English

The Owen J. Roberts English Department believes its primary purpose is to teach students to write, developing logical, well-organized essays in various modes. Our goal is that students will begin a lifelong, self-directed appreciation of literature and will learn to use precise language through the development of listening, reading, writing, and speaking skills. During the first year of high school, students will study selections from all genres of literature. The next three years will be devoted to studying literature from a wide variety of cultures and time periods. Our goal is to broaden and multiply the number of books and texts a student will encounter.

Writing Portfolio: In each student’s high school English classes, a progression of writing skills will be developed from creating basic sentence patterns to writing a research paper. Every student will be required to complete between 10 and 12 essays each year. All of those essays will be included in the student’s electronic writing portfolio each year. This portfolio should contain a minimum of 44 total essays by the end of the student’s senior year.

The typical sequence of courses that Owen J. Roberts High School students select is presented in the chart below. The chart is divided into instructional levels and is intended to give an overview of the required courses from which students can choose. It is only a guide to assist students and families in the registration process. A student’s course selections are not limited to the sequences shown. Each student should consult his/her teachers, school counselor, and families to determine the appropriate courses and sequence that best supports his/her academic and career goals. The academic levels – Advanced Placement/International Baccalaureate/Dual Enrollment (AP/IB/DE), Honors (H), and College Prep (CP) - indicate the general level of instruction of the courses.

English Course Sequence Chart

ENGLISH 9

Grade(s): 9 Credit(s): 1.0 Weight: CP, H

Length: Year

Prerequisite: Language Arts 8

Traditional Periods/cycle: 5

Course numbers:

College Prep: Traditional (01002), Traditional Co-Taught (01003C)

Honors: Traditional (01001)

·

*Summer assignment required*

This course introduces students to the fundamentals of literature, emphasizes writing and speaking skills, and reinforces the basics of grammar. They will write ten essays for this class and complete a research project.

ENGLISH 10

Grade(s): 10 Credit(s): 1.0 Weight: CP, H

Length: Year

Prerequisite: CP or H English 9

Traditional Periods/cycle: 5

Hybrid Periods/cycle: 2

Online/Asynchronous Periods/cycle: 0

Course numbers:

College Prep: Traditional (01012), Traditional Co-Taught (01013C), Online/Asynchronous (01021O)

Honors: Traditional (01011), Hybrid (01011H), Online/Asynchronous (01022O)

*Summer assignment required*

The students in this course study all genres of literature and refine their writing and speaking skills. The students taking Honors will study American Literature from the Colonial through Contemporary eras. Both levels are required to write ten essays, including a research paper.

ENGLISH 11

Grade(s): 11 Credit(s): 1.0 Weight: CP, H

Length: Year

Prerequisite: CP or H English 10

Traditional Periods/cycle: 5

Online/Asynchronous Periods/cycle: 0

·

Course numbers:

College Prep: In person (01102), Online/Asynchronous (01232O)

Honors: In person (01101), Online/Asynchronous (01231O)

*Summer assignment required*

Students taking College Prep study a variety of works of literature from ancient civilizations to the present. They will write 12 critical essays and a research paper based on their reading. Students taking Honors will study a variety of works of contemporary and classic literature. The Honors class will move at an accelerated pace and will include additional readings and essays.

ENGLISH FOR PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATIONS 1

Grade(s): 11-12 Credit(s): 1.0 Weight: CP

Length: Year

Prerequisite: CP or Honors English 10 or 11 or AP English Language & Composition

Traditional: 01132 Periods/cycle: 5

Success in the workplace begins with effective communication. Students will improve their communication skills by exploring fundamental topics in their fields of interest. They will practice interviewing, negotiating, speaking at meetings, giving presentations, writing business letters and memos, telephoning, vocabulary appropriate for their respective fields, business social skills, and Internet use. Through each of these practical skills, grammatical accuracy, speaking and listening, pronunciation, new vocabulary, and sociolinguistic skills (body language, formality, and tone) will be stressed. The course would ideally include a fieldwork component to help students improve problem-solving and communication skills.

