Welcome to my class home page!
Major assignments and activities for the school year will be found here. A general overview of my courses follows.
Current courses:
Advanced Placement Literature
Fall Semester Reading List:
*** Summer reading involves a thorough study of each of the following two texts. While there is no formal "assignment" to be turned in, students should be well versed in the material for testing immediately upon return to school. It is highly recommended that students take notes on the two books that they may find useful in helping them pass the summer reading tests. Those notes will be collected and reviewed for credit towards the test.
Joseph Conrad *** |
The Heart of Darkness |
Summer Reading |
Kurt Vonnegut *** |
Slaughterhouse Five |
Summer Reading |
Shakespeare |
King Lear |
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Franz Kafka |
The Metamorphosis |
Purchase |
Shakespeare |
Hamlet |
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Spring Semester Reading List:
Sandra Cisneros |
The House on Mango Street |
Purchase |
Emily Dickinson |
Selected Poetry |
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Walt Whitman |
Selected Poetry |
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Toni Morrison |
The Bluest Eye |
Purchase |
Advanced Placement English offers your student many exciting opportunities, chief among which is the chance to read some of the world’s greatest literature. Another obvious benefit is the earning of college credit with a passing grade on the AP exam in May. Our entire year will be devoted to learning the skills necessary to succeed on this exam, skills which demand critical reading, analyzing and evaluating. The benefits of this course, thereby, reach far beyond the English curriculum.
In addition to potential college credits, your student will, naturally, be earning a high school English credit. I commend these students on selecting, by their own choice, the most challenging course in which to earn this credit. Irrespective of their performance on the AP exam, their choice will pay off greatly in any college experience they pursue, as these same critical analysis skills will be applicable to virtually all courses of study. We have several AP practice test books to orient ourselves to the expected performance levels for success on the AP exam and beyond.
Averages will be figured based on the following categories:
Tests~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 30%
Homework~~~~~~ 30%
Classwork~~~~~~~ 30%
Participation~~~~ 10%
The AP College Board requires a highly detailed syllabus that must be maintained by me and approved by them each year. This syllabus is available to be viewed by you if you want to access further information about this course. It may well be more material that you want to review, but you are more than welcome to avail yourself to it at the following link:
Have a good year, and feel free to contact me here at the school at any time. The most reliable way to do so is through email.
Mr. F. C. Herx
Senior English IV
Textbook: Prentice Hall Literature: The British Tradition
Holt Elements of Language—6th course
Holt Vocabulary—6th course
Prentice Hall: Test Prep Workbook
Course Description
English IV
Course No.: 1001400
Prerequisite: Successful completion of English III
Credit: 1.0
under Curriculum and Instruction, Grades 9-12, Language Arts
*** For information on the quality point value for this course, please refer to page 67 of the Student Progression Plan***
Required Materials: Students will need a notebook, paper and writing utensil each day for class. Books will be provided.
Classroom Procedures:
Your students can expect several exciting challenges from English class this year. One such challenge will be improving writing skills by focusing on various kinds of essays. Because this is an integral skill for every student to master, we will be keeping writing portfolios to diagnose our progress throughout the year. There will be vocabulary tests scheduled for every Friday, as expanding our lexicon will assist both writing skills and reading comprehension. Grammar and usage exercises will also help in the improvement of writing. We will also be reading more complex material as a method to advance reading skills. All activities planned for the year will serve this two-fold purpose, improving writing and reading skills.
Our major assignment this year will be a research paper. Because your student has completed Junior English, he or she has already written a research paper for another teacher. I will work individually with the students in order to insure that this mandatory assignment is completed successfully.
Senior year involves the study of British Literature, and through this, students will be exposed to the origins of the English language. The following presents the order of the units we will cover to achieve our goals. I have not provided specific dates for each section, but we will be completing all of these activities, along with various assignments for each.
Anglo-Saxon Literature
Medieval Literature
Renaissance Literature (including Shakespeare)
Modern Literature
The British Novel
Evaluation
Ø How quarter grades are determined
Averages will be figured based on the following categories:
Tests~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 30%
Homework~~~~~~ 30%
Classwork~~~~~~~ 30%
Participation~~~~ 10%
Ø Semester grades will be calculated according district policy. The formula can be found on page 50 of the Student Progression Plan.
Ø For the District make-up policy please refer to section 2.2 of the Student Code of Conduct.
Ø Grading Scale
A= 90- 100
B= 80- 89
C= 70- 79
D= 60-69
F= 0- 59
There will be an after school tutorial session in math and English for students who have a failing average. I will refer students to the right contacts to take advantage of this so as to avoid loss of credit.
Thank you for taking interest in your student’s education.
Mr. F. C. Herx
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