English II Honors Syllabus
The year will consist of the following:
Summer Reading Homework (15 quotes per topic--character development, thematic, and
conflict analysis--totaling 45 quotes per work: 45 for The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde
45 for Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte).
Summer Reading in-class literary analysis essay.
Kathleen Kreycik, BA, MFA
(818) 222-7177 x 52324
2024-2025 school year
Support available by appointment
Course Details: English II Honors.
Course Description: This course provides a survey of British Isles literature, which examines each unique period of literature in its historical context, beginning with the Anglo Saxon period, culminating in the Contemporary era, and will include Macbeth by William Shakespeare, Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley, Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and Lord of the Flies by William Golding. Writing instruction includes expository, narrative, and argumentative writing, as well as research methods and strategies, and digital information and media literacy. Vocabulary development includes Greek and Latin roots in semester one, high frequency SAT vocabulary in semester two and Academic vocabulary review from freshmen year. Outside reading will focus on diversity, equity and inclusion selections from the CHS library.
Attendance: After the first three days of class, attendance will be taken by seating chart. For this reason, you
need to be in your assigned seat (not any seat at your group table, and not anywhere else). If you come tardy,
which is by the time you need to be in class, not by the bell (which is frequently inaccurate) you need to write you name in on the tardy sheet or you will remain marked absent. Students come and go continually during the period; it is not my job to watch for stragglers when I'm in the middle of instruction or to try and recall the names of the five students who came tardy and record it when there is a break in active instruction. If you want to be marked present, add your name to the tardy list when tardy and be in your assigned seat when class is supposed to begin.
Obectives: as a result of this course you will be able to:
Locate and Identify appropriate academic research sources.
Evaluate the credibility of sources.
Integrate academic sources into a cohesive argument.
Complete sustained research projects.
Effectively format a variety of writing including expository, narrative, and argumentative essays.
Effectively craft a logical thesis and series of supporting arguments.
Smoothly Integrate sources, both quoted and paraphrased, into your writing.
Develop claims and counterclaims fairly and logically.
Utilize transitions effectively to link areas of text.
Establish appropriate style and tone for audience and purpose.
Write conclusions that articulate implications and significance.
Use a disciplinary style guide (MLA).
Understand the historical concerns of each area of British Isles literature.
Determine theme and central ideas of texts.
Analyze complex characters, their development, and their advancement of theme.
Compare and contrast works in different mediums.
Distinguish authors and works of the various periods studied.
Use analytical techniques to analyze literature and discover meaning.
Recognize Greek and Latin roots and their meanings, and use them to help determine meaning.
Recognize in reading and use in writing a wider vocabulary.
Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English.
Required Texts and Resources presented in order of use/by unit:
From Beowulf. Elements of Literature: Literature of Britain, 6th course. Holt, Rinehart and
Winston, Inc. 1989.
Bede. “The Saxon Temples are Destroyed.” The Ecclesiastical History of the English People.
Elements of Literature: Literature of Britain, 6th course. Holt, Rinehart and
Winston, Inc. 1989.
Bede. “Caedmon.” The Ecclesiastical History of the English People.
Elements of Literature: Literature of Britain, 6th course. Holt, Rinehart and
Winston, Inc. 1989.
Beowulf and Grendel. Directed by Sturla Gunnersson, performances by Gerard Butler, Stellen
Skarsgard, Ingvar Siggurdsson, 2005.
(trans) Kennedy, Charles. “The Wanderer.”
http://shslboyd.pbworks.com/f/The+Wanderer+text.pdf. Accessed August 2021.
(trans) Rafel, Burton. “The Seafarer.”
https://www.mrgrenier.com/uploads/5/4/3/5/54355903/theseafarer.pdf. Accessed
August 2021.
“The Three Ravens.” https://www.scottish-country-dancing-dictionary.com/three-ravens.html.
Accessed August 2021.
“Lord Randall.” https://poets.org/poem/lord-randall. Accessed August 2021.
“Get Up and Bar the Door.” https://www.bartleby.com/40/20.html. Accessed August 2021.
Coghill, Nevill. “The Prologue.” The Canterbury Tales.
https://www.dvusd.org/cms/lib011/AZ01901092/Centricity/Domain/
2891/Canterbury Tales prologue.pdf. Accessed August 2021.
Coghill, Nevill. “The Nun’s Priest’s Tale.” The Canterbury Tales.
http://englishiva1011.pbworks.com/f/NUNSTALE.PDF. Accessed August 2021.
Gardner, John. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.
https://www.northallegheny.org/cms/lib4/PA01001119/Centricity/Domain/1312/sir%2
0gawain%20text-0.pdf. Accessed August 2021.
