What is a Hero?
During the first marking period, we shall study the idea of the hero from ancient times to modern times in a variety of cultures reading authors such as Homer, Tennyson, Fugard and writers and storytellers from around the world. We shall try to determine the way in which our choices of heroes help us develop the values that are worth preserving in our own lives. A museum trip to see artistic renderings of mythical heroes should enliven our study and build on discoveries made during our study of mythology. We shall also embark on an investigation of English grammar and vocabulary and learn the structure of the informal essay while writing about heroes of our own. Other skills we shall emphasize are research, note-taking, journal writing, organization (outlining), and close reading. Among the literary terms we shall define, illustrate and demonstrate are personification, epithet, metaphor and symbol. I trust that during the first marking period we shall read closely, think deeply, and have fun.
I. Suggested Texts: (roughly in the order in which we shall read them)
Edith Hamilton, Mythology (Summer Reading)
Homer, the Odyssey, translated by Robert Fagles
Alfred, Lord Tennyson, “Ulysses”
David Adams Leeming, the Voyage of the Hero
Margaret Atwood, selections fromThe Penelopiad
Athol Fugard, “Master Harold and The Boys”
McDougal Littell, editor, Language Network for Grade 9
Shostak, Jerome, Vocabulary Workshop, level E
Selected Essays
II. General Information:
Marking Period Requirements:
1. Summer reading essay and test on the Pantheon
2. Diagnostic vocabulary and grammar tests
3. Personal narrative, 3-5 pages
4. Reading journals, in-class essays and reading quizzes
5. Vocabulary exercises and quizzes on units 1-4
6. Grammar: The parts of speech and the parts of the sentence
7. Test on The Odyssey
8. Journal on the film, “Master Harold and The Boys”
III. Schedule:
Week of September 4-8: Introduction to course, rubric and model for essay: essay in class on summer reading assignment: Homework: “The Power of Writing”
Week of September 9-12: Writing workshop: Introduction to the essay on a hero; vocabulary and grammar diagnostic tests; September 12: Test on Pantheon (including Roman names) Homework: “Left and Gone Away”
Week of September 15-19: Language Network, chapter 1, “Parts of Speech”; September 17 and 18: ERB writing tests. Transitions
September 19: Unit 1 vocabulary exercises due; quiz
Week of September 22-26: Language Network, chapter 2: “The Sentence and its Parts”; First draft hero essay due September 25; peer revision (for help, see “Personal Narrative” on pages 396-403 in Language Network)
Week of September 29-October 3: The Odyssey; October 2: Vocabulary unit 2 exercises and quiz
Week of October 6-10: The Odyssey and Voyage of the Hero; October10: exercises and quiz on vocabulary unit 3; October 14: final draft of hero essay due
Week of October 13-17: Class trip to Princeton University Art Museum on October 7; The Odyssey and Voyage of the Hero; October 16: vocabulary exercises and quiz on unit 4
Week of October 20-24: The Odyssey , selections from The Penelopiad and Voyage of the Hero
Week of October 27-31: The Odyssey and “Ulysses”; October 31: In-class assessment: The Odyssey
Week of November 3 and 5: “Master Harold and The Boys”
November 10, 2008-January 23, 2009
Language Arts Honors
Ninth Grade
Mrs. Gray
What Is A Family?
In the second marking period, we shall study the complex nature of family relationships as they are represented by authors ranging from Shakespeare to Dickens to Bradbury, with an emphasis on ways to create positive family relationships. Students should set aside the necessary hours each week to keep up with reading assignments so that they can do well on quizzes and (more importantly)understand the classics assigned.
We shall continue our study of grammar and vocabulary, practice writing formal essays (literary analysis) and keeping journals on our reading experiences in class and at home. Our study of Shakespeare will introduce dramatic literature, staging and the use of rhyme, meter and imagery. Our study of the novel and the short story will help us to define style, voice and point of view. I trust that during the second marking period we shall all read closely, think deeply and continue to have fun.
