Course Syllabus

English 2026-2027

 Stephen Bresnahan, Room 216

 

  Office Hours

 

I am available to meet during most A Blocks, Yellow Blocks, Green Blocks, and Purple 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.

 

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, by reading slowly and closely, 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.

 

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 help them with.

 

• 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’ll 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 slowly and closely and to think about what you have read on literal, inferential, and abstract levels, and to express your thoughts about what you’ve read through notes, response booklets, quizzes, and discussions.

 

Writing: Your ability, no matter the length or type of assignment, to write clearly, directly, specifically (concretely), cohesively, 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, according to directions, on time, with care, and without cheating; and your commitment to following the class practices.

 

You’ll get a letter grade on almost everything; sometimes 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, as with essays, and sometimes less, as with short grammar assessments.  I’ll give rubrics for the assignments as they come, and also for the dependability grade and the speaking and listening grade.  Each of the categories counts toward your term grade.  Individual terms may focus more 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. 

 

Here is the information about term grading the school would like us to include in our course overviews:

 

1. Grading details for how Y1 is calculated: 
2. For Seniors and AP: Q1 - Q4 are each worth 25% of the Y1 grade.
3. For 9ACP: Q1 - Q4 are each worth 22% of the Y1 grade AND E1 is worth 12% of the Y1 grade. The “E” stands for exam/essay, and in here you will have a final essay; for 9ACP, part of the E grade will be notes you take on the piece of writing about which you will write the essay.
4.  

District Curriculum Accommodation Plan (DCAP)

 

Here is the district’s language regarding DCAP (I bolded the final three sentences):

District accommodations (DCAP) are available to all students, and in the 26-27 school year, WHS is committed to moving this forward with fidelity.  

While some accommodations can be offered at the moment, others require advanced notice.  

For example: Extended time on an in-class assessment is a collaborative decision made by the teacher, student, and family to meet individual student needs.  The WHS guideline is up to 25% extra time.  This accommodation relies on proactive student communication prior to the date of the assessment.  The student and teacher must establish how the accommodation will be provided.” 

 

                                                                        Texts

 

For 12H: The Namesake, A Poetry Handbook, A Room of One’s Own, Sula, Hamlet, The Things They Carried; if we have time, we will also read Othello and 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 12, 2027.  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.

 

                                                           Final Thought: The Boat We All Share

 

 

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 when you are by yourself—affects everyone else in our class.

 

You can look at it this way: for ten months, we are all together in a boat, and each of us has an oar.  If one of us stops rowing, or drags an oar, or gets out of rhythm some other way, we all feel it, even subconsciously, and the boat’s progress suffers.  What I’m trying to say here is that not following the practices, and not doing the work, even the smallest assignment, something you think might only affect you, is like dragging your oar.  On the other hand, every time you follow the practices, every time you do your work—again, even if you are all by yourself, outside of class—and do it thoughtfully and with care and have it ready on time, you’re helping all of us stay in rhythm as, together, we slice our boat through the waters of the year.

 

None of that might be perceptible to you from day to day, like the undulations of the surface of the earth, but I ask you to trust me and my 30 or so years of experience when I tell you that it is all—the boat, your oar, our interconnectedness and dependence on each other—quite real.