Description and Objectives

The Heights School

11th and 12th Grade English

Fall 2026

Instructor: Patrick Miggins, B.A., M. Ed.

Email: pmiggins@heights.edu

Phone: (301)365-0227 (ext. 123)

ENG 411 Don Quixote

Overview:

This class will introduce Miguel de Cervantes’s Spanish classic, Don Quixote de la Mancha, the first modern novel – and one of the funniest and most entertaining books ever written.  The novel captures the reader’s imagination and bears witness to the clash between Christian ideals and the rapidly changing world.  The major issue to be explored in Don Quixote is the undeniable complexity or reality, since we will trace Don Quixote’s adventures as a soul’s journey toward salvation, though placed in the context of foolishness and eccentricity.  The action of the novel as a whole affirms the truth that spiritual ideals can be incarnated on earth in the most unlikely places and unexpected situations.

The sad knight of La Mancha continues to fascinate: a bold, if very flawed and confused cavalier who tilts with windmills and sees deep beauty and nobility in a scullery maid. This course will not only read the book commonly identified as “the first novel,” but will also examine the impact that Don Quixote and sidekick Sancho Panza have made on subsequent literary, musical and film culture.

 

 

Textbooks

Don Quixote–Miguel de Cervantes (Grossman translation)

 

 

 

Course Requirements

Students should expect daily notes and classroom discussion, daily reading assignments, weekly quizzes and frequent writing assignments of various length, spanning from the reflective essay and poem analysis, to the in-class essay, and then to the traditional typed composition paper.  In addition, once a quarter, students will be required to memorize and to recite a poem, typically a sonnet, for a grade.

There will be a comprehensive mid-semester examination, which will contain the rudiments of genre theory.

Writing assignments will be completed in class or at home and will typically take place each week.

In-class writing assignments will usually be open-book.

Take-home writing assignments must be typed and cite the text(s) according to MLA format.

Late papers will be accepted, but with a penalty of a letter grade drop for every class period the assignment is late.

Class participation is required whether it takes the form of effective insights or the asking of probing questions.  At the end of each grading period, class participation will play a role in improving, maintaining, or decreasing the student’s grade for the quarter.

 

Successful Students

Successful students will respect the subject matter and be dedicated to daily effort both in class and at home.  A good student respects the space this class brings to bear on his sense of honor, knowing that he owes his teacher and his peers thoughtful effort and a mature demeanor, mindful that he will be learning alongside and among his peers and his instructor.

A volunteer representative will serve as a “manager of mirth” to help the instructor schedule gatherings of literary levity, festivity, and refreshment that supersede day-to-day classroom enjoyment.