English 11
Rosemary Dibben
(707) 965-6759, PrepEnglish@yahoo.com
English Department
PUC Preparatory School
McKibbin Hall, 1 Angwin Ave.
Angwin, CA 94508

Syllabus | First Quarter's AssignmentsRevised: Sept. 1, 2010
Week of August 16 to 20 (Beginning of first quarter and first semester)
MonFirst day of class: Class introductions. English III as part of the Prep English sequence and the NAD Curriculum Guide (reading, writing, listening, speaking, and viewing). Course syllabus. Review of journal writing, rationale, and the role of journaling in the writing process. Journal Writing #1 (Be prepared to share #1 & 2 with classmates.):
  1. What was the BEST part of your summer?
  2. Brag on yourself about something you've done in the last 12 months of which you are very proud.
  3. What I need to accomplish this school year . . .
  4. This year will be the same . . .
  5. This year will be different . . .

Share.
Hmwk: Finish reading course syllabus. Send to Mrs. Dibben (PrepEnglish@yahoo.com) a photo of yourself doing something fun this summer. Due by Wednesday.

TuesReading survey (on board). Learning Styles resources: Introduction, Survey, Four Learning Styles. Read Genesis 1 & 2 as our origin stories.
Hmwk: Organize English binder. Send to Mrs. Dibben (PrepEnglish@yahoo.com) a photo of yourself doing something fun this summer (if you haven't already done so).
Wed Origin stories. Journal Writing #2 (What is your origin story? What is your mythology?) Finish reading Genesis 1 & 2. Finish Learning Styles survey and research. Finish organizaing English binder. No hmwk.
Leave notebooks in classroom for initial check. (For full credit, you need to have a notebook, five tabs--correctly labelled and in right order, a syllabus in "Handouts" section, Writing #1 in the "Journal" section, and your name on the front cover and/or spine.)
ThursNo Class: Whole-School Fine Arts Field Trip to SF
Fri

No Class: Whole-School Fine Arts Field Trip to SF

Week of August 23 to 27
Mon

[Shortened class period for Week of Prayer] Read text intro, pp. 37-44 & 46-47 ("From the Earliest Days," "Native American Mythology," "The Oral Tradition," and "Recording the Oral Tradition").
Hmwk: Journal #3 (Untimed: your life in prehistory California. How do you survive? What do you wear? Eat? What is your mythology? How do you explain what you can't understand?)

Tues

[Shortened class period for Week of Prayer] Discuss how life in prehistory would have been different than your life today. Share details of your prehistory life. Intro origin stories as "literature" of American's pre-history period and as explanations for things not understood. Read aloud Native American origin stories beginning on pp. 48 & 51, "How the World Was Made" and "The Sky Tree" (scroll down). What mysterious things do these stories explain. Continue with Native American origin stories: "Apache Creation Story" and "Creation of the First Indians". No hmwk (unless you need to finish reading the Native American origin stories).

Wed

No Class: Whole-School Field Trip to Ball Game

Thurs

[Shortened class period for Week of Prayer] Read preface and browse in Myths and Legends of California and the Old Southwest. Pick two California origin stories to include in your collection of origin stories. Note similarities between the Judeo-Christian origin stories in Gen. 1 & 2 and the Native American origin stories. Begin working on a visual way to document the origin story similarities. What are your points of comparison? What is the best way to demonstrate your understanding of the similarities? Charts? Graph? List? Columns? Graphics? Concept mapping? (Due Tuesday)
Hmwk: Continue working on documentation of similarities between origin stories.

Fri

Continue working on origin stories similarities assignments. Check off points of comparison before end of class. No hmwk.

Week of August 30 to September 3
Mon

Continue working on origin stories similarities assignments. Begin Tuesday's homework (if you have finished your comparison project).
Hmwk: Finish origin stories similarities assignment. Due Tuesday (at the beginning of class).

Tues

Due: origin stories similarities assignment. Share with classmates (your format and points of comparison). Journal Writing #4 (Imagine you are a Native American who has never seen a European. A sail appears on your horizon. What do you think? What happens next?)
Hmwk: Learn more about Cabeza de Vaca at Wikipedia, the PBS Conquistadors site and PBS Cabeza de Vaca site. Write at least a page of notes documenting your research and learning--in your own handwriting, in your own words, and include complete sources. Due Wednesday, at the beginning of class.

