English 11 Honors

English 11 Honors focuses on American literature; therefore the curriculum is aligned to the U.S. History curriculum. Students explore the fundamental themes of American culture through historical reading, lecture, and analysis in combination with literary readings, composition, poetry, music, film, architecture, and geography.  The goals of this course are for students to develop critical thinking skills; develop writing skills applicable to all fields, particularly non-fiction; improve their writing process techniques (drafting, editing, revising, publishing); participate productively in class discussions and activities; increase their vocabulary; and improve their study skills. 

Additional time will be put toward college and career planning and standardized test preparation.  All students take the PSAT, the SAT I (Reasoning), two subject tests for the SAT II and prepare for the Advanced Placement examination in English Language and Composition.

Honors students are required to read three literary works during the summer. In addition to the novel, 1984, which is required of all OVS students, they may choose two selections from a list of American books that have been awarded the Pulitzer Prize for literature. Honors students already an historical novel as part of their research projects. Choices include Hemingway’s For Whom the Bells Tolls, Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath, Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, Toni Morrison’s Beloved, Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, Robert Penn Warren’s All The King’s Men, and David Guterson’s Snow Falling on Cedars.

Course work starts with a study of some American short stories, and continues with detailed analyses of The Crucible by Arthur Miller, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, Hiroshima by John Hersey, and The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. These major works are supplemented by the study of poetry and expository prose with emphasis on the works of Thoreau, Emerson, Whitman and many modern poets.

Prerequisites: English 10 Honors or English 10, a letter of recommendation from English 10 Teacher and acceptance based upon department approval

Instructor: Terry Wilson