American Literature

American Literature (Excellence in Literature, English 3) cultivates competent readers and writers in a self-directed, classics-focused, one year, college-prep literature and composition course for co-op, classroom, or homeschool use. 

The award-winning Excellence in Literature curriculum, suitable for grades 8-12, presents a feast of great ideas by immersing students in great literature. Classics that have stood the test of time-rollicking adventures, compelling plays, engaging poetry-encourage students to enjoy literature study, rather than just endure it. Students will study and write about the following books:

• Autobiography by Benjamin Franklin
• Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving and selected works by Longfellow
• The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper
• The House of Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne
• Moby Dick by Herman Melville
• The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
• The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton
• The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
• The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway

How it works 

A four-week lesson plan guides the study of each unabridged classic, providing writing assignments and context resources - information on the author, relevant historical events, related art and music resources, etc.. To help students stay engaged, a variety of sources, voices, and formats have been carefully chosen as context resources, with links provided to those that are online. 

There are 9 4-week modules in each study guide for one school year of study. An optional Honors track adds additional reading and writing, including a research paper and an optional CLEP exam. The text is written directly to the student, and can be used independently or in a classroom. There is no separate teacher manual; all writing assignments, context resource links, and student/teacher helps are included in the Introduction to Literature study guide.

Student helps 

- Week-by-week assignment schedule

- Instructions and a student-written model for each type of paper assigned

- A chapter on how to read and understand challenging literature

- Overview of how to write an essay, from conception to revision

- A curriculum website with supporting resources, including author biographies, art, music, related poetry, and writing helps.

- Built-in time for both a rough and a final draft of each month's essay

- Instructions for setting up a study area, English notebook, and study habits

- A model essay that teaches and demonstrates MLA formatting

- Glossary of literary terms

Teacher helps

- Week-by-week pacing chart with overview of reading and writing for the entire school year

- Grading instructions and reproducible rubric

- Suggestions for using in a co-op or classroom

- A year-end Student Evaluation Summary to keep with student records

Each student and teacher will need a copy of the study guide, plus a copy of each classic that is studied (short stories are linked online). There are specific book editions recommended, but students who already own a different edition may use that. It is also helpful to have access to a dictionary, thesaurus, and the Handbook for Writers (from Excellence in Literature).