Robinson Crusoe
Foe
Oliver Twist
Romantic Poems
Julius Caesar
Dorian Grey and/or Passage to India
Wuthering Heights
Gothic Short Stories

The primary goal of English 10 is to reinforce the reading and writing skills learned in English 9. Being able to draw meaning from texts of diverse genres and cultural and historical origins is a vital academic and life skill. Of equal importance is being able to create meaning through various forms of writing.

To those ends, we will be examining a wide variety of literature in complete or excerpted form. This year's focus is primarily upon European literature in frequent conversation with American literature from the 19th century. We will be writing analytical essays of many sorts, developing themselves as writers. Students will begin with the standard five paragraph essay, but expand into writing comparative, commentary, close reading, cultural/historical pieces, and beyond. Students will frequently be given the opportunity to workshop their writing in class, fine-tuning their work in conjunction with their peers and their teacher.

TENTH GRADE 19th Century Literature Units on Era-Appropriate Themes of:

1. Questioning the Enlightenment and Furthering the Exploration
2. Romanticism and Industrialism
3. Tyrannical Leaders
4. Nationalism, Empire and Victorianism
5. The Rise of the (Gothic) Novel
6. Gothic Stories of Questing

1. Unit on Questioning the Enlightenment and Furthering the Exploration: Robinson Crusoe and Foe (Summer Reading)
   
   Our summer reading of Robinson Crusoe , one of the best-selling adventure stories of all time, is a great bridge from the Enlightenment project to romantic themes of empire and exploration. Foe is a modern sequel by Coetzee, a great South African writer from the point of view of Friday, Robinson's “man.” Foe questions the Enlightenment project, and anticipates Romantic and even Gothic reactions in literature.
   
2. Unit on Romanticism and Industrialism: Oliver Twist, movie of the musical Oliver! and Romantic Poetry.
   
   European Romanticism: Poetry selections from Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Shelley, Byron
   
   American Romanticism: Emerson, Thoreau, Dickinson, Frost, cummings, Wallace Stevens, Updike
   
3. Unit on Tyrannical Leaders Shakespeare: “Julius Caesar.” What does it mean to be an “honorable” person? Who is guilty for the death of JC?
   
4. Unit on Imperialism (Nationalism, Empire) and Victorianism (High Romanticism and Decadence): Passage to India and/or Dorian Grey
   
5. Unit on The (Gothic) Novel: Wuthering Heights
   
6. Unit on Gothic Short Stories of Questing (to complement and highlight novels): Updike's “Pigeon Feathers”, Flannery O'Connor's “Everything that Rises Must Converge” and “A Good Man is Hard to Find”, Excerpts from Pilgrim's Progress , Excerpts from Sorrows of Young Werther ; Potentially adding Russian and German Folktales

Students' final grades for each quarter will be an average of all assignments done during the quarter. Based on the assignments given during each quarter, the inclusion and weighting of grade categories (such as essays, quizzes, projects, oral presentations, tests, and homework) will factor into your final grade.

The most important piece of your grade will be your essays, which will be graded on 10-point MYP rubrics respectively concerning content, organization, and style/usage. Students can expect to be assigned at least a major essay per quarter.