LITERATURE AND COMPOSITION 3

Tentative Course Overview

Subject to revision for 2026-2027 

LITERATURE

"Rip Van Winkle" and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," by Washington Irving

Black Ships Before Troy, by Rosemary Sutcliff

Homer's The Iliad*

To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee

Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens

The Hound of the Baskervilles, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle 

The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien

Animal Farm, by George Orwell

​The Yearling, by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings

*Provided by instructor


PARTIAL LIST OF SKILLS TAUGHT

Building on skills taught in L&C2:

Literature:

  • acquire familiarity with Arthurian legends and legend as genre 
  • expand familiarity with Homeric literature and devices
  • recognize updated fables ​
  • understand tone of literature
  • recognize recurrent themes in literature 
  • compare and contrast thematic content between novels (syntopical reading) 
  • understand the importance of point-of-view
  • intelligently define a classic 
  • continually be required to identify authorial intention and textual integrity (internal consistency) 
  • utilize understanding of genre to identify author intention
  • identify what a given author defines as good, true, and beautiful in a given work 
  • demonstrate ability to interact with thematic ideas orally and in writing

Composition:

  • reinforce and build upon L&C 2 skills in thesis-driven essay construction, focusing on unity, cohesion, and coherence
  • learn to skillfully integrate quotations and cite material using MLA format
  • learn new skills in organizing and writing the comparison essay and exploratory essay
  • practice using sentence variety for interest, style, and emphasis
  • practice using grammar knowledge to improve writing 
  • practice modeling well-written pieces and generating original compositions
  • improve skills in paraphrasing, summarizing, and outlining
  • practice writing concise and relevant introductions and conclusions 

Grammar:

  • nouns: concrete/abstract, collective, and direct address
  • pronouns: relative, indefinite, reflexive, intensive, person
  • verbs: principle parts, regular/irregular, active and passive voice, progressive tense
  • conjunctions: correlative and conjunctive adverbs
  • subject complements: predicate nominative and predicate adjective​
  • adverbial and adjectival phrases
  • punctuation as a function of grammar
  • dependent clauses: adjective, adverb, noun


FOCUS OF WORK

In class:  

  • A balance of lecture and discussion focusing on literary analysis and literary appreciation. 
  • Focused lessons on grammar and composition.
  • Guided practice in composition.
  • Review of weekly grammar homework.​

Homework:

  • Read assigned literature and prepare for discussion. 
  • Complete weekly composition assignments. 
  • Complete weekly grammar practice. 
  • Complete multiple developed compositions throughout the year. 

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