Advanced Composition and World Lit description and syllabus

Advanced Composition and World Literature

Course Overview This course is designed for students preparing for college-level courses. We will focus on developing strong writing, argument, and research skills. Our texts will include examining the rhetoric of modern and social media, politics, satire, logical fallacies, and current events and debates around world issues. Tying together our modern world and popular discourses, we will also examine world literature and cultures through modern literature. We will explore different topics, like family, friendship, religion, gender, and war, through various cultures and perspectives. Our texts will include poetry, short stories, memoirs, and novels, such as The Kite Runner, Life of Pi, The Joy Luck Club, Things Fall Apart, and I am Malala. This is a writing intensive course. Students will have weekly writing assignments, but they will be engaging and thoughtful and designed to inspire critical thinking and reflection. Classes will meet weekly for 90 minutes. Cost: $75/mo. Ages 14 up. This class is equivalent to English III and IV. Required Texts One World, Many Cultures, 9thedition. Stuart Hirschberg. Pearson, 2015 The Joy Luck Club. Amy Tan. Penguin, 1991. The Kite Runner. Khaled Hosseini. Riverhead Books, 2003. The Life of Pi. Yann Martel. Mariner, 2001. I Am Malala. Malala Yousafzai. Back Bay Books, 2013. Things Fall Apart. Chinua Achebe. Penguin, 1994. The Elements of Style.  Suggested Texts:  These are not required, but may help your student in the course.  Worldly Wise 3000. Book 12. This is to enhance vocabulary. I will use these words each week, but they would need the workbook for extra practice and study.  How to Read Literature Like a Professor: A Lively and Entertaining Guide to Reading Between the Lines. Thomas Foster, 2014.  Course Materials Ÿ Folder with pockets Ÿ Pens, black preferred Ÿ Highlighters Ÿ Post-it Tabs (flags) Ÿ College-ruled paper Ÿ 3-ring binder Ÿ Access to a computer and the internet

