High School English Language Arts

ENGLISH 09 (2 credits required)

BASIC ENGLISH 9 (1111)

2 credits; 2 semesters

Students who are experiencing deficiencies in reading, writing, grammar, speaking, listening, and organizational skills will find this course is designed to meet their individual needs. Students participate in individual and group structured activities that improve reading comprehension, writing, grammar usage, organizational skills, and vocabulary development. Instruction is differentiated to meet students’ individual needs and readiness and is designed to help students make connections between reading, writing, literature, and their own lives.

ENGLISH 9 (1120)

2 credits; 2 semesters

Emphasis will be on improving writing skills, vocabulary development and reading literature.

HONORS ENGLISH 9 (1135)

2 credits; 2 semesters

This course is intended to challenge the more academically able student. In addition to skills covered in the regular freshman English course, the content of this course will be accelerated and enriched to provide an extensive study of grammar, punctuation, vocabulary, composition, and literature.

As you peruse our course offerings, keep in mind that they all lead toward graduation. A Coeur d'Alene Public Schools' diploma provides you entrance to the next steps of your education.

Using your established 4-year academic plan and potential careers, you'll be able to choose courses in each content area that match your goals and adjust them each year until you graduate.

LEGEND

ENGLISH 10 (2 Credits required)

BASIC ENGLISH 10 (1211)

2 credits; 2 semesters

For students who have deficiencies in skills related to reading, writing, speaking, and listening will focus on improving these areas. Students participate in directed reading activities, guided paragraph and essay writing, and in the use of context clues, roots, and prefixes to increase vocabulary and usage. Students increase reading comprehension and listening and writing skills through high interest literature, including short stories, non-fiction, drama, poetry, and the in-depth study of a novel. Students practice basic and organizational skills in a highly structured atmosphere. All materials are geared to students’ interests and ability levels.

ENGLISH 10 (1220)

2 credits; 2 semesters

Designed to help students improve in their basic language skills, the course of study will include the review and reinforcement of grammar fundamentals and standard English usage as well as reading short stories, poetry, a Shakespearean drama, and novels. At least one essay per six weeks is required.

HONORS ENGLISH 10 (1235)

2 credits; 2 semesters

This course is designed to challenge the more academically able student. In addition to skills covered in the regular sophomore English class, this course will emphasize the skills and preparation necessary for success in future higher level English classes, including AP and college courses. The content of this course will be accelerated and enriched to provide study of complex texts, language, grammar, vocabulary, rhetoric, and writing for a variety of purposes.

High School English Language Arts Instructional Materials

myPerspectives is our English language arts resource for Grades 09–12 that emphasizes the perspective of the learner, collectively and individually, and provides next-gen learning experiences that promote higher achievement and develop the competencies needed for college and career readiness. Interactive learning blends print and technology in a student-centered, teacher-inspired classroom. This dynamic program creates an interactive, engaging, and relevant learning environment through readings, meaningful activities, and purposeful performance tasks. myPerspectives encourages social collaboration as well as student ownership of learning through goal setting, choice, and reflection.

ENGLISH 11 (2 Credits required)

APPLIED ENGLISH 11 (1309)

2 credits; 2 semesters

This course is designed for Juniors who have been recommended by teachers and counselors. The Applied English 11 class will benefit from a reduced pace from that of other English classes, and more directed instruction in writing, research and study skills.

ENGLISH 11 (1320)

2 credits; 2 semesters

The course is designed to improve skills in reading, writing and language through the study of themes and writers of American literature, past and present.

ENGL 101 (1850)

1.5 credits; 1 semesters

Collegiate-level workshop on strategies for generating ideas for writing, for planning and organizing material, and for revising and editing; intended to prepare students for the demands of college writing, focusing on reading critically and incorporating source material.

Course Note: See additional Dual Credit requirements

ENGL 175 (1860)

1.5 credits; 1 semesters

Collegiate-level introduction to the terminology, techniques, and formal characteristics of literary genres. Intended to provide the general student and the beginning English major with basic experience in literary analysis.

Course Note: See additional Dual Credit requirements

AP LANGUAGE & COMPOSITION (1340)

2 credits; 2 semesters

This course prepares students for the AP Language examination, which will be taken in May. Preparation for the exam includes extensive reading, rhetorical analysis, writing and discussion. Students will learn close-reading and critical thinking skills, analyze how writers communicate effectively and then apply these skills to their own writing. Writing is the primary goal of the class and essays will be heavily weighted. The course moves at a rapid pace, will center on American literature (novels, short stories, poetry and a focus on non-fiction) and is equivalent to a 100 or 200 level college writing class.

