Department of English

Course Descriptions

English 9
English 10
English 11
English 12
(one credit per year)
Prerequisite: Previous year's English
In grades 9-12 students write increasingly longer narrative forms, more abstract expository essays, and more fully documented research papers. Thematic units integrate the students' concepts with those of others to broaden their understanding of themselves and their world. At each grade level, reading comprehension, vocabulary development, grammar, mechanics, thinking skills, and oral communication skills are integrated with composition and literature.

Honors English 9
Honors English 10
Honors English 11
Honors English 12
(one credit per year)
Prerequisite: Previous year's English
The honors program is organized into thematic and historical units. Students strengthen their critical thinking skills through extensive discussion and writing activities. The literature studied is taken from core texts and selected paperbacks and is comprised of world classics. At all grade levels, students write for diverse audiences and purposes. Emphasis is placed on the writing of literary analysis, fully documented research reports, and commentaries on novels, plays, and poems.

Advanced Placement English: Language and Composition
One credit
One year
Grade 11
Prerequisite: Honors English 10
This is a college-level course designed in accordance with the requirements of the College Board. The course will train the students to become skilled readers of prose written in a variety of periods, disciplines, and rhetorical contexts. Also, they will earn ot become flexible writers who can compose in a variety of purposes. The writing assignments in this course will emphasize expository, analytical, and argumentative essays. As the students read, they will become aware of how authors from different periods and disciplines match the rhetorical choices to particular aims, and they should develop some of the same flexibility themselves. Students who enroll in this course should have command of standard English grammar.

Advanced Placement English: Literature and Composition
One credit
One year
Grade 12
Prerequisite: Honors English 11 or Advanced Placement Language and Composition
This is a college-level course designed in accordance with the requirements of the College Board. The course involves intensive study of numerous authors, genres, and historical periods. Extensive composition and discussion require students to demonstrate their sensitivity to the language and structure of a piece of writing as well as their own power and precision in organizing and expressing thoughts. The course culminates in the Advanced Placement examination given in May of each year.

Dual Enrollment English 12
(Credit earned for the course can be transferred to other public colleges in Virginia.)

Reading Skills for the College Bound
One-half credit
One semester
Grade 11
This one-semester course is designed for students to gain the independence necessary for a successful college experience. During the course, the students will learn how to establish short and long-term goals, prepare for taking the SAT, and refine study habits appropriate for college success. In addition, students will focus on using reasoning and problem-solving skills to make informed decisions, assessing and evaluating new information independently, reading and responding to a variety of forms of print media, and rereading materials when it is appropriate. Time management skills, listening skills, and determining individual learning styles will also be areas of study.

Public Speaking I
One credit
Grades 10-12
Public Speaking I is a survey course in basic oral communication. This course helps students understand the correlation between speech techniques and speaker responsibilities in a variety of areas. These areas include ethics in communications, person-to-person situations, group dynamics, public speeches, and oral interpretation. Throughout all areas, delivery strategies are emphasized. Students will be able to gather, evaluate, organize, and articulate information in an interesting and meaningful manner. At the completion of this course, students will be able to speak effectively and confidently in formal, informal., and business communication situations.

Public Speaking II
One credit
Grades 10-12
Prerequisite: Public Speaking I
Public Speaking II is a performance course which allows students to become proficient in selected categories and to gain knowledge of advanced oral communication techniques. This course is tutorial in nature with the teacher acting as a facilitator while students refine oral interpretation and persuasive speaking skills, deliver impromptu and special occasion speeches, and explore mass media. In addition, students are encouraged to participate in forensic competitions and to perform in school community events.

Public Speaking III
One credit
One year
Grades 11-12
Public Speaking III (seminar) is a supervised, independent study program offering the options of extensively studying a specialized area of oral communications, developing communication skills for various career opportunities, or applying extensive study of a particular area to a specific career choice.

Journalism I
One credit
One year
Grades 10-12
The Journalism I course offers the study of terminology necessary for an understanding of the communication process and the opportunity to explore and compare the different forms of mass communication, print, and electronic. The studies include the American newspaper, past and present, emphasizing the rights and responsibilities of the journalist.