English 11

Teachers: If you find something here you’d like to use in your classroom, please find detailed notes/lessons HERE, or feel free to contact me.

Students, here ya go…

Welcome to our English 11 page. Here you will find nearly everything you’ll need to navigate our journey through the wondrous American Literature landscape (with a little bit o’ Shakespeare’s Macbeth thrown in for good measure).

Let’s have fun on this journey together!!

Course Materials

Just click on the links below to find daily lessons, homework assignments and other helpful resources.

INTRO STUFF

• Love Letter to My Students
• Introductory English 11 Letter
• Syllabus English 11
• Who Have You Been

DAILY LESSON SUMMARY (Updated Regularly)

• Daily Lessons

GENERAL ENGLISH CLASS STUFF

• Participation/Discussions: “Seminar” by Michael Kahn (See p. 3 for “types” of seminars, but feel free to read in its entirety)
• History of English in 10 Minutes (Video)
• Daily Dose “Right Word” packet (See Metzler in person or SEE THIS LIST)
• Daily Dose Recording Sheet
• Your Journal Journey
• Literary Analysis: West Wing “Two Cathedrals” (Background)
• Literary Analysis: West Wing “Two Cathedrals” (Your Notes)
  • “Two Cathedrals” Script
  • Mrs. Landingham Quotes from “Two Cathedrals”
  • More West Wing “Two Cathedrals” Stuff
  • Aaron Sorkin Thinks We’re All Too Mean
• Most Interesting Character Ever
• Austin’s Butterfly (The power of revisions)

GRAMMAR GRIND

• Your Proofreading Partner
• Grammar Choices are Moral Choices?
• Grammar Grind Bonus
• Sandwich Model Intro
• Sandwich Model Within Paragraph
• Fine Art of Snippet

STUDENT SELECTED INDEPENDENT READING

• Intro Cover
• Letter Home
• Word Diary-vocab tracker
• Need to Read Recommendations
• Page Rage Recommendations
• Final Presentation

MACBETH

Is Wrigley Field a modern-day Globe Theater? What?! Huh?  Have you heard of the Globe’s “groundlings” or Wrigley’s “bleacher bums?” And what about the way they’re designed or the way they fly their flags? In the end, it’s just people trying to enjoy a performance.  Here’s more Shakespeare stuff…

• Globe Theater
• Globe Theater Virtual Tour
• The Globe & Shakespeare
• Shakespeare Bio
• There’s No Escaping Shakespeare (NYT Video)
• Shakespeare Brief & Naughty (Video)
• Folger Shakespeare Library
• Macbeth (the basics)
• Quora Question: What Makes Macbeth Such a Compelling Character?
• Macbeth with Ethan Hawke (Shakespeare Uncovered)
• Macbeth Movie Trailer (2015)
• Abraham Lincoln says, “I think nothing equals Macbeth.”
• Ian McKellen Analyzes Macbeth’s “Tomorrow, and tomorrow….”
• What is Drama?
• Shakespeare Escapes the Plague?
• The Complete Works of William Shakespeare
• Shakespeare in Modern English?
• Open Source Shakespeare (Concordance)

 

Macbeth Mayhem Team Presentations

Macbeth Theme Park Project

Lady Macbeth Meets Her Match Essay

 

CONTRASTING VISIONS

• Contrasting Visions Team Presentations
• Contrasting Visions Notes Sheet
• Contrasting Visions Student Project

 

• Helpful Links for American Literary Periods (i.e. Contrasting Visions)
  • American Literature Timeline
  • Periods in American Literature
  • American Literary Periods & Movements
  • American Literature History
  • Perspectives in American Literature
  • Metzler’s Minnesota Friend, Mr. Will Fish, Offers a Starting Point
  • Storyboard: American Literary Movements
  • Literary Movements in American Literature (PowerPoint)
  • Kortmans Literary Periods & Their Characteristics (PowerPoint)
  • American Lit Quick & Dirty Part 1
  • American Lit Quick & Dirty Part 2
  • “Seeing America” University of Rochester Memorial Art Gallery’s Collection & Resources
  • Sister Wendy’s American Collection

