Course Descriptions

Gender and Women's Studies: This is an English/History elective. We cover gender, intersectionality and institutionalized separation themes. The units offer a broadening and deepening of the humanity experience, which is necessary for the celebration of the contributions of women to the American experience. The essential questions are arranged to facilitate the examination of issues and conditions central to women’s studies, from a woman’s perspective, juxtaposed with the realities of recent American culture and history.

English IV: Experiencing Cultural Diversity through Language and Literature is a final offering in a sequence of courses emphasizing human communication in many forms and voices. The course highlights important origins, significant authors and movements of the human experience in world literature from European, African, Asian and other diverse cultures. Through a continued emphasis on and review of grammar, mechanics and composition, the course develops and refines skills in expository, personal and research-based writing. This course is recommended for most twelfth grade students who read and write material appropriate to the grade level.

Blog Writing: This is an English elective class designed to strengthen students’ reading and writing skills through teacher recommendation and student interest. As an elective, this class uses a skill-intensive approach to support the content taught in the English Language Arts standards. In a small-class, workshop environment, students acquire strategies to improve their reading skills, writing skills and standardized test-taking approaches. Students deepen their expository-, persuasive- and narrative-writing skills, while reading and analyzing shorter and longer works of nonfiction. Students engage with technology through the publishing of blogs, and also develop their speaking and listening skills through in-class readings. Blog writing is an established form of written communication used by everyone from journalists and authors to educators and students. Blog writing appeals to students’ affection for social media, while its template is broad enough to allow for all types of writing.