This course will be offered in alternating years with English for Professional Communications 2, which will be offered for the first time in 2025-2026. Both 11th and 12th graders may enroll in either course. English for Professional Communications 1 is not a prerequisite for English for Professional Communications 2.

LITERATURE FOR CHANGE

Grade(s): 11 Credit(s): 1.0 Weight: CP, H

Length: Year

Prerequisite: CP or H English 10

Hybrid Periods/cycle: 2

Course numbers:

College Prep (01112H)

Honors (01123H)

*Summer assignment required*

Students taking this course will explore how the individual functions as an architect of change not only in his own life but also as an agent of change in the construction of the world around him. The course is organized around global issues, self-agency and affecting change, and has an increased focus on fiction and nonfiction that highlights innovation, problem-solving, and action planning. Students will examine literature of great minds by studying how one can improve himself and change the world for the better, reading a variety of literature in “changing the world” genre.

IB LANGUAGE & LITERATURE HL * YEAR 1

Grade(s): 11 Credit(s): 1.0 Weight: AP/IB/DE

Length: Year

Traditional: 01920 Periods/cycle: 5

The Language A: Language and Literature course is a two-year course that introduces the critical study and interpretation of written and spoken texts from a wide range of literary and non-literary genres. The formal analysis of texts is supplemented by awareness that meaning is not fixed but can change in respect to contexts of production and consumption.

In the language A: language and literature course students will learn about the complex and dynamic nature of language and explore both its practical and aesthetic dimensions. They will explore the crucial role language plays in communication, reflecting experience and shaping the world. Students will also learn about their own roles as producers of language and develop their productive skills. Throughout the course, students will explore the various ways in which language choices, text types, literary forms and contextual elements all effect meaning.

* Literature selections, assessments, and examination requirements for the HL necessitate the two-year offering.

IB LITERATURE & PERFORMANCE SL

Grade(s): 11-12 Credit(s): 1.0 Weight: AP/IB/DE

Length: Year Fee: IB Exam fee

Prerequisite: CP or Honors English 10 or 11 or AP English Language & Composition

Traditional: 01940 Periods/cycle: 5

The IB DP Literature and Performance course is an interdisciplinary synthesis of the Language A and Theatre courses. It incorporates essential elements of literature and performance and aims to explore the dynamic relationship between the two. At the heart of the course is an interaction between (i) a conventional literary emphasis on close reading, critical writing and discussion and (ii) the practical, aesthetic and symbolic elements of performance. A distinctive outcome of this synthesis is the performance of a piece transformed from poetry or prose. In this exciting, creative process text is viewed from different angles in a way that goes beyond what is characteristic of either literary or theatre studies as single disciplines. The course as a whole examines literary and dramatic texts and seeks to develop intellect, imagination and creativity. It encourages intercultural awareness through a study of texts from more than one culture.

AP ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND COMPOSITION

Grade(s): 11 Credit(s): 1.0 Weight: AP/IB/DE

Length: Year Fee: AP Exam fee

Prerequisite: H English 10

Traditional: 01100 Periods/cycle: 5

*Lengthy summer readings and essays are required.*

This is a college-level course that follows the AP English Language and Composition curriculum examining rhetoric as “the art of finding and analyzing all the choices involving language that a writer, speaker, reader, or listener might make in a situation so that the text becomes meaningful and purposeful” (David Jolliffee, former AP exam creator). Students will develop a personal writing style through the development and revision of evidence-based analytic and argumentative writing and the rhetorical analysis of nonfiction texts, including graphic images as forms of text from many disciplines and historical periods. Students are prepared for and encouraged to take the AP English Language and Composition Exam.

ENGLISH 12

Grade(s): 12 Credit(s): 1.0 Weight: CP, H

Length: Year

Prerequisite: CP or H English 11

Traditional Periods/cycle: 5

Online/Asynchronous Periods/cycle: 0

Course numbers:

College Prep: In person (01202), Online/Asynchronous (01221O)

Honors: In person (01201), Online/Asynchronous (01222O)

*Summer assignment required*

Students taking Standard or College Prep study a variety of works of literature that range from Shakespeare to modern novels. Those in College Prep will write 12 critical essays and a research paper based upon their reading. Students taking Honors study a variety of works of literature that range from Shakespeare to modern novels. The Honors class will move at an accelerated pace and will include additional readings and essays.

