English/Language Arts
AP® English Language and Composition A/B In AP® English Language and Composition, students investigate rhetoric and its impact on culture through analysis of notable fiction and nonfiction texts, from pamphlets to speeches to personal essays. The equivalent of an introductory college-level survey class, this course prepares students for the AP® exam and for further study in communications, creative writing, journalism, literature, and composition. Students explore a variety of textual forms, styles, and genres. By examining all texts through a rhetorical lens, students become skilled readers and analytical thinkers. Focusing specifically on language, purpose, and audience gives them a broad view of the effect of text and its cultural role. Students write expository and narrative texts to hone the effectiveness of their own use of language, and they develop varied, informed arguments through research. Throughout the course, students are evaluated with assessments specifically designed to prepare them for the content, form, and depth of the AP® Exam. This course has been authorized by the College Board® to use the AP® designation. *Advanced Placement® and AP® are registered trademarks and/or owned by the College Board, which was not involved in the production of, and does not endorse this product.
AP® English Literature and Composition A/B Each unit of AP® English Literature and Composition is based on a researched scope and sequence that covers the essential concepts of literature at an AP level. Students engage in in-depth analysis of literary works in order to provide both depth and breadth of coverage of the readings. Units include Close Analysis and Interpretation of Fiction, Short Fiction, the Novel, and Poetic Form and Content. Writing activities reinforce the reading activities and include writing arguments, analysis, interpretation, evaluation, and college application essays. This course has been authorized by the College Board® to use the AP® designation. *Advanced Placement® and AP® are registered trademarks and/or owned by the College Board, which was not involved in the production of, and does not endorse this product.
Business English A/B Business English is designed to strengthen students’ ability to read and write in the workplace. Writing for business purposes is a main focus of the course. Students will learn how to communicate effectively through email and instant messaging, as well as format specific types of business messages and workplace documents. The role of digital media, visuals, and graphics in workplace communication will be explored. The importance of professionalism, ethics, and other positive skills are also emphasized in the course. Additionally, guidance is provided to help students through the process of searching, applying, and interviewing for a job.
English 09 A/B English 09 offers 100% alignment to the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts. In addition to an emphasis on alignment, the redesigned lessons are designed based on a clear thematic connection and build upon each other ensuring that standards are scaffolded and covered multiple times going deeper with each lesson. Texts in this course are diverse, authentic, complex, and rich in length. Students encounter texts multiple times over the course of a unit digging deeper in theme and focus standards. Each lesson follows a clear instructional model mirroring that of the traditional tier-one lesson cycle: warm-up, direct teach with modeling, guided practice, independent practice, and closure. Instructional best practices are embedded throughout lessons such as close reading, modeling, and chunking. Features to support student mastery included guided notes and graphic organizers. Scaffolding pieces, such as Clarifying Big Ideas (CBI) lessons are included throughout the course to provide learners with opportunities to build on foundational skills as well as prepare for greater success by drawing learners’ attention to common misunderstandings and articulating the big ideas that underpin learning. These CBI lessons include additional modeling, student examples, and detailed explanations to ensure students internalize key concepts discussed in tutorials.
English 09 A/B Honors English 09 A/B Honors offers 100% alignment to the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts. In addition to an emphasis on alignment, the redesigned lessons are designed based on a clear thematic connection and build upon each other ensuring that standards are scaffolded and covered multiple times going deeper with each lesson. Texts in this course are diverse, authentic, complex, and rich in length. Students encounter texts multiple times over the course of a unit digging deeper in theme and focus standards. Each lesson follows a clear instructional model mirroring that of the traditional tier-one lesson cycle: warm-up, direct teach with modeling, guided practice, independent practice, and closure. Instructional best practices are embedded throughout lessons such as close reading, modeling, and chunking. Features to support student mastery included guided notes and graphic organizers. Scaffolding pieces, such as Clarifying Big Ideas (CBI) lessons are included throughout the course to provide learners with opportunities to build on foundational skills as well as prepare for greater success by drawing learners’ attention to common misunderstandings and articulating the big ideas that underpin learning. These CBI lessons include additional modeling, student examples, and detailed explanations to ensure students internalize key concepts discussed in tutorials.
English 10 A/B English 10 A/B offers 100% alignment to the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts. Practice questions are included with each lesson, including technology-enhanced items and explanations to assist learners in their understanding of the concepts. This new design offers learners multiple opportunities to experience the reading and writing connection via analysis tasks, and other opportunities to engage in research and experience writing across genres. Instructional best practices are embedded throughout lessons such as the close reading of texts and application of reading strategies. New features to support student mastery include worksheets for practice and guided notes to help learners record key takeaways as they move through the tutorial. Scaffolding pieces, such as Clarifying Big Ideas (CBI) lessons, are included throughout the course to provide learners with opportunities to build on foundational skills as well as prepare for greater success by drawing learners’ attention to common misunderstandings and articulating the big ideas that underpin learning. These CBI lessons include additional modeling, student examples, and detailed explanations to ensure students internalize key concepts discussed in tutorials.
