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English 300: African American & Latinx Literature
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English 300: African American & Latinx Literature

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Syllabus

English 300 African American & Latinx Literature

⁠
Mx. Micky Hill (they/them) Office Hours: Monday/Wednesday Academic Lab
MHill@springfieldhonorsacademy.org Thursdays 2:20-3:00

Course Description

In this course, we will analyze literature written by African American and Latinx writers, spanning from the Reconstruction Era to Modern Day. We will emphasize the historical and cultural context surrounding the assigned texts and focus on common themes of identity, culture, and social critique. Students will evaluate the legacy of mid-century African American and Latinx literary movements and their respective impact on 21st century literature.
To deepen their critical and analytical skills, students will utilize many forms of informal and formal writing. Formal writing assignments will center on synthesizing ideas and themes between 2 or more texts. This class will not simply involve reading novels and writing essays. Rather, we will also examine visual art, music, videos, and movies, complete projects, give presentations, write personal essays, make posters, websites, and engage in numerous other activities.
The class is designed to challenge students to push themselves and develop their identities as readers and writers. Therefore, we will read and write every day, and learn to utilize multiple strategies to make complex texts more accessible. As the instructor, I will be available to support all students.

Required Texts

Among many short texts, poems, articles, and short stories, we will read the following novels:
Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston
How The Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents

Assignments/Work Load

- Participation is the primary form of assessment in this course. Participation will be assessed in a number of ways including discussion and in class activities.
-Every week students will submit Evidence of Learning, an artifact of their choice displaying what they do or do not understand from the week. More information will be given.
-Students should expect to turn in weekly reading responses during Novel Study Units.
-End of unit projects will vary from formal essays, presentations, video responses, and websites/ blog posts. These projects will be published and shared with the wider academic community. We can decide as a class what this looks like.
-Students will be given time in class to complete projects, however, much of the work will need to be completed outside of class. I am available to support students in planning and executing projects.
-As of now, there are no reading quizzes planned. If students complete the reading and participate in class, this will not change. However, repeatedly showing up to class unprepared will result in quizzes being assigned and graded.

Expectations

The work in this class is complex and urgent. It requires both the student and the teacher to be fully present and engaged in the learning. I am incredibly protective of my students' learning time and will not tolerate disruptive behavior. We will generate norms and expectations as a class, but below you will find my policies that are not negotiable.
Absences: You are responsible for missed classwork. Cutting class will result in after school detention.
Tardiness: Coming to class late disrupts the learning environment and causes you to miss essential instruction. Please try to keep excused tardies to an absolute minimum. In addition to the school mandated lunch detention, students who come to class with an unexcused tardy will be required to make up that time during office hours.
Late Work: Students should make every effort to turn in work on time. If you have extenuating circumstances preventing you from meeting a deadline, let me know in advance. Students will need to fill out the
Late Work
⁠
form. Please do not abuse this policy as repeatedly turning in late work( more than twice in a unit) or asking for extensions will result in a phone call home.
Retakes: Students who receive a B or below on an assignment will get the opportunity to redo or re take it. Students wishing to redo or retake an assignment must schedule an appointment to meet with me for feedback. Students will then have 1 week to turn the assignment in.
Class Culture: We will discuss sensitive topics in regard to both assigned readings and student work. Respect is a necessary component of our communal learning. It is essential that we make this class a safe space for everyone. Outright disrespect will never be tolerated. If you are negatively impacting discussion or class culture, you may be asked to leave the class and your participation grade will suffer

Grading

1
Daily
Participation
Participation means showing up to class, on time, prepared, and engaging with class activities. Absences are not excuses!
300 Points
(10 points per class/ 3 Classes per week= 30 per week* 10 Weeks)
2
Weekly
Evidence of Learning
Sometimes this will be a specific assignment. Others, you will get to choose from an array of assignments or activities.
150 Points
(15 points per week* 10 weeks= 150)
3
Varies
In Class Assignment
Up to 3 In Class Assignments
75 Points
Varies (25 each)
4
After 5 weeks
Mid Unit Assignment
After we build background knowledge for the unit (3-5 weeks) an assignment that checks your understanding of key concepts.
75 Points
One Assignment after the end of Module 1
5
End Of Unit Assignment Check Points
Before turning in any final project, you will need to meet at least 3 checkpoints.
150 Points
50 Points per checkpoint * 3 Checkpoints
6
At end of Quarter
End of Unit Assignment
The final project or assignment for each unit
250 Points
Rubric Specific
There are no rows in this table
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​Notes:
The End of Unit assignment is worth 250 points, however, you will not receive a high grade if you do not meet the check points. This penalizes late work and rewards good time management.
As you can see, you cannot get more than a 70% average if you do not participate in class.
ABSENCES ARE NOT EXCUSES! YOU MUST TAKE THE INITIATIVE TO MAKE UP WORK OR MEET WITH ME.

Grading Scale

1
Highest Performance/Proficiency/Achievement (e.g. Exceeds expectations)
100 (A+)
2
Target (e.g. Meets expectations)
95 (A)
3
Inconsistent (e.g. Usually meets expectations, though not always)
85 (B)
4
Below (e.g. Often does not meet expectations)
75 (C)
5
Far Below (e.g. Meets expectations, but rarely)
65 (D)
6
Lowest (e.g. Never meets expectations)
55 (F)
There are no rows in this table
⁠

Technology

Cellphones: Cell Phones need to be “off & away” during class time. At this time, I trust you to control yourselves and respect the learning environment. If a phone is seen during class, I will give exactly one opportunity for you to put the phone away. After that, a lunch detention will be issued and you will be required to put your phone in the Focus Bin at the start of class for the rest of the year. (If you need to charge your phone during class, you are welcome to ask me to plug it in for you; however you will not be able to “check on it” during class.)
Note: The Focus Bin may be used at various points during the semester for special project work days, tests, presentations etc.
Laptops: Majority of the work we do in this class will be paper and pencil. Be prepared to write short responses, notes, freewrites etc by hand. Laptops will only be used during research time or when we are working on formal writing assignments. I will tell you explicitly when you are allowed to use laptops. (If you need to charge your laptop during my class, you are free to plug it in and leave it, similar to the cell phone policy above.)
Music: The school policy is that students may not have earbuds or headphones on during class, even during independent work time. I will often play soft background music in class. If you have school appropriate song requests, just email them to me.
Google Classroom & Email: Check your emails! Send me emails! Use Google Classroom to help you keep track of your work! When sending an email, please use the subject line to tell me exactly what the email is about. Use proper email etiquette. If you do not know what proper etiquette is, let me know.
E-Hall Pass Policy

Academic Dishonesty/ChatGPT

While I hope you won’t even attempt to use ChatGPT or another AI program to turn in work, please understand that if you do, and I find out, you will receive a 0. I may or may not allow you to make up the work.
If accused, the burden of proof is on you, not on me, meaning you must prove that the work is original, either through showing me an outline or draft, or being able to verbally defend the ideas in the paper. Your parents will be called, and you will be required to turn in handwritten work for the remainder of the quarter. I will alert all of your teachers to your dishonesty, so they can monitor your work in their classes as well. There will be no leniency or exceptions.
There is never a reason for you to use AI in this class. If you feel you are on such a tight deadline that you are even considering using AI, please come talk to me first.

English 300 African American & Latinx Literature
Course Description
Required Texts
Assignments/Work Load
Expectations
Grading
Grading Scale
Technology
Academic Dishonesty/ChatGPT
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