Mr. Justin Claypool th
10 Grade English Instruction (ENG 101-102) Moeller High School Room 228 (Mentor Group/Tutoring) jclaypool@moeller.org ABOUT THE COURSE There are several differences between this class and previous language courses. The most notable change is the focus on history. English 201 is really America’s past told through the words of authors instead of historians. The class flows chronologically. We cover: Puritan Colonialists first, then the Revolutionary Era writers, the Romanticism/Transcendentalism artistic movement of a nation divided by the Civil War, the Naturalist and Realists of the early 1900’s, and, finally, Modernism. MY APPROACH Although educators vary in their approach to teaching an English Literature class, many follow (and studies agree) that a foundation of reading, discussing, and writing works best. In this class, students will read part or whole works of fiction and non-fiction in class and independently— forming questions and comments as they read. Students will discuss the reading with their peers—in partners, groups, or as a class—with the goal in mind that the teacher (eventually) will facilitate only a guide in these dialogues. Also, either before or after discussion takes place, students will write using the text as a well from which to draw ideas. In addition to the more traditional quizzes, tests, essays and other assessments that work well with this foundation—reading, discussing, and writing—other more modern assignments and ways of measuring students’ mastery of skills and concepts will also make up the daily classroom grind. Students should be prepared to take part in group/partner work, presentations, artistic representations, debates, speeches, videos, and other projects. All of these tasks put more of the class-time workload squarely on students, and the planning and feedback responsibility on the teacher. I believe the less time I spend lecturing to students sitting still, the more they learn and think critically. Whatever the learning venue or assignment, tablets will be used almost exclusively. Texts will be read as PDF files—highlighted and annotated with a stylus. Essays and homework will be electronically submitted to Dropbox. Students will use several programs: Powerpoint, Microsoft Word, Outlook, and others. Many struggle with this aspect of class, but I believe it to be vital in a student’s preparation for tomorrow’s career. MAJOR COURSE OBJECTIVES The student will be able to…
read and experience different and more challenging types of literature(and other media) while developing the ability to identify and analyze the various elements of literature,