Course Syllabus

English 2025-2026

 

Stephen Bresnahan

 

                                                                        Office Hours and Availability

 

I am available to meet during most A Blocks, Green Blocks, Red Blocks, and Blue Blocks.  Beyond that, my official office half-hour will be on Thursdays from 2:30-3. 

 

                                                                             Course Overview

 

This year, we will work on helping you grow as thinkers and readers and writers, and as useful and aware members of a small community, our class.  Please know that everything you do relating to our class—from the way you enter the room, to the way you answer a question, to the way you address your classmates, to the way you do your work, even at home—affects everyone else in our class.  Strive to make your effect one that lifts and propels.

 

As Thinkers, you will practice thinking literally, inferentially, and abstractly.  You will learn to identify, employ, and balance those levels of thinking as you read, write, and speak.

 

As readers, using those levels of thinking, you will notice how writers create meaning, and you will consider how that meaning resonates within and beyond the text.  You will learn how to read as writers, examining how writers construct sentences and paragraphs and identifying and imitating the techniques, the “moves,” they use. 

 

As Writers, you will practice writing clearly, directly, specifically (also known as concretely), cohesively, and stylistically, deepening and broadening your knowledge of grammar and punctuation as you try using techniques you notice in our reading; in that way, the writers we read will also be our teachers.

 

                                                                           Class Practices

 

We will follow these class practices, practices that require you to think beyond yourself and your own needs to consider the needs of others:

 

• Greet people by name when you enter class, or, if you are here before others, greet them by name as they enter.

 

• After you greet people, ask them if there is anything you can do to help them.

 

• Say “Please” and “Thank you” and “I’m sorry” when the situation calls for it.

 

• Listen to each other. Once class has begun, hold no side conversations (verbal or non-verbal); place turned-off cell phones in their designated space, and zip all earbuds and smartwatches out of sight inside your bag. 
• When you have the chance to be cutting or kind, be kind. When you have the chance to be sarcastic or genuine, be genuine.  A gentle word in place of a harsh one always speaks well of you; it radiates the respect you have for others and yourself.

 

                                                                                   Grading

 

Through the work you’ll do, and the presence you establish, you will have the chance to show evidence of your commitment and growth.  That commitment and growth have to be translated into grades, and so your grades will be in the following categories:

 

Reading: Your ability to read carefully and think about what you have read on literal, inferential, and abstract levels, and to express your thoughts about what you’ve read through notes, quizzes, and discussions.

 

Writing: Your ability, no matter the length or type of assignment, to write clearly, directly, specifically (concretely), and stylistically.  This category also includes grammar assessments. 

 

Speaking and Listening: Your commitment to speaking at least once every class and your commitment to listening to your classmates and teacher. 

 

Dependability: Your ability to be counted on to do your work, following all directions, on time, with care, and without cheating; your commitment to following the class practices and, as a result, to showing regard for others.

 

You’ll get a letter grade on almost everything; now and then, smaller assignments will be graded with points only.  For letter-graded assignments, PowerSchool translates the grade into a percentage.  Most letter-graded assignments will count for 10 points, though sometimes more and sometimes less.  I’ll give rubrics for the assignments as they come, and also for the dependability and speaking and listening grades.  Each of the categories counts toward your term grade.  Individual terms may be more focused on certain categories than others, but please remember that you are always, through all you say and do and don’t say and don’t do, showing evidence of your commitment and growth in these four areas. 

 

                                                                              Texts

 

For 12H: The Namesake, A Poetry Handbook, A Room of One’s Own, Sula, Hamlet, The Things They Carried, Othello, American Moor.  In addition, we will read various essays, short stories, and poems.

 

For AP: Many of our readings will come from the textbook The Language of Composition, and from the collection of essays called 50 Essays: A Portable Anthology.  We will also, however, read supplemental works from newspapers and magazines, and at least one novel or book-length work of non-fiction.  No matter what we read, we’ll always consider the writer’s rhetorical approaches and how those approaches become effective in the work.

 

Throughout the year, we will, of course, be preparing for the AP Test on May 13, 2026.  We will work on the skills needed to complete the multiple-choice section of the test, and those needed to write the three essays required on the test: the rhetorical analysis essay (we’ll focus on that term one), the argument essay (term two), and the synthesis essay (term three).  All of those essays, and the multiple-choice section, will require skills mentioned above in the “As Readers…As Writers…As Thinkers” sections of this course overview. 

 

For 9ACP: Romeo and Juliet, The House on Mango Street, The Book Thief, When the Emperor Was Divine, Frankenstein, and various essays and poems and short stories.