• The focus of this quarter is to develop our ability to analyze literature using various literary theories, provide multiple valid interpretations, evaluate and justify multiple perspectives, and then synthesize our ideas. The practice of literary interpretation has the larger aim of helping us become more sophisticated readers, thinkers, and writers as we engage in complex texts.
• Most of the texts we will be reading this quarter will be short stories and poems. We will be completing various discussions and writing assignments over these.

Essential Questions:

 Standards Addressed

• Standard 2: Reading for all Purposes Prepared Graduates: Seek feedback, self-assess, and reflect on personal learning while engaging with increasingly more difficult texts. Demonstrate comprehension of a variety of informational, literary, and persuasive texts. Interpret how the structure of written English contributes to the pronunciation and meaning of complex vocabulary.
• Standard 3: Writing and Composition Prepared Graduates: Write with a clear focus, coherent organization, sufficient elaboration, and detail. Apply standard English conventions to effectively communicate with written language.
• Standard 4: Research and Reasoning Prepared Graduates: Evaluate explicit and implicit viewpoints, values, attitudes, and assumptions concealed in speech, writing, and illustration. Discriminate and justify a position using traditional lines of rhetorical argument and reasoning.