I. Suggested Texts:
William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, and several film versions
Charles Dickens, Great Expectations
Ray Bradbury, The Martian Chronicles
II. General Information:
Marking Period Requirements:
1. Five quotations quizzes, one on each act of Romeo and Juliet
2. A scene from Romeo and Juliet, rehearsed and performed with a group
3. Keep reading journals and take quizzes on novel chapters
4. Several in-class essays and exercises; vocabulary from literature
5. Group oral reports on Victorian background
6. Two 3-5-page essays written outside class
7. Vocabulary exercises and quizzes on units 5-8
8. Language network: chapters 3, 4 and 6 on clauses and phrases and verbs
9. Mid-year assessment
III. Schedule:
Week of November 10-14: Romeo and Juliet, read Acts I and II in class; November 14: Vocabulary unit 5 exercises and quiz
Week of November 17-21: Read Acts III and 1V Romeo and Juliet at home; November 21 Vocabulary exercises and quiz unit 6
Week of November 24-26: Read Act V Romeo and Juliet at home; November 26: Vocabulary exercises and quiz unit 7
Week of December 1-5: Begin Great Expectations (Read chapters 2-15 at home.; December 4: Final draft literary analysis of Romeo and Juliet due (See chapter 20 in Language Network for help)
Week of December 8-12: Continue Great Expectations (Read chapters 16-29 at home); Language Network, chapter 3, “Using Phrases”
Week of December 15-19: Great Expectations (Read chapters 30-40 at home); Begin projects on Victorian background; December 19: Vocabulary exercises and quiz on unit 8
Week of December 22-23: Great Expectations (Read chapters 41-50 at home); Language Network, chapter 4 on clauses, and read pages 516-519 on “Formal Speaking”
Week of January 5-9: Great Expectations (Read chapters 51-59 at home); oral reports on historical background
Week of January 12-16: The Martian Chronicles; January 16: Final essay on Great Expectations due
Week of January 20-23: The Martian Chronicles; Review; mid-year cumulative assessment
January 26-April 3, 2009
Language Arts Honors
Ninth Grade
Mrs. Gray
Who Am I and Where Am I Going?
In the third marking period, we shall explore stories and poems about self-realization, self-determination and independence as they have been treated by authors William Blake, Emily Dickinson, Michael Dorris, Tennessee Williams, Christopher Durang and Joyce Carol Oates. We shall compare internal and external influences to show the importance of family and personal experience in determining who we can become. The emphasis will be on a variety of literary genres, starting with drama, including a parody, a short story, poetry, and ending with a novel. Each student is responsible for creating a portfolio of his or her own poetry. We shall emphasize the study of vocabulary and grammar as students practice writing comparison essays. Our study of poetry should provide understanding of alliteration, figurative language and poetic form and structure. Our study of a contemporary novel, a modern short story and a parody should help us to identify tone in a work of literature. Students will review their understandings of Shakespeare’s language and stage magic when McCarter Theater brings a production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream to our theater in March.
I. Suggested Texts:
William Blake, Songs of Innocence and of Experience
Emily Dickinson, “I’m Nobody! Who are you?”
