Course Syllabus
English III, American Literature
Mr. Lawless
Welcome to English III! Throughout the year we will be exploring and exercising the power of language. This power should not be underestimated or taken for granted. Language is the primary means by which we create and convey ideas, learn from and persuade others, reflect and shape culture, and entertain each other. Nowhere is this more evident than in the frenetic cultural evolution of North America.
We will engage in far too many activities, discussions, and exercises this year to list on the first day. Our heads would explode. Just so you have some idea of what you’re getting yourself into, though, here are some things we will be tackling.
We will:
• demonstrate comprehension of cultural and historical perspectives in American literature.
• integrate new vocabulary in verbal expression.
• apply the writing traits to form coherent essays.
• comprehend and apply delivery techniques in oral presentations.
• develop sophisticated logical arguments using evidence and reason.
• demonstrate literal, inferential, evaluative, and comparative comprehension skills.
• extend and deepen comprehension by relating texts, experiences, issues, and events.
• explore how literature records, reflects, communicates, and influences human events.
• read and respond to literary works from a variety of literary forms including novels, short stories, poetry, drama, essays, and nonfiction.
• evaluate how the form of a literary work and the use of literary elements and devices contribute to the work’s message and impact.
• explore how literature is influenced by historical, cultural, social, and biographical factors.
• use writing as a tool to learn, reflect, and communicate for a variety of audiences and purposes.
• write and speak in a variety of modes and forms appropriate to audience and purpose.
• develop CIM work samples for persuasive formal speaking and essay writing.
Whew! It seems like a lot, I know. Imagine if I had listed the dozens of different opportunities you will have to accomplish each of these goals. In general, though, these opportunities to demonstrate your skill, expertise, and improvement will fall into four major categories.
• Portfolio of formal written work such as essays, stories, poems, etc.
• Tests and Quizzes, both written and oral, on specific skills, concepts, and information.
• Projects that demonstrate applied textual and conceptual understanding
• Homework and Participation: in class assignments and essentially just keeping up
Your performance and improvement in each of these categories will be judged separately and then added together with equal weight (25% each) to comprise your final grade for this course.
Course Expectations
As stated above, your grade will consist of four equal parts, the first three being primarily connected to your academic performance. It is the “HPA” portion of your grade, however, that tends to cause the greatest stress and confusion among students. Simply put, homework, participation, and attendance aren’t graded but they DO IMPACT YOUR GRADE!
For instance, I will not pore over your homework assignments and rigorously proofread every sentence, but I will check to see that you’ve done it. Likewise, I will not give you a reading quiz to hold you accountable for every night of assigned reading but I will expect that you keep up and may check on you in creative and unexpected ways.
1. Written homework assignments will typically be given as a preparatory exercise for what’s coming up, so it will often help you understand what will happen the following day.
2. Homework will only be turned in when I ask for it.
3. I will not always tell you in advance whether or not an assignment will be collected.
4. Most of your homework, however, will not be written. You will be given sizable reading and research assignments throughout the year so that we don’t need to spend class time on things we could perhaps do more effectively elsewhere.
5. FOR EACH INCOMPLETE HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT YOU WILL LOSE ONE OF YOUR 25 HPA POINTS FOR THE QUARTER.
Moreover, I will not assign you a B+ of some other grade for each decent comment during class discussion, but I will keep track of how often and how appropriately you engage in classroom activities day to day and week to week.
6. FOR EACH DAY OF OFF TASK OR NON-PARTICIPATORY BEHAVIOR YOU WILL LOSE ONE OF YOUR 25 HPA POINTS FOR THE QUARTER.
Additionally, I will not pester you for excuses for each of your absences or for every time you are tardy to class, but I will be keeping track of your attendance habits and applying them to your grade. If you are not in class it is impossible for you to participate in class, regardless of the reason for your absence. While this is a pretty rigid guideline, there are occasionally situations (such as required academic or athletic activities) for which I will make exceptions. However, just because a parent or the office “excused” or “prearranged” an absence does not mean that I will. Vacations that keep you out of school, for example, might be “excused” by a parent but will not alleviate your responsibility to this class and will be treated accordingly. Therefore, plan them accordingly and choose wisely.
7. FOR EACH ABSENCE YOU WILL LOSE ONE OF YOUR 25 HPA POINTS.
8. FOR EACH TARDY YOU WILL LOSE ONE THIRD OF ONE HPA POINT.
Finally, there are some specific items I must mention here so that there will be no confusion later.
9. COME PREPARED TO CLASS. If you don’t, you will be sent out to prepare yourself and marked tardy upon your return.
10. DO NOT BRING ANY FOOD OR DRINK TO CLASS OTHER THAN H2O.
11. DO NOT BRING NUISANCE ITEMS. EACH STRIKE WILL COST ONE HPA POINT.
o 1st strike: It’s mine until 3:00 PM the next school day.
o 2nd strike: It’s mine until 3:00 PM the following Monday.
o 3rd strike: It’s mine for seven days, then a parent can retrieve it in person, by appointment.
If you have any questions or concerns about any of these expectations, please feel free to discuss them with me during class today, individually by appointment, or via email: heisquitemad@hotmail.com
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Benjamin Franklin
In Benjamin Franklin’s dissertation on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain, he shows his controversial writing style making it difficult to differentiate weather he meant it to be ernest, or if he was just poking fun and being sarcastic about the matter. Franklin’s sarcastic and satirical ideas in his dissertation also share similarities with things such as the puritan belief system. There are also connections between Franklin’s writings and the Declaration of Independence, by Thomas Jefferson. Many people have been debating weather he was being honest and sincere, or if he was being sarcacastic.
Benjamin Franklin has his way of making things difficult to understand by putting in big words and using others I have never heard of. To be honest and straight forward, I believe that he is being sarcastic in the highest ways possible, and for good reasons of course. He is one to mess around with his readers so they think deeper and look more within themselves. Franklin states that “God” is all-good, all-wise, and all-powerful. He also defies himself to be false and state that for “god” to be all-good and such there is no evil. Of course we all know how evil is always among us beings just sometimes in different ways. So he is leaving open ideas and statements that can be opinionated upon for readers to open their minds and explore beyond the words that describe the divine. He talks of pleasure that is found between humanity, and then with every pleasure comes pain, agony, and/or suffering. This is true, but he leaves it up, once more, to the reader to define its real meaning. In some points Franklin even questions the power of the “almighty”, “Since, either that infinite goodness will act what is ill, of infinite wisdom what is not wise, is too glaring a contradiction not to be perceived by any man of common sense and denied as soon as understood,” he states.
Is he with or against god, well not against but poking at In this Dissertation by Franklin he has complicated it by making it seem so much more enlarged and sophisticated than it is simply written. It was boundless, ceaseless, constant, and continuous. Franklin had dragged out his clause, in satiric clauses and statements.
In Franklin’s dissertation he says that since god is all good and all powerful, everything is either good, and what is not good has been permitted by him. Benjamin Franklin also says that since he is all good everything bad that he has permitted was permitted because of the good end result.
This theory has been proven to be false many times throughout history. These events have been traced back to biblical times.
For instance the story of Noah’s ark and the flood. The world was so wicked and evil god was forced to send floods of gigantic proportions, killing every one on the face of the earth accept for those who were warned ahead of time, and built an ark.
In this example god had permitted the bad things to happen, and when no good came of it he was forced to get rid of it and demolish it.
With this evidence Franklin’s theory is clearly not true, so in his dissertation Franklin was obviously being sarcastic and satirical.
According to Franklin God is all-powerful and all-good and nothing, in the world, can go against that without his consent. Moreover all things, that are not good, consented by him are still good, because he is good therefore there is no evil in the world.
However according to puritan belief it is said that all humans were born evil and their whole life is spent trying to redeem them selves.
This being the case the content of Franklin’s dissertation and the beliefs of the puritans are very different, yet in some ways similar.
In reading Franklin’s dissertation, knowing the puritan beliefs I believe it is clearly shown that by the time Franklin wrote his dissertation puritan beliefs were still around, but not nearly as strong as they were in the late 1600s.
Both groups do agree that god is all powerful, however they disagree about what god’s power is used for. The Declaration of Independence is also an example of the discussion of god’s infinite power.
In the opening lines of The Declaration of Independence, written by Thomas Jefferson, he talks about how if a certain group of people are wrongly accused or persecuted by another larger group than it is their God-given right to separate from that group.
In Benjamin Franklin’s writings he speaks in almost the exact same manner. He says if a person, or group, is limited in his actions, by god, than there is no way any thing that god would not have done, would not be permitted by him. Therefore if it is not meant for a group to separate than god wouldn’t have permitted it.
Franklin’s dissertation and the opening lines of The Declaration of Independence both talk abut the freedom given to them by their all-powerful creator. They both speak of Gods power over all things and that he is all wise. They both also point out that if something is not a thing god would have done than it wouldn’t be permitted by him.
