English

Faculty

Students are required to complete four units of English Language Arts to graduate.

Grade 9 English Language Arts focuses on improving writing and speaking skills. Students develop longer compositions on their own.

In Grade 10, students examine the use of tone and style in writing. They use computers both to research and to communicate their findings.

Students in Grades 11 and 12 have advanced writing skills and use them in a variety of writing projects. They work on media projects that combine elements of communication.

ENGLISH 9 The central purpose of this course is to expand students’ foundational skills in all communication arts. Reading, writing, listening, discussing, speaking, using language, understanding media, using technology and research skills will be applied to help students build on their abilities to become creative and critical thinkers.

AMERICAN AUTHORS In this course students will become acquainted with the significant works of American authors and will further their understanding of our American ideals and traditions. Critical thinking and clear writing are also stressed through many discussions and compositions.

BRITISH AUTHORS This is a survey course that will familiarize students with the masterpieces of British literature, both past and present. Critical thinking and advanced composition skills will be stressed.

HUMANITIES/ENGLISH In this literature intensive course students will focus on ideas expressed by human beings throughout the ages. Students will examine the essential questions of life such as: What does it mean to be human? Who am I? What is the meaning of life? Students will be required to integrate advanced writing and language skills with literature that looks at the past, present, and future of humankind.

LITERATURES OF THE WORLD In this literature intensive course students will be reading, interpreting, and discussing classical and contemporary literary selections from various countries. Students will discover how people of the world are alike and different. Activities will include advanced language and composition skills where students will be required to integrate advanced writing and language skills with literature that looks at the past, present, and future of humans of the world.

MAJOR DRAMATISTS This course will help students develop a greater appreciation of drama and a valuable understanding of human nature. Theater's greatest works, from the Golden Age of Greece to the present, are included in this course. The course provides both oral and written activities, but is not an acting or performance course. Drama is treated as literature.

SHORT FICTION In this course students will study short stories and short novels by a variety of authors, and from a number of historical periods. Students will trace the development of short fiction and relate the action and characters to their own experiences. Students will be required to write compositions based on the course readings.

COMPOSITION This course is designed to help students develop their abilities in writing. Students will read models of good writing and through practice; they will increase their vocabulary and learn to organize their ideas logically and concisely.

LANGUAGE SKILLS LABORATORY This course is designed to help students strengthen their language and composition skills. Emphasis is placed on writing skills, problem solving, reading skills, study skills and skills in language grammar and usage.

THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE The purpose of this course is to make students more aware of the written and spoken English we use to communicate. Students will study and explore usage, dialects, word origins and meanings. These linguistic skills are also related to the craft of composition in several ways.

AP ENGLISH LANG/COMP AP English Language and Composition engages students in becoming skilled readers of prose written in a variety of periods, disciplines, and rhetorical contexts and in becoming skilled writers who compose for a variety of purposes. Students become aware of the interactions among a writer's purposes, audience expectations, and subjects as well as the way generic conventions and the resources of language contribute to effectiveness in writing. Stylistic development is nurtured by emphasizing the following: a wide-ranging vocabulary; a variety of sentence structures; logical organization; a balance of generalization and specific illustrative detail; and an effective use of rhetoric.

AP ENGLISH LIT/COMP AP English Literature and Composition engages students in the careful reading and critical analysis of imaginative literature. Through the close reading of selected texts, students should deepen their understanding of the ways writers use language to provide both meaning and pleasure for their readers. The course includes intensive study of representative works from various genres and periods, concentrating on works by authors of recognized literary merit. The works taught in the course require careful deliberative reading. Writing is an integral part of the course and exam. Writing assignments focus on the critical analysis of literature and include expository, analytical, and argumentative essays.

AFRICAN AMERICAN LITERATURE This elective course focuses on the wonderful and varied contributions of African Americans to America’s literary traditions.