Malory, Sir Thomas. “The Death of Arthur.” from Le Morte D’Arthur.
Elements of Literature: Literature of Britain, 6th course. Holt, Rinehart and
Winston, Inc. 1989.
Excalibur. Directed by John Boorman, performances by Nigel Terry, Helen Mirren, Liam Neeson,
Patrick Stewart. 1981.
Spenser, Edmund. from The Faerie Queene (Canto VIII).
Elements of Literature: Literature of Britain, 6th course. Holt, Rinehart and
Winston, Inc. 1989.
Marlowe, Christopher. from Doctor Faustus.
Elements of Literature: Literature of Britain, 6th course. Holt, Rinehart and
Winston, Inc. 1989.
Wyatt, Sir Thomas. “Whoso List to Hunt.”
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45593/whoso-list-to-hunt-i-know-where-is-
an-hind. Accessed August 2021.
Wyatt, Sir Thomas. “They Flee from Me.”
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45589/they-flee-from-me. Accessed August
2021.
Wyatt, Sir Thomas. “The Long Love.”
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45582/the-long-love-that-in-my-thought-
doth-harbour. Accessed August 2021.
Howard, Henry, Earl of Surrey. “Love that Doth Reign.”
http://www.sonnets.org/surrey.htm#102. Accessed August 2021.
Marlowe, Christopher. “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love.”
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44675/the-passionate-shepherd-to-his-love.
Accessed August 2021.
Raleigh, Sir Walter. “The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd.”
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44939/the-nymphs-reply-to-the-shepherd.
Accessed August 2021.
Shakespeare, William. Macbeth. http://www.shakespeare-
online.com/plays/macbethscenes.html. Accessed August 2021.
Shakespeare, William. Sonnets. http://shakespeare.mit.edu/Poetry/sonnets.html.
Accessed August 2021.
Macbeth. Directed by Roman Polanski, performances by John Finch, Francesca Annis,
and Martin Shaw, 1971.
Donne, John. “The Bait.” https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44094/the-bait-
56d2230bf176d. Accessed August 2021.
Donne, John. “Song.” https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44127/song-go-and-catch-a-
falling-star. Accessed August 2021.
Donne, John. “A Valediction Forbidding Mourning.”
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44131/a-valediction-forbidding-mourning.
Accessed August 2021.
Donne, John. “Meditation 17. “ http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/donne/meditation17.php.
Accessed August 2021.
Donne, John. “Death Be Not Proud.” https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44107/holy-
sonnets-death-be-not-proud. Accessed August 2021.
Donne, John. “Batter My Heart. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44106/holy-
sonnets-batter-my-heart-three-persond-god. Accessed August 2021.
Jonson, Ben. “Still to be Neat.” https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44452/still-to-be-
neat-still-to-be-dressed. Accessed August 2021.
Herrick, Robert. “Delight in Disorder.”
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47285/delight-in-disorder. Accessed August
2021.
Milton, John. “On His Blindness.” https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44750/sonnet-19-
when-i-consider-how-my-light-is-spent. Accessed August 2021.
Milton, John. “On Shakespeare.” https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46453/on-
shakespeare-1630. Accessed August 2021.
Milton, John. “The Temptation of Eve.” Paradise Lost. Elements of Literature: Literature of
Britain, 6th course. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc. 1989.
Defoe, Daniel. from Robinson Crusoe. Elements of Literature: Literature of Britain, 6th course.
Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc. 1989.
Swift, Jonathan. Part IV “A Voyage to the Country of the Houyhnhnms.” from Gulilver’s Travels.
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/829/829-h/829-h.htm#part04. Accessed August 2021.
Swift, Jonathan. “A Modest Proposal.” https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1080/1080-h/1080-
h.htm. Accessed August 2021.
Pope, Alexander. from “The Rape of the Lock.” Elements of Literature: Literature of Britain, 6th
course. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc. 1989.
Bunyan, John. from Pilgrim’s Progress. Elements of Literature: Literature of Britain, 6th course.
Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc. 1989.
Blake, William. “The Tyger.” https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43687/the-tyger.
Accessed August 2021.
Blake, William. “The Lamb.” https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43670/the-lamb-
56d222765a3e1. Accessed August 2021.
Blake, William. “The Chimney Sweeper.” (Innocence).
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43654/the-chimney-sweeper-when-my-
mother-died-i-was-very-young. Accessed August 2021.
Blake, William. “The Chimney Sweeper.” (Experience).
