The first academic class I ever taught was high school British Literature. Meeting in a beautiful craftsman home in Pasadena with a small group of closely-knit homeschooling families couldn’t have been more cozy or welcoming. I thank them all for their patience! One of the students was in a charter school, and lucky for me, his dad was a charter school teacher, called an Enrichment Specialist, or ES. He helped me immeasurably for many years in creating curriculum and in acquiring technological savvy. I am extremely grateful to him for his guidance.
For that first class, I simply asked the charter school what textbook was required for their high school British Literature class. I bought an older, used edition, immensely cheaper, and methodically thumbed through the readings and writing assignments. The textbook allowed for no reading of full novels. It contained several short stories and loads of poems, but the rest were excerpts of novels or plays. I decided to pare down all the excerpts and stories and choose a list of novels the students could read for discussion. Reading a whole novel is more rewarding and satisfying. (Students are excited to attempt classic tomes, even though they can be intimidating. I always give alternatives to a novel the class is reading. If someone is struggling or really does not like a novel, I give a list of other novels to choose from. “So many good books, so little time!”) I also perused my college literature textbook, looking for relevant poems, stories and lessons.
Next, I divvied up the readings between the number of weeks I teach during the school year, which is typically 28. I accounted for holiday breaks and moved a few readings around, with longer tomes scheduled during holiday breaks, etc. Finally I looked at the readings and spread out my writing assignments that somewhat fit what we were reading. For instance, if we are reading Beowulf, I always use alliteration. If we are reading Edgar Allan Poe stories, I use mood or gothic genre prompts.
Over the years I have learned to only assign 2 essays per school year; a grand total of one essay per semester. That essay will rumble through an outline to a rough or first draft on to a few revisions. I like the student to learn throughout the entire process, making that essay perfect. Knowing how to do that makes it so much easier to write the next essay. Alternatively, assigning too many essays glazes over minds.
For all other assignments, we work on basic writing skills, although I do not present it that way. A business letter will have hyperbole in it; a story will have description and symbolism in it; and an ode will contain figurative language.
For charter school students in high school, obtaining high school credit is confusing. There are several levels of that credit, ranging from lowest grade level credit (like English10 for 10th grade) to a-g classes (for a higher level Literature class that is accepted by CSU, UC) to AP classes. Often high schoolers attend community college to obtain credit for both high school and college. These community college classes are accepted by higher universities, so there is no problem about the level of class taken on the high school transcript. This system leaves no mercy for students who improve their writing skills in a lower level class, surpassing the skill of writers in a high level class. The student will not be able to apply to state colleges with this lower level class on the transcript. The worst scenario in my eyes is for a student to actually take an a-g class through the charter school. The amount of tedious work kills the love of the subject. I saw it happen to one of my students, who was already a terrific writer. As the semester progressed, she became less and less enthusiastic about writing and reading. It was heart-wrenching to watch. Writing is an art, not a mark on a curriculum checklist.
This system of credit for high schoolers has caused me much grief. I have jumped through hoops to accommodate some charter school curriculum specialists. In the end I decided to shape my curriculum to fit my teaching style and what I found works best for the students. Stubbornly, I feel my job is to teach that art of writing, not to cater to another’s ideas of methods or copious amounts of paper products.
Now, charter schools ask me for my syllabi every year. They approve the class for their high school students, who can then receive proper credit. Often the charter school instructs the ES to supplement my class with other materials, but not always. In truth, if students do all or most of the work in my class, they will become as or more proficient than students in an AP class, as far as level of writing mastery goes.
The syllabi for middle school and elementary writing, I make up myself. At these grades, the charter schools are more concerned with the quality of student papers than the content of the class. This is nice for me, because I can teach what the students find interesting and what has been successful in previous years. I have 6 semesters of syllabi for these grades. Many of my students continue to attend my classes year after year, and I don’t like to repeat exact assignments. Keeping it fresh keeps it fun and hopping.
For Middle School I always teach one Shakespearean play in the fall semester. The choices are usually confined to A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Comedy of Errors, The Tempest, and Julius Caesar (this last during my Greek/Roman semester). The rest of Shakespeare's plays are a bit more bawdy or heavy. The novels for the spring semester the students choose. I provide a list of classics as well as contemporary novels. I spend most of my summer months reading middle school novels to increase my book list and to keep up with relevant issues. (Please see my post, "Book Bones," for literary analysis sites.)
For the Elementary Writing syllabi I have a long list of assignments. I choose a variety of those, making sure not to repeat one in 2 or 3 years. Every 3 years in the spring, we create a newspaper or newsletter, and that semester is spent with different articles and columns, teaching them different skills (persuasion for advertisements, 5 W’s for interviews, imagery for headliners, etc.).
