Ms. Linder

Office: 203 Hue House (You should be able to find me there 3^rd and 6^th hour. If you would like to meet another time please arrange that with me a day in advance)

Office Phone: 244-8580

Required texts:

Ellen Foster Kaye Gibbons

Grapes of Wrath John Steinbeck

You Can’t Take it With You Hart and Kaufman

Brave New World Aldous Huxley

Romeo and Juliet William Shakespeare

Second semester you will be choosing one of five books to read with a group of your peers in a literature circle.

Reading: A large amount of the homework in this class will be reading. I expect everyone in this class to read every assignment and come to class prepared to discuss it. Frequently, I will assign short written responses to the reading. I reserve the right to give surprise reading quizzes if I suspect that students are not doing their assigned reading. I will post reading schedules on the class web page so you can read ahead when you know you have a particularly busy week.

Class Web Board: This year we will be using a class web board. Depending on the book we are reading, you will be required to post to the web board one to three times a week. These postings may be on a specific topic or they may follow your own process of discovery as you are reading a book. My hope is that this forum will allow more and different conversation about the ideas raised in the books we are reading.

Class Discussion: A majority of class time will be spent discussing the books we have been reading. This will occur in both large and small groups. Sometimes I will give you very specific questions and other times I will give you more freedom in your discussion. I expect everyone to participate in these discussions and to listen respectfully when your classmates are speaking. In the final calculation of your grades participation (or lack of) will be the difference between a B+ and an A-.

Written Assignments: will be turned in on time. Trust me, life will be much easier for all of us if you do your utmost to turn your work in on time. If you do not, every day a paper is late will cost you 10%. It adds up fast, so don’t turn in your homework late. Expect one major (2-4 pages,1-2 drafts) paper, 2 less formal papers, and numerous in-class and out-of-class response papers every quarter.

Tests and Quizzes: First semester we will have weekly vocab quizzes on Friday. You will receive the vocab words on Monday, you can also find them posted on my web page. Tests will be announced at least a week in advance and I will do everything I can to avoid scheduling a test on a day when you have other tests. Unfortunately, the reality of Uni is that sometimes this is unavoidable. If it happens that you have an English test on a day when you have two other tests (quizzes do not count as tests) you may talk to me about rescheduling your test. The retake will have to be on your own time.