Courses for Students

This is the first course in a two-course sequence. Two major themes for this course are “Leadership at Home” and “Leadership in Society.” Students will address several essential questions related to these themes while reading a variety of works by American authors. In addition to major works, students will read short stories and informational texts, engage in poetry analysis, view informational videos, and write for various purposes. Larger writing assignments include an informative essay and a major research project. Students partake in grammar challenges where they learn about grammar concepts and develop a mastery of their use. In addition to building their writing skills, students learn several reading strategies such as how to use graphic organizers to extract important information, take Cornell notes for an informational text or during a lecture, and summarize to monitor comprehension. Furthermore, students will explore several rhetorical devices and strategies like symbolism, dialect, author’s purpose, foreshadowing, persuasive devices, setting and more.

This is the second course in a two-course sequence and has been redesigned to align to the Common Core Standards. Two major themes for this semester are “Becoming My Own Leader” and “Leading Others.” Students will address several essential questions related to these themes while reading a variety of works by American authors. In addition to major works, students will read short stories and informational texts, engage in poetry analysis, view informational videos, and write for various purposes. Larger writing assignments include an argument essay, a narrative essay, and a business email. As a supplement to these assignments, students will partake in grammar challenges where they learn about grammar concepts and develop a mastery of their use. In addition to building their writing skills, students learn several reading strategies such as how to use graphic organizers to extract important information, take Cornell notes for an informational text or during a lecture, and summarize to monitor comprehension. Furthermore, students will explore several rhetorical devices and strategies like characterization, allusion, word choice and diction, setting, symbolism, point of view, and more.

This is the first course in a two-course sequence. In this course students will read engaging works and explore topics of interest as they develop their reading, writing, and speaking skills. Students will use essential questions to focus on a topic for each unit, such as Transformation of Language and Informed Decision Making.

This is the second course in a two-course sequence in British literature. Students will read a variety of works by British authors, including Frankenstein by Mary Shelley and Lord of the Flies by William Golding. In addition to these major works, students will read short stories and informational texts, engage in poetry analysis, view informational videos, and write for various purposes. Students will interact with literature and explore topics of interest as they develop their reading, writing, and speaking skills. Lessons are guided by essential questions related to the themes of Technology: Potential for Enhancing Human Life and The DNA for Survival and Resilience.

In this course, students will study and become proficient in the writing process. Students will learn about essay structure and organization through the development of four common types of essays (narrative, informative, argumentative, and compare and contrast) as well as proper format and etiquette to write a formal e-mail. In addition, they will also learn several grammar concepts that involve sentence structure, punctuation, word usage, and guidelines for academic writing, such as an objective tone, MLA formatting, and in-text citations.

This is the first course in a two-course sequence. Students will read engaging works of literature and explore topics of interest as they develop their reading, writing and speaking skills. Students will complete two sets of units that focus on narrative writing and argumentative writing.

This is the second course in a two-course sequence. In this course students will read engaging works and explore topics of interest as they develop their reading, writing, and speaking skills. Students will use essential questions to focus on a topic for each unit. The course is aligned to the Common Core Standards.

This is the first course in a two-course sequence. As students progress through the course, they will explore two main themes, “Courage” and “Choice”, and address essential questions while reading a variety of works. Students will read novels, short stories and informational texts, engage in poetry analysis, view informational videos and write for various purposes. Larger writing assignments include a research project and a narrative essay. As a supplement to these writing assignments, students will partake in grammar challenges where they learn about grammar concepts and develop a mastery of their use. In addition to building their writing skills, students will learn several reading strategies such as how to use graphic organizers to extract important information and summarize to monitor comprehension. Furthermore, students will explore several rhetorical devices and strategies like symbolism, figurative language, theme, setting and more.

This is the second course in a two-course sequence. The two major themes for this semester are “Survival” and “Discovery.” As students progress through these themes, they will address several essential questions related to these themes while reading a variety of works. In addition to major works, students will read short stories and informational texts, engage in poetry analysis, view informational videos, and write for various purposes. Some of the larger writing assignments include a research project and a narrative essay. As a supplement to these writing assignments, students will partake in grammar challenges where they learn about grammar concepts and develop a mastery of their use. In addition to building their writing skills, students will learn several reading strategies such as how to use graphic organizers to extract important information and summarize to monitor comprehension. Furthermore, students will explore several rhetorical devices and strategies like characterization, allusion, word choice and diction, setting, and more.

Thomas Jefferson once said, “…were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.” The Founding Fathers believed strongly in a free press, which is why they included it prominently in the First Amendment of the Constitution. This course will not only explore the historical role of journalism in the development of our country, but also how journalists must ethically approach their duties in order to maintain the public trust. You will also learn the basic principles of how to report, interview, and write like a journalist by analyzing and covering news, feature, and sports stories. You will also examine how social media has changed the options available for reporters covering the news.

Since the beginning of time, people have gathered around fires to tell stories of angry gods, harrowing journeys, cunning animals, horrible beasts, and the mighty heroes who vanquished them. Mythology and folklore have provided a way for these colorful stories to spring to life for thousands of years and helped humans make sense of the world. Explore how these compelling tales continue to shape society even today.