Grade: 6
The Grade 6 Language Arts course is taught as part of an integrated Humanities Curriculum, in which students study the geography, culture, and history of Asia and the Pacific, Europe, and Russia. Much of the reading that they do is connected to their Social Studies curriculum, with a particular emphasis on folk tales from around the world, but they also read novels, short stories, and poems, both independently and as a whole class. A major emphasis of the course is to have students master the conventions of spelling, punctuation, and the sentence through continued attention to the writing process. While students will write in a variety of genres for inclusion in their portfolio, more focused attention will be given to the writing of personal narratives and folk tales. They will also learn to deliver confident short oral presentations.
Textbooks
- Elements of Literature
- Elements of Language
Grade: 7
Language Arts is a continuation of an integrated Humanities program begun in grade six. As students learn about the culture and physical features of North America, Latin America, and Africa, they read novels, short stories, poems, myths and legends relating to the regions. Their reading, which includes at least six class novels, provides background and extension of the social studies component of Humanities, development of comprehension and vocabulary, and a basis for expressive and descriptive writing. Students learn to relate readings from historical periods and other cultures to personal elements such as courage, fears, loneliness, prejudice, and determination. Students are given models of myths and re-told myths, and learn to re-tell legends and folktales. Development of oral presentations skills is encouraged through short dramatic readings of retold legends and myths and skits based on myths and legends. Students learn to share their individual understanding and feelings about the literature they read in journals Students learn to use different tones, dialogue, and figurative language through the writing of an autobiography.
Textbooks:
- Elements of Language, Third Course by Holt, Rinehart, Winston, 2001.
- Elements of Literature, First Course by Holt Rinehart, Winston, 2000
Grade: 8
This course is taught as part of an integrated Humanities program. As students learn about ancient and medieval history, they read literature from the appropriate time periods and write about the historical events in a creative way. Students select and read novels of appropriate reading level and interest and maintain a reading journal. A special focus of the course is an exploration of classical mythology, and students learn about the relationship of humans and gods in ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, Rome, and the Middle East. Students learn the conventions of fiction (plot, setting, characterization, climax, and so forth), The writing program focuses on the personal essay, and students are taught how to create a flow in their formal writing through the use of effective transitions. Students will also write in a variety of genres and collect their writing in a writing portfolio. The oral language component of the course concentrates on the monologue and effective group speaking and listening skills.
Textbooks:
- Elements of Language
- Elements of Literature
Grade: 9
This introductory course continues refinement in language and interpretive skills in a college preparatory curriculum. Students read, interpret, and explain various literary genres: short stories, drama, poetry, essays and novels. The major emphasis for this course is the study of the conventions of drama (monologue, aside, characterization, structure, the role of the audience, suspension of disbelief,) both modern and Shakespearian, focusing on the reading of Romeo and Juliet, the Elizabethan theater and language, and its poetic characteristics. Students continue to work on comprehending, identifying and analyzing literary elements in fiction, as well as poetry and drama. A short unit on poetry deals with searching for meaning through understanding theme, imagery, poetic devices, contrast, design, an author�s characteristic style.
The writing focus will be on expository essays, developing a thesis that is a clincher for an introductory paragraph, developing body paragraphs that support and illustrate the thesis, properly integrating textual quotations, and executing a summative conclusion. Students will learn the MLA format for crediting sources. The process of recording information systematically in order to allow accurate documentation/citations is stressed.
Textbooks:
- Elements of Language, Third Course by Holt Rhinehart, Winston, 2001.
- Elements of Literature, Third Course by Holt Rhinehart, Winston, 2000.
Writer�s Workshop
This is a half credit course open to all High School students. There is a major emphasis on student mastery of the writing process. Students will become aware of their individual weaknesses as writers and learn to develop successful strategies to overcome these weaknesses. Students will learn the rules of grammar in the context of their own writing, and not as part of whole class grammar lessons. Students will set writing goals and maintain a portfolio of their polished writing.
