Elective Highlights

Course Descriptions

ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS

Graduation requirement: English for 4 years

ENGLISH 9                                       credits: 4            Grade Level: 9

English 9 introduces students to the MN English Language Arts gr. 9-10 benchmarks for reading, writing, speaking, listening, media literacy, and language. This course establishes a foundation in the habits and skills for the critical thinking, analysis, argumentation, research, and writing types that will be expected of students throughout their high school years. Students will study collections of literature and informational texts, including voices from within and outside of the U.S. and MN American Indian perspectives, and write texts for a variety of purposes and audiences.

ENGLISH 10                                credits: 4        Grade Level: 10

English 10 is a four-credit course that ensure that all students develop the skills necessary to access, interpret, evaluate, and synthesize information from a variety of contexts and to articulate their understandings in forms appropriate for a 10th grade audience through modeling, activities, projects, and independent work. Common core benchmarks and texts are banded for 9th and 10th grade levels. English 10 addresses texts and requirements for meeting benchmarks at the higher end of the band. Students will read or engage in a variety of texts independently and cooperatively and write for a variety of audiences on a regular basis. This course prepares students for texts students are expected to engage with English 11.

ENGLISH 11                               credits: 4       Grade Level: 11

English 11 is a four-credit course that ensure that all students develop the skills necessary to access, interpret, evaluate, and synthesize information from a variety of contexts and to articulate their understandings in forms appropriate for an 11th grade audience through modeling, activities, projects, and independent work. Students will read or engage in a variety of texts independently and cooperatively and write for a variety of audiences on a regular basis. This course prepares students for texts students are expected to engage with in English 12.

ENGLISH 12                               credits: 4        Grade Level: 12

English 12 is a four-credit course that ensure that all students develop the skills necessary to access, interpret, evaluate, and synthesize information from a variety of contexts and to articulate their understandings in forms appropriate for a 12th grade audience through modeling, activities, projects, and independent work. Students will read or engage in a variety of texts independently and cooperatively and write for a variety of audiences on a regular basis. This course prepares students for texts students are expected to engage with in college and career environments.

  ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS ELECTIVE COURSES

CREATIVE WRITING                                                              credits: 2     Grade Level: 10, 11, 12

Prerequisite- none

Offered Semester 1

This course will focus on expressive writing in many different forms. Students will have the opportunity to explore several different types of poetry and prose styles, as well as responding to literature, art mediums, quotes, and music. Originality and writing that shows thought will be emphasized. Strategies to avoid writer’s

block and new ways to uncover ideas for writing will be studied. Peer reviews and sharing ideas are essential elements to this course.

WORLD MYTHOLOGY                                               credits: 2      Grade Level: 10, 11, 12

Prerequisite- none

Offered Semester 2

World Mythology will examine myths from various world regions and eras. Students will study classical Western mythology, and may also study myths from the ancient Near East, ancient Greece, pre-Islamic Turkey, ancient Europe, pre-Columbian America, ancient Africa, and ancient Asia. We will read, analyze, discuss, and explore the deeper themes that mythology contains, but our overall focus will be on the similarities and universal truths we see from these different global perspectives. How can myths be so varied, yet so much the same? Students interpret various myths from psychological, historical, and sociological perspectives.

Film Studies                                       credits: 2          Grade Level: 10, 11, 12       

Prerequisite- none

Offered Semester 2

In this course we will study World War II through Film and Literature and discuss the relevance of the political topics still relevant today. 

READING FOR PERSONAL GROWTH                                 credits: 2      Grade Level: 10, 11, 12

Prerequisite- none

Offered Semester 1

This course is designed to help students define their personal values, develop their leadership skills, and use the written text to focus on a personal area of growth. Whether it's developing self-confidence, overcoming fears, implementing positive lifestyle habits, thinking before you act, living a life of gratitude, or taking care of your mental wellness, this course allows students to go on a journey of personal development. Through reading, writing, and speaking students will develop critical thinking and self-assessment skills.