English Courses

Following each English course title is a number indicating the course's credit value. For example, (1) equals a full-year course; (1/2) equals a semester course.

Honors and Advanced Placement classes have been instituted as integral parts of our academic program. Honors courses that have more rigorous expectations are intended to prepare the student for the Advanced Placement Program. The term "Advanced Placement" is given to a college-level course, the content of which is guided by the recommended course description of the Advanced Placement Program of the College Entrance Examination Board.

ENGLISH I, II, III CP/CPE/Honors (1)

The English Program is planned to provide growth in reading, composition, and language study. To varying degrees and at different grade levels, the English program encourages students to appreciate reading by studying literature which contains ideas important to them and their society; to express themselves in both writing and speaking in an efficient, well-ordered, intelligent manner; and to develop habits of thinking through constant practice.

The study of literature helps the student to develop social and personal attitudes important for the present as well as the future including empathy and understanding.

In all writing, students are taught to express themselves in clear, effective prose, with specific knowledge of their purpose and a thorough understanding of the skills and techniques essential to various forms of written communication. These skills and techniques include emphasis on mechanics; on the study of the word, the sentence, and the paragraph as structural writing units; and on the process of organizing ideas into themes.

AP SEMINAR (English 2) (1)

AP Seminar is an interdisciplinary course that encourages students to demonstrate critical thinking, collaboration, and academic research skills on topics of the student’s choosing. To accommodate the wide range of student topics, typical college course equivalents include interdisciplinary or general elective courses.

Develop and practice the skills in research, collaboration, and communication that you’ll need in any academic discipline. You’ll investigate topics in a variety of subject areas, write research-based essays, and design and give presentations both individually and as part of a team.

AP LANGUAGE AND COMPOSITION (English 3) (1)

An AP English Language and Composition course cultivates the reading and writing skills that students need for college success and for intellectually responsible civic engagement. The course guides students in becoming curious, critical, and responsive readers of diverse texts and becoming flexible, reflective writers of texts addressed to diverse audiences for diverse purposes. The reading and writing students do in the course should deepen and expand their understanding of how written language functions rhetorically: to communicate writers’ intentions and elicit readers’ responses in particular situations.

ENGLISH IV OPTIONS

English IV is a full year course that can be broken up into two separate semesters or one comprehensive course of study, which explores the elements of reading, writing, speaking and listening. Students will study various styles of reading and writing such as Narrative, Informational and Argumentative texts and will produce their own works in those styles. They will move towards independence in their ability to evaluate, analyze, research and create original pieces of writing. Students will read a wide variety of texts and styles focused on various genres.

MODERN AMERICAN LITERATURE (1)

DETECTIVE FICTION STUDIES (½)

PRINCIPLES OF POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY IN LITERATURE (½)

SPORTS LITERATURE (½)

LEGENDS AND FANTASY FICTION (½)

COMPOSITION AND POPULAR GENRE STUDIES (1)

CONTEMPORARY CULTURE AND COMPOSITION (1)

HONORS LITERATURE AND PHILOSOPHY OF ASIA (1)

HONORS WORLD MYTHOLOGY AND ARCHETYPAL LITERATURE (1)

AP LITERATURE AND COMPOSITION (1)

The AP English Literature and Composition course focuses on reading, analyzing, and writing about imaginative literature (fiction, poetry, drama) from various periods. Students engage in close reading and critical analysis of imaginative literature to deepen their understanding of the ways writers use language to provide both meaning and pleasure. As they read, students consider a work’s structure, style, and themes, as well as its use of figurative language, imagery, and symbolism. Writing assignments include expository, analytical, and argumentative essays that require students to analyze and interpret literary works.

ELECTIVES

In addition to courses described above, students may elect one or more of the following courses. Credit will be given for these courses, but they will not satisfy graduation requirements.

AP RESEARCH (1)

This is the second required course in the AP Capstone program. “AP Research is an interdisciplinary course that encourages students to demonstrate critical thinking and academic research skills on a topic of the student’s choosing. To accommodate the wide range of student topics, typical college course equivalents include introductory research or general elective courses” (https://apstudents.collegeboard.org/courses/ap-research).

Prerequisite: Successful completion of AP Seminar course and college board performance tasks and exam.

JOURNALISM 1/H (1)

An integral part of the continuing attempt to improve the skills of communication, Journalism includes instruction in writing journalistic articles, gathering news for publication, editing, financing and selling a school newspaper. All students participate in publishing the school newspaper.

ADVANCED JOURNALISM 2, 3 H (1)

Advanced Journalism, a one-year elective for eleventh and twelfth grade students who have completed Journalism, is a course for members of the school newspaper's editorial board. Students in this supervisory capacity will be responsible for assigning articles, designing page plans, conferring with reporters, revising copy and consulting with the faculty advisor of the school paper and with the printer. Students will be expected to fulfill all obligations required for publishing the school newspaper.

FILM/CINEMA STUDIES AND CRITICISM (1)

Films: Studies & Production is a full-year English elective which explores the medium as a humanity, a technical craft, a document of our cultural history, and the central form of communication of the modern world. Students will master the language of film, genre & style, and narrative techniques culminating in an application of those elements in a completed original film. Students will be able to critique and engage with films of different eras and genres for their craft, style, and theme, as well as create their own work.

POPULAR MEDIA STUDIES: FROM TELEVISION TO BLOGGING (1)

This is a full year Media Studies course open to students in grades 10, 11, and 12 that has units including: "Radio to Podcasts," "The Evolution of the Television from the Golden Age ti Netflix," Social Media as Modern Storytelling:Digital Citizenship and Social Media as Modern Memoir," and "Performance Storytelling: Youtube and Vlogging."

CREATIVE FICTION AND NONFICTION WRITING/H (1)

This course provides an opportunity for students to express their often inner voices through the literary media of poetry, autobiography, short story, and drama.

SPEECH AND DEBATE/H (1)

Speech and Debate provides an opportunity to develop poise, confidence and style in all speaking situations. The course emphasizes public speaking, group discussions (panels, symposiums, round tables). It also offers 10th, 11th and 12th graders interested in Speech and Forensics-Debate an opportunity to develop skills such as logic and reasoning, research and analysis, and argumentative presentation. The course introduces students to different types of debates such as Lincoln-Douglas Debate, Cross-Examination, Spontaneous Argumentation, Team Policy Debate, and Parliamentary Debate.

GENDER STUDIES IN LITERATURE 1/2

This course is a 1/2 year elective open to students in grades 10, 11, and 12 that explores issues related to gender and the politics of gender in great works of literature. The focus is an exploration of society’s attitudes toward gender and the formation of identity.

WILD THINGS: CHILDREN'S LITERATURE 1/2

This course is a 1/2 year elective open to students in grades 10, 11, and 12 that provides an opportunity to read old-time favorites through a new lens and to find the parallels to adult classics in the process. Students will reignite a child's passion for stories by reading the works of Dr. Seuss, Maurice Sendak, Beatrix Potter, Beverly Cleary, CS Lewis, and E.B. White to name a few.

English

Northern Valley Regional High School District