english

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ENGLISH

The English curriculum is designed to provide students with courses which will better enable them to meet their individual needs and interests in language arts. At each grade level, courses are designed to accommodate students’ varying cognitive levels and learning styles. Students are provided with instruction which will assist them in mastering the skills of reading, writing, language, listening, and speaking. A more intense study is offered in the Pre-AP, Honors and Advanced Placement English programs in order to capitalize on students’ interests, abilities, and career plans. This curriculum design will ensure that all students are equipped with the skills which will enable them to meet their optimum levels of achievement and be successful in continued study and their chosen careers.

Students must successfully complete course work (four credits in English) in order to meet the English requirement for graduation from high school.

FRESHMAN ENGLISH – 011123

This course is aligned to the Maryland College and Career Readiness Standards (MCCRS) for grade 9, and students are exposed to a wide range of literary genres as well as an array of complex expository works of nonfiction. Students analyze the elements of short story, drama, poetry, autobiography, biography, mythology, epic, and nonfiction, and read independently both in and out of class. They compose narrative, literary analysis, argumentative and expository writings. Each unit of literary study involves increasingly complex texts, with an emphasis placed on the development of written and oral communication as well as research. Grammar instruction includes a study of language at the word, sentence, phrase, and clause level. Students develop vocabulary skills through a variety of methods

• • CREDIT: 1 

  • TYPE: Academic 

  • GRADE: 9

  • PREREQUISITE: Recommendation of 8th grade ELA teacher

COLLEGE AND CAREER READINESS ENGLISH RECOVERY SEMINAR - 011131, 011132

This academic recovery course is for qualifying students who did not successfully complete the year-long Freshman English course the previous year.  In the first semester, students will review critical content from the Freshman English course supported by research-based literacy practices. In the second semester, students will be enrolled in the College and Career Readiness Seminar course.  Successful completion of both semesters will result in a grade (and grade replacement) for Freshman English.

• CREDIT:  1

• TYPE:  Academic

• GRADE:  9-10

• PREREQUISITE:  School staff will use data to determine qualification for this course

WORLD LITERATURE – 012233

This course is aligned to the Maryland College and Career Readiness Standards (MCCRS) for grade 10, and students examine a diverse array of literature and complex expository works of nonfiction from various eras and world cultures. Students will read independently both in and out of class, analyzing the meaning of texts through the close examination of sentences, paragraphs, and larger structures. Students read increasingly complex texts, building their vocabulary knowledge and expanding their understanding of texts through the completion of frequent research activities. Students compose narrative, literary analysis, argumentative and expository writings. Grammar instruction emphasizes sentence formation, usage, and mechanics. Students will express themselves in multiple writing and speaking formats, from investigative reports and literary analyses to summations and research projects.  

• • CREDIT: 1 

  • TYPE: Academic 

  • GRADE: 10 

  • PREREQUISITE: Successful completion of Freshman English.

AMERICAN LITERATURE I: 1750-1890 – 013333 

This course is aligned to the Maryland College and Career Readiness Standards (MCCRS) for grade 11, and students read independently both in and out of class to critically analyze and evaluate relationships among American literature, history, and culture. Analysis of literary themes, movements and genres in American literature is the content focus for the course. Students compose narrative, literary analysis, argumentative and expository writings, producing high-quality drafts under tight deadlines, becoming equally proficient at editing and revising their written work. Students will make arguments and present analyses that are logical, well-reasoned, and supported by evidence and display equal skill at conducting and presenting research orally and in writing. This course is recommended for students who do not wish to pursue college-level AP classes but have a commitment to academic pursuits. 

• • CREDIT: 1 

  • TYPE: Academic

  • GRADE: 11 or 12 

  • PREREQUISITE: Successful completion of previous English course and/or recommendation of ELA teacher.

ADVANCED PLACEMENT LANGUAGE AND COMPOSITION – 013533 

This course aligns to an introductory college-level rhetoric and writing curriculum, which requires students to develop evidence-based analytic and argumentative essays that proceed through several stages or drafts. Students evaluate, synthesize, and cite research to support their arguments. Students become skilled readers of prose written in a variety of rhetorical contexts and skilled writers who compose for a variety of purposes. Students read and analyze the rhetorical elements and their effects in non-fiction texts, including graphic images as forms of text, from many disciplines and historical periods. Both their reading and their writing should make students aware of interactions among a writer’s purposes, reader expectations, and an author’s propositional content, as well as the genre conventions and the resources of language that contribute to effectiveness in writing. The content of the course will prepare students for the AP Language and Composition exam, which students are expected to take in the spring. 

