2. 2
Biography
• I hold a BS in Secondary English
Education from Duquesne University
• I have had field experiences in Pittsburgh
Public Schools as well as suburban school
districts
• I currently teach 6 classes a day
• 4 English 11 classes
• 2 Creative Writing classes
3. 3
Content
• Our focus in this class will be on American
Literature from 1845 to the present
• We will be reading canonical American
Literature (poetry, novels, short stories), various
works of non-fiction, and a current young adult
novel
• In addition to reading the texts, students will be
producing three formal writing assignments that
engage with a theme of American Literature
4. 4
Content continued…
• Our class is organized into units of
exploration such as
• The American Dream: Realistic or Idealistic
• Issues of Identity
• The American Short Story
5. 5
Texts We Will Be Reading
• Some of the major texts we
will read in this class include
• Death of a Salesman by
Arthur Miller
• Of Mice and Men by F. Scott
Fitzgerald
• The Absolutely True Diary of
a Part-Time Indian by
Sherman Alexie
• Edgar Allan Poe’s short
stories
6. 6
Homework
• You can expect that your child will
have some sort of homework
every night such as
• Reading our current text
• Journals, response logs
• Formal writing assignments
7. 7
Assessment
• Students will be assessed
based on
• Class participation
• Journals and reading logs
• Papers and/or projects
• Random quizzes for
comprehension
8. 8
Strategies
• I believe strongly in the use of dialogic
conversationand many of my classes are
grounded in authentic group discussion
• I also employ reading journals or
response logs as a way for students to
explore and question a text on a personal
level
• I also place emphasis on the writing
process
9. 9
Contact Information
• Please feel free to send me an e-mail
with any questions or concerns and I
will be sure to respond within 24 hours
• farbachers@duq.edu