Textbooks:
- Elements of Literature
- Elements of Language
- Write Source 2000
Grade: 10
The Grade 10 English program includes fiction, non-fiction, and drama from a variety of time periods and culture, but places a special emphasis on poetry. Students learn the forms, conventions and techniques of poetry through reading poems and writing their own poetry. The oral language component of the course asks student to read poems, their own and others, aloud with confidence and feeling. Students also prepare and perform formal debates in class. Building on the essay writing skills that they have learned in previous years, students develop researching skills such as paraphrasing and summary, and work on writing persuasive or argumentative essays.
Textbooks:
- Elements of Literature
- Elements of Language
Grade: 11
The Grade 11 English course is a chronological survey of literature from the Americas. The literature is selected from a variety of genres (folk tales, myths, narratives, biographies, novels, stories, poems, plays, speeches, and essays) to illustrate changing ways of viewing the world as demonstrated in the development of literature as well as artistic and philosophical movements (Puritanism, Romanticism, Transcendentalism, Realism, Imagism). Students learn how satire operates as a genre, how irony works in all genres, and how stream of consciousness writing attempts to capture the way people think. The writing program focuses on the conventions of the literary analysis essay and college application essay. Students learn the techniques and structures of formal speeches by reading several famous speeches and writing and presenting their own speeches in front of the class.
Textbooks:
- Elements of Language
- Elements of Literature
Grade: 12
The Grade 12 English class is a survey of British Literature from Anglo Saxon times to the present. It is multi-genre, including oral narratives, poems, plays, essays, and fiction. Students learn the techniques of literary analysis, drawing upon the knowledge they have acquired throughout their years of literature study, and apply their understanding of writing techniques in the creation of college level research papers. They will also improve their College Application essays, and continue to develop their vocabulary to help with SAT exams. Students continue to work on formal presentations, including seminar presentations. In order that students can more deeply appreciate the literature of Britain, they will learn the major historical, religious, and philosophical movements that had an impact on the arts, including the modern movements of existentialism and post-modernism.
Textbooks:
- Elements of Literature
- Elements of Language
AP English
The major emphasis of this course on students learning and practicing the skills of close textual reading and literary analysis. The first semester will be a survey of British Literature, while the second semester will focus on contemporary writing. As the class is a preparation for the College Board AP Language and Literature exam, the genres to be studied are fiction, poetry, and drama. Students learn the variety of techniques used in literature and how to explain the ways these techniques contribute to the overall meaning of a piece. Students read a variety of literature, both as whole class assignments and as independent reading, and share their insights into the works they read in seminar presentations. Students learn the conventions of the literary analysis paper and develop their skill in writing succinctly and analytically under a time restraint.
Textbooks:
- Literature: Structure Sense and Sound
- Sense and Sound
- Elements of Literature
- Elements of Language
- The Heath Introduction to Literature
- The Prentice Hall Reader
- Writing with a Purpose
- A Contemporary Guide to Literary Terms
- Keys for Writers
- The Riverside Anthology of Short Fiction
Journalism
Journalism encompasses the following: learning how to appeal to different audiences, prioritize information, organize story lines using the Five W�s (who, what, where, when, why, plus how), implement different types of leads starting with the inverted pyramid style, prepare for and conduct interviews, develop feature stories and editorials, do layout and design, and, at all stages of the writing process, revise..
Textbooks:
- Journalism Today 5th Edition
Speech and Debate
Students learn the basics of effective oral communication: speech preparation and speech presentation, the uses to which formal speeches may be put, techniques for persuading an audience, as well as the basics of debate.
Textbooks:
- Clark & Clinton, Effective Speech Communication
- Rudolf F. Vererber, Speech for Effective Communication.
- Maryanne Lenning, Getting Started in Speech Communication.
- Lynn Goodnight, Getting Started in Debate.
- Carlile & Hensley, 38 Basic Speech Experience
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