Sophomore English
World Literature - Students in English II read, discuss, and write about both classical and
contemporary world literature (excluding British and American authors) through which students will
identify cultural significance. They will examine pieces of world literature in a cultural context
to appreciate the diversity and complexity of world issues and to connect global ideas to their own
experiences. Students will continue to explore language for expressive, informational/explanatory,
critical, argumentative and literary purposes, although emphasis will be placed on explanatory
contexts. In addition to literature study, students will examine non-literary texts related to
cultural studies, research material to use primarily in clarifying their own explanatory responses
to situations and literary-based issues, critically interpret and evaluate experiences, literature,
language, and ideas, and use standard grammatical conventions and select features of language
appropriate to purpose, audience, and context of the work. Please note: a significant portion of
the course will be dedicated to preparation for the End of Course Writing Test in early spring.
Core Texts Examined Through the Course:
Night, Elie Wiesel
Hotel Rwanda
Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe
A Doll’s House, Henrik Ibsen
To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
Mythology, Edith Hamilton
Siddhartha, Herman Hesse
Izzy Willy Nilly, Cynthia Voight
Anthem, Ayn Rand
Midsummer Night's Dream, William Shakespeare
(please note: some of these texts are for honors classes and some of them are for cp classes)
Grading:
Participation: 10%
Class work 5%
Homework 15%
Quizzes 30%
Test/Projects 40%
Total 100%
Extra Credit 5% (in addition to the total 100%)
* English II has an end-of-course writing test in the early Spring which counts 25% of the grade
for the year.
Cheating:
Cheating includes the actual giving or receiving of any unauthorized aid or assistance, or the
actual giving or receiving of unfair advantage on ANY form of academic work.
Please note: copying and pasting from the internet into a document or presentation that is not
cited constitutes cheating. Any student caught cheating will receive a zero on the work and
detention after school to be served with me. Please refer to the Student Handbook section on
cheating for the consequences.
Absences and Make-up work:
Any handouts, assignments, or class work you miss due to an absence is YOUR RESPONSIBILITY to
obtain from me upon your return. RRHS policy allows 5 days to complete and submit and absent work
and take any tests or quizzes that were missed. Any tests or quizzes are to be taken during your
lunch hour or after school with me during learning center. School work is due BEFORE a pre-planned
trip of any kind (i.e. vacation, school related absence, dentist appointment, doctor appointment,
etc.) If you are absent the day before a test or quiz is to be taken, you will be expected to take
the test the day it is given. Tests and quizzes are announced several days in advance.
Late Work:
Any work you failed to complete in the time provided, whether it is inside or outside of school,
will be accepted up to 5 days late. That work receives a reduction from full credit by 10% each
day that it is late. After this grace period has passed, late work will no longer be accepted.
Consider yourself warned if you are a procrastinator.
Reading Logs:
Every other day you will have 10 minutes of silent reading. We will be reading works you may or
may not like this year. Because you do not get a choice in these works, you are given 10 minutes a
day to read what you like. Magazines, newspapers, books, anything you are interested in reading is
to be read at this time. You will keep a log of the reading you do every day and write about what
you read. This log will be stamped for each day you do the work. If you are caught sleeping or
socializing during silent reading you will not receive credit. These logs will be checked twice a
marking period and receive a quiz grade.
Journals:
Twice a week you will have 10 minutes to continuously write about a topic provided. Sometimes
these will be related to what we are reading about or a relevant topic of the day. This is your
chance to get your thoughts out. Your journal will be checked twice a marking period and receive a
quiz grade.
World News Articles:
At the beginning of every week you are required to turn in a world news article you have found in a newspaper, magazine, or online. A copy of the ENTIRE article must be submitted, no words lost outside the margins, and the article must be summarized in YOUR OWN WORDS. A minimum of 7 sentences are required in your summary and you may not plagiarize. This assignment is a homework grade and due on the first day of every week unless otherwise noted by me. All articles must be about something happening OUTSIDE OF THE UNITED STATES, this makes it pertain to the WORLD and the content of this class.
Vocabulary:
Every week there will be a vocabulary quiz on words from the texts we read as well as the ACT/SAT
former tests. A list of ten words will be given to you every week with an expected quiz on
Friday. As each week progresses five words from the previous week will show up on the quiz as a
refresher for a vocabulary test at the end of the marking period. Vocabulary will be included in
all exams.
Spelling:
A spelling quiz will be given once a month when the vocab test occurs. It will consist of 20
words. This quiz will be given prior to the vocab test at the end of the month.
Weekly Schedules:
Listed below is a summary of the things we are doing in class each week. I update this as often as
possible and also send out group email and attachments with handouts your child will receive in
class. Not all activities happen exactly as indicated in the schedule, many events occur through
the course of a week to slow things down or speed things up as needed to support student learning.
Every day students work on a daily grammar activity with the same sentence and different grammar
elements for focus each day. These grammar activities are not indicated on the schedules, but it
can be assumed they are happening, in class, every day.
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