Language Arts 11
Course Number: #1605
In this survey of American literature, students journey across Midwest America with the Joads in The Grapes of Wrath and drift down the Mississippi with Huck and Jim in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, exploring the American Dream and the true meaning of friendship and family. Students evaluate courage as they stand beside John Proctor in The Crucible when he goes on trial for witchcraft and reflect on alienation as the women in Yellow Raft in Blue Water try to navigate within their family and between the Indian reservation and contemporary American society. Students will meet other writers through various short stories, poetry, essays, and plays. Language Arts 11 is intended to engage students in college-level thinking, discussions, writing, and research. Students will develop analytical skills, evaluate literary criticism, and further their understanding of literary devices in order to respond critically to the literature they read. Additionally, students hone their vocabulary and other skills needed for PSAT, SAT, and PSSA tests. Successful completion of this course requires writing a fully documented research paper on a selected literary work.
Prerequisites: Language Arts 9 and 10. Required summer reading: The Grapes of Wrath and The Harvest Gypsies, both by John Steinbeck.
Credit(s): 1
Open to Grade(s): 11
Texts and Materials: The Language of Literature; Sadlier-Oxford Vocabulary Workshop, Level F; My Antonia; The Crucible; The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn; Macbeth; A Raisin in the Sun; Yellow Raft in Blue Water;