 

• Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God
• Students in the Hands of an Angry Principal
• Tim the Baptist Preacher

 

THE CRUCIBLE (Puritan-ish)

• Some Crucible Questions (Act by Act)
• Ding Dong the Witch is Dead
• Photos from Salem (FHS Senior Trip)
• The Crucible Character Map
• Character Motivations in Crucible

Other Crucible Resources:

• Witches & Wikipedia? What?!
• Arthur Miller & The Crucible (PBS American Masters)
• Why I Wrote The Crucible (Arthur Miller)
• Arthur Miller Biography, Interviews & More
• Arthur Miller Visits Harvard, Explains History Around Crucible
• Salem Witch Museum
• The Cause of It All? – RYE?
• Let’s Play “YOU’RE ACCUSED!”
• McCarthyism
• McCarthyism (Wikipedia)
• Naming Names: Arthur Miller & Elia Kazan (NPR)
• Simpsons Witch Trial (video)
• “She’s a Witch!” (Monty Python video)
• Witchcraft Claims Preceded Fatal Beating at Church
• First They Came for the Witches (Broadway 2016)

REASON/REVOLUTION

• America, The Story of Us (Declaration of Independence)
• The Declaration of Independence (Celebrity Reading)
• The Declaration of Independence (Super Bowl Reading)
• The Declaration (A Transcription)
• The Truest Copy of the Declaration of Independence
• Changing the Course of Jefferson’s Confused Vision
• Forgive Him for Not Celebrating the 4th of July
• Defining America: Freedom & the Purpose of Our Nation

 

• Ben Franklin’s Thirteen Virtues
• Ben Franklin’s “Poor Richard’s Almanack” (Full Text)
• Ben Franklin’s Aphorisms
• Ben Franklin’s Self-Scribed Epitaph
• The Prominent & Popular Poor Richard

Some Revolutionary/Reason Handouts:

• Declararing Your Independence
• Ben Franklin Aphorisms
• Ben Franklin Epitaph

 

ROMANTIC/TRANSCENDENTAL

Washington Irving

• Rip Van Winkle

 

Edgar Allan Poe

• Poe Museum
• Edgar Allan Poe Society (includes author’s collected works)
• Poe Packet (from Poe Museum)
• Poe’s Unfinished “Lighthouse Keeper” Now Feature Film
• Audio of Poe Works
• Simpsons “The Raven” (video) “t

Emily Dickinson

• Emily Dickinson Museum (a good starting spot w/links for students)
• Bio & Poems (Poetry Foundation)
• Bio & Poems (Poets.org)
• Emily Dickinson Archive (Open-Access to ED Manuscripts)
• Amherst College Online Collection (all 850 manuscript images)
• Dickinson Electronic Archive
• Emily Dickinson: The Poet in Her Bedroom
• Billy Collins on Emily Dickinson (Yes, that sounds a bit weird!)
• John Green’s Crash Course on Emily Dickinson (video)

 

Walt Whitman

• Bio & Poems (Poetry Foundation)
• Walt Whitman Wiki Info (Hear his voice!)
• The Classroom Electric (Dickinson, Whitman & American Culture)
• Walt Whitman Archive
• “What Will Your Verse Be?” (“Dead Poets” video)
• 3 Artists Animate “Noiseless Patient Spider” (Video) 
• “Song of Myself” (Video)
• “YAWP” Excerpt
• “I sound my barbaric YAWP…” (Video “Dead Poets Society”)
• “Breaking Bad’s” Walter White vs. Walt Whitman
• Breaking Bad Scene: “When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer” (Video)
• “Pioneers! O Pioneers!” (Video/text)
• “OPioneers” Levi’s Commercial
• “America” Go Forth Levi’s Commercial
• Apple iPad Air Commercial (“Dead Poet’s” Whitman audio)

• “O Me! O Life! (“That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.”)