English 10 A/B Honors English 10 A/B Honors offers 100% alignment to the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts. Practice questions are included with each lesson, including technology-enhanced items and explanations to assist learners in their understanding of the concepts. This new design offers learners multiple opportunities to experience the reading and writing connection via analysis tasks, and other opportunities to engage in research and experience writing across genres. Instructional best practices are embedded throughout lessons such as the close reading of texts and application of reading strategies. New features to support student mastery include worksheets for practice and guided notes to help learners record key takeaways as they move through the tutorial. Scaffolding pieces, such as Clarifying Big Ideas (CBI) lessons, are included throughout the course to provide learners with opportunities to build on foundational skills as well as prepare for greater success by drawing learners’ attention to common misunderstandings and articulating the big ideas that underpin learning. These CBI lessons include additional modeling, student examples, and detailed explanations to ensure students internalize key concepts discussed in tutorials.
English 11 In the English 11 course, students examine the belief systems, events, and literature that have shaped the United States. They begin by studying the language of independence and the system of government developed by Thomas Jefferson and other enlightened thinkers. Next, they explore how the Romantics and Transcendentalists emphasized the power and responsibility of the individual in both supporting and questioning the government. Students consider whether the American Dream is still achievable and examine the Modernists’ disillusionment with the idea that America is a “land of opportunity.” Reading the words of Frederick Douglass and the text of the Civil Rights Act, students look carefully at the experience of African Americans and their struggle to achieve equal rights. Students explore how individuals cope with the influence of war and cultural tensions while trying to build and secure their own personal identity. Finally, students examine how technology is affecting our contemporary experience of freedom: Will we eventually change our beliefs about what it means to be an independent human being? In this course, students analyze a wide range of literature, both fiction and nonfiction. They build writing skills by composing analytical essays, persuasive essays, personal narratives, and research papers. In order to develop speaking and listening skills, students participate in discussions and prepare speeches. Overall, students gain an understanding of the way American literature represents the array of voices contributing to our multicultural identity.
English 11 A/B English 11A explores the relation between American history and literature from the colonial period through the realism and naturalism eras. English 11B explores the relation between American history and literature from the modernist period through the contemporary era and presents learners with relevant cultural and political history. Readings are scaffolded with pre-reading information, interactions, and activities to actively engage learners in the content. The lessons in both semesters focus on developing grammar, vocabulary, speech, and writing skills.
English 11 A/B Honors English 11A explores the relation between American history and literature from the colonial period through the realism and naturalism eras. English 11B explores the relation between American history and literature from the modernist period through the contemporary era and presents learners with relevant cultural and political history. Readings are scaffolded with pre-reading information, interactions, and activities to actively engage learners in the content. The lessons in both semesters focus on developing grammar, vocabulary, speech, and writing skills.
English 12 The English 12 course asks students to closely analyze world literature and consider how we humans define and interact with the unknown, the monstrous, and the heroic. In the epic poems The Odyssey, Beowulf, and The Inferno, in Shakespeare’s The Tempest, in the satire of Swift, and in the rhetoric of World War II, students examine how the ideas of heroism and monstrosity have been defined across cultures and time periods and how the treatment of the “other” can make monsters or heroes of us all. Reading Frankenstein and works from those who experienced the imperialism of the British Empire, students explore the notion of inner monstrosity and consider how the dominant culture can be seen as monstrous in its ostensibly heroic goal of enlightening the world. Throughout this course, students analyze a wide range of literature, both fiction and nonfiction. They build writing skills by composing analytical essays, persuasive essays, personal narratives, and research papers. In order to develop speaking and listening skills, students participate in discussions and prepare speeches. Overall, students gain an understanding of the way world literature represents the array of voices that contribute to our global identity.
English 12 A/B In keeping with the model established in English 11, these courses emphasize the study of literature in the context of specific historical periods, beginning with the Anglo Saxon and medieval periods in Britain. Each lesson includes tutorials and embedded lesson activities that provide for a more engaging and effective learning experience. Semester B covers the romantic, Victorian, and modern eras. End of unit tests ensure mastery of the concepts taught in each unit, and exemptive pretests allow students to focus on content that they have yet to master.
English 12 A/B Honors In keeping with the model established in English 11, these courses emphasize the study of literature in the context of specific historical periods, beginning with the Anglo Saxon and medieval periods in Britain. Each lesson includes tutorials and embedded lesson activities that provide for a more engaging and effective learning experience. Semester B covers the romantic, Victorian, and modern eras. End of unit tests ensure mastery of the concepts taught in each unit, and exemptive pretests allow students to focus on content that they have yet to master.
