The English curriculum will improve reading, writing, listening, speaking, and thinking skills for students of all abilities. All students are required to earn six credits in English to graduate. Throughout the year, students are introduced to a variety of literature such as novels, short stories, plays, poems, and non-fiction.
Students are expected to write both creative and analytical essays. Each year every student must complete a significant research paper incorporating a variety of sources and adhering to the format of the school's approved research guide which is based upon the Modern Language Association guidelines.
Students can monitor their own progress through the year as all assignments remain on file in the classroom for the duration of the year. Class discussions and cooperative learning are important components of English classes--all students are expected to participate fully. Elective courses are offered for those students who wish to go beyond the standard departmental requirements or who are interested in exploring specific areas of literature or writing.
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As we welcome in 2009, our classes are finishing up an intensive quarter focused on English Grammar and the mechanics of essay writing.
The ninth and tenth grades will continue exploring a variety of themes in poetry and literature accompanied by individual essays and group review. Shakespeare's Julius Caesar will be covered in the tenth grade World Literature class as well.
The eleventh grade American Literature class will first be studying Romanticism featuring authors such as Washington Irving, James Fenimore Cooper, Edgar Allen Poe and Herman Melville, before moving on to the "Fireside Poets" including Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and John Greenleaf Whittier among others. Other eleventh grade themes will include songs, hymns, and spiritual writings; poetry by Dickinson; American art and realism, American biographies and modern American poetry and fiction. In twelfth grade, 2009 will begin with study of English Literature during the Puritan era before progressing to 18th century literature and the beginnings of the English novel. The Romantic Age featuring poets and authors such as William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Sir Walter Scott, Rudyard Kipling and others, will precede our study of Victorian literature. The senior class will finish the year by reviewing 20th century English literature featuring the poetry of William Butler Yeats and fiction by Joseph Conrad, James Joyce, and C.S. Lewis.
Mrs. Marano
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