So in a sense Franklin’s dissertation is support to the argument previously made by Thomas Jefferson.
Joe White
February 1, 2007
Period 3
American lit.
Benjamin Franklin’s satirical writings
Benjamin Franklin’s sayings seem to be very sarcastic in his writings. When Benjamin Franklin was nine teen years old he wrote what it today known as “A Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain”. Ben states that god is the creator of the universe which is correct and that the creator of earth is all wise, all good, and all powerful. Mr. Franklin as well states that the powerful god can not say or do anything bad, and so therefore there isn’t any mistakes or sins god can perform. That’s all seriously said. Here is a sarcastic example to his sayings, “nothing is done without a reason from god. That’s false and sarcastic, because the non religious people can still do anything they choose without a say from god, because they don’t choose to believe in what we all consider our highest power. Another sarcastic statement goes like this, all creatures are made by highest power, and so they must do good and follow his rules. That is sarcastic for sure, and this is why, because there’s no way an animal can be ran in the head by a person, when God allows them to be shot, ran over, and eaten by other more powerful animals. So does that mean there are higher and different levels of superiority in the animal life? Now the higher levels of animals have seniority over each other? There is seriously something wrong with that. Benjamin Franklin states last that alls desire will be fulfilled and satisfied as well. Incorrect there because bums and homeless don’t have all there desires fulfilled..
Benjamin Franklin was a sarcastic man in his teen years. He wrote what’s today called “A Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain”. The man said things to make some people think he was being honest about human beliefs, nature and ways of life, but really he was sarcastic in majority of his sayings. He was being satirical. Franklin states that all people and animals must be all good. So the evilness today on the universe proves that incorrect. If god our lord runs us people, and decides what we do, and how we do it, then why are there people today who don’t believe in God? Or how about the people that know they are sinning, but continue to do it. Supposedly Franklins being honest yet he speaks “Nothing is done on earth without a reason from God.” From what the humans in and around our society have a belief of what we feel is evil, that means that every time someone kills a person that god knew about it. So what Franklins really saying as he’s being sarcastic, is that God doesn’t control every move we make. God’s not the one pulling the trigger on some one being shot, or is he since he controls what we do supposedly?
Benjamin Franklin’s satirical writings about “A Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain” relate to some ways from the Puritan days. The Puritans had beliefs and Ben Franklin had his beliefs as well. Both the Puritans and Benjamin are said to be both believers in god. Franklin states his rules and reading the Crucible, they had rules that were stated and followed as well. Sarcasm is used in a lot of different ways, the meaning is sneering, jesting, or mocking a person, situation or thing. The actual belief by most is that sarcasm came up to be in the Greek world from the word sarkasmos. So therefore if sarcasm became up and running in the Greek days, then it was going on for sure in the Puritan days. Being sarcastic like Benjamin Franklin is or would be said by most to be used forever that we can remember. The Puritans believed into the witchcraft which was read in the Crucible. Ben Franklin’s writings relate to a higher power but not witchcraft. He was a man for Christianity. Franklin and the Puritans were sarcastic for there time and remembered as well to be firm believers in there higher powers.
Benjamin Franklin’s writings of “A Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain” relate closely in some aspects to Thomas Jefferson’s “Declaration of Independence.” Franklin’s writings are strictly Gods sayings and beliefs that are exposed to be rules by God or what he intended to say. Franklin took the knowledge he had about god, and a typical Christian’s beliefs about God and wrote them down for us all. The Declaration of Independence, lines 1-8 are saying the colonists felt they had to explain their reasons of wanting to export themselves to a better place where they could worship freely and not be messed with or bugged. Benjamin stated in his words from God that all people should be good and that they should be created equal. So therefore if all is equal, no man shall pick on another for worshipping in any way, shape, or form. If all men are created equal how come there are people with mental challenges that don’t get to experience the fun of life that others do experience? The Declaration of Independence states that all men should be created equal along with the writings of Ben saying that. Both of these articles are based upon the same point, which I stated that all men should be equal, and live equally in life.
AWW your sooooooo cute
Serena Carr
February 1st, 2007
American Literature
Period 4
Benjamin Franklin
God is almighty and strong. Benjamin Franklin was a smart guy who wanted people to seek his view of what he said in our government.1
We are created by a smart and great man.
1. God is great and almighty and good
2. we are made by God
3. we are limited in his actions
We say we don’t have free-will
1. government makes more rules
2. people cant always do things they want to
We have a lot of desire
1. we want so much
2. freedom
3. can’t always get what we want
So we may not always know what is going on and that we may want everything and if we do not get it, then we will get really angry.
