Enriched English 10 2009-20010: World Literature

 

Dr. Marschall                                                

Office Hours: Tuesday 2:45-3:45 or by appointment         

Tel. 715-1155, ext. 3207

e-mail: amarschall@raleighcharterhs.org

 

Goals

  • To read many great works of world literature with sensitivity to the cultural and psychological complexities that characterize them
  • To improve reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills
  • To increase media literacy
  • To gain an appreciation for the importance of storytelling in our lives

 

Course Materials

Reading Materials: See the “Overview of the Course” below for a complete list of titles we shall read this year and the order in which we shall read them. If the cost involved in purchasing these materials is a problem for you, speak to me privately. You may of course use the library or borrow or buy books from former 10th-graders, but be aware that nearly everything we read is a translation. If you are working with a different translation, class discussions will be complicated for you because quotations (and of course page numbers) will not be the same. The short stories are included in Reading Around the World or the anthology that I shall give you to use for the year, or they are available online.

 

Writing Materials: In addition to the books, you will need three distinct sets of paper, which may be in the form of a subdivided section of your binder or three spiral notebooks or composition books, or any combination thereof. You will need

*        a place to take notes in class

*        a place to keep your journal entries

*        a place to keep your vocabulary lists. 

Your journal entries need to be kept in something you can turn in and do without for a few days.

 

Portfolio: It is a policy of the English Department that each student collect all major papers in a folder.

 

Evaluation

I use a point system for calculating your grade. Tests will generally be assigned a value of 100 points, while daily assignments may be worth 10-20. Short papers will usually be assigned a value of 50 points, while longer or more formal work may be as high as 300 points. Your term grade will be the percentage achieved of the total points possible. The North Carolina 10th-grade writing test (not an EOC) will count 5% of the 6th term grade.

 

 

 

Class Participation

Discussions in class are important. Listen actively. Take notes. Ask questions. Be sure you have your book and, of course, something to write with and on.

 

Journals

I will assign “Journal Entries” both in class and as homework assignments on a fairly regular basis, and I will collect them occasionally. Please keep these together and well organized. As noted above, you may use a section of your binder, a composition book, or a spiral notebook, but do not intersperse class notes or any other material with your entries, and do bring them to class every day. When I collect journals, I shall read and grade one entry of my choice and one of yours. You will receive completion grades for the rest. I reserve the right to collect journals on demand, and so it is important for you to bring it to class with you every day. Late journals will be penalized 20% for the first day and 5% thereafter.

 

Essays

In addition to daily work and tests, there will be longer paper assignments on major literary works and other topics. Because revision is such an important step in the writing process, papers should be typed on a word processor. Moreover, papers must be submitted to the website “Turnitin.com.” If you do not have access to a computer at home, arrange to take advantage of the computers here are campus. The computer lab is open before school, during lunch, and after school.

 

North Carolina 10th- grade Writing Test

While there is no EOC for this course, there is a state-administered writing test similar to the ones you took in 4th and 7th grade if you lived in North Carolina at that time. For the 10th-grade test, you will be required to write a definition or a cause-and-effect essay. The test will be administered early in March, and your score will be 5% of your 6th term grade.

 

English Department Late Assignment Policy

For major assignments, 5% will be deducted per day late until the late penalty reaches 50%. After that, 50% is the highest grade you will receive whenever you turn in the assignment, assuming your work meets the appropriate standards for the course. If you do not turn in a major assignment on the day it is due, you will receive a bright orange slip from me that must be turned in with your paper when it does come in. A parent or guardian of yours must sign the slip at that point. Late papers that are not accompanied by a signed slip will not be accepted, and you will suffer an additional 5% penalty for each day that it takes you to obtain the required signature. If you are absent on the day a major assignment is due, bring the assignment and an excused absence slip with you on the day you return to school. If you are sick several days in a row, come and see me; we will work out an extension for the missed work. Remember that late journals carry a 20% penalty for the first day they are overdue.

 

Makeup Work

If you miss class for any reason, it is your responsibility to find out what you missed and make it up within a reasonable amount of time. Please speak to me about this before or after school, during lunch, or by e-mail—not during or between classes. 

 

Grade Reports and Cumulative Examinations

At the end of the first term, you will receive a detailed performance report along with your grade. This report must be signed by a parent or guardian and returned to me. There will be a mid-term exam and a final exam in this class. The state will administer its writing test to all 10th-graders in March.

 

Classroom Management Policy

I have one and only one rule in my classroom: DO NOT INTERRUPT MY TRAIN OF THOUGHT, OR ANYONE ELSE’S. The wonderful thing about English class is the connections we can make. One person’s thought will trigger someone else’s, and so on. This requires only that you come to class ready to focus on the discussion. Listen to and think about everything that is said; be there mentally.

Because this exchange of ideas is so important to me, my pet peeve is having my train of thought interrupted. Students have, in the past, done this by, among other things,

  • talking to one other student (relevant comments should be directed to the entire class, irrelevant ones left unsaid),
  • not having a pencil, some paper, the book, nor pride enough to procure one before class starts,
  • getting up to throw something away,
  • consuming food or drink other than water (it’s against school rules, so don’t do it),
  • being disrespectful to other students,
  • playing with the blinds, tapping a pencil, or engaging in other activities that make annoying noises,
  • packing up before class is officially over (I will tell you when that is), or
  • asking to go to the bathroom right in the middle of the discussion.

Please avoid these and any other behaviors that steal time from your classmates.