 

• A Student’s Take on Walt Whitman’s Life & Times

 

• “What Will Your Verse Be?” Assignment

 

Some Other Poetry Stuff (As an Aside w/ Whitman & Dickinson)

• Poet’s Palette Poem Samples
• Maya Angelou: “For Old Black Men” mash-up w/ Dunbar’s “Mask (Begin @ 15:40 Mark)

 

Ralph Waldo Emerson

• American Transcendentalism Web – Emerson
• Emerson Wiki Info
• Bio & Works (Poetry Foundation)
• The Complete Works of Emerson (w/ bio & more)
• “The Foul Reign of Emerson’s Self-Reliance” (an opinion)
• How Ralph Waldo Emerson Changed American Poetry

Henry David Thoreau

• Thoreau Wiki Info
• American Transcendentalism Web – Thoreau
• Life & Times of Henry David Thoreau
• “Pond Scum” (Why do we love Henry David Thoreau?)
• “Everybody Hates Henry”
• Thoreau’s Walden, Present at the Creation (NPR audio)
• Quick Hit Quotes from Thoreau
• More Quick Hit Quotes from Thoreau
• And Still More Quick Hit Quotes from Thoreau

From Walden:

• “Where I Lived & What I Lived For” (8-18, 22,23)
• “Conclusion” (4,5,9,10,13)
• “Civil Disobedience” Part 1 (1-8,11)
• “Civil Disobedience” Part 2 (3,6,8,9,13)
• “Civil Disobedience” Part 3 (19)

Civil Disobedience (Homework Handout)

 

POETRY

• Poetry Out Loud
• Celebrities Reading Poetry
• United States of Poetry
• More United States of Poetry
• Stephen Colbert & Billy Collins: “To My Favorite 17-Year-Old High School Girl” (video)

 

• I Hear America Sing Poetry Project

 

REALISM/NATURALISM

• Stephen Crane
• “Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” (Ambrose Bierce)
• “Chickamauga” (Ambrose Bierce)
• “To Build a Fire” (Jack London)

 

MODERNISM

The Old Man & the Sea

• OMS Launch
• OMS Loud Lines Sheet
• OMS AudioBook (Full text)

 

• Ernest Hemingway – Mini Biography (Video)
• Hemingway’s Code (Background/Introductory Video)
• Code Hero
• Hemingway & The Code Hero
• Hemingway’s Bipartisan Hero (NPR)
• The Hero’s Journey – Joseph Campbell (Video)

 

• “Hills Like White Elephants” (full text w/ Hemingway bio & Intro)
• How Jessica Watson Conquered the World at 16
• Jessica Watson Sails Solo Around the World (Ted Talk 2014)
• “Do Hard Things”: Zac Sunderland Sails Solo (Also, see Jessica Watson insert)

 

POST-MODERNISM

Death of a Salesman

 

The Catcher in the Rye

Audiobook Full Text (YouTube)

Catcher Notes Sheet (PDF)

“The Circle Game” by Joni Mitchell (YouTube w/lyrics)

American Masters: JD Salinger (PBS)

John Green Catches Catcher – Intro (Video)

John Green Catches Catcher – Part 1 (Video)

John Green Catches Catcher – Part 2 (Video)

John Green Crash Course: Language, Voice & Holden Caulfield  – Part 1 (Video)

John Green Crash Course: Holden, JD & the Red Cap – Part 2 (Video)

John Green’s Tribute to JD Salinger upon his death (Video)

Remembering JD Salinger w/ Charlie Rose (Video)

Coming Through the Rye MOVIE

Holden Caufield: Giving Voice to Generations (NPR) – See sidebar w/Pop Culture References

Is Holden Caufield Obnoxious?

JD Salinger’s Holden Caufield Aging Gracelessly

Holden Caufield’s Goddam War

Holden At 50

10 Things Holden Caufield Hates About Everyone

Catcher in the Rye Author JD Salinger Dies at 91

JD Salinger Doesn’t Want to Talk (VIDEO)

Will There Ever be a Catcher in the Rye Movie?

Rookie Director Takes on Salinger (NYT)

COMMON CORE ELA REGENTS EXAM

• Video Tutorial (ALSO, see shorter clips at bottom of page)
• Powerpoint Slides accompanying video
• Previous Exams, Rubrics, Resources