English 2A                                           Syllabus                                               Mrs. Cohen 

First Marking Period

1. Native American Literature  

1.                  A.            Introduction to Native American Life and Writings
2.                  B.            Calendar Fragments
3.                  C.            Funeral Oration/Writing a Eulogy
4.                  D.            Origin Myths/Writing a Myth
5.                  A.            Christopher Columbus
6.                  B.            Olaudah Equiano
7.                  C.            John Smith
8.                  D.            William Bradford

1. The Early Explorers of America 

Second Marking Period

1. Puritan Literature

1.                  A.            Introduction to Puritan life and writers
2.                  B.            Anne Bradstreet
3.                  C.            Edward Taylor
4.                  D.            Jonathan Edwards
5.                  A.            Introduction to Hawthorne, Puritanical Law, and the novel The Scarlet Letter
6.                  B.            Daily readings of two chapters per day with daily quizzes
7.                  C.            The Scarlet Letter - Essay and Final Test
8.                  A.            Introduction to the era of the Salem Witchcraft Trials
9.                  B.            Introduction to the McCarthy era and Arthur Miller
10.                  C.            Reading of the play The Crucible

1. The Scarlet Letter

1. The Crucible and the Salem Witchcraft Trials

Third Marking Period

1. The Age of Reason/Political Literature  

1.                  A.            Introduction to the Age of Reason and its connection to history and literature units of the previous months
2.                  B.            The works of Benjamin Franklin
3.                  C.            Thomas Jefferson/ The Declaration of Independence
4.                  D.            Thomas Paine/The Crisis
5.                   E.            Patrick Henry/Speech in the Virginia Convention
6.                   F.            Benjamin Franklin/Speech in the Convention
7.                 G.            Preparing and presenting an argumentative speech
8.                  A.            Introduction to the unit and its place in the history of early American literature
9.                  B.            The Devil and Tom Walker
10.                  C.            Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
11.                  D.            William Cullen Bryant
12.                   E.            James Russell Lowell
13.                   F.            Oliver Wendell Holmes
14.                  G.            John Greenleaf Whittier

1. The Romantic Era  

Fourth Marking Period

1. Transcendentalism  

1.                  A.            Introduction to the Transcendentalist movement and its main players
2.                  B.            Nature/Emerson
3.                  C.            Self-Reliance/Emerson
4.                  D.            Civil Disobedience/Thoreau
5.                   E.            Walden/Thoreau
6.                  A.            Nathaniel Hawthorne - The Ministers Black Veil
7.                  B.            Introduction to Poe - his life, writing, and gothic literature
8.                  C.            The Raven - Sound Devices
9.                  D.            The Fall of the House of Usher
10.                   E.            The Black Cat
11.                   F.            The Oval Portrait
12.                  G.            Hop-Frog
13.                  H.            The Pit and the Pendulum
14.                  A.            Introduction to Emily Dickinson - life, poetry, style and subjects of writing
15.                  B.            Collected poems of Dickinson

1. Anti-Transcendentalists and Edgar Allan Poe  

1. Emily Dickinson