Wed

Due: At least a page of notes (in your own words, in your own handwriting, with source/s) on Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca. Share research. Read "From La Relación" (pp. 62-65) and "Meet Álvar Núnez Cabeza de Vaca (p. 61). Do questions #1-5 & 8, p. 66, in class (to turn in by end of class). Read p. 67, "Recognizing Bias."
Hmwk: Research "biased language." Identify, EXPLAIN, and revise three examples of biased language from Cabeza de Vaca's selection, "From La Relación". (Quote the passage, and explain how the language is biased. Then, revise the passage in 21st-century American English to remove the bias.)

Thurs

Share biased language revisions with class. Discuss modern sensibilities about biased language. Is it just political correctness? Are there other, better, reasons for making an effort to make our language less biased?
Hmwk: Read Fontaneda's bio (from Wikipedia).

Fri

Read extracts from Fontaneda's Memoir. Write notes identifying similarities/differences between Fonaneda's and Cabeza de Vaca's accounts. (File in "Notes" section of English binder.)

Week of September 6 to 10
MonNo School: Labor Day
Tues

Journal Writing #5 (Imagine you are packing to get on the Mayflower. What are going to take with you? What are you thinking?) Read aloud pp. 3-7, Made in America, by Bill Bryson. "Meet William Bradford," p. 68. Read aloud William Bradford selection "From Of Plymouth Plantation," pp. 69-72.
Hmwk: Finish reading William Bradford selection "From Of Plymouth Plantation." Read "The Three Wings of Puritanism."

Wed

Reading quiz over Wm. Bradford selection and "The Three Wings of Puritanism." Do (with a partner) qstns. #1-8 (skip 5), p. 73. Begin researching to learn more in the Plimouth Plantation website (http://www.plimoth.org/). [Suggested areas to visit: "Features & Exhibits" and "Discover More/Articles & Essays"] Work on two pages (minimum) of notes documenting your learning (due by end of class on Friday). Notes should be in your own handwriting, in your own words, and should include complete sources.
Hmwk:

Thurs

View The Puritan Experience: Making a New World (available from the PUC Library: VTR F 7 .P83). Journal Writing #5 (Write notes on these qstns suggested by the video:

  1. How could Puritanism be seen as a burden?
  2. Who determines what is "right"? How is "wrong" determined?
  3. How should wrongdoers be punished?
  4. Can a society allow people to be "wrong"? To what extent do all members of a society need to view right and wrong in the same way?
  5. What purpose does sameness serve?
  6. What contributions did Puritanism make to the success of our country?)

Hmwk: Continue with research in the Plimouth Plantation website (http://www.plimoth.org/). Do enough additional research that you'll be able to turn in a minimum of two pages of notes by the end of class tomorrow.

Fri

Continue recording your research in the Plimouth Plantation website (http://www.plimoth.org/). Due by end of class: Research notes (miniumum two pages) on Plymouth Plantation. No hmwk.

Week of September 13 to 17 (Midterm)
Mon

* * * * * * Not accurate below this point * * * * * * *

Hmwk: Complete Journal Writing #5.

Using Journal Writing #5 notes as resource, discuss video: The Puritan Experience. Intro Anne Bradstreet poetry. "The Author to Her Book," Figurative language terms: extended metaphor and rhyming couplets.
Hmwk: Read Anne Bradstreet bio (lime green handout).

Further exploration of extended metaphor: Emily Dickinson's "The Railway Train." Discuss extended metaphors of the sample poems. Can you think of a modern extended metaphor? (Song lyrics?) Creative writing assignment. Work on extended metaphor poem. (Can you write it in rhyming couplets, too?) No hmwk.

Anne Bradstreet poetry: "Upon the Burning of Our House," pp. 77-78. Continue working on extended metaphor poem. Compare something important to you to another, dissimilar, thing to help the reader better understand your item. ("A" poems will be extended metaphor poems written in rhyming couplets.)
Hmwk: Finish rough draft of extended metaphor poem. (Peer review tomorrow)

TuesDue: rough draft of extended metaphor poem. Peer review of extended metaphor poems. Peer review questions. Trade with two peers. Each student reviews two different poems; each student's work is reviewed by two different peers. Word process final draft and work on illustration.
Hmwk: Complete final draft by beginning of class on Tuesday. (Bring final draft, previous draft/s, and two peer review sheets.) Prepare your poem--with an appropriate illustration/decoration that enhances the meaning--to be displayed on the classroom bulletin board.
Wed

Due: Final (illustrated) draft (and previous draft/s and two peer review sheets). Share extended metaphor poems. Create profile at Turnitin.com if you have not already done so. Submit extended metaphor poems to Turnitin.com. [Student instructions] Put extended metaphor poems on bulletin board.
Hmwk: Submit extended metaphor poem to Turnitin.com before midnight tonight--if you have not already done so. After midnight the service will NOT accept your poem, and you will miss the submission points.

