Owen J. Roberts High School Mrs.

Amber Benson
981 Ridge Road Room 147, x5574
Pottstown, PA 19465 abenson@ojrsd.com

GRADE 12, HONORS LITERATURE OF SUCCESS

HYBRID COURSE SYLLABUS

"The only true measure of success is the ratio between what we might have done and what we might have
been on the one hand, andthe things we have made of ourselves on the other."
-H.G. Wells

This course is designed to answer two essential questions:

What is success?
How will I achieve it?
In exploring these concepts, student will read, analyze, and evaluate a variety of different works.
These works are selected to provide insight into the many ways in which success can be defined,
and the multitude of paths open to those who seek to achieve it. It is important to recognize that
each individual defines success differently, and this course will challenge students to critically
consider popular cultural conceptions and the interplay of this status-quo with authentic examples
of real-world successes and failures.

The nature of the hybrid course allows us to meet two days a week in a traditional learning
environment while working independently to complete the online assignments. Students will
regularly utilize our digital learning platform, Desire2Learn (D2L), for a variety of purposes,
including engagement in self-directed concept exploration and course discussions and to submit
work and collaborate with their peers. It is important that you regularly login to check on your
progress and complete assignments. The autonomy the blended course provides is an excellent
opportunity to take ownership over your learning and achievement, however, it does require that
you take initiative and plan your time effectively. If you find this arrangement to be challenging,
please let me know so that we can make provisions to help you find success in your studies.

Your final assignment, the Capstone Project, will be a digital portfolio which reflects back upon your
ideas and experiences throughout the course of this year. This will include your major works of
writing, a survey of the literature, reflective pieces centered around your personal definition of
success, multimedia projects and presentations, suggested resources related to your final
conclusions, and an action plan for your path to success. This is a yearlong goal, and we will work to
build each element of your portfolio together. To do this, we will be using Weebly as our platform.
You will be assigned log in information within the first two weeks of the school year.

TENTATIVE COURSE SCHEDULE:

Our class will utilize G. Richard Shells novel, Springboard: Launching Your Personal Search for
Success, paired with selected texts that further explore the concepts described in each chapter. The
outline below is intended to offer an indication of the pacing and sequence of the course, but
provided with the caveat that these units and timeframes will be adjusted as necessary due to
student needs/interest and extenuating circumstances that affect the school calendar.

Unit 1: Introduction / Summer reading WEEKS 1-3

The Martian, Weir
Paper Towns, Green
Self-selected biography/autobiography of a successful person
Unit 2: The First Answer: Choose Your Life, Springboard, Shell WEEKS 4-6
How Starbucks Saved My Life: A Son of Privilege Learns to Live Like Everyone Else, Gill

Unit 3: An Easy Answer: Be Happy, Springboard, Shell WEEKS 7-10

A Brave New World, Huxley

Unit 4: Societys Answer: Seek Status, Fame, and Fortune, Springboard, Shell WEEKS 11-14
The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald

Unit 5: An Inspired Answer: Find Meaningful Work, Springboard, Shell WEEKS 15-17
Things They Carried, OBrien
One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest, Kesey
The Road, McCarthy

Unit 6: Assess Your Capabilities: Discover What You Can Do, Springboard, Shell WEEKS 18-21
Outliers, Gladwell

Unit 7: Renew Your Self Confidence: Learn To Fail, Springboard, Shell WEEKS 22-24
A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, Beah

Unit 8: Set an Inspiring Long-Term Goal: Focus Your Mind, Springboard, Shell WEEKS 25-28
The Work: My Search for a Life that Matters, Moore

Unit 9: Summon Your Energies: Find Sustainable Motivation, Springboard, Shell WEEKS 29-31
Selected short fiction/nonfiction/case studies

Unit 10: Influence Others: Develop Credibility, Springboard, Shell WEEKS 32-35
How to Win Friends and Influence People, Carnegie

Unit 11: Conclusion: The Right Answers, Springboard, Shell WEEKS 36-39
Student-selected texts about successful people

Unit 12: Capstone Project (cumulative) YEARLONG/FINAL

GRADING:
Students will follow a point system for grading. Each formal assignment will be accompanied by a
rubric detailing the expectations and point value for each component of the assignment. At the end
of the quarter, your grade will be determined by dividing the total points earned by the total points
available. If you should ever have a question or concern regarding your grades or a score on an
assignment, please be sure to speak with me at your earliest convenience so that we can discuss
your work and determine a plan to help you earn marks representative of your efforts and
capabilities. We all experience missteps in our attempts; never hesitate to reach out for help before,
or even after, an assignment has been completed.

