English I Honors Classes

English I Honors — Classes | Periods 1, 3, 6 & 7 | Bottom of Page |

First and foremost students must take charge of their own learning. It is never too late to realize that responsibility for a student's education begins with the individual. The rapport and respect between student and teacher furthers the education process, which must continue at home. Students must complete homework and assigned projects on time. Homework does not always necessitate long hours. Many times, all students need to do is fill in the blanks from their daily notes. This review will help students better understand and retain the day's lesson.

Reading and writing go hand in hand for student success. Through reading, a student will increase vocabulary and understand more thoroughly how sentence structure works. A reader can also venture into new worlds, understand different cultures and learn to recognize their place in the world — their world. Through understanding the diversity around them, a fire within each student burns and yearns to learn more. As Yeats said, we cannot simply pour information into our students without any meaning attached to it. However, all students must accept responsibility in fueling for themselves a fire of knowledge, which a teacher helps ignite.

Northside's English curriculum integrates writing, reading and grammar, with a strong emphasis on the writing process, to help students expand their English-based skills. Students will write regularly and compose refined process writings, which have been developed through prewriting, drafting, revising and editing. By continuously reading, students can improve their skills.

John Jay's English department's goal: To work with students, and parents, to achieve success in the Language Arts and prepare students for both the work force and college. Therefore, students in my English classes can expect to write often and read continuously. They will be expected to read one additional book (Free Reading Choice with some time provided in class), and prepare a presentation on the selected book.

All students will need to keep a three-ring binder notebook, which will contain four sections: Agenda, Class Work, Homework, and Assessments. Students will also need journal books or spiral notebooks to write in or produce artwork on a regular basis for each semester. This will be their Writer Workshop notebook. Students should insert the syllabus, signed by the student and a parent, as the first page of their notebooks. This page also addresses the classroom policy and procedures.

"Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire." ~ W.B. Yeats

| Periods 1, 3, 6 & 7 | Bottom of Page |

English I Honors

     First Six Weeks — We will concentrate on reading various short stories and To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, to explore literary analysis, grammar and structure, as well historical context, plus the recursive writing process: prewriting, writing, editing and revising. Our writing assignments will involve writing journal entries derived from daily reading assignments. The objective: Students continue incorporating their voice and gaining writing experience.
     Other objectives during the first semester will include finding tone, using descriptive language, dialogue, similes and imagery. We will concentrate on reading, and learn how authors use words to bring us into their worlds. Our reading throughout the year will include, but not be limited to: Summer Life, by Gary Soto; To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee; The Odyssey, by Homer; Night, by Elie Wiesel; The House on Mango Street, by Sandra Cisneros; Alas, Babylon, by Pat Frank; Swallowing Stones, by Joyce McDonald; Romeo and Juliet; by William Shakespeare; selected poetry and free-choice reading for outside the classroom.
     Honors' students will turn in Dialectical Notes on their summer readings by Sept. 7 for credit. Students can also turn in Cornell Notes, for an explanation on how to complete Cornell Notes, click here, on selected reading assignments and will produce a presentation on each of their selected free readings. Presentations can include: PowerPoint slides used to illustrate a specific element, Mini-books with quoted and interpreted passages, dialectical notes with content and personal reaction sections, or artwork that depicts an important element.

| Syllabus | Assignments | Handouts |