American Lit. + Comp. (ALC)

Want to know what's happening this week or what you missed last week? Check out the ALC agenda to access all course content: instructional materials, homework assignments, and project descriptions.

Take a broader look at what we'll being doing over the course of the entire semester.

Here is a list of skill targets that we will work to master over the course of this year.

Grades

Reading quizzes - 25%

Missed reading quizzes must be made up by the final day of the thematic unit, or it remains a permanent zero in the grade book.

Creative projects - 15%

Revisable within one week of posted grade. A late assignment will decrease by 10% of its assessed grade for each school day that it is late.

Process essay - 10%

Revisable within one week of posted grade. A late assignment will decrease by 10% of its assessed grade for each school day that it is late.

In-class essays - 10% + 10% = 20%

Timed, single-event writing assessment that simulates end-of-course writing assessment.

Socratic seminar - 10%

A structured group dialogue that is collaborative in nature and helps bring big ideas to the surface. Involves a preparation and performance component.

Logistics - 5%

Forms, policies and procedures, etc.

Final exam - 15%

End-of-course assessment. No retake-able.

Course Overview

American Literature and Composition is the regular level third year course in the four-year English sequence. It is thematically arranged so as to cover the primary questions of American cultural history. The readings include many of the standard and most indicative works of our culture as well as several more contemporary pieces indicative of the country we have more recently become. Its composition element, which is to be considered the equivalent of the literature in intensity and attention, has critical, expository and personal writing intents. The course is available to students as a self-contained program or in direct conjunction with American History. The curriculum is the same in both alternatives. The CRT's for the course test direct, critical reading in first semester and writing and critical reading in second semester.

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