Welcome to English 1!

English 1: Outsiders in America
Summer 2011
Ms. Mason

Welcome to English 1! In this six-week class we will read interesting contemporary texts and view complimentary films designed to provoke your thinking about important social issues. Unit topics include gang life and prisons, racial discrimination and the civil rights movement, the achievement gap, homelessness and poverty, and refugees in America. The theme of this class is “Outsiders in America” because all of the authors we will read are using their unique perspectives to offer alternative views on the American dream.

How to succeed in this class: Let’s be realistic. This is summer school. Most of you would rather be at the beach, movie theater, or having fun outdoors. There will be very little homework in this class, which means that attendance and participation are that much more important. If you miss more than three classes, you cannot pass the class.  I will be grading you on the following categories:

1.      Participation: 25%

2.      Weekly journal checks (all journal writing done in class): 25%

3.      Inquiry project (mostly done in class and in computer labs): 25%

4.      Inside story essay (take home, but partially done in class): 25%

Key Texts:
Always Running: La Vida Loca: Gang Life in L.A. by Luis J. Rodriguez
Fences by August Wilson
A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry
Excerpts from American Voices: Multicultural Literacy and Critical Thinking, Dolores LaGuardia and Hans P. Guth, eds.

Films:
Gangland or Crips and Bloods: Made in America (documentary)
Jackie Robinson (documentary)
The Great Debaters
Hoop Dreams and/or Akilah and the Bee
God Grew Tired of Us (documentary)
The Pursuit of Happiness