British Literature / Creative Writing

Senior Seminar Mr. Ellrott

Course Description Senior Seminar is a year-long course that is intended to help students improve their critical reading, writing and thinking skills. Vocabulary skills will be developed through the literature. One of the main goals of the course is to provide students the tools to be successful readers and writers in college, especially in their freshman composition courses, and in the workplace. Another important goal of the course is to engage students in the reading and writing process.

The course will be divided into a number of units, each unit dealing with a different theme. Themes will include identity, war, and love. The texts students will be reading in each unit have been selected because they promise to be meaningful, accessible and engaging to students. As students read more texts based on a theme, for example war, their responses to these choices will become more sophisticated and more informed. In turn, students’ confidence in their abilities as readers and writers should grow over the course of the year.

One of the connections that the texts share is the idea of individual choice, and the subtitle for the course is “Choices and Consequences: Finding One’s Way.” Students will meet a variety of characters that make or are forced to make choices, and must then live with the consequences of those choices.

Texts Texts include may works such as… Tim O’Brien, The Things They Carried. Brian Turner, Here, Bullet Susanna Kaysen, Girl, Interrupted Tobias Wolff, This Boy’s Life David Sedaris, Naked Sonia Nazario, Enrique’s Journey Herman Hesse, Siddhartha. E. L. Doctorow, “The Writer in the Family,” Lives of the Poets. F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby Dave Eggers, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius T. C. Boyle, Talk Talk Woody Allen, Play it Again, Sam David Ives, Sure Thing Giovanni Boccaccio, “Federigo’s Falcon, The Decameron Geoffrey Chaucer, “The Wife of Bath’s Tale,” The Canterbury Tales. Supplementary Handouts Selected movies may be viewed, such as The Truman Show, Saving Private Ryan, and Life of Pi

Required Materials - Reading Journal: a marble composition notebook for informal writing exercises - Notebook: to be used to take notes during class - Folder: to save important handouts from the class - Post-it Notes: post-its are a great way to record your questions for class discussions or take quick notes as you are reading - Portable storage/backup: to save assignments completed in the computer lab Grading 1. Test & Quizzes are assigned a point value based on the significance of the assignment 2. Essays are typically worth one hundred points 3. Homework will be checked daily and sometimes collected without prior notice; late homework presented the following day will be given half credit, though any homework present afterward will receive a zero. 4. Class-work and Participation: Point value can vary. Daily notes are collected occasionally without notice. In addition, you will often be asked to hand in work from small group discussions. Participation is expected. If your participation is exceptionally good or exceptionally lacking, it will affect your participation grade. 5. Journals may be collected each quarter and hold a value of approximately 100 points According to the MHS Make-up Policy students will be given two days to make up work for each day of excused absence.

Student Expectations 1. READ!!! READ!!! READ!!! 2. Participate in the Writing Process on all written assignments and make time to conference with the teacher. 3. PARTICIPATE!!! 4. TAKE NOTES!!!! Take notes both in class and in your reading at home: some tests or essay assignments will be open book and/or open note – the better your notes, the better you will do on these assignments 5. Successful completion of tests and essays. (If you miss an assessment due to absence it is your responsibility to come and make it up) 6. Individual, independent completion of all assigned homework and classwork 7. Be accountable! Use tutorials as needed and ask questions when you don’t understand something.

Student Responsibilities 1. You must turn in your work on time. According to department policy, if a teacher does accept work that is late – and teachers are not required to do so – that work automatically loses 40% of whatever grade it earns. This includes essays. For example, a late essay that earns a grade of 80 will be entered in the grade book as a 48. 2. You must do your own work. Any assignment that is copied, plagiarized, downloaded, or does not otherwise represent your ability will receive a grade of zero

I am looking forward to this year and exploring this great subject with you. If you have any questions about the student expectations or responsibilities please contact me at [email protected]. I will also be available 8rd period for tutorial in A-2 on “A”, “B”, and “C” days. I am also available before school and after school every day. Name:

Critical Reading Proposal (Please state your note taking method below)

______I have read the course outline and understand what is expected of my son/daughter and what his/her responsibilities are in English class.

______Student Signature Date

______Parent Signature Date