Thurs[Leadership Conference] More Anne Bradstreet poetry: "Before the Birth of One of Her Children" and "To My Dear and Loving Husband." Read "From A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson," pp. 85-90. No hmwk.
Fri [Leadership Conference] Investigate an associate of William Bradstreet or Anne Bradstreet. Pick a colonist who was in the Plymouth Colony or the Mass. Bay Colony at the same time as William Bradford (1590-1657) or Anne Bradstreet (1612-1672). Journal #6 (Name of your colonist, birth/death dates, which colony? What did s/he do? Role in colony? Connection/s to our authors?) No hmwk.
Week of September 20 to 24
Mon

No Class: Standardized Tests.

Tues

No Class: Standardized Tests.

Wed

Work in class on review questions to prepare for test. Write answers to the following questions. Answers due just before the test tomorrow.

  • What are some common features of origin stories?
  • What was the purpose of/reason for each author's presence in the New World? How did this purpose impact his/her writing?
  • How are Cabeza de Vaca's and Fontaneda's approaches to local inhabitants similar? different?
  • How does William Bradford's view of God appear in his writing? What are the connections between his description of the first Thanksgiving and our celebration today?
  • What are the features of Anne Bradstreet poetry that still make accessible to modern readers? In what ways was Bradstreet different than many of her female peers?
  • Identify a couple important points that Mrs. Rowlandson seems to want her readers to understand.
  • What is the one most important feature of life during the "Earliest Days" time period in North American? Support your answer with references to the works of literature and background reading we have done since the beginning of the school year.

Links to works on the test:

Hmwk: Prepare for "Earliest Days" test. Finish answering review questions. (Due just before test tomorrow. One time offer: No review? No credit!)

Due: Answers to review questions. Test: "Earliest Days" (Origin stories, Cabeza de Vaca, Fontaneda, Bradford, Bradstreet, Rowlandson). No hmwk.

Intro "Earliest Days" writers of South and differences between early northern and southern colonies. John Smith's bio. "Letter to Queen Anne regarding Pocahontas." "What Happened Till the First Supply" (from Smith's history of Virginia).
Hmwk: Finish Smith's bio and the Pocahontas selection--if not completed in class.

ThursGo over Tuesday's test, emphasizing how to write quality "significance" answers. Finish reading "What Happened Till the First Supply" (from Smith's history of Virginia).
Hmwk: Finish reading any selections not completed in class.
[Enrichment: Learn more about Captain John Smith from the Colonial Williamsburg Journal, Spring 1994]
Fri

Read Byrd bio ("The House That Byrd Built"). Read about Byrd's secret diaries. Read selections from his diaries (distributed in class). No hmwk.

Week of September 27 to October 1
MonJournal Writing #7 (Write three to five diary entries for your own life in the style of William Byrd. How will you give evidence of your education and accomplishments? Portray your social interactions? Describe your daily routine? Express your concerns?) Read selection from Byrd's The History of the Dividing Line.
Hmwk: Write out answers for questions #1 and 2 (For Study and Discussion). Due tomorrow.
Tues

Collect hmwk. Intro Canassatego. Read "Remarks Concerning the Savages of North America" which Ben Franklin wrote in 1784. Notice his comments about Canassatego and the context in which Canassatego's speech was given. Read Canassatego passage in lit text, p. 108. Journal Writing #8 (Generate list of top ten skills important for our culture.)
Hmwk: Complete Journal Writing #8 (to be checked off at the beginning of class tomorrow).