English 9 English 9 introduces students to informational and literary genres. Students investigate the elements of nonfiction and literature through the critical analysis of texts that range from essays, speeches, articles and historical documents to a novel, a play, poetry, and short stories. The range of texts includes canonical authors such as William Shakespeare, Franz Kafka, and Elie Wiesel, as well as writers from diverse backgrounds, such as Alice Walker, Li-Young Lee, and Robert Lake-Thom (Medicine Grizzlybear). As they develop their writing skills and respond to theses, students learn to formulate arguments and use textual evidence to support their position. Throughout the course, students learn to engage with a variety of media types through which they process and synthesize information, discuss material, create presentations, and share their work. English 9 supports all students in developing the depth of understanding and higher-order skills required by the state standards. Students break down increasingly complex readings with close reading tools, guided instruction, and robust scaffolding as they apply each of the lesson's concepts back to its anchor text. Students build their writing and speaking skills in journal responses, discussions, frequent free response exercises, and essays or presentations, learning to communicate clearly and credibly in narrative, persuasive, and explanatory styles. Throughout the course, students are evaluated through a diversity of assessments designed to prepare them for the content, form, and depth of state exams. The first semester of English 9 can be paired with one of two second semesters that each employ a different example of a full-length Shakespeare play. One option includes "Macbeth," and the alternative option includes "Romeo and Juliet." This course is built to state standards.
English Foundations I English Foundations I supports adolescent literacy development at the critical stage between decoding and making meaning from text. Through intensive reading and writing skills instruction, deep practice sets, consistent formative feedback, graduated reading levels, and helpful strategy tips, the course leads students to improved comprehension and text handling. Semester A provides instruction in basic reading skills and vocabulary building. The student learns what a successful reader does to attack words and sentences and make meaning from them. Semester B provides instruction in basic writing skills, introduces academic tools, and demonstrates effective study skills. The student learns step-by-step processes for building effective paragraphs and learns how to use academic tools such as reference books and outlines. To provide additional support, the course uses text features and visual clues to draw students' attention to important information. The use of text features is also designed to help students internalize strategies for comprehending informational text. Characters appear throughout the instruction to offer tips and fix up strategies in an authentic, first-person, think-aloud format. Their inclusion makes transparent the reading processes that go on inside the mind of a successful reader. This extra metacognitive support serves to bolster student confidence and provide a model of process and perseverance. Numerous practice opportunities are provided in the form of assessments that move from no stakes to low stakes to high stakes throughout a unit. This practice is centered on authentic and age-appropriate passages that are written in a topical framework and use controlled syntax and vocabulary. The difficulty of these passages gradually increases from a 3rd- to 5th grade reading level over the duration of the course. Additional support is offered through significant formative feedback in practice and assessment. This course guides students through the reading, writing, and basic academic skills needed to prepare for success in academic coursework. At the end of the course, the student should be poised for continued success in the academic world. The content is based on extensive national and state standards research and consultation with reading specialists and classroom teachers. This course is built to state standards for reading and writing and informed by NCTE/IRA reading and writing standards.
English Foundations II English Foundations II offers a year of skill building and strategy development in reading and writing. Semester A is a reading program designed to help struggling readers develop mastery in the areas of reading comprehension, vocabulary building, study skills, and media literacy. Semester B is a writing program that builds confidence in composition fundamentals by focusing on the areas of composing, grammar, style, and media literacy. Each semester is composed of 10 mini-units, which offer interactive instruction and guided practice in each of the four learning strands. Students read for a variety of purposes and write for a variety of audiences. The workshops stress high interest, engaging use of technology, relevant topics, and robustly scaffolded practice. Students learn to use different types of graphic organizers as they develop and internalize reading and writing process strategies. They build confidence as they develop skills and experience success on numerous low-stakes assessments that encourage growth and reinforce learning. The reading component of the course is built to state standards and informed by the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), International Reading Association (IRA), National Reading Program (NRP), and McREL standards. The writing component of the course is built to state standards and informed by the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) standards.
Media Literacy Media Literacy teaches students how to build the critical thinking, writing, and reading skills required in a media-rich and increasingly techno-centric world. In a world saturated with media messages, digital environments, and social networking, concepts of literacy must expand to include all forms of media. Today's students need to be able to read, comprehend, analyze, and respond to non-traditional media at the same skill level at which they engage with traditional print sources. A major topic In Media Literacy is non-traditional media reading skills, including how to approach, analyze, and respond to advertisements, blogs, websites, social media, news media, and wikis. Students also engage in a variety of writing activities in non-traditional media genres, such as blogging and podcast scripting. Students consider their own positions as consumers of media and explore ways to use non-traditional media to become more active and thoughtful citizens. Students learn how to ask critical questions about the intended audience and underlying purpose of media messages, and they study factors that can contribute to bias and affect credibility. This course is built to state standards and informed by The National Association for Media Literacy Education's Core Principles of Media Literacy Education.
Offered in partnership with:
