English+12


 * New Course English – High School **


 * Diverse Perspectives in Literature and Composition – English 12 (1 Credit) **

This course focuses on the big ideas of the power of story, leadership potential, learning from leaders in history, building the American dream for the future and making a difference.

Some thoughts on what English 12 should look like: Here are some thoughts gathered from current grade 12 teachers at Bradford and Tremper about the proposed English 12: 1) The course should be a study in __rhetoric in the modern world__ - how to persuade others and how to decide when to be persuaded in a mass media future. This would incorporate aspects of current units in Composition 12, Media Analysis, and Semantics. 2) The course should be the capstone for the English curriculum’s “scope and sequence” for speech, reading, and writing - specifically essay and speech structure, critical reading skills, mastery of language conventions (mechanics, usage, and style), and responsible research skills. 3) The course should NOT be yet another fiction-based literature course because the students have been studying fiction K-11. They need to work with and create non-fiction text for the rest of their lives. We include one fiction-based unit, but we use it as an opportunity for the students to make a text-to-world connection in an inquiry-based unit that emerges from the fiction.

** Perspectives – English 12 – Suggested Units and Readings ** (This curriculum was designed collaboratively in the summer of 2012 by teachers from Bradford, Indian Trail, and Tremper) Novels: Utopia/Dystopia Selections //Fahrenheit 451, Anthem, 1984, Brave New World, The Time Machine, The Handmaid’s Tale// Short Stories “Harrison Bergeron” and Others. Non-Fiction: Plato’s Republic excerpts, “Amusing Ourselves to Death” foreward, American Government Docs. JFK Inaugural for rhetorical analysis, Preamble Bill of Rights. LBJ’s first inaugural address for rhetorical analysis (Note: Emphasis on analysis, not history). Poetry: Eliot, Frost, Yeats, student writing Media/Film: Excerpts: Minority Report, V for Vendetta, Terminator 2, Road Warrior Drama: Women are from Mars, Men are from Venus __Student Product: Video or written analysis of technology in our lives. Students select a topic for inquiry (i.e. Facebook and Friendship) and defend a research-based position__ Content Knowledge: Rhetorical Analysis Terms. Rhetorical Pyramid as applied to various text genres. Grammar/Usage: Active/Passive. Phrases/Clauses). Syntax, sentence variety, length, repetition, and parallelism.
 * Unit I / Quarter 1: Warnings from the Past about the Future **

King: Letter from a Birmingham Jail. I have a Dream. Ellison: essays. Malcolm X: Ballot or Bullet Hughes: Dream Deferred, I Too (Poems) Sojourner Truth: speech “Ain’t I a Woman” Frederick Douglass: “What to a Slave is the 4th of July?” Phyllis Wheatley: To His Excellency George Washington. Letter from Slave to Former Owner. Black Men and Public Space Novels, Morrison, Walker, Ellison, Angelous, The Bluest Eye, Color Purple, Invisible Man, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Media: Angelous’s speech to the Academy The Blues as literature. (Billy Holiday, Robert Johnson, moving to modern…) Modern Music as Literature Tupac poetry/verse Rhetorical effect of Formal vs. Informal __Student Product: Personal Mission Statement essay, “This I Believe” essay. (Experience and Perspective based on Overcoming Adversity).__
 * Unit II / Quarter 2: The Minority Experience - Study in Perspectives (the example here is with an African-American focus; however, the teacher could choose to cover a different American minority group or the American female experience). **

Fiction: Short Stories, Supernatural to Psychological to Southern Gothic Through Fear and Other Fallacies of Logic. Why we Crave Horror Stories by Stephen King. Elements of Aversion and Elements of the Gothic (Study the fiction genre). Searching question: How is fear used to manipulate? Transition to Logical Fallacies (non-fiction essays to analyze) Essays: Sex Predators Can’t Be Saved, The Case for Torture, The Other in Fiction, No Bones About It, Crack and the Box. History: Y2K, Flu Epidemic, 2012 global warming. Media: Talking Heads on Fox, MSNBC, CNN Frontline: The Persuaders. Film: The Manchurian Candidate, Twelve Angry Men. __Student Product: Synthesis Project identifying fallacies in fiction, non-fiction, and real life__
 * Unit III / Quarter 3: Fear and Deception **

A Shakespeare Comedy Satire: Twain “Cornpone Opinions,” Fennimore Cooper’s Literary Offenses.” Short Story: “The Man Who Corrupted Hadleyburg Non Fiction example: “Are the Rich Happy?” “Selected websites” by Dave Barry Seth MacFarlane SNL, Colbert, Daly, Stewart Political Cartoons Syndicated Columns The Onion “All Seven Deadly Sins Committed at Church Bake Sale” “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” __Student Product: Electronic or written demonstration of satire with analysis__ Resources Needed: Current texts for English 12: //Readings for//
 * Unit IV / Quarter 4: – Comedy and Satire **