Course Description
How can the written language be changed according to context, audience, and purpose? In this course, students explore the evolution of language in fiction and nonfiction, assess rhetorical and narrative techniques, identify and refine claims and counterclaims, and ask and answer questions to aid in their research. Students also evaluate and employ vocabulary and comprehension strategies to determine the literal, figurative, and connotative meanings of technical and content-area words and phrases.

Course Breakdown Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech by The Dalai Lama
Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech by William Faulkner
“Letter from Birmingham Jail” by Martin Luther King Jr.
Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech by Mother Teresa
Animal Farm by George Orwell
“Sonnet 73” by William Shakespeare Lord of the Flies by William Golding
“Thanatopsis” by William Cullen Bryant
“Any Human to Another” by Amy Lowell
“Patterns” by Countee Cullen
“Just Lather, That’s All” by Hernando Téllez
“Fish Cheeks” by Amy Tan
“The Feather Pillow” by Horacio Quiroga
“The Rat Trap” by Selma Lagerlöf
“My Last Duchess” by Robert Browning
“A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” by Gabriel García Márquez
“Where Stories Come From” by an anonymous author
“Why the Cheetah’s Cheeks Are Stained” by an anonymous author

Course Goals
Write a compare-and-contrast essay on two speeches.
Read a selection of speeches and analyze their rhetorical elements.
Read and analyze Animal Farm. Write an original short story.
Read poems and examine their structure.
Analyze the use of literary devices in various readings.
Read and analyze Lord of the Flies.