English Language Arts

Course Title: English I (P)

Course Number: 1002-1003

Grade Level: 9

Elective /Required: Required

Length/Credits: Year/10 credits

Prerequisites: 7-9th grade reading ability and writing competency

Meets UC/CSU A-G category: “B” English

Course Description:  English 1 is a college preparation course aimed at reinforcing and further developing the critical reading, writing, speaking and listening, and language abilities of 9th graders.  The course offers instruction in a variety of literary genres, expository and informational text, and composition (including the writing process and various writing domains – narrative, critical analysis of literature, informational and analytical essays, research papers, and argumentative and persuasive essays).  Course content focuses on developing independent and proficient readers and writers through the use of a variety of increasingly complex text, opportunities for academic classroom discourse and the integration of academic vocabulary and Standard English conventions (syntax and diction).  Emphasis is placed on the development of college and career readiness skills - communication, collaboration, critical thinking and creativity.  This course is aligned to California Content Standards for 9th grade English/Language Arts.

Course Title: English 1 Honors (P) 

Course Number: 1006-1007

Grade Level: 9

Elective /Required: Elective

Length/Credits: Year/10 credits

Prerequisites: 9th grade or above reading ability and writing competency or approval of teacher

Meets UC/CSU A-G category: “B” English

Course Description:  This challenging course provides content similar to a college preparatory English I course, but differs in depth, complexity and pacing as an aligned pre-AP class.   Emphasis is placed on the development of college and career readiness skills - communication, collaboration, critical thinking and creativity. A focus on the higher-level thinking skills requires students to exhibit responsibility and maturity in their approaches to learning.  This course allows students to read complex texts with understanding and to write in a variety of forms in order to communicate effectively. Students will also be responsible for oral presentations, MLA research projects, and extensive outside reading.  The course is aligned with the California Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts.

Course Title: English II (P)

Course Number: 1022-1023

Grade Level: 10

Elective/Required: Required

Length/Credits: Year/10 credits

Prerequisites:  English I 

Meets UC/CSU A-G category: “B” English

Course Description:  English 2 is an integrated English/language arts program emphasizing reading, writing, listening, speaking, and researching for a variety of purposes in a variety of settings. The  course  of  study  explores  ideas,  considers  strategies,  and  broadens  student perspectives via a thorough exploration of narrative and expository literature.  Poetry, novel, short story, drama, speech, memoir, and essay are the principle genres used as vehicles of study.   Course content focuses on developing independent and proficient readers and writers through the use of a variety of increasingly complex text, opportunities for academic classroom discourse and the integration of academic vocabulary and standard English conventions (syntax and diction).  Emphasis is on analyzing literature in greater depth, analyzing career-related and other informational discourse, and completing increasingly complex writing assignments. English 2 places particular emphasis on the development of college and career readiness skills - communication, collaboration, critical thinking and creativity.  This course is aligned to California Content Standards for 9th grade English/Language Arts.

Course Title: English 2 Honors (P)

Course Number: 2120-2121

Grade Level: 10

Elective/Required: Elective

Length/Credits: Year /10 credits

Prerequisites:  English I Honors or approval of teacher 

Meets UC/CSU A-G category: “B” English

Course Description:  English 2 Honors is an integrated pre-AP English/language arts program emphasizing reading, writing, listening, speaking, and researching for a variety of purposes in a variety of settings. This course of study explores ideas, considers  strategies,  and  broadens  student perspectives via a thorough exploration of narrative and expository literature.  Poetry, novel, short story, drama, speech, memoir, and essay are the principle genres used as vehicles of study.   Emphasis is on analyzing literature in greater depth, analyzing career-related and other informational discourse, and completing increasingly complex writing assignments.

