English Department

COURSE DESCRIPTIONS

Each department at FRA is led by a department chair whose responsibility it is to maintain and develop curriculum and assist in implementing best practices in their respective curricular area for grades 5–12. The courses below represent thoughtful and intentional design to best prepare FRA students for the rigor of college academics.

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT

All students must complete four years of English. All students take English I and II, and standard and Honors are offered in both. Junior year, students take either English III or AP Language and Composition. Senior year, students take AP Literature and Composition or a pairing of Critical Thinking and Writing plus a choice of one English IV focused seminar. A teacher recommendation, high averages in prerequisite courses, and a strong performance on standardized tests are required for all Honors and AP courses.

ENGLISH (4 CREDITS REQUIRED)

The English curriculum is based on the goal of developing critical thinking and strong reading, writing, and speaking skills. Sequential courses offer the continuing practice of grammar skills, the building of an extensive vocabulary, and the development of strong research and writing skills. Senior seminar electives provide an opportunity to study specific areas and to strengthen student writing skills.

COURSE OPTIONS:

English I or English I (H) (9) English II or English II (H) (10) English III or AP English: Language and Composition (11) AP English Literature and Composition (12) English IV: Critical Thinking & Writing* (12) Mandatory for non-AP students English IV: Shakespeare on Stage and Film * (12) English IV: Fictional Worlds: Tolkien Studies* (12) English IV: Creative Writing* (12) English IV: Cultural Conflict in the Novel* (12)

*One-semester course

ENGLISH I: GENRES IN WORLD LITERATURE

1 Credit // Grade 9

Through engaging with a variety of texts and genres, English I hones four primary skills: reading complex texts, writing, thinking critically, and communicating effectively. In addition, English I equips students with skills such as time management, selfadvocacy, and professional communication so as to prepare them for success throughout their entire high school career. This course develops a students’ ability to formulate, articulate, and defend complex claims. Vocabulary and grammar skills are acquired independently through the online programs of Membean and No Red Ink and are also strengthened within the student’s own reading and writing.

ENGLISH I (H): GENRES IN WORLD LITERATURE

1 Credit // Grade 9

Through engaging with a variety of texts and genres, English I hones four primary skills: reading complex texts, writing, thinking critically, and communicating effectively. In addition, English I equips students with skills such as time management, self-advocacy, and professional communication so as to prepare them for success throughout their entire high school career. This course develops a students’ ability to formulate, articulate, and defend complex claims. Vocabulary and grammar skills are acquired independently through the online programs of Membean and No Red Ink and are also strengthened within the student’s own reading and writing. The pacing, depth, and breadth of this Honors course is more rigorous than traditional English I in order to prepare students for the rigor of AP courses.

ENGLISH II: THE AMERICAN EXPERIENCE

1 Credit // Grade 10

This course, designed for sophomore English students, explores the implications of what it means to be American. By reading from and into a variety of perspectives (regional, racial, religious, socioeconomic, and gender-based), we may begin to understand how our national community has defined itself in the past and how we might define it today. We will read a variety of fiction and nonfiction texts while addressing our four essential questions:

1. What is family and how does it help shape us? 2. How might our neighborhood, town, region, and/or country shape our values and identity? 3. How might our response to personal suffering impact who we become? 4. Why is forgiveness difficult and why is it necessary? The primary focus will be on the development of skills and emphasizes the link between close reading, writing, thinking, and communicating. Vocabulary and grammar skills are acquired independently through the online programs of Membean and No Red Ink and are also strengthened within students’ own reading and writing.

Students will also engage in two semester-length, inquirybased learning projects as practical applications of the skills learned in class. The first is a Career Exploration Project which includes an off-campus informational interview, job shadowing component, and presentation of their experiences. The second is an opportunity for students to pursue a project of interest to them to produce a product of benefit to others. Students will generate a driving question for their research, find professional mentors in their fields of interest, provide progress updates of their products through blogs and vlogs, and deliver a TEDstyle talk at the end of the year in which they showcase their products and reflect upon the challenges and triumphs they encountered along the way.