Here are spring semester samples of a few of my classes.
Long Beach Writing Syllabus, Spring 2015
1/20/15: Homophones. Puns, riddles. Create a pun or a riddle.
1/27/15: Adjectives. Word Choice. General vs. Specific Words. Syllables. Tanka poems. Write a tanka.
2/3/15: Fun writing. Editing text. Editing marks.
2/10/15: Paragraph writing. What if paragraph. Running the Margin. 5 W’s in sentences. Write a paragraph.
2/17/15: Outlines. Bing-Bang-Bongo 5 paragraph essay. Create an outline for an essay.
2/24/15: Essay writing. Transitions. Introductions. Conclusions. Write an Essay. 5 W’s.
3/3/15: Setting: Imagery. 5 W’s. Describe a place and time using all 5 senses.
3/10/15: Hyperbole. Tall tale.
3/17/15: One minute Play.
3/24/15: Characterization. Create a character. Assignment: Write a character sketch.
3/31/15: Dialogue punctuation. Dialogue writing.
4/7/15: Spring Break, Week Off
4/14/15: Story ideas. Victorian Write-Around.
4/21/15: Story ideas. Creative Write-Around.
4/28/15: Poetry: Nonet.
5/5/15: Parts of speech. Sentence diagrams. Adjectives, Adverbs. Pangrams.
5/12/15: Jeopardy. End-of-the-year party.
_______________________________________
MIDDLE SCHOOL
LITERATURE/WRITING
Los Angeles, spring 2015
SYLLABUS
Week 1. Lecture: Overview of literature; Expectations of class. How to Read a Poem.
1/15/15 Discussion: 2 poems on writing, Sheiner, Holmes. Poetry Madness voting.
Activity: Tanka poetry writing. Novel list.
Assignment: Read beat poem, listen to 2 SLAM poems on video. Read 3 short stories about wishes, Perrault, Panchatantra, Jacobs. Write 2 tanka poems.
Week 2. Lecture: English Expressions.
1/22/15 Discussion: poems, stories analysis. Story maps.
Activity: Beat poem game. SLAM poem. Listen to Robert Frost recite.
Assignment: Read poems: Gwendolyn Brooks. Listen to Mercury Theatre War of the Worlds. Write a beat or a SLAM poem.
Week 3. Lecture: Radio drama. Adaptations. Poetry couplets.
1/29/15 Discussion: Analysis poems, War of the Worlds. Share poems (optional).
Activity: Couplet write-around.
Assignment: Poems: Nelson, Hicok. Start Lord of the Flies by William Golding. Write a poem of couplets at least 12 lines long.
Week 4. Lecture: Outlines. Topics and Thesis. Review: 5 Paragraph essay. Persuasive outline.
2/5/15 Discussion: analysis poems, Lord of the Flies.
Activity: Start outline on essay. Pros, Cons listing. Thesis building.
Assignment: Poems: Henley, Millay. Continue Lord of the Flies . Write a persuasive essay outline.
Week 5. Lecture: Introductions, Conclusions, Transitions. Persuasive techniques. Rhetoric.
2/12/15 Discussion: analysis poems, Lord of the Flies .
Activity: Introduction grabbers. Conclusions. Rhetoric freewrite.
Assignment: Poems: Eliot, Lear. Finish Lord of the Flies. Write persuasive essay (due in 2 weeks).
Week 6. Lecture: Spoonerisms. Riddles. Revisions.
2/19/15 Discussion: analysis poems, Lord of the Flies .
Activity: Play on words.
Assignment: Poems: William Blake. Begin Julie of the Wolves. Write a spoonerism or pun. Finish persuasive essay.
Week 7. Lecture: Characterization.
2/26/15 Discussion: analysis poems Julie of Wolves.
Activity: Characterization exercises.
Assignment: Poems: Blake, Cleghorn. Continue reading Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George. Write a character sketch.
Week 8. Lecture: Dialogue punctuation. Dialogue purpose.
3/5/15 Discussion: poems analysis.
Activity: Dialogue exercises.
Assignment: Poems: Oppenheim, London. Finish Julie of the Wolves. Revise persuasive essay. Write a dialogue with a purpose. e.g. between characters that shows your setting or imparts information.
Week 9. Lecture: Story ideas.
3/12/15 Discussion: Poems, Julie of the Wolves.
Activity: Story exercises. Victorian Write-Around.
Assignment: Poems: Longfellow, Browning. Start Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse. Write a short story (due in 2 weeks).
