English

English Courses

Writing

Core textbook: Writing Skills, Diana Hanbury King, EPS Publishing

Curriculum Overview:
This course presents basic grammar and organizational structures for developing writers.

Writing Goals:

• To build confidence and competence in the area of writing.
• To promote student responsibility and personal life skills.
• To develop the self-advocacy skills of each student.

 Writing Course Outline:

• Grammar review and sentence fluency
• Organization of paragraphs
• Descriptive writing structure and organization
• Sequence narrative structure and organization
• Compare and contrast structure and organization

Life Skills English

Core textbook: Literature: 9th Grade Life Skills English, , AGS Publishing

Curriculum Overview:
This course presents print literacy and informational fluency topics in real-world applications to build critical thinking skills.

Life Skills English Goals:

• To build confidence and competence in the area of English language arts.
• To promote student responsibility and personal life skills.
• To develop the self-advocacy skills of each student.
• To apply basic literacy and print skills to real world applications.

Life Skills English Course Outline:

• Reference Materials
• Library and Informational Texts
• Media and Information
• Experts, Professionals and Careers
• Forms, Catalogs and Correspondences

Ninth Grade: Introduction to Literature

Core textbook:  Kinsella, Kate, et al. Prentice Hall Literature: 9th Grade.  Boston: Pearson, 2007.

Supplemental and Resource Materials:
Online textbook: www.pearsonsuccessnet.com (user name and password required).
e-Classroom: www.edmodo.com
Wakatsuki-Houston, Jeanne. Farewell to Manzanar. New York, 1973.

Curriculum Overview:
The Introduction to Literature course provides students with a detailed understanding of different literary genres including fiction, nonfiction, short story, novel, drama, poetry and more. Students learn grammar and pre-writing skills necessary for writing four essays throughout the year and build a writing portfolio of their work.  The vocabulary requirement focuses on literary terms and Latin root words related to the reading and writing assignments.

Introduction to Literature Goals:

• Generate relevant questions about readings on issues that can be researched.
• Recognize and understand the significance of various literary devices, including figurative language, imagery, allegory, and symbolism, and explain their appeal.
• Demonstrate an understanding of proper English usage and control of grammar, paragraph and sentence structure, diction, and syntax.
• Establish a controlling impression or coherent thesis that conveys a clear and distinctive perspective on the subject and maintain a consistent tone and focus throughout the piece of writing.
• Formulate judgments about the ideas under discussion and support those judgments with convincing evidence.

 
Various Grade Levels: Intermediate Literature

Core textbook:  Kinsella, Kate, et al. Prentice Hall Literature: 9th Grade.  Boston: Pearson, 2007.

Supplemental and Resource Materials:
Online textbook: www.pearsonsuccessnet.com (user name and password required).
e-Classroom: www.edmodo.com

Curriculum Overview:
The Intermediate Literature course provides students with a detailed understanding of different literary genres including fiction, nonfiction, short story, novel, drama, poetry and more. Students learn grammar and pre-writing skills necessary for writing four essays throughout the year and build a writing portfolio of their work.  The vocabulary requirement focuses on literary terms and Latin root words related to the reading and writing assignments. 

Intermediate Literature Goals:

• Generate relevant questions about readings on issues that can be researched.
• Recognize and understand the significance of various literary devices, including figurative language, imagery, allegory, and symbolism, and explain their appeal.
• Demonstrate an understanding of proper English usage and control of grammar, paragraph and sentence structure, diction, and syntax.
• Establish a controlling impression or coherent thesis that conveys a clear and distinctive perspective on the subject and maintain a consistent tone and focus throughout the piece of writing.
• Formulate judgments about the ideas under discussion and support those judgments with convincing evidence.

 Tenth Grade: American Literature

Core textbooks: American Literature (hardback and e-text) (Prentice Hall),
American Literature Reading Kit  (Prentice Hall)

Curriculum Overview:
In this course, students will explore and interpret canonical and non-canonical American literature beginning with the Early Period, progressing through the Modern Age, and ending with the Contemporary Era. Students will read poetry, plays, speeches, short stories, a novella, and several full-length texts (including four outside reading books throughout the year). Students will continue to refine the writing process for the production of paragraphs and essays in response to their readings and class work. Long writing assignments include: expository essays, creative short stories, speech-writing, and poetry. Short and informal writing assignments include: journaling, email discourse, blogging, and letter-writing.

American Literature Goals:

• Students will demonstrate an understanding of American history and its place in literature and the larger world by making text-to-self and text-to-world connections:
• Students will use critical thinking skills to analyze and evaluate text structures and to develop and support arguments.
• Students will identify and analyze textual components and evaluate their impact upon the text (i.e. authorial intent, historical analysis).
• Students will demonstrate an ability to analyze and synthesize tests to gain meaning.
• Students will demonstrate basic and advanced conventions of grammar and language usage (i.e. active and passive tenses and adverb phrases).

Eleventh Grade: British Literature

Core textbook: Prentice Hall Literature: The British Tradition. (Boston: Pearson, 2007)

Curriculum Overview:
The British Literature course provides students with an overview of historical British literary trends starting with the epic story of Beowulf. The class reading assignments include different pieces of fiction and nonfiction, such as full-length novels, short stories, poetry, essays, and plays.  Students learn grammar and pre-writing skills necessary for writing four essays throughout the year and build a writing portfolio of their work.  The vocabulary requirement focuses on literary terms and Latin root words related to the reading and writing assignments.

British Literature Goals:
Make warranted and reasonable assertions about the author’s arguments by using elements of the text to defend and clarify interpretations:

• Analyze the clarity and consistency of political assumptions in a selection of literary works or essays on a topic (e.g., suffrage, women’s role in organized labor).
• Structure ideas and arguments in a sustained, persuasive, and sophisticated way and support them with precise and relevant examples.
• Demonstrate control of grammar, diction, and paragraph and sentence structure and an understanding of English usage.
• Use rhetorical questions, parallel structure, concrete images, figurative language, characterization, irony, and dialogue to achieve clarity, force, and aesthetic effect.

 Twelfth Grade: World Literature and College Composition

Core textbooks: World Literature (hardback and e-text)(Prentice Hall),
   World Literature Reading Kit (Prentice Hall)

Curriculum Overview:
Students will engage in an overview of canonical and non-canonical World literature moving from the Ancient World, to the Age of Realism, to the Contemporary Era. This course is intended to act as an introduction to the type of developmental and college-level literature and composition courses they will be required to complete in their post-secondary education, should they choose to take this route.  Students will read and analyze epic poetry, plays, shourt stories, essays, and full-length books (including four outside reading books throughout the year). Essays are expository in nature and require extensive research with both primary and secondary outside sources.

World Literature and College Composition Goals:
Students will demonstrate an understanding of ancient and modern world cultures and their relationship to literature, oral tradition, and modern media:

• Students will demonstrate critical thinking and logical reasoning skills through formal research papers and class assignments.
• Students will conduct an historical analysis of their texts by synthesizing their research and texts and making judgments and drawing conclusions.
• Students will demonstrate an understand of advanced literary devices and literary elements (i.e. allegory, paradox, non-sequitur)
• Students will demonstrate basic and advanced conventions of grammar and mechanics usage (i.e. noun phrase apposition and parallel structure).