Wed

Check off Journal Writing #8 (started in class yesterday and completed as hmwk). Discuss skill set required for a successful life in our culture. Develop class list on board. Excerpts from speeches (as printed by B. Franklin). "The Haudenosaunee and the Founding Fathers."
Hmwk: Think about the "prequel" speech that you imagine the Virginia colonists delivered to Canassatego (to which his speech in our text is in response.) Consider the tone of your speech before you begin. What is your motivation for making this offer? Infer the content and tone of the speech you are imagining from the content and tone of Canassatego's response and Benjamin Franklin's "Remarks Concerning the Savages of North America."
[Enrichment: "Haudenosaunee Influences on the U.S. Government: A Debt in Governance Style" and "Haudenosauee Confederacy Influence on Democracy." Learn more about Conrad Weiser.]

Thurs

Read "Tone," p. 109. Answer "Tone" questions with partner. Go over Canassatego's response paying particular attention to the tone of various sections. How does the tone change? Discuss tone in writing. No hmwk (Rio Football Tournament starts tomorrow.)

Fri[Rio Football Tournament] Write out the "prequel" speech that you imagine the Virginia colonists delivered to Canassatego (to which his offer is in response.) Pay attention to features dictating tone: occasion, audience, and purpose (what you're offering). Word process, check the tone, proofread , and print out your speech. Share written version of the speech with a classmate. The classmate should check your speech's tone. Have you paid appropriate attention to occasion, audience, and purpose? Make adjustments, as necessary. No hmwk.
[Canassatego's response] [Ben Franklin's "Remarks" talk about Canassatego's speech.]
Week of October 4 to 8
Mon

Complete final, word-processed draft of the "prequel" speech you imagine the colonists delivered to Conassatego. Intro Turnitin.com and help students enroll. Instructions for Turnitin.com. Submit speech to Turnitin.com (as a Word doc). Check RENweb access and grades. Pass back papers.
Hwmk: Read Great Awakening (reading quiz at the beginning of class tomorrow).

TuesReading quiz over Great Awakening. Go over quiz questions. Read the first section, "The Three Wings of Puritanism," in "Puritanism in America." Review of Puritan authors.
Hmwk (for PSAT takers): Read "The Five Points of Calvinism" (for a reading quiz).
Wed[PSAT] Students who are not taking PSAT: Read "The Five Points of Calvinism" (for a reading quiz). [Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God in mp3]
Thurs

Reading quiz: "The Five Points of Calvinism." Discuss central tenets of Calvinism, "TULIP" (total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grave, persistence of the saints). Jonathan Edwards. Read "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" (pp. 102-104). Begin test review: Work on timeline of authors studied this quarter:

Timeline goals: authors' names, life dates, geographical locations, and title/s of work/s we have read. All of these authors are "fodder" for the matching and short answer/essay portion of the test. The significance portion will cover just the authors since the last test: John Smith, William Byrd, Canassatego, Benjamin Franklin, and Jonathan Edwards.

Topics (handouts) also included on this test:

Hmwk: Prepare for test and work on timeline. (Timeline will only be accepted for credit just before the test.)

FriContinue working on test review timeline (see above). No hmwk.
Week of October 11 to 15 (End of first quarter)
Mon

Continue working on test review timeline. (See Thursday, above, for a complete listing of test fodder.) Review ways to write good "significance" answers (think: importance, value, connections, literary context, social/historical context, author's significance).
Hmwk: Complete preparation for test and timeline. Timeline will only be accepted for credit just before the test.

TuesDue: test review timeline. Test: John Smith, William Byrd, Canassatego (& Benjamin Franklin), Great Awakening, and Jonathan Edwards (and Cabeza de Vaca, Fontaneda, Bradford, Bradstreet, Rowlandson for matching and short answer/essay portions). No hmwk.
WedRead text intro to "New Nation" section, pp. 120 to 128. Americanisms and British expressions. Browse in "American-British Glossary," "Top 10 most annoying Americanisms," and "American and British English differences" (follow some of the links in the sidebar on the right).
Hmwk: Research Benjamin Franklin and find something interesting that you didn't know before to share. Document your research with at least a page of notes: in your own handwriting, in your own words, and with sources.
ThursDue: research notes on Benjamin Franklin. Share research. Read selection from Franklin's autobiography. Read selection from Franklin's autobiography (pp. 131-133). Begin worksheet on Franklin's 13 virtues in class.
Hmwk: Finish reading Franklin selections started in class.
FriReading quiz over two Franklin selections read yesterday. Complete worksheet on Franklin's 13 virtues. No hmwk.

Syllabus | Assignments