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43653/the-chimney-sweeper-a-little-black-
thing-among-the-snow. Accessed August 2021.
Blake, William. “London.” https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43673/london-
56d222777e969. Accessed August 2021.
Blake, William. “Jerusalem.” https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/54684/jerusalem-and-
did-those-feet-in-ancient-time. Accessed August 2021.
Wordsworth, William. “Lines Composed a few Miles Above Tintern Abbey.”
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45527/lines-composed-a-few-miles-above-
tintern-abbey-on-revisiting-the-banks-of-the-wye-during-a-tour-july-13-1798. Accessed
August 2021.
Wordsworth, William. “Strange Fits of Passion I Have Known.” https://dailypoetry.me/william-
wordsworth/strange-fits-of-passion-have-i-known/. Accessed August 2021.
Wordsworth, William. “She Dwelt Among the Untrodden Ways.”
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45549/she-dwelt-among-the-untrodden-
ways. Accessed August 2021.
Wordsworth, William. “A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal.”
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45553/a-slumber-did-my-spirit-seal.
Accessed August 2021.
Wordsworth, William. “London, 1802.”
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45528/london-1802. Accessed August 2021.
Coleridge, Samuel Taylor. “Kubla Khan.”
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43991/kubla-khan. Accessed August 2021.
Coleridge, Samuel Taylor. “Rime of the Ancient Mariner.”
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43997/the-rime-of-the-ancient-mariner-
text-of-1834. Accessed 2021.
Gordon, George (Lord Byron). “She Walks in Beauty.”
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43844/she-walks-in-beauty. Accessed 2021.
Gordon, George (Lord Byron). From Don Juan, Canto II. Elements of Literature: Literature of
Britain, 6th course. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc. 1989.
Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus.
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/84/84-h/84-h.htm. Accessed August 2021.
Shelley, Percy Bysshe. “Ozymandias.”
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46565/ozymandias. Accessed August 2021.
Shelley, Percy Bysshe. “England in 1819.”
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45118/england-in-1819. Accessed August
2021.
Shelley, Percy Bysshe. “Ode to the West Wind.”
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45134/ode-to-the-west-wind. Accessed
August 2021.
Keats, John. “La Belle Dame Sans Merci (A Ballad).”
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44475/la-belle-dame-sans-merci-a-ballad.
Accessed August 2021.
Keats, John. “Ode on a Grecian Urn.” https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44477/ode-
on-a-grecian-urn. Accessed August 2021.
The Hound of the Baskervilles. Directed by David Attwood, performances by Richard Roxburgh,
Ian Hart, and Richard E. Grant. 2002.
Alfred, Lord Tennyson. “Ulysses.” https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45392/ulysses.
Accessed August 2021.
Alfred, Lord Tennyson. ”The Lady of Shalott.”
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45360/the-lady-of-shalott-1842. Accessed
August 2021.
Browning, Robert. “My Last Duchess.” https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43768/my-
last-duchess. Accessed August 2021.
Browning, Robert. “Porphyria’s Lover.”
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46313/porphyrias-lover. Accessed August
2021.
Browning, Elizabeth Barrett. from “Sonnets from the Portuguese (43).”
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43742/sonnets-from-the-portuguese-43-
how-do-i-love-thee-let-me-count-the-ways. Accessed August 2021.
Arnold, Matthew. “Dover Beach.” https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43588/dover-
Beach. Accessed August 2021.
Rossetti, Christina. “Goblin Market.” https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44996/goblin-
Market. Accessed August 2021.
Rossetti, Dante Gabriel. “The Blessed Damozel.” https://www.shmoop.com/study-
guides/poetry/the-blessed-damozel/poem-text. Accessed August 2021.
Hopkins, Gerard Manley. “God’s Grandeur.”
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44395/gods-grandeur. Accessed August
2021.
Hopkins, Gerard Manley. “The Windhover.”
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44402/the-windhover. Accessed August
2021.
Hopkins, Gerard Manley. “Pied Beauty.”
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44399/pied-beauty. Accessed August 2021.
Carroll, Lewis. “The Crocodile.” https://poets.org/poem/crocodile. Accessed August 2021.
Watts, Isaac. “How Doth the Busy Little Bee.” https://poets.org/poem/how-doth-little-busy-
bee. Accessed August 2021.
Kipling, Rudyard. “The Miracle of Purun Bhagat.”
http://www.kiplingsociety.co.uk/rg_purun1.htm. Accessed August 2021.
Joyce, James. “The Dead.” The Dubliners. http://www.online-literature.com/james_joyce/958/.
Accessed August 2021.
