These courses explore literary voices through time and many cultures in an attempt to discover the ideas and ideals that make people similar, or that open doors to new ways of seeing and being. We begin by reading creation stories and mythologies from diverse cultures. Other works include Modernist poetry and fiction (“The Metamorphosis” by Kafka); ancient Greek tragedy (Oedipus the King by Sophocles); wisdom literature of ancient China and Japan; and modern African fiction (Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe). Short stories, essays, travelogues, biographies and memoirs from around the world round out the reading experiences. Students make connections to their own lives and times in reflective reader response journals, participate in threaded class discussions, use the writing process to produce fiction, poetry, creative non-fiction, and analytical writing, make extensive use of internet resources to conduct author studies, and actively work on vocabulary development. 

Course materials: Things Fall Apart, a novel by Chinua Achebe (privately purchased, borrowed from a library, or accessed online); various online websites and resources.  Honors students will read an additional contemporary world lit novel TBD.

Standards: All strands of the Minnesota Language Arts standards are addressed.

Credit: 1.0 (Semester A = 0.5 credit, Semester B = 0.5 credit.)

Honors Opportunity: Yes

Prerequisites: 11th grade Language Arts course