Grade 10 (1 Credit/2 Semesters)

AP Seminar is an interdisciplinary course that encourages students to demonstrate critical thinking, collaboration, communication, and academic research skills on topics of the student’s choosing. Developing and practicing these skills will prepare students for academics, careers, and the real world. They will investigate topics in a variety of subject areas, write research-based essays, and design and give presentations both individually and as part of a team. 

Grade 11 (1 Credit/2 Semesters)

AP Language and Composition is a writing-intensive course in American Literature and current events, focusing primarily on non-fiction: autobiography, essays, articles, speeches, and so on. This course intends to offer a more rigorous alternative to English 3 Honors, and to prepare students to take the AP Language and Composition test in the spring. Students will become proficient in reading and understanding rhetoric, and writing in the different genres of non-fiction, such as the persuasive essay and the personal narrative. 

Grade 12 (1 Credit/2 Semesters)

 Advanced Placement Literature and Composition will engage students in the careful reading and critical analysis of imaginative literature. Students will consider structure, style, themes, figurative language, imagery, symbolism, and tone. The course will include intensive study of representative works from various genres and periods; reading will be both wide and deep. Writing in AP Literature and Composition reinforces reading. It will include attention to developing and organizing ideas in clear, coherent, and persuasive language, a study of the elements of style, and emphasis on precision and correctness. 

Grades 10-12 (1 Credit/2 Semesters) 

This course is driven by student decision‐making along with a rigorous curriculum to learn industry-standard software packages, production processes and deadline achievement. The focus is producing a quality yearbook for the student body that is inclusive of the entire school community and that captures the spirit of the school community. Students will learn to write concise body copy and captions as well as to operate various desktop publishing software packages. In addition, students are introduced to marketing and advertising principles to make their published work a success and are influential in many decisions made about the creation, design and promotion of the yearbook. Students will also write journalistic stories for other publications, become proficient consumers of media, and utilize social media as a tool to spread news.  This course is great for those students who work well independently and within a team environment. 

Grades 10-12 (.5 Credits/1 Semester) 

Creative Writing offers imaginative writers opportunities to write poetry, short stories, and memoirs.  The course includes a discussion of creativity, readings by and about creative people, and the compilation of a portfolio of creative assignments.  The teacher will use direct instruction as well as a workshop format. This course turns LHS Students into creative writers and is open to anyone with an interest in developing writing techniques and imagination skills in a fun and relaxed learning community.

Grades 10-12 (.5 Credits/1 Semester) 

Students are introduced to film history and criticism as they carefully examine great movies from the 1920s to the present. Each week, students will watch two famous and influential movies from a particular decade, discuss the films, and write argumentative journals. The final project for this course will be an essay on a director of the student’s choice or an analysis of the themes of a particular decade. 

Grades 11-12 (.5 Credits/1 Semester)

Black Literature, or more accurately, a Survey of Black American Culture through Literature and the Arts, is a course that allows students to explore and analyze the past, present, and future of Black America. In this semester-long course, we will study of a wide variety of genres--poetry, speeches, novels, essays, art, film, and music– in order to critically examine, discuss, and write about themes revolving around race, power, justice, culture, joy, gender, and identity. Our work will involve close reading, research, analysis, and discussion. 

Things to consider: this course involves a substantial amount of reading and discussion.

12th Grade (1 credit/1 semester) 

This course focuses on enhancing college reading and study techniques and offers students extended practice in applying these strategies to a variety of college level materials. Emphasis will be given to developing the critical thinking and reading skills necessary to be successful college readers. Topics covered will include identifying main ideas and supporting details, highlighting and annotating text, summary writing and making inferences.This class is designed to prepare students for most college-level classes and prepare students for writing in many career fields.   

12th Grade (1 credit/1 semester) 

While assuming competence in basic paragraph and essay structure, Introduction to College Writing also reinforces principles of composition that employ critical thinking for writing and develops grammatical competence and writing style. Through multiple revisions and workshops, students will acquire writing process awareness, self-advocacy skills for understanding and managing assignments, and information literacy skills to prepare students for college reading and writing.This class is designed to prepare students for most college-level classes and prepare students for writing in many career fields.