Course Title: American Literature and Composition (P)

Course Number: 1114-1115

Grade Level: 11

Elective/Required: Required

Length/Credits: Year/10 credits

Prerequisites: English 2 

Meets UC/CSU A-G category: “B” English

Course Description:  This course is a survey of American Literature. Content explores how American literature reflects different aspects of the American dream and how it has shaped our cultural identity. Writing styles and literary analysis are emphasized. Instruction requires that students compare and contrast ideas and themes as they learn to interpret and analyze literature and informational text within a variety of topics, themes and genres. Symbolism, tone, and reflection of the historical significance of any given work are explored. Academic language and explicit vocabulary enrichment is an important component of the course. The Standard English/Language Arts conventions (grammar) studied will encompass and go beyond that covered in English 1 and 2 courses. The study of conventions is connected directly to the production of a variety of text types with a focus on written analysis and the improvement of communication skills. 

Course Title: AP English Language and Composition (P)

Course Number: 1202-1203

Grade Level: 11

Elective/Required: Elective

Length/Credits: Year/10 credits

Prerequisites: English II Honors or approval of teacher 

Meets UC/CSU A-G category: “B” English

Course Description:  This course engages students in becoming skilled readers of American prose written in a variety of genres, periods, disciplines and rhetorical contexts and in becoming skilled writers who compose for a variety of purposes and audiences. Both their writing and their reading should make students aware of the interactions among a writer’s purposes, audience expectations, and subjects as well as the way conventions and resourceful use of language contribute to effective prose. Students study and develop oral presentations, conduct research and document sources, peer edit, and practice for the verbal sections of the SAT and the Advanced Placement English Language and Composition Exam.  The course is aligned with the California Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts.

Course Title: AP English Literature and Composition (P)

Course Number: 1206-1207

Grade Level: 12

Elective/Required: Elective

Length/Credits: Year/10 credits

Prerequisites: AP English Language or approval of teacher

Meets UC/CSU A-G category: “B” English

Course Description:  In order to be aligned with the national Advanced Placement stipulations, this course is a university level course and the subject matter will be approached as such.  The course includes intensive study of representative works from various genres and periods, concentrating on works of recognized literary merit.  Besides considering a work’s literary artistry, the social and historical values it reflects and embodies will be studied.  This attention to both textual detail and historical context will provide a foundation for oral and written interpretation.  The AP English Literature and Composition (P) course is designed to provide a broad spectrum of literature so that students might critically evaluate subject matter and themselves.  The course is aligned with the California Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts.

Course Title: CSU Expository Reading and Writing (P)

Course Number: 1056-1057, 1056MAA-1057MAA

Grade Level: 12

Elective/Required: Required

Length/Credits: Year/10 credits

Prerequisites: American Literature and Composition

Meets UC/CSU A-G category: “B” English

Course Description:  The Expository Reading and Writing Course prepares college-bound seniors for the literacy demands of higher education. This year long, rhetoric-based course advances proficiencies in expository analytical and argumentative reading and writing. Instruction focuses on providing a process to assist students in reading, comprehending, and responding to nonfiction and literary text. Course content provides instruction in research methods and documentation conventions. Course texts include contemporary essays, newspaper and magazine articles, editorials, reports, biographies, memos, assorted public documents, and other non-fiction texts. Course material includes the study of two full-length works.  The course is aligned with the California Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts.

Course Title: College of the Sequoias (COS) Dual Enrollment English 1 & 2 (P)

Course Number: 8249DE-8250DE

Grade Level: 12

Elective/Required: Required

Length/Credits: Year/10 credits

Prerequisites: AP English Language or 2.6 GPA or 3 years of HS English with B- or better

Meets UC/CSU A-G category: “B” Elective

Course Description: English 1 is a college freshman composition course that emphasizes expository writing, close reading, cogent thinking, familiarity with information technology, and research strategies. This course requires a substantial research component and writing of a minimum of 6,000 words. English 2 course gives students the opportunity to study and apply logic and cogent thinking to written and oral communication as well as develop advanced writing skills. Students learn to recognize logical fallacies, analyze others’ arguments, and produce their own arguments and solutions to problems, using primary and secondary research. This course requires substantial writing of a minimum of 6,000 words.

