Teaching Website for IB Literature HL with Ms. Hughes
IB LITERATURE HL
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Important documents

2015-16 syllabus
File Size: 123 kb
File Type: pdf
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honor code
File Size: 147 kb
File Type: pdf
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academic scholarship explained
File Size: 189 kb
File Type: pdf
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grading criteria sem.1
File Size: 400 kb
File Type: pdf
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Assessment and Grading:  Click here for a full explanation of assessment practices and how to calculate a grade.

Course description

This is an International Baccalaureate English Literature Class; standards are set (in part) by the I. B. Organization.  The work is accelerated and demands that you develop your abilities in the field of literary criticism as well as continuing your progress in reading, writing, speaking and critical thinking.  It is also hoped that this course will strengthen your interest in reading literature.

Click here for a course descriptor from the IBO

The readings, linked by the concept of 'literature as social commentary' will include: 

First semester
Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto;
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Soltzhenitsyn;
The Stranger by Albert Camus;

Second semester:
For the 2015-16 year, the texts, which are part of our 'choice' titles, have yet to be determined.  Under consideration are:
Siddhartha by Herman Hesse
The Great Gatsby by F.Scott Fitzgerald;
Nine Stories, by J.D. Salinger;
Chronicles of a Death Foretold, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez;
A Gathering of Old Men by Earnest Gaines;
A Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood;
House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende

We will supplement all texts with selected short stories, poems, non-fiction texts, essays, and films.

It is recommended that you buy each book we study, allowing you to directly interact with the text as you read by making notes and marks.  Also, since we will revisit the novels throughout the year, owning your own copy facilitates this. 

Throughout the year, the focus will be on the development of a literary vocabulary and a literary viewpoint.  Through a combination of reading, writing, listening, speaking, and critical thinking, you will practice the skills necessary in the deconstruction, analysis and evaluation of literature.

Two major IB assessments take place in the junior year making up 40% of your IB grade
  • World Lit. Essay: a detailed study of one of the texts read in the first semester of approximately 1250-1400 words
  • Individual Oral Presentation: a fifteen minute literary, oral presentation completed in the second semester
Regardless of whether or not you are testing, all students are expected to do all of the work of the class.

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