LITERATURE OF SUCCESS

Grade(s): 12 Credit(s): 1.0 Weight: CP, H

Length: Year

Prerequisite: CP or H English 11

Hybrid Periods/cycle: 2

Course numbers:

College Prep (01212H),

Honors (01213H)

*Summer assignment required*

Students taking this course explore the history, literature, ethics, and philosophy of two age-old questions: what does it mean to be “successful” and how does one achieve this elusive goal? Students will examine the critical and cultural perspectives of success, reading a variety of literature in “success” genre.

IB LANGUAGE & LITERATURE HL * YEAR 2

Grade(s): 12 Credit(s): 1.0 Weight: AP/IB/DE

Length: Year Fee: IB Exam fee

Prerequisite: IB Language & Literature HL Year 1

Traditional: 01930 Periods/cycle: 5

The Language A: Language and Literature is a two-year course that introduces the critical study and interpretation of written and spoken texts from a wide range of literary and non-literary genres. The formal analysis of texts is supplemented by awareness that meaning is not fixed but can change in respect to contexts of production and consumption.

Through close analysis of various text types and literary forms, students will consider their own interpretations, as well as the critical perspectives of others, to explore how such positions are shaped by cultural belief systems and to negotiate meanings for texts. Students will engage in activities that involve them in the process of production and help shape their critical awareness of how texts and their associated visual and audio elements work together to influence the audience/reader and how audiences/readers open up the possibilities of texts. With its focus on a wide variety of communicative acts, the course is meant to develop sensitivity to the foundational nature, and pervasive influence, of language in the world at large.

* Literature selections, assessments, and examination requirements for the HL necessitate the two-year offering.

AP ENGLISH LITERATURE AND COMPOSITION

Grade(s): 12 Credit(s): 1.0 Weight: AP/IB/DE

Length: Year Fee: AP Exam fee

Prerequisite: H English 11 or AP English 11

Traditional: 01200 Periods/cycle: 5

Lengthy summer readings and essays are required.

This class follows the Advanced Placement Literature and Composition curriculum and is representative of an introductory college literature course. It will intensively study literature of the world from Shakespeare to the present. In addition, students will be prepared to respond to written English in a variety of contexts and to further refine their skills in writing expository prose. They will be prepared for and are encouraged to take the Literature and Composition AP Examination.

ACADEMIC READING & VOCABULARY

Grade(s): 9-12 Credit(s): .6/1.0 Weight: No Weight

Length: Year

Traditional

Academic Reading 1 (grades 9/10): 20208, 20221 Periods/cycle: 5/3

Academic Reading 2 (grades 11/12): 20204, 20207

Students will develop their ability to understand, analyze, and synthesize reading and vocabulary across contents and texts, as well as increase reading fluency and both implicit and explicit comprehension skills. The course provides individualized and small group instruction in reading with an emphasis on non-fiction text. Texts are chosen to reflect students’ interests, reading level, and areas of need. Vocabulary instruction emphasizes morphology and the use of context clues. Diagnostic tests and curriculum-based assessments are administered to assess proficiency levels and areas of need. Students are assigned to this class either 3 or 5 days per cycle depending on their language arts placement, level of proficiency on previous PSSA scores, Keystone exam scores, individual reading assessments, or via teacher recommendation.

ENGLISH FOR ENGLISH LEARNERS

Grade(s): 9-12 Credit(s): 1.0 Weight: Standard

Length: Year

Traditional: 01900 Periods/cycle: 5

This English language arts course is for English Learners whose level of English proficiency (ELP) is just beginning or still emerging (ELP < 3). The goals of this course are to improve reading, writing and critical thinking in both English and the student’s first language, as well as listening and speaking in English. This course is co-taught by an ELD teacher and an English teacher. This course is repeatable for credit.

ENGLISH ELECTIVES

English electives may not be selected in place of the required courses in the sequence of the English curriculum.

DRAMA AND THEATER