Week 10. Lecture: Story ideas.
3/19/15 Discussion: analysis of poems.
Activity: Creative Write-Around. Story exercise: setting, character, conflict.
Assignment: Poems: Niedecker, Pope. Continue Out of the Dust. Finish short story (due in 2 weeks).
Week 11. Lecture: Punctuation: Hyphens. Literary Elements.
3/26/15 Discussion: analysis of poems.
Activity: Lit Elements worksheet.
Assignment: Poems: Elizabeth Barrett Browning, cummings. Finish Out of the Dust. Week 1 of Group Write-Around Story. Fill out Literary Elements worksheet on one novel.
Week 12: Lecture: Personification. Nouns. Verbs.
4/2/15 Discussion: Opinions and analysis of poems, Out of the Dust.
Activity: Personification poems. Nouns and verbs exercise.
Assignment: Poems: Tagore, Saxe. Start Maximum Ride by James Patterson. Week 2 of Group Write-Around Story. Write a personification poem of at least 12 lines.
4/9/15 SPRING BREAK WEEK OFF
Week 13: Lecture: Nonet poems.
4/16/15 Discussion: analysis of novel, poems.
Activity: Nonet poetry writing.
Assignment: Poems: Dickinson, Bishop. Continue Maximum Ride. Week 3 of Group Write-Around Story.
Week 14: Lecture: Poetry Review. Free Verse.
4/23/15 Discussion: Poems.
Activity: Juxtaposition exercise for poetry.
Assignment: Poems: We are More SLAM, Betjeman. Finish Maximum Ride. Write a free verse poem at least 16 lines long. Week 4 of Group Write-Around Story: Write your conclusion. All papers are due next week.
Week 15: Lecture: Semester Review.
4/30/15 Discussion: Poems, Maximum Ride.
Activity: Poetry Madness Final votes. Group stories read aloud.
Assignment: All papers are due.
Week 16: Literature Jeopardy.
5/7/15 End of year party.
___________________________________
WORLD LITERATURE, SPRING SEMESTER 2015
Week 1: Lecture: India. Rig-Veda. Ramayana. Hyperbole. Word Play.
1/7/15 Discussion: poems. Book choices.
Activity: Hyperbole exercise. Puns exercise. Paraphrase Rig-Veda creation hymn. Read aloud Salman Rushdie excerpt from Midnight’s Children.
Assignment: Poems: Tagore, Saxe, Sarojini Naidu. Choose novel. Read Mahabharata and Ramayana plus short stories:
Hundred Questions from Mahabharata.
Ramayana excerpt.
The Kabuliwallah by Tagore.
Santha Rama Rau: By Any Other Name.
Week 2: Lecture: East Asia. Imagery. Description. Story Plan.
1/14/15 Discussion: poems and excerpts.
Activity: Imagery prompt.
Assignment: Poems: Haiku and Tanka, Confucius, Tu Fu. Write up exercise from today or create new description. Write a story plan. Start reading All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque. Read short stories or excerpts:
Sei Shonagon: excerpt The Pillow Book.
Tao Chien: Peach Blossom Spring.
excerpt The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu (oldest novel in world).
Yasunari Kawabata: The Jay.
Week 3: Lecture: Tanka and Haiku rules. Pantoum poems.
1/21/15 Discussion: Stories, poems.
Activity: Haiku writing, rules and breaking. Pantoum writing.
Assignment: Poems: Li Po, Tao Te Ching, Bei Dao, So Chongju, Shu Ting, Po Chui. Read Zen parables. Continue reading All Quiet. Write 2 tanka and 2 haiku.
Week 4: Lecture: Southeast Asia and the Pacific. Characterization. Character Conflict and Theme.
1/28/15 Discussion: analysis of poems. Character Conflict and Theme in readings.
Activity: Character Complications and Tension.
Assignment: Poems: Nguyen Trai, Judith Wright. Continue reading All Quiet . Write a character sketch. Write for the group story (optional).
Week 5: Lecture: Story Complications. Setting. Dialogue review.
2/4/15 Discussion: analysis of poems., novel.
Activity: Dialogue prompts.
Assignment: Poems: Oodgeroo of the tribe Noonuccal, Ruth Dallas, Nguyen Thi Vinh. Finish reading All Quiet Begin writing story.
Week 6: Lecture: Europe. Class distinctions as character conflicts. Story writing. Symbolism.
2/11/15 Discussion: analysis of poems, All Quiet.
Activity: Story prompts.
