IB Junior English
Curriculum Paper
Instructor: Robert G. Pierce
Email: pierceb@duvalschools.org
School number: 693-7583 ext. 190
Website: http://boston.redsox.tripod.com
Textbooks: Literature and the Writing
Process
SUMMER READING: 1984 – George
Orwell
The Things They Carried – Tim O’Brien
Course Description
The IB curriculum is a two
year program, divided into four parts, with selections chosen from book lists prescribed by IBO for parts 1,2, and 3. Parts 3 and 4 are taught the senior year.
Junior year IB consists of parts 1 and 2. Part one, World Literature,
includes works from translation: Madame Bovary by Flaubert, A Doll’s
House by Ibsen, and Antigone by Sophocles. Also in the first semester,
junior year, the first world literature paper is due. This is a formal paper
(1000 – 1500 words) discussing a common element of at least two of the three world literature works and requires research. Final paper (two final copies) will be turned in January 18th and 19th,
2011. There will be no revisions of this paper after it is turned in to junior English teacher. We will also be preparing
for the AP Language and Composition exam in May.
Second semester, part two,
includes a detailed study of the following: Macbeth and Hamlet by Shakespeare, poetry by John Donne and Langston Hughes, Chaucer’s Canterbury
Tales, and My Life and Hard Times by James Thurber. World literature
paper number two is a creative paper (1000 – 1500 words) using works from parts one and two. Final paper (two final copies) will be due in June. Again,
no revisions of this paper after turned in to English teacher. IBO requires each
candidate tape a fifteen minute oral commentary. The oral exam will be administered
in March or April, at school, under teacher direction, and on a Saturday. Specific
dates and times will be announced in class.
Grade Distribution
The
grading scale is: A = 90% - 100%, B = 80% - 89%, C = 70% - 79%, D = 60% - 69%,
F = 59% and below. Nine weeks grades will be determined by a point system. The source of grades will include essays, quizzes, tests, homework, classwork, and
research papers. Students will keep a point tally sheet in their writing folders
which will remain in the classroom. Students will know the value of each assignment
based on the number of points allocated. Essay revisions are encouraged but not
required. A student must meet with the teacher to review essay prior to revising
(a conference form must be attached to essay and revision). The student will
be given the higher of the two grades. The student has until the next essay is
given to revise previous essay. Essays will be given approximately every three
weeks. Thus, if the class is writing essay number two, essay number one’s
revision time has passed.
Attire and Behavior
The Student
Code of Conduct will be enforced. Respect for all individuals at all
times is required. Students must be seated and working when the tardy bell rings. A reminder, the teacher dismisses the class,
not the bell. Writing on school books and/or desks is vandalism and will be dealt
with accordingly. No food, drinks, nor gum are allowed in class. Cell phones or any other electronic devices are NOT allowed in the classroom. Students are required to dress appropriately according to the Student Code of Conduct. Females should make sure that midriff and upper body areas are not exposed.
Male students should wear pants at the waist. Hats should be removed before
entering the classroom.
Materials
Each student is required to bring regular sized white notebook paper, assigned textbook, and
blue or black ink pens to class.
All work is to be done in blue or black ink. Work NOT done
in blue or black in will receive a zero, no credit. Each student will maintain a writing portfolio; these will be kept in the classroom. Students may want to purchase sticky notes and highlighters to be used in class.
Attendance
Coming to class is mandatory! Students
must have an official readmit to enter class after being absent. It is the student’s
responsibility to
inquire about make-up work or work missed due to an absence. Following Duval
County Public School policy,
a student has the number of days he is absent to make up work. For example, if
a student misses three classes, upon returning to class, he has three classes to turn in all make up work. Students should
inquire about make up work BEFORE class begins or check the class website for daily activities. All make up work should be done by the next progress report/scholarship warning period. For example, my printed reports go out every two to two and one half weeks.
Work missed the first two weeks may NOT be made up at the end of the grading period.
Be
responsible; do not wait until May to become interested in your grade. Make up work should be turned
in on time. See teacher if you have ANY
questions.
Tutoring/Safety Nets
Our class time
is vital. Make up work will be done outside of class; you will have the number
of classes missed to make up all work. You must see me before or right after
school to get make up work and turn it in the next class period to get any credit. I
am available from 7:30 – 8:00 most mornings. My planning period time is B days 2nd period. Grade recovery in the first semester will be a full AP test. There will be three essays and a multiple choice section. A minimum score of a 5 is required on ALL THREE essays and a minimum of 50% correct on the multiple choice
section. In the second semester all three essays must score a 6 or higher along
with 50% correct on the multiple choice section.
Academic Integrity Policy
Students are expected to take pride in their own work.
This means all work is done with honesty and integrity. All work is your
OWN work. The school academic integrity policy will be enforced.
International Baccalaureate Standards
IB students will be expected to demonstrate:
An ability to engage in independent literary criticism in a manner which reveals a personal response
to literature
An ability to express ideas with clarity, coherence, conciseness, precision, and fluency in both
written and oral communication
A command of the language appropriate for the study of literature and a discriminating appreciation
of the need for an effective choice of register and style in both written and oral communication
A sound approach to literature through consideration of the works studied
A thorough knowledge both of the individual works studied and of the relationships between groups
of works studied
An appreciation of the similarities and differences between literary works from different ages
and/or cultures
An ability to engage in independent textual commentary on both familiar and unfamiliar pieces
of writing
A wide-ranging appreciation of structure, technique and style as employed by authors, and of
their effects on the reader
An ability to structure ideas and arguments, both orally and in writing, in a logical, sustained
and persuasive way, and to support them with precise and relevant examples.