Benjamin Franklin was a guy who would make people angry at him, and then have them realize what he was really saying. He says that some people believe in God, and others don’t. That God created the Earth, and every thing on it, and around it. But others differ, that the Earth, just happened to be here, with people and animals on it. God is also almighty, and you can’t defy him. We have a desire to know and want to find out more, but people don’t do that cause they are either scared, or don’t want to be embarrassed. But some people don’t care what others think and they go out into the world to learn more about this “God” and see if he’s real and why he’s so interested in us. We have pain and pleasure that God gave us. We get tortured a lot, but also we are satisfied with what’s happened to us, and how much the pain doesn’t hurt. People will always be in pain and pleasure, because they are equal when in theory they are not equal at all because of what is happening in the world.
Benjamin Franklin is saying that anything can happen. Like people doing drugs. People think they are all right and drugs will make everything better and that is the answer to all your problems. But it doesn’t make it all better. It will just ruin your life, and how you see things.
You will waste your money on buying drugs when you could’ve bought something a lot better. You are also hurting yourself and those around you and how they try to help you, but you won’t let them into your life, so you take more and more drugs. If you take more and more eventually you can die or have to be sent into the Emergency Room for taking too much. There are many ways to take drugs, and they are needles (injection) smoking, snorting, and many more ways. But you can always say no to drugs and peer pressure to get into them.
You can live a healthy life and be a good role model to your siblings, family, friends, and other people who look up to you. Stay away from the drugs and people who do them and God will not worry that much about you.
Everyone is evil no matter what to Puritans. But if you work hard and stay good you will become good eventually and the evil will subside from you slowly with time. They also believe that God will help you get rid of the evil bubbling inside you. If you live in a town full of puritans, and you believe in witch craft, you’re considered evil without a doubt. Everyone tries to do well, but they don’t always succeed. When Benjamin Franklin wrote this, and tried to have people understand that God helps us.
Because he loves us. Puritans also go by what the Bible says, and it speaks the truth, and its Gods very words. If you disobey Gods words you are evil. You have so many rules to follow, and go by all of them so you’re not evil. But we can’t always follow all the rules. It’s more or less. You are basically born evil, and not good, so you have to work very hard to become good in your life for your whole life.
Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson are basically talking about being a free land, and being justified. But there is also evil and good in the world. Jefferson and Franklin both believed that there is a good God and an evil Satan. But you can either be good and comfortable. But if you are evil your miserable, and there is torture in your little pitiful worthless life.
Jefferson talks about being free and live your own lives without any worries, and you get to chose what you do, and how you do it. Franklin, talks about that too. But there are also consequences for your actions. So they say there are two ways to look at this, there are evil and good in the world, and wanting to rule your own life, where no one else controls how you are, and if your good or evil. They are both talking about the same subject, but they have different views and are both right.
Haven M. Frey
Final essay
English 3
2/5/07
Some things are indescribable, and in different eras, things alter the thinking process. Meaning our minds develop differently as we age. I think that today’s society is created by the people who chose to make it the way it is; not god, yes he did created us but not our actions. He is not going to hold back anything or anyone for that matter from doing what is so called “wrong.” He gave us the freedom to choose our options and the things we do. That is why people have the image of what is known and lead to believe that is all involved with the oh so blissful heaven and the burning flames of hell. I will express my understandings of what Benjamin Franklin sold through words to others. He engraved the thoughts to our minds that “god is the most powerful, beyond great one and only and so on and so forth.” Do you think god would have wanted us to rearrange our bodies to the opposite sex change? No he made us the way we were, not to have surgeons fix our imperfections as though we are human dolls. Each person is set here for their own personal reasons and if it is to screw up society more than it already is then be it.
You can see through out history similar aspects of god in many but very different things, but never can you fully grasp the exact outlooks on Benjamin Franklins reasoning’s about whether god is great and what not. I honestly am not to sure if the negative outlooks reflects anything towards the puritans though. Yes the puritans had many tribulations, but that doesn’t mean that they also agreed with every single way that Franklin put his statements. Of course they could have had equal understandings but not each person thinks along the same lines as one and other. The puritans knew that witch craft was wrong and wanted nothing to do with anything on the subject of witchcraft or even be involved for that matter, but if they that god created everything, and everything is good, because their god is so great, then no one would have been hung from the gallows, am I right? So no I personally think their minds are not on the same track as Benjamin. Evil is evil in the puritans eyes not necessarily gods eyes.