LATE POLICY:
All work will be subjected to the following penalties for lateness; this includes work due in the
courseroom that is not submitted by midnight of the due date.
1 day: -10%
2 days: -30%
3 days: -50%
4+ days: non-negotiable 0
We all have extenuating circumstances at timeslife happens. If you are concerned about meeting
your due dates, please speak with me as soon as possible. The day an assignment is due, or even the
day before, is not an appropriate occasion to discuss this, unless truly the result of an emergency.
Being proactive is key to meeting the requirements for successful completion of the course.

ABSENCE FROM CLASS/COURSEROOM:

If, for any reason, you will be missing class or inactive from the digital course room, please reach
out through email or in person to ensure that you are up to date on your work and assignments,
particularly if this affects your ability to meet given due dates. If you missed an assessment in class
due to absence, you will be granted the same amount of time to make up the assessment that you
missed. For example, if you miss one day of class, you must be ready to complete the work the next
day. If you are absent for two days, you have two days to make up the work. In case of extended
absences, your timeline for makeup work will be adjusted during a conference with me to ensure
adequate time to meet the requirements of the work missed. You are responsible for all missed
assignments, so the sooner we can work together, the better you will be able to manage the work.

ASSIGNMENTS & TENTATIVE DUE DATES:

You will be provided with a class calendar for each unit of study. Please use this to plan effectively
for completion of work and reading assignments as these are key aspects to being successful in this
course. Information and documents regarding your assignments and due dates will also be posted
in D2L, on our Schoolwires page, and in Skyward. Please refer to these sources for updated
information, and do not hesitate to ask if you need clarification about any of your assigned work or
if you have any concerns about meeting given due dates.

Grade 12 Literature Skills:

Interpret, compare, Analyze Evaluate
describe
Character X X X
Setting X X X
Plot X X X
Theme X X X
Tone, Style, Mood X X X
Symbolism X X X
Point of View X X X
Figurative Language X X X
(personification / simile / metaphor /
hyperbole / imagery / satire /
foreshadowing / flashbacks / irony)
Figurative Language X X X
(authors purpose for using )
Authors Purpose X X X
(supporting details for / bias & propaganda)
Poetic devices X X X
( rhyme / rhythm / onomatopoeia /
alliteration / assonance / repetition)
Character X X X
Setting X X X
Plot X X X
WRITING (See full text in curriculum document for standards, etc.)
Informative/Explanatory Writing: Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex
ideas, concepts, and information clearly and accurately.
Opinion/Argumentative Writing: Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics.
Narrative Writing: Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events.
Response to Literature: Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection,
and research, applying 9th grade reading standards for literature and literary nonfiction.
Production and Distribution of Writing: Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising,
editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on addressing what is most significant for a specific
purpose and audience.
Technology and Publication: Use technology, including the Internet, to produce, publish, and update
individual or shared writing products, taking advantage of technologys capacity to link to other information
and to display information flexibly and dynamically.