Assignment: Poem: Marie de France, Song of Roland: Roland’s Pride and Death of Roland. Read story: Giovanni Boccaccio, Ragnarok: Norse myth. Finish reading All Quiet Begin writing a short story.
Week 7: Lecture: Story writing. Story checklist.
2/18/15 Discussion: analysis of poems, excerpts.
Activity: Werewolf writing.
Assignment: Poem: Dante Alghieri. Read excerpt Cervantes, Candide by Voltaire excerpt. Begin reading Metamorphosis. Finish writing story.
Week 8: Lecture: Rondeau, Triolet: French poems.
2/25/15 Discussion: Dante, Metamorphosis.
Activity: Rondeau, Triolet poetry writing.
Assignment: Poems: Heinrich Heine, Victor Hugo. FInish reading Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka. Write a rondeau or triolet.
3/4/15 NO CLASS
Week 9: Activity: play on video: The Doll’s House by Ibsen. (2 hour film)
3/11/15 Assignment: Poems: Solzhenitsyn, Rilke, Akhmatova.Begin reading Life of Pi by Yann Martel.
Settle on a Persuasive Essay Topic.
Week 10: Lecture: Irony. Persuasive Essay Topics.
3/18/15 Discussion: analysis of poems, The Doll’s House.
Activity: finish play on video: The Doll’s House by Ibsen.
Assignment: Poems: Symbolist poets: Baudelaire, Rimbaud. Continue reading Life of Pi. Write a rough draft on a Persuasive Essay topic.
Week 11: Lecture: Review grabbers, 5 paragraph essays. Petrarchan sonnets. Rhetoric. Parallelism.
3/25/15 Rhetorical questions. Outlines. Literary Elements.
Discussion: analysis of play, stories.
Activity: Rhetoric, Parallelism exercise.
Assignment: Poems: Frederico Garcia Lorca, Czeslaw Milosz, Pessoa, Hikmet. Continue reading Life of Pi. Write a Petrarchan sonnet. Outline Persuasive Essay.
4/1/15 SPRING BREAK: 2 WEEKS OFF
4/8/15 “
Week 12: Lecture: Analogies.
4/15/15 Discussion: analysis of poems, short stories.
Activity: Analogies exercises.
Assignment: Sonnets: Julia Alvarez, Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, Petrarch, Louise Labe. Finish reading Life of Pi by Yann Martell. Write Persuasive Essay. Write a petrarchan sonnet.
Week 13: Lecture: Grammar. Essay Checklist. MLA Citation. Petrarchan sonnets.
4/22/15 Discussion: poetry analysis.
Activity: Grammar. MLA Citation. Sonnet writing: Shakespearean vs. Petrarchan.
Assignment: Poems: Alexie, Langagne, Jose Marti. Continue Life of Pi. Finish writing Persuasive Essay. Read Voyage of Christopher Columbus; Mayan creation story from Popol Vuh.
Week 14: Lecture: Cultural idioms. The Americas. Popol Vuh: Creation Hymn.
4/29/15 Discussion: poems, excerpts.
Activity: Stream of consciousness exercise.
Assignment: Poems: Bodet, Paz. Finish Life of Pi. Finish writing Persuasive Essay.
Read selected short stories:
Julio Cortazar: The Night Face Up
Gabriel Garcia Marquez: The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World
The Nose by Nicolai Gogol
Week 15: Lecture: Latin America. Magic Realism. Style. Tone.
5/6/15 Discussion: analysis of poems, novel, and stories.
Activity: Magic Realism writing.
Assignment: Read poems by Atwood, Neruda. Write up Magic Realism exercise from today (or new).
Read 3 short stories:
Luigi Pirandello: War
Martin Guerre by Alexandre Dumas.
Anton Chekhov: The Bet.
Week 16: Lecture: Description Review. Revision.
5/13/15 Discussion: poems, short stories.
Activity: Free verse poetry. Final Poetry Madness vote.
Assignment: Poems: Atwood, Neruda. Revise Persuasive Essay. Finalize all papers, due next week.
Week 17: Lecture: Globalization. Semester Review. Guest Author.
5/20/15 Discussion: poems.
Activity: Magic Realism write-around.
Assignment: Poems: All final papers are due.
Week 18: Jeopardy Game.
5/27/15 End of year party. “One World” cultural and historical icons.
Grading Criterion:
25% Writing assignments
50% Critical and analytical explorations and discussions in class
25% 5 paragraph essays
Assignments:
1. Persuasive Essay
2. Narrative: Story
3. Magic Realism
4. Narrative: Description
Poems:
Rondeau or Triolet
Pantoum
Haiku
Petrarchan sonnet
Free verse
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