English

Foundations of English*

Full Year Course Number: 1092

Foundations of English is a foundational course covering a wide variety of skills and topics over the course of two semesters, and it is meant for students who have perhaps not yet met proficiency in all their level eight performance indicators. It targets the core learning in the same skill areas associated with English 9, but leverages different learning approaches to further develop core skills. Students will generally analyze a primary text in each module, along with additional support texts, in order to develop interconnected language arts skills.

Possible Texts: The Outsiders, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, The Absolutely True Story of a Part-Time Indian

*Prerequisite: Teacher recommendation Required

Honors English 9*

Full Year Course Number: 1094

The Honors level of this course may incorporate the use of differing reading material, pacing, and analytical depth, but satisfies the same set of Common Core standards associated with ninth-grade English. Honors English 9 experiences will be award upon successful completion.

Possible Texts: The Outsiders, Great Expectations, Raisin in the Sun, Mr. Pip, The Marrow Thieves, and Catcher in the Rye

Teacher recommendation & Required Writing Prompt

Foundations in American Literature*

Full Year Course Number: 9712

Foundations in American English is a foundational course covering a wide variety of skills and topics over the course of two semesters, and it is meant for students who have perhaps not yet met proficiency in all their level nine performance indicators. It targets the core learning in the same skill areas associated with English 10, but leverages different learning approaches to further develop core skills. Students will generally analyze a primary text in each module, along with additional support texts, in order to develop interconnected language arts skills. The literature will focus on foundational American texts, as well as more modern American short stories, poems, and novels.

Prerequisite: Teacher Recommendation.

Honors English 10*

Full Year Course Number: 1104

The Honors level of this course may incorporate the use of differing reading material, pacing, and analytical depth, but satisfies the same set of Common Core standards associated with ninth-grade English. Honors English 10 experiences will be award upon successful completion.

The honors level part of this course may incorporate the use of differing reading material, pacing, and analytical depth, but satisfies the same set of Common Core standards associated with tenth-grade English. Honors students have the opportunity to meet advanced proficiency in the standards associated with grade 10.

Possible Core Text: Pearson American Literature, The Crucible, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, To Kill a Mockingbird

Prerequisite: Teacher Recommendation.

Communications in the 21st Century Experience Grade 11

Full Year Course Number: 9713

Students will focus on how we communicate in the 21st Century. This class will explore their identity, their voice, and their society through a range of presentations, discussions, and analysis papers. Students will develop skills to evaluate the reliability of online and print news outlets. They will also study and discuss the effects of advances in social media. Students will examine how social issues can be understood through a variety of lenses and sources. They will take that experience to create their own presentations on a social issue that matters to them. Students will then adapt their presentation into a podcast for a broader audience. In the second semester, the class’s focus will turn inward to look at personal memoirs and stories. Through these texts, students will explore their own identities, which will in turn evolve into students writing their own narratives, preparing them for the college essay.

Possible Texts include: Feed,​ ​All-American Boys​, ​Born a Crime​, and ​House on Mango Street Prerequisites: English 9 & English 10

Prerequisites: English 9 & English 10

Literacy Through Shorts Texts 1 Grade 11

Full Year Course Number: 1130

This is an English course for the student who scores books like a golfer. Short Texts 1 targets the core learning in the 11th grade skill areas, with a focus on carefully chosen shorter reading designed to maximize engagement. Students will address reading, writing, and spoken communication skills through a variety of modestly sixed reading with many opportunities for choice according to individual interests.

*Prerequisite: Teacher Recommendation

Eng. 12 Weird Tales Fiction Grade 12

Full Year Course Number: 1164

This course utilities the best of the offbeat contemporary, classic, horrific, and dystopian literature to bring to students a year long study of stories, novels, and plays. Students will read, write, and otherwise analyze and discuss works featuring literary elements, settings, and characters whose features are created out of human imagination and speculation rather than characters whose features are created out of human imagination and speculation rather than the realities of everyday life. Speculative fiction is the fiction of limitless possibilities allowing the reader to see the existing world with new eyes. Reading, writing, and project assignments will range from short exercises to essays and presentations of various lengths and types.

