Multicultural Literature Course an English Elective
Huntington High School seniors have an annual opportunity to enroll in the one-semester, half-credit Multicultural Literature English course. The class is just one in a series of popular department electives that students can look forward to during their high school careers.
“The curriculum is designed to foster careful reading and analysis of literature written by and about minority groups in the United States,” according to the syllabus for Multicultural Literature. “Students’ knowledge of the American literary canon will expand as they read and research selected works reflecting the multiple imaginations of our nations’ inhabitants.”
According to the syllabus, grades are based upon writing assignments and projects (50%), classwork and journals (25%) and exams and quizzes (25%). Typical course assignments include dialectical journals, group presentations, character analyses, process writing essays, reaction papers, in-class timed writing assignments, research papers, outside reading and oral presentations.
The course seeks to expand knowledge of America’s literary heritage, explore the construction of identity in literature, and “examine the interplay of ethnicity, race, religion and gender within a variety of cultures.”
Another course aim is for students to “value tolerance of differing views of ethnicity, religion and gender in problem solving at the local, national and global levels,” according to the syllabus. Students will also “respond critically to multicultural literature through thoughtful, well-supported, well-organized evaluative essays and impromptu responses.”
The course kicks-off with a review of United States culture and continues with a series of units that include poetry, short stories, plays, novels and non-fiction works, as well as oral folktales, music lyrics, spirituals and other genres.
For more information contact Director of Humanities Joseph Leavy at 673-2079 or e-mail at jleavy@hufsd.edu.
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