The July to August summer section will be reading "The lord of the Flies" by William Golding. 

Hello, in this course students will analyze American literature in order to learn more about the history of America's laws/society/social classes/race relations/gender roles. This class is for high school learners that are preparing for college level discussions on literature. I encourage learners to make present day comparisons to the text and discuss how society has both changed and stayed the same. What makes my English classes different from others is a focus away from being able to memorize basic facts from the text but rather understand what the author's message was to audiences at the time. I also discuss with learners how the author's message at time of publication could be much different to audiences today. There are many scenarios in classic American literature that can be seen as misogynist, racist, or classist so I assist learners in guided discussion in order to prepare them for college level literature courses. As a certified high school English teacher, I have been teaching American literature in the classroom for over ten years. I have also worked in Social Studies classroom as a Special Education teacher so I am experienced in how these texts should tie in with Social Studies standards. The following texts are rotated and I am open to requests-
Rotating List of Texts:
"A Separate Peace" by Jonathan Knowles 
"Animal Farm" by George Orwell 
"To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee 
"Of Mice and Men" by John Steinbeck
"The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald
"The Lord of the Flies" by William Golding
"Their Eyes were Watching God" by Zora Hurston
"The Scarlet Letter" by Nathaniel Hawthorne
"Great Expectations" by Charles Dickens
"One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" by Ken Kesey

My style of teaching involves providing learners with a weekly study guide with questions that gear a learner's thinking to identifying the central idea of a text by explaining other literary elements such as setting, conflict, characterization, symbolism, motif, and foreshadowing. During the live meetings, students who completed the study guides will be prepared to engage in discussions regarding the author's use of literary elements to build the plot of the novel. I also provide learners with clips from the film adaptations of the novel or news story regarding the time period of the setting so that learners' can better visualize the story they are reading. I provide regular discussion questions via the classpage so learners can also engage with one another and share their opinion on what is being read in class. I provide questions encouraging learners to make modern day connections to the text being read.

Students will be provided with a study guide to use while engaging in active reading outside of class. Students will be responsible for having read the assigned text for each live meeting but it is the learner's choice to complete the comprehensive study guide questions. If learners choose to complete written coursework during the semester, the teacher will provide feedback on students work based off of Common Core curriculum standards to assist learners who are preparing for standardized tests. 

The course will include Social Studies material and learners will become familiar with the time period each text was written. Learners will engage in discussions about how the time period directly affects the characters' conflict and how society plays a big role in the novel's plot.