ENGLISH 12 (2 Credits required)

APPLIED ENGLISH 12 (1409)

2 credits; 2 semesters

Seniors who are planning to attend a technical, two-year or four-year college, or join the work force after graduation may elect to take Applied English in place of Senior English. The focus of the class will be strategies to ensure success in the workplace including technical writing, reading, communicating, and collaborative problem solving. The literature studied will reflect these concepts.

ENGLISH 12 (1420)

2 credits; 2 semesters

Senior literature focuses on the study of world literature through various genres of diverse times and places. Composition focuses on developing and extending writing for purposes that extend into post high school academics and life. The critical study of language emphasizes how context influences the structure, meaning, and use of language. First semester requires completion of a Senior Paper. Second semester focuses on development and completion of a required Senior Project.

AP LITERATURE & COMPOSITION (1345)

2 credits; 2 semesters

This course prepares students for the AP Literature examination, which will be taken in May. Preparation for the test includes extensive reading, writing, and discussion. Students not only learn how to understand the ideas of a work, but also how the writer communicates the ideas to his or her audience. A variety of challenging and mature texts (classic and contemporary prose, poetry, and drama) are included in the coursework, which is comparative to that of a 200 or 300 level college literature class. Completion of the Senior paper, project, and presentation are also a requirement of the course.

SENIOR PROJECT (1 Credit required)

The purpose of the Senior Project is to involve student in active learning beyond the classroom and the opportunity to learn actual experience in an area the student self-selects. The student may be guided by a community mentor/expert.

A complete Senior Project contains four categories:

Academic – the project involves formal instruction from a professional in the field;
Community Service – the project connects the student to genuine service;
Career – the project involves potential future employment; and
Personal Growth – the project presents a unique personal challenge.

Senior Projects are required to include a written report and an oral presentation by the end of grade 12.

Speech (1 Credit required)

SPEECH (1510)

1 credit; 1 semester

This performance-based course is designed to develop communication skills through application of the communication model. Interpersonal skills, communication in the workplace, listening skills, critical thinking, time management, research skills, speech organization and presentation will be the focus. The controlled and supportive classroom environment is an ideal setting for students to practice and perfect those communication skills of effective speaking and critical listening valued in all professions, the community and personal relations. This course relies on a discipline of reading, writing, research and performance at the junior/senior grade levels and is tailored to help prepare students for their Senior Project presentations.

COMM 101 (1525)

1.5 credits; 1 semester

This course introduces students to what communication is and how it affects human interaction. Emphasis is on public speaking with attention to audience analysis and organizational and delivery skills. The controlled and supportive classroom environment is an ideal setting for students to practice and perfect those communication skills of effective speaking and critical listening valued in all professions, the community, and personal relations. It is, however, a complex discipline of reading, writing, research, and performance; therefore, course success relies strongly on college level reading and writing abilities. This course is a requirement for both the A.A. and A.S. degrees.

Course Note: See additional Dual Credit requirements

INTRO TO DEBATE SEM 1 (1531)

1 credit; 1 semester

Students will study four formats of competitive debate: Policy debate, Lincoln-Douglas debate, Congressional debate, and Public Forum debate. Competitive debates go beyond simple argumentation to include skills in research, analysis, organization and refutation. Students will also study and perform individual speaking events that emphasize public speaking skills. Participation in co-curricular debate tournaments is required. Students who have demonstrated the following skills are encouraged to take this class: Communicates well with others, good writing skills, listens and follows instructions, high reading levels, and open mindedness to other viewpoints and examples.

INTRO TO DEBATE SEM 2 (1532)

1 credit; 1 semester

Semester 2 of Intro to Debate is the continuation of this introductory course. The credit earned from semester 2 fulfills the Speech requirement for graduation.

HONORS DEBATE (1545)

2 credits; 2 semesters

For students with at least one year of debate experience. Theory applied to the competitive setting is the primary focus. Students should anticipate preparation for and participation in various speech contests and debate tournaments. This is a class designed for the competitive debater/speaker.

ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS ELECTIVES

COMMUNICATION FOR CAREER & COMMUNITY (1523)

1 credits; 1 semesters

This course will help prepare students for the real world. Practical skills in reading, technical writing and speaking will be emphasized. Students will also develop effective workplace and community communication skills through a continuous cycle of discovery and application. Students may be admitted into Communication for Career and Community during their 11th or 12th grade year.

READING 1 (1610)

1 credits; 1 semesters

This course will focus on word analysis, vocabulary, and fluency. Students will work on improving their literal, interpretive and evaluative comprehension. Students will read a variety of literature in class and be required to read independently from self-selected books. The goal of this class is to help the student become an engaged, fluent and competent reader of the variety of texts they will have to understand in their, personal academic and professional lives.

READING 2 (1612)

1 credits; 1 semesters

Students will work on improving their literal, interpretive and evaluative comprehension. Students will read a variety of literature in class and be required to read independently form self-selected books. The goal of this class is to improve student reading comprehension and fluency by reading a variety of genre.

READING BOOST (1617)

2 credit; 2 semesters

Supplemental secondary instruction provided to help students most in need to meet state standards. Additionally, the course is designed for the appropriate grade level and typically introduces two or more genres of literature (novel, short story, poetry, and so on). Exploration of each genre's literary elements; determination of theme and intent; and vocabulary and semantics are often included as part of the course content. Writing assignments may be required as an additional method to improve understanding and comprehension.

READING IS THINKING (1625)

1 credit; 1 semester

The Reading is Thinking course is designed to improve a student's ability to use seven specific strategies in order to comprehend, speak, and write about any text. The thinking strategies are: visualization or sensory imaging, making meaning, asking questions, using background knowledge, determining importance, drawing inferences, and synthesis.

When students learn to incorporate these strategies with a wide range of texts (both fiction and non-fiction), their prosody, vocabulary, accuracy and comprehension and vision improves, as well as their ability to write and speak about what they have read. In this course, students will be asked to thoughtfully interact with and respond to texts in a variety of formats, including annotation and note-taking strategies, as well as other written and oral responses. Students will be asked to represent their learning, goals, thinking, and synthesis in an ongoing portfolio and final project presentation as a conclusion to the course. Students will complete and present a final project based on Design Thinking principles that will showcase their ability to transfer what they have learned in the course in a real-world problem-solving scenario.

JOURNALISM (1724)

1 credit; 1 semesters

This course will familiarize the student with various types of newspaper writing including news, sports, feature, review, and editorial writing. The course will stress developing investigative reporting skills as students learn to balance their writing objectively. Students will learn the key to visual communication using photography and video to tell stories. Students will be required to use desktop publishing programs on the computer in producing a newspaper.

YEARBOOK (1730)

2 credits; 2 semesters

Course will focus on layout design, photography, interviewing, proof reading and other steps toward the completion of the school yearbook. One must be a responsible, mature student.

Prerequisites: Teacher approval, and student must have successfully passed either Commercial Photo 1 or Intro to Digital Design.

PHOTOJOURNALISM (1733)

1 credit; 1 semester

This course will provide exposure to the challenges of publication photography for students who are interested in a career in publication and photojournalism. Through lecture, demonstration, and hands-on exercises, students will develop their skills in visual communication. Students will gain understanding in the history of photojournalism, the social significance, the why of photojournalism, ethics of the profession, skills in recognizing photo opportunities, and covering events visually. Students will also refine capabilities to create storytelling photographs in individual and photo essay formats.

CREATIVE WRITING (1735)

1 credit; 1 semester

Creative writing is designed to aid students in their creative expression, as well as delivery of one's writing. Students will read and discuss articles on the craft of writing. The first quarter will focus on fiction. Students will read and evaluate the effectiveness of fiction of varying styles. They will write and workshop short stories to complete a final portfolio. The second quarter will focus on poetry. Students will learn poetic vocabulary and read interpret poems of varying styles.

POETRY (1745)

1 credit; 1 semester

What do Eminem, Tupac, Dave Matthews, Anne Sexton, E. E. Cummings, Robert Frost, William Wordsworth and many others have in common? They are masters of the English word. In many respects they are all poets. During this course we will study these and many of their contemporaries as we seek to understand, analyze and write poetry. We will study methods, forms, and experiences that have helped develop these poets and we will write poetry using many of the same devices. Through in-class writing exercises, reading of model poems, and discussion of student work, this course encourages students to produce poetry of increasing quality. Students will learn the basic elements of poetry, important types of poems, and fundamental poetic techniques. Students will explore many different forms of poems from various time periods and begin to learn what it takes to create a poem. Students will be expected to write analytically about poetry in addition to writing their own.