Lessing, Doris. “No Witchcraft for Sale.” Elements of Literature: Literature of
Britain, 6th course. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc. 1989. Accessed August 2021.
Bowen, Elizabeth. “My Demon Lover.”
http://omero.humnet.unipi.it/matdid/201/DemonLover.pdf. Accessed August 2021.
Yeats, William Butler. “The Second Coming.”
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43290/the-second-coming. Accessed August
2021.
Yeats, William Butler. “Sailing to Byzantium.”
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43291/sailing-to-byzantium. Accessed
August 2021.
Lawrence, D. H. “Snake.” https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/148471/snake-
5bec57d7bfa17. Accessed August 2021.
Auden, W. H. “Musee des Beaux Arts.” https://www.poetrybyheart.org.uk/poems/musee-des-
beaux-arts/. Accessed August 2021.
Hughes. Ted. “Hawk Roosting.” https://allpoetry.com/Hawk-Roosting. Accessed August 2021.
Golding, William. Lord of the Flies.
http://kkoworld.com/kitablar/uilyam_qoldinq_milchekler_krali-eng.pdf. Accessed
August 2021.
Lord of the Flies. Directed by Harry Hook, performances by Balthazar Getty, Chris Furrh, 1990.
Late work: will be accepted one day late for 50% (essays are the exception--see below). For excused absences, when work is assigned before the absence, work is due the day student returns to class. For work assigned during the absence, students have the number of days absent plus one day to get the make-up work in. For late work submitted electronically, students must email me and let me know which assignment was turned in and for which period, otherwise the work will not be entered into the student’s grade, and that email must be sent the day the late work is submitted or no credit will be given. Exams missed must be taken the day the student returns to class, quizzes must be taken within a week of the original quiz at a support period, and it is the student's responsibility to ask for the exam or quiz, not the teacher's responsibility to remind you. The exception is essays: essays will be accepted late with a one grade reduction for each day late, up until the F @ 59% -- if the essay submitted completes the requirements of the paper, the students may earn the 59% no matter how late the paper is, up until the last two weeks in the semester. If the essay submitted does not complete the requirements of the paper, no credit will be given.
Plagiarism/academic honesty: work that is plagiarized will not be accepted for credit, and the student will be given a zero on that assignment and a note will be submitted on the student's record. No make-up opportunities will be offered for plagiarized work or work on which cheating occurred. For assignments plagiarized from another student, both students will receive a zero on the assignment and a note on their record—for this reason, students should NEVER share/show their work to a fellow student to give them an “example.” If a student needs help and an example, the appropriate way is either to find an online example or to ask the teacher. In my 24 years+ experience, a student who asks a fellow student to see their paper ALWAYS plans to copy all or a portion of the paper. Students must protect themselves by politely refusing and suggesting other more appropriate resources.
Course Calendar:
August – September:
Essay on summer work--expository
Anglo-Saxon Literature
Greek/Latin Roots/Vocabulary
Media and Digital Literacy Instruction
Outside reading book--selection from British classics
October
Essay on research topic—argumentative
Middle Ages Literature
Greek/Latin Roots/Vocabulary
Media and Digital Literacy Instruction
November
Renaissance Literature
Macbeth
Greek/Latin Roots/Vocabulary
Media and Digital Literacy Instruction
December
Renaissance Literature
Macbeth
Greek/Latin Roots/Vocabulary
Narrative Essay
Media and Digital Literacy Instruction
January
Restoration literature
Greek/Latin Roots/Vocabulary
Media and Digital Literacy Instruction
February
Essay—researched, argumentative
Romantic literature
Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus
High Frequency SAT vocabulary
Media and Digital Literacy Instruction
Outside reading book--selection from modern retelling of your chosen classic
March
Victorian Literature
Hound of the Baskervilles
High Frequency SAT vocabulary
Media and Digital Literacy Instruction
Essay--expository
April
Victorian Literature
High Frequency SAT vocabulary
Media and Digital Literacy Instruction
May
Twentieth Century Literature + Post-Moderns
High Frequency SAT vocabulary
Media and Digital Literacy Instruction
June
Essay – expository
High Frequency SAT vocabulary
Media and Digital Literacy Instruction
Expectations:
Check class web page daily for work and instructions.
If submitting late work for excused absence, email me with period # and title of assignment or it wont be
entered into your grade because I wont see it.
Make up quizzes within a week of the missed quiz at a support period.
Make up exams the day you return to class.
Essay will be accepted late with a one grade reduction per day until you reach the 59%; the 59% is available until the two weeks before final exams--essay needs to be complete for the 59%.