Course Title: Journalism I (P)

Course Number: 1302-1303

Grade Level: 9-11

Elective/Required: Elective

Length/Credits: Year/10 credits

Prerequisites: Reading and writing skills at grade level 

Meets UC/CSU A-G category: “G” Elective

Course Description:  In this course, students learn to write tight, accurate accounts of events. They learn to track, think about, and discuss current events. Students learn interviewing techniques, copy editing skills, journalistic ethics, computer layout skills and issues regarding freedom and responsibility of the news media in addition to the mechanical skills mentioned. Students will learn advertising layouts, design, and promotion.

Course Title: Journalism II (P)

Course Number: 1306-1307

Grade Level: 10-12

Elective/Required: Elective

Length/Credits: Year/10 credits

Prerequisites: Journalism I

Meets UC/CSU A-G category: “G” Elective

Course Description:  Journalism II is a year-long program that offers students the opportunity to build on skills learned in Journalism 1 and to work at an advanced level while planning, researching, writing, revising, and editing work that will be published in campus publications that the class will produce multiple times during the school year, and that are aimed at a diverse audience of students and community members outside of the classroom. Journalism II provides in-depth experience in the type of skills, duties, and challenges offered by universities in a major or minor in journalism or expected in the workplace in employment in the field of journalism. During the process of planning through publishing, opportunities exist for students to develop their skills in writing, editing, photography, advertising sales, business management, and leadership while deepening their knowledge of ethics and legalities in American journalism and mastering journalistic standards for writing and publication. Course work will include generating and discussing ideas for news and feature stories; interviewing, shooting photos, and writing for news articles; editing news articles and publication pages; participating in critiques and story conferences; designing and laying out pages; and participating in and sometimes leading instructional activities and tutorials.

Course Title: Literature and Expression (P)

Course Number: 1306-1307

Grade Level: 10-12

Elective/Required: Elective

Length/Credits: Year/10 credits

Prerequisites: Successful completion of 10th or 11th grade English course or with teacher permission only.

Meets UC/CSU A-G category: “B” Elective

Course Description:  This course is designed to introduce students to the art of literature from the writer’s perspective.  Through a rigorous course of both reading other writers and writing themselves, students will be introduced to the creative process of generating original fiction, poetry, short stories and reflective essays.  Students will gain knowledge of the craft of writing and the practical application of that craft.  Students will also gain the tools to become more aesthetically attuned to the work they read, thus creating greater appreciation for, and enjoyment of, literature as an art form.  

Course Title: Advanced Literature and Expression H (P)

Course Number: 1381-1382

Grade Level: 11-12

Elective/Required: Elective

Length/Credits: Year/10 credits

Prerequisites: Literature and Expression

Meets UC/CSU A-G category: “B” Elective, Honors Credit

Course Description:  The advanced section of this course will build on the knowledge and skills acquired in the introductory course.  More advanced and complex techniques will be learned and applied, longer and more complex writing projects will be completed.  Specific authors will be studied for the purpose of evaluating and learning from their technique with the goal of students improving their own craft, and evaluative editing and analysis skills. The advanced students will gain publishing experience by managing the student literary magazine in every stage of production. Students interested in drama may pursue collaboration with the drama/video production classes at their site to write work that will be performed in those venues.  Those enrolled in this course will work with the introductory students as mentors and writing group leader/facilitators.   This course is designed for those who may choose to pursue writing or publishing in some form as a career. 

Course Title: Reading Improvement

Course Number: 1070-1071

Grade Level: 9-10

Elective/Required: Elective

Length/Credits: Year/10 credits

Prerequisites: Reads below 8th grade level

Course Description:  Reading Improvement is designed to develop the reading fluency, comprehension, vocabulary, writing, listening, and independent reading skills that students need to become engaged, competent readers.  These classes use Text Connections and iLit to empower students to tackle the variety of texts that they will encounter in their academic and professional lives.  In addition, these courses are geared toward giving low-level readers and writers a sense of accomplishment and confidence that will motivate and lead them to become lifelong readers.