Course Schedule

Week	Subject	Assignment
Week 1	Introduction, Syllabus review, and How to Read a Text; “The Danger of the Single-Story” Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie	Pgs. 1-15 of OWMC “How and Why We Read”
Week 2	Academic Paragraphs and Rhetoric, Literary Maps	Pgs. 16-27 OWMC; current event
Week 3	Postmodernism: What’s the Deal, Anyway? Family and Friends Unit	“Valley of the Gun”, “Plight of the Little Emperors”, “Journey by Inner Light”, academic paragraph and a current event that relates to one of the three short stories
Week 4	Family and Friends Unit Chinese Poetry, Confucianism and Daoism  Fragments and Run-Ons	“Social Networks,” “Sixty-Nine Cents”, academic paragraph and current event that relates to one of the two readings.
Week 5	Family and Friends Unit “Five Elements” Japanese Poetry, Buddhism; Literary Circles	The Joy Luck Club, Section I Academic Paragraph (Three C’s)
Week 6	Family and Friends Unit Amy Chua’s “Saturday Essay” Comma Splices	The Joy Luck Club,Section 2. Academic Paragraph (Three C’s) Essay assigned
Week 7	Family and Friends Unit Sheryl WuDunn TEDtalk	The Joy Luck Club,Section III. Work on essay.
Week 8	Friends and Family Unit Discussion with Dr. Hazell’s class at 9:30am Commas	The Joy Luck Club,Section IV. Essay due.
Week 9	Life Experiences Unit Using Quotations and Italics	“The Letter ‘A’”, “Initiated into an Iban Tribe of Headhunters”, “Body Art as Visual Language”, Academic paragraph and current event that relates to one of the three readings.  Presentations assigned.
Week 10	Life Experiences Unit Post-Colonialism in Literature	“The Telephone”, “The Eyes are not Here”, academic paragraph and current event that relates to one of the two readings.
Week 11	Life Experiences Unit Aristotle “On Tragedy” “Alien Suite” Safia Elhillo Historical Context for Things Fall Apart	Things Fall Apart, Chapters 1-6 Presentations
Week 12	Life Experiences Unit “The Second Coming” Yeats Subject/Verb Agreement	Things Fall Apart, Chapters 7-13  Presentations
Week 13	Life Experiences Unit  “The White Man’s Burden” Rudyard Kipling (1899) “The Black Man’s Burden” Reverend H.T. Johnson (1899) Literary Station activity	Things Fall Apart, Chapters 14-end of novel.  Presentations
Week 14	Life Experiences Unit Psychological Analysis “Freud and Literature”  Islam “Key terms and phrases” Homonyms	The Kite Runner, Chapters 1-10. Short essay assigned.
Week 15	Life Experiences “The Perils of Indifference” Speech by Elie Wiesel  Seamus Haney’s “Digging” Amir’s Journey in Google Maps	The Kite Runner, Chapters 11-20.  Work on essay
Week 16	Life Experiences	The Kite Runner, Chapters 21- end of novel. Work on essay
Week 17	Life Experiences	Short essay due. (Winter Break begins)
Second Semester begins Week 1	Gender Roles Feminist Theory in Literary Analysis	“The Myth of the Latin Woman,” “Leaky,” “Arranging a Marriage in India” academic paragraph and current event that relates to one of the three readings.
Week 2	Gender Roles	“Water—On Women’s Burdens, Humans’ Rights, and Companies’ Profit,” “TBD”, academic paragraph and current event that relates to one of the three readings.
Week 3	Gender Roles	I Am Malala, Part I Academic Paragraph, 3 C’s
Week 4	Gender Roles	I Am Malala, Part II Essay Assigned Passion Project assigned
Week 5	Gender Roles	I Am Malala, Part III Work on essay
Week 6	Gender Roles	I Am Malala, Part IV Essay due
Week 7	Customs, Rituals, and Religious Values	“Environmentalism as Religion,” “Seeing, Being Seen, and Not Being Seen,” “Want Creation Fuels Americans’ Addictiveness,” academic paragraph and current event that relates to one of the three readings.
Week 8	Customs, Rituals, and Religious Values Fiddler on the Roof	“China Chic: East Meets West,” “Shamans, Healers and Experiences I Can’t Explain,” “The Secrets of Voodoo in Haiti,” academic paragraph and current event that relates to one of the three readings.
Week 9	Customs, Rituals, and Religious Values RENSSQQ, Research, and using scholarly sources	Life of Pi, Part I.
Week 10	Customs, Rituals, and Religious Values Organizing outlines	Life of Pi, Chapters 37-61. Final essay assigned.
Week 11	Customs, Rituals, and Religious Values	Life of Pi, Chapters 62-rest of novel. Work on essay.
Week 12	Race, Class, and Caste Discussion with Dr. Hazell’s class and film Life of Pi. You will need to arrive at 9:30am, if possible.	Work on essay, Outline due “Civilize Them with a Stick,” “Left to Tell,” “What is Poverty”
Week 13	Race, Class, and Caste	“Flavio’s Home,” “Race Relations Light Years from Earth,” “My Bondage and My Freedom” Rough draft of essay due.
Week 14	Race, Class, and Caste	Final Essay Due
Week 15	SPRING BREAK WEEK WILL FOLLOW TEMPLE COLLEGE SCHEDULE.	NO HOMEWORK FOR SPRING BREAK!
Week 16	Class Celebration and Passion Project Reveal	Final Day of Class

Homework Policy

Students are required to do their readings outside of class in order to participate fully during each meeting. If a student is absent, they may email me their assignment or turn it in the following week. Plagiarism will not be accepted. The first offense will result in the assignment returned and a parental notification. Also, if students miss more than two assignments, parents will be notified. Late work is accepted with prior arrangementwith the instructor. 

Additional Information

There will be a class blog set up for parents to check in and see what we are learning during each unit, as well as to provide a review of the content learned in class. Major assignments will be posted there, but smaller class assignments will likely follow the syllabus structure. I welcome phone calls, emails, texts, and visits and will do my best to respond as soon as possible.