peer feedback and

discussion; do your discussing with your classmates at appropriate times

Have INTEGRITY – on all fronts (state your opinions, back them up; don’t sit back passively and wait for others to do the discussing; keep cell phones and mp3 players off and away during class time; when you’ve been absent, contact me to make up the work or check my website; no nonsense bathroom visits..

Policy Highlights

Be prepared – everyday, no excuses. Be respectful – very unpleasant when we’re

not. Show INTEGRITY through your words and

actions in class.

Policy Highlights

Late work is marked down 10% for each day it

is late. The research paper is the only exception.

If a paper is not printed and ready to be turned in at the beginning of class, it counts as late.

I expect you to approach me about missed tests, quizzes, etc. as soon as you return.

Check the website! Contact me with questions.

http://www.wssd.org/shhs/site/default.asp

Late Policy

American Literature

"To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest

accomplishment."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

“I celebrate myself, and sing myself.”

Walt Whitman

 "I cannot live without books."

Thomas Jefferson

“A guy needs somebody – to be near him…a guy goes nuts if he ain’t got

nobody. Don’t make no difference who the guy is, long’s he’s with you. I tell

ya…I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an’ he gets sick.”

John SteinbeckCrooks, Of Mice and Men

"Every individual has a place to fill in the world and is important

in some respect, whether he chooses to be so or not."

Nathaniel HawthorneAuthor of The Scarlet Letter

 ”We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and women are created equal."

Elizabeth Cady StantonHistory of Women’s Suffrage

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things

that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the

bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in

your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."

Mark Twain

“If you had a million years to do it in, you couldn’t rub out even half the “F*&^ you” signs in the world. It’s

impossible.”

J.D. SalingerHolden Caulfield, in Catcher in the Rye

 "If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: if we

did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not

be so welcome."

Anne BradstreetPuritan Poet

"When it is dark enough, you can see the stars."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

“The thing with kids is, if they want to grab for the gold ring, you have to let them do it, and not say anything. If

they fall off, they fall off, but it’s bad if you say anything to them.”

J.D. SalingerHolden Caulfield, in Catcher in the Rye

Don’t go around saying the world owes you a living. The

world owes you nothing. It was here first."

Mark Twain

"When the sins of our fathers visit us We do not have to play host. We can banish them with forgiveness

As God, in his His Largeness and Laws."

August WilsonIn his epigraph to Fences

"Whenever you feel like criticizing any one...just remember that all the people in this world haven't had the advantages that you've had.”

F. Scott FitzgeraldNick Carraway, in The Great Gatsby

"Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is

no path and leave a trail."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

"If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the

music he hears, however measured or far away."

Henry David Thoreaufrom Walden

 "Follow your inner moonlight;

don't hide the madness."

Allen GinsbergModern Poet

 "A character is defined by the kinds of challenges he cannot walk away from. And by those he has walked away from that

cause him remorse."

Arthur MillerPlaywright, The Crucible

“Glass, china, and reputation are easily

cracked, and never well mended.”

Ben Franklin

“And there is no trade or employment but the

young man following it may become a hero.”

Walt Whitman

"If there's a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must

write it."

Toni MorrisonAuthor of The Bluest Eye

"Education is the ability to listen to almost anything

without losing your temper or your self-confidence."

Robert FrostPoet

“Energy and persistence conquer all things.”

Ben Franklin

"We die. That may be the meaning of life. But we do language. That may be the measure of our lives."

Toni MorrisonAuthor of The Bluest Eye

“A man, after he brushed off the dust and chips of his life, will have left only the hard,

clean, questions: Was it good or was it evil? Have I done

well – or ill?”

John SteinbeckEast of Eden