Course Syllabus

English II Syllabus

Mrs. Hall   Fall 2020

Room G133    704-290-1520

alison.hall@ucps.k12.nc.us

Students in English II will read, write, discuss, and write about both classical and contemporary world literature.  They will examine pieces of world literature in a cultural context to appreciate the diversity and complexity of world issues and to connect global issues to their own experiences.

Reading:

Weeks 1-3: Night a novel by Elie Wiesel

Weeks 4-6:  Mythology including Oedipus Rex

Weeks 7-9 A Thousand Splendid Suns a novel by Khaled Hosseini

Weeks 10-12 Julius Caesar a play by William Shakespeare

Weeks 13-15 Les Miserables a video unit

Weeks 16-18 Non-fiction and EOC review

*schedule is tentative and is subject to change. You can also expect a quiz after any assigned reading you have that will mostly be done outside of class… And no, Sparknotes will not get you a passing grade.

Class Assignments: 

Vocabulary:

If you haven’t figured it out yet, the SAT has a lot of vocab on it.  For this reason, we will do our best to expand yours.  You will be given a set of words each week.  Each day you will have to do a different assignment with the given words.  Monday you will need to simply look up the definitions, Tuesday you will find synonyms and antonyms for the words, Wednesday you will create sentences using the words, and then you will be quizzed each Friday.

Writing:

Throughout the semester you will work on developing your writing skills.  Being able to write well is an essential skill for everything in life.  You will write frequently, and you will learn to love it J

You will have a writing piece that goes along with each unit we complete in class.  We will also focus on EOC practice writing prompts throughout the semester because as you know, the EOC is a big part of your grade and passing this class.  We will do practice EOC writing and/or test questions frequently.  And we also must focus on how to correctly research and cite sources – this will be very important for your upper level classes and especially college! 

Grammar:

Correct grammar is essential to becoming a well-developed writer.  For this reason we will work on specific grammar skills throughout the semester.  Something else to rejoice about!

Grading:

I grade on a points system – meaning smaller assignments will be worth less points, and larger assignments will be worth more points.  You will find all of your work is given a point value – such as 5/10.  All you have to do to figure out your percentage grade is divide the numbers… So a 5/10 is obviously a 50%.  But with it only being worth 10 points out of let’s say 200 for the 6 weeks, a 50% will not hurt your overall grade very much.  If you ever have a question about a grade you receive, please come see me before or after class – never come up in the middle of class to dispute a grade with me.