English

English 9

Foundations of English*

Full Year ~ Course Number: 1092

Foundations of English is a foundational course covering a wide variety of skills and topics. It is meant for students who perhaps not yet met proficiency in all of their level eight performance indicators. This course targets 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.

English 9

Full Year ~ Course Number: 1093

English 9 is year long course covering a wide variety of skills and topics. Students analyze a core text in each module, supported by additional texts in order to develop interconnected language arts skills.

Possible Texts: The Outsiders, Raisin in the Sun, The Marrow Thieves, Lord of the Flies, Long Walk to Water, and Catcher in the Rye.

Honors English 9*

Full Year ~ Course Number: 1094

This honors level course may incorporate the use of differing reading material, pacing, and analytical depth but satisfies the same set of topics associated with ninth-grade English.

Possible Texts: The Outsiders, The Scarlet Letter, Great Expectations, Joy Luck Club, The Good Braider, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Lord of the Flies.

Prerequisite: Teacher recommendation & Required writing prompt.

English 10

Foundations in American Literature*

Full Year ~ Course Number: 9712

Foundations in American English is a full year course covering a wide variety of skills and topics. It is meant for tenth grade 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.

English 10

Full Year ~ Course Number: 1103

English 10 is a full year course which builds upon the skills developed in English 9. Students study works of non-fiction, short stories, poetry, drama, and novels in relation to their historical and cultural contexts. Texts are selected from among a diverse group of authors for what they reflect and reveal about the evolving human experience.

Possible Texts: The Crucible, Our Town, To Kill a Mockingbird, Just Mercy, The Things They Carried.

Honors English 10*

Full Year ~ Course Number: 1104

Honors English 10 is intended to provide advanced learning opportunities for those who have demonstrated proficency in comprehension and writing, as well as maturity and motication to particpate openly and thoughtfully in class discussions. Students entering this course should expect rigor and relevance in their coursework, as well as be prepared to reflect on their own writing with a critical eye. Students who sucessfully complete English Honors 10 will be prepared for advanced studies in English.

Additional Information: This course has required summer reading.

Possible Texts: The Heretic's Daughter, Killers of the Flower Moon, Fahrenheit 451, To Kill a Mockingbird.

*Prerequisite: Teacher Recommendation.

English 11

Literacy Through Shorts Texts 1*

Full Year ~ Course Number: 1130

Literacy Through 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 sized readings with many opportunities for choice according to individual interests. Text types may include short stories, novels, plays, poetry, graphic novels, literary non-fiction essays, various non-fiction and non literary texts.

*Prerequisite: Teacher Recommendation.

Literature & Composition

Full Year ~ Course Number: 2337

This course will focus on communication in the 21st Century. Students will review the elements of written communication that are involved in real-world, writing tasks. They will then apply those skills as they develop documents that typify what writers routinely do including the following: letters, memos, reports, and manuals. Students will also engage in several reading assignments that ask students to use critical thinking skills to analyze and evaluate information.

Similar to the research or business workplace, students will work alone on some tasks and in collaborative groups on others. By the end of the course students will have improved reading, writing, speaking, listening, and thinking skills.

21st Century Communications

Full Year ~ Course Number: 7780

This eleventh grade English course will focus on how we communicate in the 21st Century. The 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: Feed, All-American Boys, The Poet X, and The Glass Castle.

IB Language and Literature SL1*

(Formerly - Honors 21st Century Communications)

Full Year ~ Course Number: 2339

The difference between IB Language and Literature SL1 and 21st Century Communications is determined by the work the student attempts when writing responses to a number of prompts and assignments. The summatives will ask for a deeper level of thought and work. IB students will also be given semester-end assignments which will encompass the sources studied that semester and introduce students to the format and thinking required for the IB Language and Literature exams senior year. The work done in year one of the IB course will be used in year two of the course.

This English course will focus on how we communicate in the 21st Century. The class will explore identity, perspectives, and global issues 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 how their own identities impact their perspectives of global issues and the world around them.

Possible Texts: Feed, All-American Boys, The Poet X, and The Glass Castle.

English 12

Literacy Through Short Texts 2*

Full Year ~ Course Number: 1135

This course utilizes the best of short text literature offering students a year long study of nonfiction, poems, stories, novellas, and plays. Students will read, write, and otherwise analyze and discuss works featuring literary elements and essential questions. Reading, writing, and project assignments will range from short exercises to essays and presentations of various lengths and styles.

*Prerequisite: Teacher Recommendation.

English 12: Weird Tales Fiction

Full Year ~ Course Number: 1164

This course utilizes the best of the offbeat contemporary, classic, horrific, and dystopian literature in 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 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.