 

Gum chewing: It’s okay to chew gum in my class, but I’d rather not see it, I definitely don’t what to hear it, and no one wants to touch it. If wads start showing up in inappropriate places, this policy can change. Wrap it in a piece of paper before discarding it, even in the trash can.  

 

Honor Code

Please make sure you understand what is fair and what is not in English class. Remember that if you are ever unsure, it is always best to ask.

 

Membership in a community carries responsibilities and rights and the Honor Code serves to protect the rights of all by requiring standards of academic integrity.  As a citizen of the Raleigh Charter High School community, I understand that engaging in academic dishonesty, no matter the degree or form, undermines my character and that of the school at large.  I will uphold the standard of academic integrity through my attitudes and actions.

 

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is a serious offense. It is a form of stealing. Diana Hacker explains what plagiarism is in her handbook, A Writer’s Reference:

 

Your research paper is a collaboration between you and your sources. To be fair and ethical, you must acknowledge your debt to the writers of these sources.  If you don’t, you are guilty of plagiarism, a serious academic offense. 

 

Three different acts are considered plagiarism: 1. failing to cite quotations and borrowed ideas, 2. failing to enclose borrowed language in quotation marks, and 3. failing to put summaries and paraphrases in your own words. (83)

 

She proceeds to explain when you must cite sources:

 

You must of course document all direct quotations. You must also cite any ideas borrowed from a source: paraphrases of sentences, summaries of paragraphs or chapters, statistics and little-known facts, and tables, graphs, or diagrams. 

The only exception is common knowledge—information that your readers could find in any number of general sources because it is commonly known. . . . When in doubt, cite the source. (83)

 

This last line is the most important: “When in doubt, cite the source.” 

 

Works Cited

Hacker, Diana. A Writer’s Reference. 4th ed. New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 1999. 

 

Mitchell, Mark. “Syllabus for 9th-grade English.” Raleigh Charter High School, 2002-3.

 

Communication

Your first homework assignment is to read the syllabus and type up the following information on a separate sheet of paper and turn it in tomorrow: Sign at the bottom of the page indicating that you read and understood everything in this syllabus. If you have any questions, ask me.

 

            Your name

            Your e-mail address (I strongly encourage you to use the school's address)

            Your phone number

 

            Your parents' or guardians' names and titles

            Your parents' or guardians' e-mail addresses

            Your parents' or guardians' phone numbers

           


Course Overview (subject to change!)

 

Summer Reading: Les Misérables by Victor Hugo (France, 1862, novel)

 

Unit 1

“The Fisherman and the Jinnee” from The Thousand and One Nights (India, Persia, Baghdad, Cairo,

9th century CE – translated from Persian to Arabic, folk tales)

“Federigo’s Falcon” by Giovanni Boccaccio  (late 14th century, Florence, novella)

“The Brave Little Tailor” collected by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm (Germany, 1812, folk tale)

“Clothes Make the Man” by Gottfried Keller (Switzerland, 1856-1874, novella)

Promises by Justine Shapiro and B.Z. Goldberg (Israel, 2001, documentary)

Dawn by Elie Wiesel (Hungary/Romania/France, 1961, novel)

 

Unit 2

Revenge: A Story of Hope by Laura Blumenfeld (excerpts) (USA, 2002, non-fiction)

“The Shoes” by Nassar Ibrahim (Palestinian, 2006, short story)

“Black Sheep” by Italo Calvino (Cuba/Italy, 1923-1985, fable)

"The Guest" by Albert Camus (Algeria/Paris, 1957, short story)

“The Last Judgment” by Karel Capek (Czechoslovakia, early 19th century, short story)

“The Saboteur”by Ha Jin [Xuefei Jin] (China/USA, late 20th, short story)

“No Witchcraft for Sale” by  Doris Lessing (Rhodesia/Zimbabwe, 1919- , short story)

The Inferno by Dante Alighieri (excerpts) (Florence, early 14th, epic poem)

"Hanging in Chad" by Ira Glass (USA, 21st, radio feature)

 

Unit 3: Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe (Nigeria, 1959, novel)

 

Unit 4

“The Youngest Doll” by Rosario Ferré  (Puerto Rico, 1938- , short story)

“From behind the Veil” by Dhu’l Nun Ayyoub (Iraq, 1908-1988, short story)

“The Moment before the Gun Went Off” by Nadine Gordimer (South Africa, 1988, short story)

“Another Evening at the Club” by Alifa Rifaat (Egypt, 1974, short story)

“The Metamorphosis” by Franz Kafka (Prague, 1915, novella)

“Like the Sun” by R.K. Narayan (India, 1906-2001, short story)

"The Vice Principal" by Houshang Moradi-Kermani (Iran, 1979, short story)

 

Unit 5: Creative Writing

 

Unit 6

Macbeth (Shakespeare, 1603-7, tragedy)

The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli (excerpts) (Florence, 1513/1532, political treatise)

“The Prisoner Who Wore Glasses” by Bessie Head (South Africa/Botswana, late 20th, short story)

"Two Words" by Isabel Allende (Chile, 1974, short story)

“The Cabuliwallah” by Rabindranath Tagore (India, 1861-1941, short story)

 

Unit 7

Candide by Voltaire (France, 1759, satirical novella)

Faust by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (Germany, 1808/1832, drama)

Six Characters in Search of an Author by Luigi Pirandello (Italy, 1921, tragicomedy)

“Myth of Sisyphus” by Albert Camus (Algeria/Paris, 1942, essay)

 

Unit 8: Poetry

 

Unit 9: Book of Choice