Courses in all grades are aligned with the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks for English Language Arts and Literacy. Students develop reading, writing, speaking, listening, and language skills that help prepare them for both career and further education. The consistent use of informational texts and vocabulary strategies in all grades helps to build reading and thinking skills in vocational and other academic subject areas as well as for state assessments. Literacy tasks emphasize the academic and critical skills needed to be successful in the real world and are differentiated in order to address students’ varying ability levels and learning styles.

 

English (9th grade)

Grade 9 courses improve literacy skills through analysis of informational texts, fiction, literary-nonfiction, drama, and poetry. This involves explicit writing and reading activities that hone skills for the MCAS (reading comprehension strategies, test-taking strategies, and essay writing while synthesizing multiple texts) and also develops critical thinking and communication skills that inform their upcoming vocational and career goals.

Critical evaluation of sources and research skills are also covered.

 

Advanced English (9th grade)

This course is open to those students considering college. It focuses on reading, writing, and language skills that are relevant to high school course work and essential for students' future college coursework. Students will practice noticing small details in a text to achieve a deeper understanding while reading, as well as perform writing tasks at a higher level of critical thinking and depth. These foundational skills will help students craft sophisticated, longer-form analysis of texts.

 

Writing (9th grade)

This course engages students in critical thinking and multiple forms of writing including informative, argumentative, and narrative/descriptive. Students will learn to identify the central idea of a text, create summaries, develop ideas, delineate and evaluate arguments, write a conditional thesis, study extended definitions of words/ideas, support analysis with textual evidence, conduct research to respond to a question or prompt, gather and assess information from multiple sources, synthesize information, and much more.

 

English (10th grade)

10th grade English is a course that is centered around studying a variety of genres of literature. Throughout the year students will continue to build upon the skills that they gained during their previous year. Students will improve their skills in writing analytically about literature and continue to develop their language sense in the areas of grammar and vocabulary. Students will focus on developing active reading and critical thinking skills while reading informational texts, fiction, drama, and poetry. Writing assignments engage students in synthesizing multiple texts, writing argument, descriptive, and narrative essays, and writing on demand in preparation for the state MCAS test.

 

Students also complete a research and writing project that helps them to build critical information gathering skills while increasing self-awareness. Analysis of literature includes understanding and analyzing theme, tone, main idea, character development, and figurative language.

 

Advanced English (10th grade)

This course builds upon the foundational skills of Advanced English 9. As readers, students will study how poets, playwrights, novelists and non-fiction writers craft their writing to convey specific messages and themes. Students will also write more sophisticated responses and essays about the texts they study. This is course is open to all students, but is designed for those interested in taking Advanced Placement English classes in Junior and Senior year and those considering college after graduation.

 

Writing (10th grade)

Writing courses are intended to engage students in critical thinking while developing writing skills that will translate to MCAS writing tasks, accurate research writing, public speaking skills, and improved literacy in all subject areas. Students in this course will engage with various forms of writing including research, argumentative, and narrative/descriptive. Students will learn to analyze primary sources, assess sources for reliability and bias, synthesize information from multiple sources, incorporate visual media in their writing, study author’s purpose, address and refute a counterclaim, trace theme development, analyze complex characters and settings, articulate the impact of word choice and figurative language on meaning and tone, and much more!

 

English (11th grade)

The 11th grade curriculum is structured around the study of argument, persuasion, and rhetoric. Through their study of Rhetoric, students learn how to speak and write using persuasive techniques. Students read and analyze fiction, non-fiction, and drama. A focus on informational texts culminates in an editorial project that allows students to research a debatable topic and then write to persuade readers to consider their viewpoint. Additionally, students taking this course will write resumes and cover letters in preparation for mock interviews and co-op job applications later in the year.

 

AP English Language and Composition (11th grade)

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. The course prepares students for the College Board’s Advanced Placement Exam in English Language and Composition, which is administered in May. 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 guides students in becoming curious, critical, and responsive readers of diverse texts. Students taking this course should come willing to do their best work as they cultivate reading

 

and writing skills needed for college success and for intellectually responsible civic engagement. Earning at least an 80 in Advanced English (10th grade) is a prerequisite required to enroll in this class. A teacher recommendation for this course is required. Students are expected to take the AP exam. Grades in this course are weighted approximately seven points for student GPA calculation. A required summer reading assignment is required for this course.

 

English (12th grade)

The 12th grade curriculum focuses on student-driven research, narratives, and literary analysis, in step with this important transitional period in students’ lives. Students continue to develop their research skills, including constructing an original research question, distinguishing between credible sources, taking notes on and interviewing primary sources, and using MLA format. Additionally, students refine their literary analysis skills as they read and analyze a variety of literary texts, including short fiction, poetry, novel, and drama. Throughout the course, students study how writers use language to develop characters and themes as well as to study how universal truths about the human experience found in literature can transcend time and bring people together. This course is designed to offer students the opportunity, through challenging writing assignments and reading, to examine texts through close reading and to reflect on their own experiences, while further developing and connecting their understandings to their college or career paths and beyond.

 

AP English Literature and Composition (12th grade)

AP Lit. is a demanding, college-level course certified by the College Board and intended for seniors who wish to refine their writing and reading skills, improve their vocabularies, and increase their facility with the written and spoken word. The course prepares students for the College Board’s Advanced Placement Exam in English Literature and Composition, which is administered in May. Students read, reread, and write analytically about challenging texts, engage in frequent, in-depth class discussions of those texts, and write numerous short and long critical essays. Although the course is designed to prepare students for the AP English Literature and Composition exam, the sustained focus of the course is one of the rewards and pleasures of examining literature with a critical eye and acquiring the skills to write and discuss them substantively. Students who enroll should have strong reading and writing skills, a level of comfort with the abstract, and a love for reading and rereading difficult texts. A teacher recommendation for this course is required. Earning at least an 80 in AP English Language and Composition (11th grade) is a prerequisite required to enroll in this class. Students are expected to take the AP exam. Grades in this course are weighted approximately seven points for student GPA calculation. A required summer reading assignment is required for this course.