English 100 * Grade 11 & 12

Half Year Course Number: Eng. 110

• OPTION TO EARN 3 COLLEGE CREDITS UPON SUCCESSFUL COMPLETION

English Composition is the introduction to college writing across the curriculum. It will introduce students to the standard rhetorical modes which will be assigned in this course but will also be assigned in other courses in other disciplines. An emphasis will be placed upon writing as a process of creating first drafts then revising, rewriting and proofreading them for accuracy, clarity and succinctness of written expression. The course will explore the distinctions between spoken and written, formal and informal uses of language. The course will also provide an introduction to research and the task of producing a formal research paper that follows MLA style and documentation practices.

*Prerequisites: Successful completion of English 10.

English 115* Grade 11 & 12

Half Year Course Number: Eng. 115

• OPTION TO EARN 3 COLLEGE CREDITS UPON SUCCESSFUL COMPLETION

This course introduces the student to the literary genres: poetry, drama, fiction and non-fiction. It emphasizes literature as a reflection of culture. This includes the discussion of literary terms, close textual reading, and historical backgrounds. This course has been designated as a writing-intensive course.

*Prerequisites: Successful completion of English 10.

Film as Literature Grades: 11 & 12

Half Year: Elective Course Number: 7227

Do you love watching movies? Do you always want to talk about what you’ve seen? In this semester course, students will conduct in-depth study of feature films to learn how film records and shapes the perception of the viewing public. Students will be expected to think critically about films, analyzing them for their content as well as their visual delivery. In addition, students will respond to viewing through a variety of assessments such as journal writing, film reviews, and reaction writings.

IB Literature HL - Year 1 * Grade 11

Full Year Course Number: 1007

Grade: 11

This two year course, upon completion, will enable students to succeed in a wide range of university courses. Students read literary works meeting requirements of the IB curriculum which emphasizes student exposure to, and understanding of, a variety of cultures, genres and periods. Students engage in close, detailed readings and reflect critically resulting in the presentation of literary analysis through both oral and written communication. Students reflect upon the power of authors’ stylistic choices and techniques of narrative fiction and non-fiction works while developing an enhanced understanding of literary devices and rhetorical conventions. We work with both classic and contemporary novels, short stories, poetry, plays, essays, and works in translation. Students will develop skills of analysis and the ability to support an argument in clearly expressed writing, sometimes at significant length. The senior year concludes with two papers completed in an exam setting; one is a commentary based on two unseen passages of poetry or prose, the other is a comparative essay based upon any two texts studied in the program.

*Prerequisite: Teacher Recommendation

Possible texts: ​100 Years of Solitude, Circe, Year of Wonders, The Secret Life of Bees, Macbeth, Animal Farm, 1984, Assorted poetry, Hamlet, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, Death of a Salesman, The Glass Menagerie, Persepolis, The Prince, We, The Alchemist, Argo​.

IB Language and Literature (SL)* Grade 12

Full Year Course Number: 1121

How does one’s identity affect their perception of the world around them? This standard-level IB course for seniors will use literary and non-literary texts to answer that question. Using a range of sources such as novels, videos, comics, advertisements, poetry, podcasts, comedy, music, essays, and art, students will study how language affects the way we engage with, and understand, the world around us. The course allows students to explore language through its cultural development and use, its media forms and functions, and its literature. Students develop skills of literary and textual analysis, and also the ability to present ideas effectively. 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 understand how language contributes to, and shines a light on, global issues. A significant portion of this class is devoted to learning how to effectively communicate a range of ideas in a number of forms including writing, discussion, and oral presentations. Towards that aim, students are assessed through a combination of formal examinations and oral and written coursework and oral activities. (This description has been written with excerpts taken from the International Baccalaureate Language A: language and literature guide. First assessment 2021).

Possible Texts: The Great Gatsby, Americanah, Looking for the Gulf Motel, Siddartha, Beyonce’s “Lemonade,” Trevor Noah monologues

*Prerequisites: Successful completion of an English 11 class. This is a one year course.