ENGLISH II (H): THE AMERICAN EXPERIENCE

1 Credit // Grade 10

This course, designed for sophomore English students, explores the implications of what it means to be American. By reading from and into a variety of perspectives (regional, racial, religious, socioeconomic, and gender-based), we may begin to understand how our national community has defined itself in the past and how we might define it today. For this reason, we will be engaging in a number of different texts from an assortment of genres: poems, essays, letters, novels, short

stories, and speeches. How do these multifarious perspectives change our perceptions about our past and inform our present? How do our perceptions about the American journey inform our faith? The primary focus will be on the development of skills and emphasizing the link between close reading, writing, and thinking. Vocabulary and grammar skills are acquired independently through the online programs of Membean and No Red Ink and are also strengthened within the student’s own reading and writing.

Students will also engage in a year-long, inquiry-based learning project in which they pursue a project of interest to them to produce a product of benefit to others. A TED-style talk will be delivered at the end of the year as students reflect upon their experiences and the challenges and triumphs they encountered along the way.

ENGLISH III: BRITISH LITERARY LEGACY

1 Credit // Grade 11 This course is an intensive study of the literature that has arisen out of the British tradition. From its beginnings with the epic of Beowulf through more modern texts, students will be exposed to several major works of English literature and will study the cultures in which those texts were created. The course also focuses on writing effective sentences, paragraphs, and essays, with additional review of common grammatical errors. The course includes a vocabulary component to expand students’ working vocabularies. More independence is required in terms of students’ reading, writing, thinking, speaking, and analyzing abilities and in balancing their other studies and activities to come to class prepared to play an active role in discussion.

AP ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND COMPOSITION

1 Credit // Grade 11

The AP English Language and Composition course focuses on the development and revision of evidence-based analytic and argumentative writing, the rhetorical analysis of nonfiction texts, and the decisions writers make as they compose and revise. Students evaluate, synthesize, and cite research to support their arguments. Additionally, they read and analyze rhetorical elements and their effects in nonfiction texts—including images as forms of text—from a range of disciplines and historical periods. The 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: CRITICAL THINKING & WRITING

½ Credit // Grade 12 – Mandatory

Based on what students are required to draw upon in college composition courses, this course will require students to practice and hone their critical thinking skills as well as develop their skills in rhetoric. Students will pursue the essential questions of “what is the rhetorical situation?” and “what is the most effective argument for this situation?” This course will emphasize collaboration and

presentation skills as students analyze contemporary issues. Students will immerse themselves in rhetoric, and in doing so, they will be required to take initiative, demonstrate leadership, ask good questions, and foster their own creativity. Students will read into and write in a variety of genres, engage in research, and participate in Socratic seminars. By the end of the course, students will be effective critical thinkers and communicators, preparing them for rhetorical situations in higher education and beyond.

AP ENGLISH LITERATURE AND COMPOSITION

1 Credit // Grade 12

AP English Literature and Composition is an introductory collegelevel literary analysis course. Students cultivate their understanding of literature through reading and analyzing texts as they explore concepts like character, setting, structure, perspective, figurative language, and literary analysis in the context of literary works. Extensive reading in the areas of poetry, drama, fiction, and literary criticism is required, and class participation is heavily emphasized. There is extensive written analysis of the literature studied, and, in preparation for the AP exam, practice exercises are included in the course.

ENGLISH IV: SHAKESPEARE ON STAGE AND FILM

½ Credit // Grade 12

This course provides students with a broad exposure to several of William Shakespeare’s plays. Selections will include one play from each of Shakespeare’s genres: history, tragedy, and comedy. Students will explore the historical context of Shakespeare’s world and the context in which the plays are set with an introduction to Elizabethan language and culture. Students will also analyze the theatrical and cinematic adaptations of each play. The course assesses students’ mastery of content through a variety of writing and close reading assignments and class discussion aimed at analyzing Shakespeare’s narrative and interpreting his works in a modern context.

ENGLISH IV: FICTIONAL WORLDS, TOLKIEN STUDIES

½ Credit // Grade 12

Through the exploration of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, students will consider how distance from reality allows writers and readers to examine issues that would otherwise hit too close to home, leading to the inevitable discovery that fantastical fiction (as all literature) does indeed reveal human truths. The course also focuses on writing effective sentences, paragraphs, and essays, with additional review of common grammatical errors. More independence is required in terms of students’ reading, writing, thinking, speaking, and analyzing abilities and in balancing their other studies and activities to come to class prepared to play an active role in discussion.

ENGLISH IV: CREATIVE WRITING

½ Credit // Grade 12

Students will experience writing as a tool for critical thinking, self-discovery, and creative expression. The course is comprised