Welcome Letter

Welcome to Dublin High School!

By selecting this class, you take on a challenging, but rewarding, English course. As you begin the journey for the next year, we ask you to consider carefully the following points before making a final decision.

First, this course is designed to prepare you for the honors/AP courses you may take all the way through 12th grade. Students will be responsible for close, analytical reading of text, participating in class discussions, clarifying and supporting their ideas through writing, and clearly presenting their ideas to the class. To be successful in this course, it is essential that students be active readers, curious students, and self-motivated, independent learners who can work without continuous monitoring. In addition, students must already be able to read challenging fiction for plot, characters, setting, and theme and non-fiction for argument, support, reasoning, structure, and content. The units begin with the expectations that those skills are in place as the course focuses on the close reading and analysis and that students have already read for the fundamentals with complete comprehension. Just as in college courses, this course also devotes much time to intellectual discussion of material covered and it is imperative that students are prepared for class.

Second, attendance is critical. Classroom activities cannot truly be replaced by make up work and the development of a meaningful learning community is dependent upon everyone’s active presence. If you foresee a problem with a larger assignment or project, you must see your teacher several days before it is due. School-wide, technology problems are not valid reasons for work to be late. Ultimately, all work is the student’s responsibility.

Third, summer reading is necessary to both keep your mind active as well as prepare you for the upcoming year. The three short stories you will read make up half of our first unit of the year. You will find a link for each story on the site as well as a description of the reading focus we are expecting you to follow.

We are passionate about this course and making your first year at DHS an intellectually stimulating and engaging one.

Welcome Dublin Gaels.

Ms. Chan Ms. Gergley Mr. Kleinow

(your amazing 9th Grade Advanced English team)