POETRY 2 (1750)

1 credit; 1 semester

Our focus will include the careful study of successful poems, and a series of exercises that will help students approach writing as artisans—with attention to detail, attention to craft, and attention to the process as well as the product. Robert Frost once said, “No surprise for the poet, no surprise for the reader.” This introductory poetry course introduces poetic techniques that contemporary poets use to create their own surprises. A main goal of poetry is to allow the senses to overwhelm thought. We will study established poems to see how they make meaning through sensory images. We will also push ourselves to infuse our own writing with concrete details, careful choices, and delightful surprises.

CLASSIC MOVIES AS LITERATURE (1740)

1 credit; 1 semester

A series of classic movies will be used to teach literary devices and elements. Students will observe, discuss, and write about each movie. The course includes a brief cinematic history.

MODERN MOVIES AS LITERATURE (1742)

1 credit; 1 semester

A series of 20th and 21st-century films will be used to teach literary devices and elements. Students will observe, discuss, and write about each movie. The course includes a brief cinematic history.

YOUNG ADULT LITERATURE (1755)

1 credit; 1 semester

This course is an introduction to the multiple genres of contemporary young adult literature. You will read a range of YAL texts written by award-winning authors, which we will discuss from the perspectives of genre, theme, representations of adolescence and adulthood, and approaches to interpretation. Further consideration will be given to issues of censorship and canonicity. English Education majors will consider pedagogical approaches while others will consider the texts from a literary or sociocultural perspective.

COMICS AS LITERATURE (1756)

1 credit; 1 semester

In this course we will explore that form of visual literature known, confusingly enough, as "comics" or "comic art." We won't be covering the entire comics field. Students will work on improving their literal, interpretive and evaluative comprehension. Students will read a variety of literature in class and be required to read independently form self-selected books. The goal of this class is to improve student reading comprehension and fluency by reading a variety of genre. , because that's too much to tackle in a single course. Rather, we'll concentrate on long-form (meaning book-length) comics. More specifically, we'll focus on two genres: the "comic book" (as developed in the USA) and its offspring, the graphic novel.

Studying comics means getting out of our usual habits and trying on some new ways of reading, for, by their very nature, comics frustrate attempts to put them into a neat pigeonhole (are they pictorial narrative? visual poetry? graphic design? all of the above?). But by working to build a better toolbox for the study of comics, we can learn to see the swirling kaleidoscope of our visual culture more appreciatively, and more critically. Analyzing comics can help us tune up our critical sensibilities so that we can more productively approach all sorts of hybrid texts, from hypertext to billboards to experimental poetry.

MYSTERY FICTION (1771)

1 credit; 1 semester

Mystery and Detective Fiction is a skills-based academic English course designed to provide students with a broad overview of the themes and authors in the literary development of this genre, while offering ample analysis and writing opportunities. Students will learn to respond to and write on literal and interpretive levels about the authors’ craft. In addition, students will learn a variety of rhetorical strategies for writing academic and expository essays, included timed responses. Students will also achieve competence in academic language usage resulting in greater clarity, coherence, and unity in their writing. Literature and non-print media-based activities are designed to help students achieve effective command of style and language. Assessment activities may include active reading, creative and critical writing activities, and public speaking activities.

CONTEMPORARY ISSUES (1772)

1 credit; 1 semester

Students will discuss and analyze major genres and movements in contemporary fiction, focusing on American fiction. Students will situate contemporary fiction in current political, cultural, historical and philosophical trends to better understand the relationship between fiction and the contemporary world.

SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY FICTION (1790)

1 credit; 1 semester

Students will examine the ways in which science fiction reflects popular culture and the concerns of society today as well as explore the literary, social, and importance of science fiction and fantasy, while acquainting students with several of the major themes, motifs and tropes found in those genres. Class discussions will center around the history of science fiction and its evolution as a genre, differentiating the genre from other similar fields, such as fantasy literature and gothic novels; students will determine the interrelationship between both as an art form and science as a mode of perceiving reality.

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