Separating us from witchcraft and the puritans leads us to another subject of history, the Declaration of Independence. I also do not think that this would have much resemblance of or even relate to what Benjamin Franklin supposedly believed about god. The king of England seem to not really care of how others felt, he would make the colonists wait for as long as he would want them to and sometimes not even reply to any of their wishes. He made them suffer but as we all know in the long run we got our United Thirteen Colonies. So through out life there will always be lessons that can be absorb by others. When you hear the saying “pleasure is pain” it is absolutely right, you have the pain from waiting and anticipating and then once it is over which eventually will most likely happen and all is good you receive the pleasure of waiting then getting the things you desired.
Benjamin Franklin was a very serious man, leaving most people confused by his statements. No one actually knew when to take him seriously. I think he was very serious about this, though I do not agree with much of what he said. Yes god is great and as powerful as it gets, but I do not think he approves of some of the sick sad things we do in this world we have made so warp. That can vary from murderers, kidnappers, rapist, and robbers, etc. So that is my outlook hope you like
Courtney Slaven
American Literature
Per. 4
If God is all good and everything he creates is good, then where is all the bad? Franklin says it doesn’t exist. Well if God is all Powerful then he has the ability to create evil. But evil in our image is bad and morally wrong. Since God created it then it must be good. He is mocking God and being sarcastic, because it is his own opinion and he is putting his image of God into everyone’s head. And by doing that, he is in a way forcing his beliefs on us. There is a devil, so originally the devil was good then he turned bad. So God created good and the devil created evil. That still doesn’t make sense. Franklin says nothing bad can come from something so good. But the devil came from God because God created everything. He is changing peoples mind by stating his opinion. I am not saying don’t express yourself but do it in a more sincere way.
Benjamin Franklin says God is good and God created everything so everything must be just like God. All good and powerful and has knowledge of everything. What I think is that Franklin is making fun of and in a way is speaking for everyone and God himself. He is testing our religion as a people. After reading this, I thought of all the people who have read this and now are questioning their beliefs. We know what good and evil are and the difference between the two. He is saying there is no such thing as evil because God created all. And there is no evil part of God. All the people in the world all have different thoughts on God and how everything came to be here. Franklin is just saying his opinion but putting words in our mouth. He is not being sincere about religion and other people’s feelings.
When we are young our parents tell and set examples on how to believe and what to believe in. Some of us believe this way our whole lives and others go their own way and do their own thing. Benjamin Franklin is saying that if God is good then everything he creates must be good. But God also created evil, so is evil good also? Maybe it is just everyone’s opinion on what is good and bad? So basically what he is saying is that what he believes is what everyone should eventually be believing. So in a way he is altering people’s minds and they are questioning their beliefs. He says in his wrighting, “If he is all-wise, whatsoever He doth must be wise.” He is saying God has all knowledge, and sense he created everything, then that everything must be just like him and have all his power, good-will and knowledge. Obviously we as people can’t create a new world in 7 days as he did. So we don’t have his power. And we don’t know what every person is doing at one point in time, and we certainly can’t have the knowledge of knowing every little detail of everything ever existing. And we can’t already know what is going to happen in the future. Unless we do and it is just buried deep down into our brains, witch we just choose not to even try to dig into. Who knows?
The puritans believed that everyone was evil and born evil. Benjamin Franklin says that God is good and that everything he creates is good, right? So therefore there is no evil. The puritans and Mr. Franklin didn’t really have the same idea on beliefs. The puritans thought that there was no good and that everything is evil and Franklin thought that sense God created it and there is no evil as a part of God so how could something so good create something that is a sin and is full of evil? Well he didn’t think. It was possible; so there was no way he is changing his belief. Well the puritans thought that if God is all powerful then why couldn’t he create whatever he wanted. There is no right without a wrong, no right without a left and no up without a down. So why can’t there be evil and good? God could create evil, evil as we see it; bad and morally wrong. But Franklin sees it as all good because it was God who created it.
Both the Declaration of Independence and Benjamin Franklin’s statements say “all men are created equal.” Well if all men are created equal then all men are the same. If all men where the same, there would be no differentiality among us. We would all be boring. The opening lines of the declaration of independence states that we all have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Well if all men where created equal then those three things would apply to everyone. But not everyone is happy and none of us are really free, because we never had a choice in the beginning. We didn’t get to choose if we where born or what family we where born into. Or we didn’t get to choose our race and culture. Our life is already planned out for us and we have no say in any of it.
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