Courses
Composition I: In this rhetoric course, students are introduced to expository, analytical, and argumentative reading and writing. Students analyze the impact of the structural strategies authors employ and apply these strategies to their own writing. Through the implementation of fundamental grammar and mechanics instruction, students are encouraged to identify and analyze particular grammatical features in the texts they read and apply in their own writing. They will also demonstrate educational technology proficiency using Google Suite, including Google docs, email, and Google Classroom.
Grade Level: 9th
Composition II: In this course students increase their awareness of the rhetorical strategies employed by authors and apply those strategies to their own writing. They closely examine the relationship between an author’s argument and his or her audience and purpose. They are introduced to and utilize various research methods and documentation convention in their writing. Through the incorporation of fundamental grammar and mechanics instruction, as well as the use of personal and peer review, students will edit their writing for fundamental grammar and mechanics errors. They will continue to develop academic technology proficiency with more advanced applications of Google Suite.
Grade Level: 10th
Composition II (HONORS): In this course students will actively engage in analysis, comprehension, and exploration of world literature. Writing, reading, speaking, and comprehension skills will be developed through personal reflection, critical thinking, and exploration of diverse perspectives and experiences. Students will develop a greater repertoire of vocabulary, improve essay writing and research skills, and gain an appreciation of literature.
Grade Level: 10th
American Literature & Composition: Beginning with the founding of our country and growing out of the tradition of the classics of Western civilization, American literature flourished with the cultural context of the new nation. A distinctly American voice emerged. In this course, students will explore this American tradition as they read, analyze, and interpret the cultural implications of its short stories, essays, poetry, drama, and novels. Students will build upon their composition skills through a focus on more advanced literary analysis.
Grade Level: 11th
ERWC: The Expository Reading and Writing Course is designed to prepare seniors for the literacy demands of higher education. In this rhetoricbased course, students will develop advanced proficiency in expository, analytical,andargumentativereadingandwriting. Althoughthecourseemphasizescriticalreadingand analysis of nonfiction texts, students will be exposed to literary texts as well. This course challenges students to examine the relationship between an author’s argument or theme and his or her audience and purpose; to analyze the impact of structural and rhetorical strategies; and to uncover the social, political, and philosophical assumptions that underlie the text.
Grade Level: 12th
AP English Language and Composition: Engaging students in becoming skilled readers of prose written in a variety of rhetorical contexts, and in becoming skilled writers who compose for a variety of purposes. 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 genre conventions and the resources of language contribute to effectiveness in writing. The AP English Language and Composition Course enables students to read complex texts with understanding and to write prose of sufficient richness and complexity to communicate effectively with mature readers.
Grade Level: 11th
AP English Literature and Composition: Engages students in the careful reading and critical analysis of imaginative literature. Through the close reading of selected texts, students deepen their understanding of the ways writers use language to provide both meaning and pleasure for their readers. As they read, students consider a work’s structure, style and themes, as well as such smallerscale elements as the use of figurative language, imagery, symbolism and tone. The course includes intensive study of representative works from various genres and periods, concentrating on works of recognized literary merit. The pieces chosen invite and reward rereading and do not, like ephemeral works in such popular genres as detective or romance fiction, yield all (or nearly all) of their pleasures of thought and feeling the first time through.
Grade Level: 12th
Graphic Novels (Elective): A college preparatory course designed to meet the needs of 11th and 12th grade students looking to fulfill a semester of a college preparatory elective or make up a semester of core required, college preparatory English. This course facilitates active, constructive, language artsbased experiences to promote positive attitudes toward reading, personal expression, and lifelong learning. Students in Literature and Composition: The Graphic Novel will explore the comic/graphic novel medium as a mode of communicating traditional and new literacies, including visual and critical media literacy. Students will study graphic novels as literature; analyze formal structure as it relates to content; trace the development of theme including gender, race, sexuality, justice, and heroism; and research the history, growth, and cultural impact of comics in the world. Students will explore and apply the techniques of the sequential art narrative by constructing a variety of graphic narratives both independently and collaboratively. Students will develop composition skills through readerresponse based journal writing, a critical research project, analysis of literature, and creative writing practice with a focus on honing basic grammar and vocabulary skills and development of style in preparation for collegelevel work.
Grade Level: 12th and 11th
Science Fiction (Elective): Students in Science Fiction Literature will primarily explore the aspects of the genre as a mode of communicating story using the various texts as a way to acquire, practice, and master traditional and new literacies, including visual and critical media literacy. Through close reading, group discussion, and a variety of writing, students will trace the development of theme, including gender, race, sexuality, justice, and heroism; analyze the effectiveness of literary devices, points of view, and vocabulary used in literary texts; analyze interpretations of literature and criticism of various mediums; and explore American culture through multiple, diverse perspectives.
Grade Level: 12th and 11th