Tennessee Williams, The Glass Menagerie
Christopher Durang, “For Whom the Southern Belle Tolls”
Michael Dorris, A Yellow Raft in Blue Water
Joyce Carol Oates, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”
Selected Essays
II. General Information:
Marking Period Requirements:
1. 3-5-page literary analysis
2. Several quizzes on reading of texts
3. A portfolio of your original poetry, illustrated
4. Vocabulary exercises 9-12, and quizzes
5. Language Network, correcting errors in verbs and pronouns; using punctuation
6. Creative drama production project with a group
7. Reading journal
III. Schedule:
Week of January 26-30: The Glass Menagerie
Week of February 2-6: The Glass Menagerie; February 5: Quiz and exercises on vocabulary unit 9; “The Comparison-Contrast Essay,” chapter 22 in Language Network
Week of February 9-12: The Glass Menagerie and “For Whom the Southern Belle Tolls”; Language Network, chapter 5, “Complete Sentences”; February 12: 3-5-page comparison essay due
Week of February 18-20: Group production projects on The Glass Menagerie
Week of February 23-27: Songs of Innocence and of Experience; February 26: Vocabulary unit 10
Week of March 2-6: Songs of Innocence and of Experience and “I’m Nobody! Who are you?”; Language Network: “Words Commonly Confused”; March 5: Vocabulary unit 11
Week of March 9-13: March 9: In-school field trip to see McCarter Theater’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Begin A Yellow Raft in Blue Water (“Rayona”); March 13: Poetry Portfolio due; Poetry Slam
Week of March 16-20: A Yellow Raft in Blue Water (“Christine”); March 20: Vocabulary unit 12;
Week of March 23-27: A Yellow Raft in Blue Water (“Ida”); “Where Are You Going, Where have You Been?” and in-class essay;
Week of March 30-April 3: Language Network: Misplaced modifiers;
April 3: In-class essay on A Yellow Raft in Blue Water
April 13- June 19, 2009
Language Arts Honors
Ninth Grade
Mrs. Gray
What Makes A Society?
During the fourth marking period, we shall focus on the ways people live together in groups as shown through drama and as reflected in literature about controversial issues.
Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing will teach us something important about classism and show us how societies are held together by honesty and mutual trust. We hope to see Kenneth Branagh’s and the BBC film versions and examine the play from an actor’s point of view with the help of exercises from The National Shakespeare Company. We shall read works by Chinua Achebe, Maya Angelou and George Orwell about the consequences of Imperialism. Poems, short stories and essays will encourage us to take positions on controversial issues and to support those opinions with facts and logical arguments in class discussions and in essays. At the end of the marking period, students will have opportunities to demonstrate some of the skills they have acquired during the year by writing a ten-minute play for classmates to read aloud in Readers’ Theater.
I. Suggested Texts:
William Butler Yeats, “The Second Coming”
Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart
Maya Angelou, “Africa”
Genesis 22: 1-19, “The Sacrifice of Isaac”
Simon Ortiz, “The Significance of a Veteran’s Day”
George Orwell, “Shooting an Elephant”
William Shakespeare, Much Ado about Nothing
Mark Strand, “Exiles”
II. General Information:
Marking Period Requirements:
1. An original play (10 minutes)
2. An in-class literary analysis and a final draft of an opinion statement essay
3. Language Network: Review and chapter 23 (“Opinion Statement”)
4. Group projects: scenes from Much Ado About Nothing
5. Vocabulary units 13-15 and Review
6. Reading journal
7. Cumulative vocabulary and grammar tests
8. Final assessment covering second semester
III. Schedule:
Week of April 13-17: Begin reading Much Ado About Nothing; April 17: Vocabulary unit 13
Week of April 20-24: Much Ado About Nothing; acting scenes
Week of April 27-May 1: Much Ado About Nothing: rehearsals
Week of May 4-8: Much Ado About Nothing scenes performed for parents in theater May 7. Things Fall Apart and related readings; May 6: Vocabulary unit 14
Week of May 11-15: Things Fall Apart; introduction to opinion statement essays; May 15: vocabulary unit 15; Language Network: “Punctuation”
Week of May 18-20: Things Fall Apart; May 18: in-class essay (first draft of opinion statement essay); May 19: Test on Things Fall Apart
Week of May 27-29: May 28 : Original play due and cumulative vocabulary test; May 29: Opinion Statement essay, final draft due and cumulative grammar test.
Week of June 1-5: Readers’ Theater
Week of June 8-12: Readers’ Theater
Week of June 15-19: Readers’ Theater, review and final assessment