12 significant pieces of writing per year

Progression should be from 500 (at beginning) to 850/1000 words (at end).
Research paper should be 1200+ words.
Should show evidence of writing process (brainstorming, drafts, revision, final draft).
A minimum of two on-demand/in-class writing pieces are to be included in the 12 pieces.
All essays will be included in the student portfolio.
At least one writing piece should be a media-based (Google Doc, Website, Wiki, iBook, etc.)
Emphasis on:
Writing process for both narrative and analytical writing.
Multiple drafts
Intensive lessons on how writers create focused, well-structured, carefully crafted
informative/expository, opinion/argumentative, and narrative texts through a continuous process
of revision and editing, utilizing peer and teacher conferences and self-revision techniques
Digital collaboration for gathering feedback, revising content, and publishing
Focus
Demonstrate an awareness of argument shown through piece.
Write a clear and precise thesis or focus statement.
Content
Support thesis statement through illustrative content and evidence from the text, including
quotations.
Organization
Show flexibility with format and length dependent on purpose and audience (can go well
beyond five paragraph format and use length strategically to convey meaning, address specific audience,
make strong argument).
Employ subtle use of transitions within paragraphs to advance an argument.
Use media to appropriately organize writing
Style
Utilize a variety of sentence patterns.
Achieve appropriate tone and voice through sophisticated word choice.
Employ literary devices to create imagery.
Use web-based and digital media to add to authors intended purpose
Research
Refine research techniques.
Evaluate sources for bias and accuracy.
Cite research materials accurately.
Refine the synthesis of outside sources and writing.
Grade 12 Writing Skills
Informative/Explanatory Opinion/Argumentative Narrative
Focus Write with a sharp distinct focus Write with a sharp distinct focusEngage and orient the reader by
identifying topic, task, and identifying topic, task, and setting out a problem, situation, or
audience. audience. Introduce the precise, observation, establishing one or
knowledgeable claim. multiple points of view, and
introducing a narrator and/or
characters.
Content Develop and analyze the topic Distinguish the claim(s) from Use narrative techniques such as
thoroughly by selecting the most alternate or opposing claims; dialogue, description, reflection,
significant and relevant facts, develop claim(s) and multiple plot lines, and pacing, to
extended definitions, concrete counterclaims fairly and develop experiences, events,
details, quotations, or other thoroughly, supplying the most and/or characters; use precise
information and examples relevant evidence for each while words and phrases, telling details,
appropriate to the audiences pointing out the strengths and and sensory language to convey a
knowledge of the topic; include limitations of both in a manner vivid picture of the experiences,
graphics and multimedia when that anticipates the audiences events, settings, and /or
useful to aid in comprehension. knowledge level, concerns, characters.
values, and possible biases.
Organization Organize complex ideas, concepts, Create organization that Create a smooth progression of
and information so that each new establishes clear relationships experiences or events using a
element builds on that which among claim(s), counterclaims, variety of techniques to sequence
precedes it to create whole; use reasons, and evidence; use events so that they build on one
appropriate and varied words, phrases, and clauses to another to create a coherent
transitions and syntax to link the link the major sections of the whole and build toward a
major sections of the text; text, create cohesion, and clarify particular tone and outcome;
provide a concluding statement the relationships between provide a conclusion that follows
or section that supports the claim(s) and reasons, between from and reflects on what is
information presented; include reasons and evidence, and experienced, observed, or
formatting when useful to aid in between claim(s) and resolved over the course of the
comprehension. counterclaims; provide a narrative.
concluding statement or section
that follows from and supports
the argument presented.
Style: Write with an awareness of the Write with an awareness of the Write with an awareness of the
Write with an stylistic aspects of composition. stylistic aspects of composition. stylistic aspects of writing. Use
awareness of Use precise language, domain- Use precise language, domain- parallel structure. Use various
the stylistic specific vocabulary, and specific vocabulary, and types of phrases and clauses to
aspects of techniques such as metaphor, techniques such as metaphor, convey specific meanings and add
communication simile, and analogy to manage the simile, and analogy to manage variety and interest. Use precise
complexity of the topic. Establish the complexity of the topic. language, domain-specific
and maintain a formal style and Establish and maintain a formal vocabulary, and techniques such
objective tone while attending to style and objective tone while as metaphor, simile, and analogy
the norms of the discipline in attending to the norms of the to manage the complexity of the
which they are writing. Establish discipline in which they are topic.
and maintain a formal style. writing. Establish and maintain
a formal style.

Conventions Grammar and Usage: Verb Tense, Subject-verb/pronoun-antecedent agreement, Active voice,, & Pronoun
use
Mechanics: Comma Usage, MLA Format, Quotation Marks
Sentence Formation, Comma splices, Run-ons, & Fragments Summation: Clarity

I appreciate any communication regarding student progress and learning. For email
communication, parents and students can expect a response within two business days, although I
do check my email regularly and try my best to respond to all email as soon as possible. I fully
believe that collaboration is a critical aspect to achievement, so if there is ever anything that I can
do to help, please do not hesitate to reach out.
I look forward to a great year together. Thank you in advance for your efforts.