Mr. Ross' Website
11th Grade English & English 11 AP - English Literature and Composition
English 11 - Standard College-prep Track
The theme for English 11 and U.S. History 11 is Building The American Dream. Each literary work and historical period selected for these courses relates to the unique ways different people, from different backgrounds and eras, view and access the American Dream. Each of these works is challenging and thought provoking, and each work builds on the other to help present a picture of the different ways that people have realized or failed to realize the American promise.
English 11 AP - English Literature and Composition
The theme for the AP courses, English Literature and Composition and AP U.S. History, is Growing Up American: The Search for Truth. Each literary work and historical period selected for these courses relates to the way that the growth of America as a nation is mirrored by the growth of a person. Each person grows from birth, where he declares his existence, to adolescence, where she begins to test the limits of the world around her, to young adulthood, where he begins to determine what is and is not right, to adulthood, where she begins to look at her larger impact on the world.
Many students feel that they are not “good writers”. They mistakenly believe that the ability to write is a talent that one is born with. However, the ability to clearly and creatively express oneself in writing is a skill that can be practiced, learned, and mastered. In order to help your student do this, however, I need to be sure that the work I am assessing is his/hers. While I absolutely understand the impulse to help your student with his/her work, I would encourage you to let your student do his/her best on his own. That way, I can fairly and accurately assess what he/she is capable of, and I can adjust my lessons accordingly. This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t have your students share their work with you; it must means that they need to learn to rely on themselves as editors prior to turning in an assignment.