English 12: Advanced Composition



English 12: Advanced Composition

Contact:

Mrs. Nancie Perez

nancie_perez@khsd.k12.ca.us

mrsperezenglish.

Course Description:

This course fulfills the English requirement for the Kern High School District as well as the requirements for the UC and CSU systems. In this course, students will develop their writing skills in all modes of discourse with emphasis on literary critical analysis and argumentation. This course is intended to provide college bound students with the advanced composition skills requisite to meet collegiate writing expectations.

Additionally, Advanced Composition will provide a foundation for the study of Women's Literature during the second semester. While the emphasis of Advanced Composition is writing in a variety of modalities all writing for this course will relate to women's literature. Early in the course, the emphasis will be on self-reflective writing: narration, description, exemplification, etc. As the course progresses, the emphasis will shift to the close reading of non-fiction and fiction relating to the overall theme of the course and to essays of criticism, rhetoric, argumentation, etc. The course culminate in the writing of a formal research prospectus and research paper.

Mechanics, Style, and You:

Adherence to the "rules" of writing is essential for writers to effectively convey their ideas. From punctuation to formatting, students will receive significant instruction in all mechanical aspects of writing, which will be applied in the student/peer editing of all compositions. Beyond fundamentals of mechanics, students will hone their own writing skills, creating unique, well-crafted compositions through critiquing and experimenting with word choice, sentence structure, and paragraph design.

Suggested class materials:

• composition notebook

• pen and/ or pencil

• 3X 5 notecards

• USB flash drive

• Highlighter or other colored pencils/pens

• Access to a computer with functioning printer/internet

Grading Distribution

First Semester: Grading Scale:

|Journal |30% |

|Discussion |35% |

|Essays |35% |

|90-100 |A |

|80-89 |B |

|70-79 |C |

|60-69 |D |

|0-59 |F |

Course Expectations:

Discussions/Seminars:

You will be expected to actively participate in small group discussions and Socratic seminars. Your comments must competently and clearly articulated, thoughtful, relevant, and respectful to receive full credit.

Homework:

Required homework will primarily consist of reading, annotating, and writing assignments. All homework must be completed by all students to ensure that our limited instructional time is productive for everyone. Pop quizzes on reading assignments should be expected.

Deadlines:

All students will be held to hard deadlines, simulating a real college experience. If you miss a deadline due to an excused absence, the assignment must be submitted immediately upon your return. If you are on campus for at least one period in a given day, I will expect your assignment to be submitted before you leave campus. Extensions may be granted on a case-by-case basis. Come see me outside regular class time at least 24 hours BEFORE the deadline to discuss. Late work may be accepted ONLY with approval, but will be reduced in credit for every day it is late and MUST be turned in outside of regular class-time (before or after school is best). In addition, if you have a "printer emergency" you must email me the assignment before the first bell rings- this will give you a one day extension to turn a hardcopy of your assignment in. Come see me in the morning and I should be able to print it for you. No essays will be read digitally.

Late Work

Punctuality is key to success. These policies are consistent with English Department Policy:

• a daily assignment (i.e. something small) can be turned in upon return to class following an excused

absence (admit in hand), as the law allows;

• a long-term assignment (i.e. something announced sufficiently ahead of time) must be submitted

on the day it is due, in class, at the time stipulated (usually first thing) in order to receive full credit; in the event of absence, students are to submit the work via email or via another person; you have one “pass” per semester to turn in a late essay or project (It would be best, therefore, to never use that pass!). This pass may only be used for assignments less than one week old.

Absences/ Punctuality:

You are expected to be in class ON TIME every day. If you miss a day, you must get the notes/assignment for that day upon your return. You will have as many school days as you missed to make up all work.

Academic Honesty:

Plagiarism, intentional or not, will result in a grade of "zero" on the assignment. If you are caught plagiarizing twice, you will fail this course.

Behavior:

This class requires a great deal of discussion, both formal and informal, therefore maintaining a respectful environment is vital to the function of the class. You will maintain respect for other's right to learn and my right to teach. Any disrespectful behavior (consisting of poor attitude, talking, shouting or texting) will result in consequences, varying in levels of degree.

Course Content:

Unit 1: Fundamentals of Composition

• Sentence/ paragraph construction

• Editing/revision

• MLA Manuscript Requirements

Unit ll: Understanding the Self:

• Narrative Essay

• Defining Moment Essay

Unit lll: Research Paper 1- class topic

• Essay structure

• Peer Editing

Unit lV: Research Paper 2- individual topic

• Conceiving a topic

• Research

• Writing a Prospectus

Unit V: Literary Analysis

• Short Fiction

• Critical Essay (argumentation, exemplification, etc.)

[pic][pic][pic]

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download