Reinventing Lit. Storytelling in a Multi-Media World

Full Year ~ Course Number 1163

People express themselves and explore the world through stories, and every form of human communication can be used to tell these stories. This English course focuses on building students’ abilities to make sense of the stories all around them by sharpening reading, writing, and speaking skills through the close examination of stories told across the media spectrum. Throughout the year, students will learn to analyze narrative in diverse forms by experiencing, discussing, and writing about texts as varied as oil paintings, pop songs, comic books, tv shows, feature films and more.

Dual Enrollment: English Composition (English 100)

Grade:12

Semester ~ Course Number: 1112

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. Successful completion of the course will earn students .5 high school English credit. Students can take this course as a dual enrollment opportunity to earn 3 college credits through Southern Maine Community College.

*Prerequisites: Successful completion of English 10.

Dual Enrollment: Introduction to Literature (English 115)

Grade:12

Semester ~ Course Number: 1113

This course introduces the student to the literary genres: poetry, drama, fiction and nonfiction. 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. Successful completion of the course will earn students .5 high school English credit. Students can take this course as a dual enrollment opportunity to earn 3 college credits through Southern Maine Community College.

*Prerequisites: Successful completion of English 100.

International Baccalaureate: English

IB Literature HL - Year 1*

Grades: 11&12

Full Year ~ Course Number: 1007

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: Successful completion of Honors English 10.

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 Literature HL - Year 2*

Grade: 12

Full Year ~ Course Number: 1219

This two-year course is organized into four semesters over a two year period, each semester is focused on a group of literary works meeting requirements of the IB curriculum and emphasizing 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. In the fall of Junior year, in preparation of an Individual Oral Presentation, students study the stylistic techniques of narrative fiction while developing an enhanced understanding of literary devices and conventions of rhetorical style. In the spring of Junior year, in preparation of an Individual Oral Commentary, students continue this study and strengthen reflection on the power of authors’ rhetorical choices. In the fall of Senior year, students work with three novels, all works in translation, and prepare a four stage assessment which culminates in a 1200-1500 word essay on the literary aspects of one of these works. In the spring of Senior year, students analyze the linguistic conventions used in four works of Drama. 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 discussion with focus on conventions of the Drama genre.

Possible Texts : Year of Wonders, The Secret Life of Bees, The Hunger Games, Mr. Pip, Macbeth, Orwell's Essays, Collection of Walt Whitman Poetry, Beowulf, Frankenstein, 1984, The Prince, Hamlet, Death of a Salesman, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, The Glass Menagerie.

*Prerequisites: IB Literature HL - Year 1.

IB Language and Literature SL1*

(Formerly known as Honors 21st Century Communications)

Grade: 11 & 12

Full Year ~ Course Number: 2339

The distinction between Honors and 21st Century Communications is determined by the work the student attempts when writing responses to a number of prompts and assignments. The summatives will ask for a deeper level of thought and work. Honors students will also be given semester-end assignments that will introduce them to the format and thinking required for the IB Language and Literature exams senior year.

This 11th grade English course will focus on how we communicate in the 21st Century. The 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.

Additional Information: Any student in the IB Diploma Program who is not taking IB Literature HL is required to take the Honors option of 21st Century Communications before taking the IB Language and Literature SL course their senior year.

*Prerequisites: Successful completion of Honors 10 or Teacher Recommendation

Possible Texts: Feed, All-American Boys, The Poet X, and The Glass Castle.

IB Language and Literature (SL2) *

Grade:12

Full Year ~ Course Number: 7120

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. (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: IB Lang and Lit SL1 OR 21st Century Communications with teacher recommendation.

Electives

Creative Writing

Grades: 11 &12

Semester~ Course Number: 1149

Maybe you've always wanted to try your hand at writing a poem, an essay, a mystery, romance, or adventure story. Perhaps you have family stories you want to preserve. Or would you simply like a safe space to write to release stress and anxiety, to have fun exploring prompts and exercises? Whether you are new to writing (or back after a hiatus), or in need of a writing retreat opportunity to work on a project-in-progress, you can't go wrong with this semester course. Designed around participants' interests, and remaining flexible, the teacher will help you navigate the wonderful world of writing thorough discussion, prompts, exercises, feedback, and/or writing workshop sharing. We'll help you find our voice and love writing!

Film as Literature

Grades: 11&12

Semester~ 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.

Journaling 101

Grades: 11&12

Semester ~ Course Number: 2338

If you have ever wanted to try journaling, this course is for you! Explore a process that will ease you into writing a journal. Experiment with different types of journaling and many journaling techniques, exercises, tools and resources. Practice developing, decorating, and customizing your journal to express yourself and develop your creativity. Explore your thoughts, feelings, and values and support your emotional well-being in good times and through difficult changes. Learn how journaling can ease stress and bring about greater positivity and gratitude.

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