This American Literature course is designed to meet the requirements for one semester of a year-long 11th-grade English course. Throughout the 14 weeks, students will be guided through a variety of texts (short stories, poems, essays, novels, nonfiction, etc.) from American history. The content is designed in chronological order to help coincide with an on-level U.S. History or APUSH course. Live sessions take place once per week. New material will be provided during each class. 

📚Students will also learn grade-level appropriate vocabulary, grammar, and writing skills.
📚Homework will consist of a weekly journal entry that includes elements of research, analysis, and synthesis (generating new ideas based on what they just learned). 
📚One original reflective essay will also be required during the course.

🎓Units of study:

Unit 1- Modernism
Unit 2- Contemporary Period  

Week 1--Introduction to American Modernism
Week 2--Poetry, Pt. 1: E.E. Cummings, Robert Frost, and William Carlos Williams
Week 3--Poetry, Pt. 2: Sandburg, Elliot, Stevens, and St. Vincent Millay 
Week 4--The Great Gatsby
Week 5--The Harlem Renaissance, Pt. 1
Week 6--The Harlem Renaissance, Pt. 2
Week 7--Their Eyes Were Watching God (Essay #1 due)
Week 8--William Faulkner & John Steinbeck
Week 9--Introduction to Contemporary American Literature
Week 10--Lorraine Hansberry & Tennessee Williams
Week 11--James Baldwin & Ralph Ellison
Week 12--Sandra Cisneros & Amy Tan
Week 13--Alice Walker & Maya Angelou
Week 14--Toni Morrison (Final Presentation due)

Notes: 
👀 The texts presented in this course are not intended to assert the instructor's expertise on specific marginalized peoples. Rather, the texts (both historical and contemporary) will be analyzed through a variety of literary theories. Both primary and secondary sources will be used to provide an evidence-based, holistic approach to analysis. In this way, the texts serve as artifacts through which a variety of viewpoints can be observed. 
👀 With an emphasis on equity, all cultural viewpoints and perspectives will be centered and equally respected in this space.

💜My teaching style is interactive. I am not the sage on the stage. Instead, I am a facilitator and guide. Therefore, lecture time is limited to no more than 20 minutes in each class period. The remaining class time is allocated to whole-group discussion and Socratic Seminar. In this course, we learn and grow together. Let's go!