• • CREDIT: 1 

  • TYPE: Advanced Placement 

  • GRADE: 11 or 12 

  • PREREQUISITES: Demonstration of advanced ability on coursework and assessments in previous English courses (preferably Honors/Pre-AP) and recommendation of the English 10 teacher.

ENGLISH 11: TRANSITION TO COLLEGE AND CAREER READINESS - 013323

This course is aligned to the Maryland College and Career Readiness Standards (MCCRS) for grade 11, and students read independently both in and out of class to critically analyze and evaluate relationships among American Literature, history, and culture; the content and instruction centers around more real-world reading and writing.  The purpose of the course is to support students in successfully attaining college and career readiness by the end of grade 11 and to meet MSDE graduation requirements.  This course is most appropriate for students who have not met the required graduation requirement and/or are unsure of or do not plan to engage in post-secondary academic pursuit beyond high school.  

• CREDIT: 1

• TYPE: Academic

• GRADE: 11

• PREREQUISITE: Has not met the CCR requirement at the end of grade 10. 

AFRICAN AMERICAN LITERATURE - 017813

This course will reflect a survey of writings by African American writers from a variety of genres. Students will explore central literary themes, such as identity, freedom, mobility, and security, as they develop over the course of 17th-21st century African American literature.  Students can take one semester (elective) or the full year course (elective or meets the 11th/12th grade English graduation requirement).

COURSE NOTE:  This unit(s) may count as a required or elective course.

• CREDIT:  1

• GRADE:  11-12

• PREREQUISITE:  successful completion of previous English course

BRITISH LITERATURE I: 750-1625 – 014433 

This course is aligned to the Maryland College and Career Readiness Standards (MCCRS) for grades 11-12, and students read independently both in and out of class to critically analyze a body of complex British and World Literature and literary non-fiction, finding commonalities in texts from the same or different eras. Analysis of literary themes, movements and genres in British Literature is the content focus for the course. Students compose narrative, literary analysis, argumentative and expository writings, producing high-quality drafts under tight deadlines, becoming equally proficient at editing, and revising their written work. They will demonstrate their listening skills by synthesizing the comments and claims of others and exercising teamwork when functioning in groups. Students will make arguments that are logical, well-reasoned, and supported by evidence and display equal skill at conducting and presenting research orally and in writing. This course is recommended for students who do not wish to pursue college-level AP classes but have a commitment to academic pursuits. 

• CREDIT: 1 

• TYPE: Academic

• GRADE: 11-12 

• PREREQUISITE: Successful completion of previous English course and/or recommendation of ELA teacher.

ENGLISH 12 DIGITAL COMPOSITION - 017633 

The purpose of this course is to introduce innovative and effective technological compositions that invite the creative interplay of written, visual, and sound communications. The course will offer students the opportunity to explore and create composed and composited storytelling in digital media; projects will span a wide range of writing styles and genres, but the primary focus will be on nonfiction narrative expressed through social media, podcast, video, animation, composite multi-media and transmedia, and networked website creation. To this end, students will work on the development of texts with attention paid to the rhetorical modes and communicative platforms that specific media encourage. Students will also learn how to use audio and video editing software as well as basic html, website editing, and animation software. The course will foster the perception that written persuasion must work to establish a creative interplay with visual images, video, sound, web 2.0 technologies, and social media, all of which have such a pervasive influence in contemporary social persuasion. 

• • CREDIT: 1 

  • TYPE: Academic 

  • GRADE: 12

INDEPENDENT STUDY ENGLISH – 012093 

Independent Study English is designed for advanced students who wish to pursue individualized course work beyond the school day. All work is supervised by a member of the English department. Students must complete a minimum of 132 hours of supervised activities for each 1 unit of credit and submit a minimum of two projects as determined by the student and the instructor. (A maximum of six units of elective credit may be earned through independent study and/or work study programs while in high school.) COURSE NOTE: This unit(s) may not count as a required course. 

• • CREDIT: 1 

  • TYPE: Academic 

  • GRADE: 9-12 

  • PREREQUISITE: 2.0 grade point average and approval of department chairperson, principal, supervisor of instruction, and Chief Academic Officer required.