Annual Course – Grade 9
Prerequisite: None
230107 ENGLISH 9A
230108 ENGLISH 9B
Course Description: The major purpose of this course is to analyze literature and expository text in greater depth and produce complex writing assignments. Students will continue to apply the knowledge and skills acquired in earlier grades with more refinement, depth, and sophistication with grade-appropriate material. The California Reading/Language Arts Framework states that students in the ninth grade are expected to read one and one-half million words annually on their own, including a good representation of classic and contemporary literature, magazines, newspapers, and online articles. Students will apply and refine their command of the writing process and writing conventions to produce narrative, persuasive, expository, and descriptive texts of at least 1,500 words each.
English 9AB is organized into three standards-based instructional components that focus on persuasion, exposition, and literary analysis, integrating skills of reading, writing, listening, and speaking. During the persuasion instructional component, students will read persuasive texts, with a focus on the credibility of an author’s argument, the relationship between generalizations and evidence, the comprehensiveness of evidence, the way in which the author’s intent affects the structure and tone of the text, and extend ideas through original analysis, evaluation, and elaboration. Students will also write persuasive essays and deliver persuasive presentations. In the exposition component, students will read expository texts, with a focus on synthesizing and extending ideas presented in primary and secondary sources, including works by a single author dealing with a single issue. In addition, students will write expository essays and deliver expository presentations. During the literary analysis component, students will read literary texts, with a focus on analyzing central themes in multiple works as well as analyzing themes in relation to issues of an historical period. Students will write responses to literature and deliver oral responses to literature. English 9 AB meets the basic ninth-grade English requirement for graduation and fulfills the B requirement of the UC/CSU Subject Area Requirements.
*ENGLISH 10AB
Annual Course – Grade 10
Prerequisite: English 9AB
230109 English 10A
230110 English 10B
Course Description: The major purpose of this course is to emphasize analyzing literature in greater depth, analyzing expository text, and producing more complex writing assignments. Students will continue to apply the knowledge and skills acquired in earlier grades with more refinement, depth, and sophistication with grade-appropriate material. The California Reading/Language Arts Framework states that students in the tenth grade are expected to read one and one-half million words of annually on their own, including a good representation of classic and contemporary literature, magazines, newspapers, and online articles. Students will apply and refine their command of the writing process and writing conventions to produce narrative, persuasive, expository, and descriptive texts of at least 1,500 words each.
English 10AB is organized into three standards-based instructional components that focus on persuasion, exposition, and literary analysis, integrating skills of reading, writing, listening, and speaking. During the persuasion instructional component, students will read persuasive texts, with a focus on the credibility of an author’s argument, the relationship between generalizations and evidence, the comprehensiveness of evidence, the way in which the author’s intent affects the structure and tone of the text, and extend ideas through original analysis, evaluation, and elaboration. Students will generate relevant questions about readings on issues and engage in research. Students will also write persuasive essays and deliver persuasive presentations. In the exposition instructional component, students will read expository texts and use what they have learned to establish a controlling impression or coherent thesis that conveys a clear and distinctive perspective on a subject and maintain a consistent tone and focus throughout a piece of writing. They will use primary and secondary sources accurately, distinguish between information and the significance of the data, be aware of audience, anticipate misunderstandings, and use subject-specific terms accurately. During the literary analysis component, students will read literary texts (e.g., short stories, poetry, and longer works, including novels), recognize and understand the significance of various literary devices, including figurative language, imagery, allegory, and symbolism, and explain their appeal. Students will also explain how voice, persona, and the choice of a narrator affect characterization and the tone, plot, and credibility of a text. Students will write responses to literature and deliver oral responses to literature. English 10AB meets the basic tenth-grade English requirement for graduation and fulfills the B requirement of the UC/CSU Subject Area Requirements.
Semester Course – Grade 11
Prerequisite: English 10AB
230111 AM LIT COMP
Course Description: American Literature and Composition is a semester-long reading and writing course that includes standards-based instruction centered on recurrent themes and genres in United States literature from the colonial period to the present and reflects on the diversity of American life. Students read and respond to historically or culturally significant works of literature that reflect and enhance their studies of history and social science. The philosophical approach is the focus for the eleventh grade, as students analyze the philosophical arguments presented in literary works to determine whether the authors’ positions have contributed to the quality of each work and the credibility of characters. As a means of developing the critical thinking and communication skills necessary for the demands of college and work, students will engage in discussion to prepare oral and written arguments that provide all relevant perspectives and consider the validity and reliability of sources. The California Reading/Language Arts Framework states that students in the eleventh grade are expected to read two million words annually on their own, including a good representation of classic and contemporary literature, magazines, newspapers, and online articles.
In this course, there is a concentrated focus on writing. American Literature and Composition includes a new composition introduced in eleventh grade, the historical investigation report, which requires students to use primary and secondary sources to compare different points of view regarding a single historical event and explain reasons for the similarities and differences. Students are expected to write and revise a minimum of six academic compositions within the eleventh-grade year. Students will apply and refine their command of the writing process and writing conventions to produce narrative, persuasive, expository, and descriptive texts of at least 1,500 words each. This course meets one semester of the basic eleventh-grade English requirement for graduation and satisfies a B Requirement of the UC/CSU Subject Area Requirement.
Semester Course – Grade 11
Prerequisite: English 10AB
230201 CONTEMP COMP
Course Description: The major purpose of this standards-aligned semester course is to explore ideas, issues, and themes from contemporary fiction, nonfiction, and informational materials and to focus on writing coherent and complex texts that convey well-defined perspectives and tightly reasoned arguments. Students will read, write, speak, and think about the structure, style, content, and purpose of contemporary literature, expository, and visual texts through different lenses and various perspectives to investigate personal, American, and global views on current events, issues, and themes. As a means of developing the critical thinking and communication skills necessary for the demands of college and work, students will engage in discussion to prepare oral and written arguments that provide all relevant perspectives and consider the validity and reliability of sources. The California Reading/Language Arts Framework states that students in the eleventh grade are expected to read two million words annually on their own, including a good representation of high interest, rigorous, and relevant contemporary texts including magazines, newspapers, and online articles.
In this course, there is a concentrated focus on writing. Two new compositions are introduced in the eleventh grade: reflective composition and historical investigation. Reflective compositions require the student to explore the significance of a personal experience, event, or concern, while maintaining an appropriate balance between describing the incident and relating it to a more abstract idea. The historical investigation report requires students to use primary and secondary sources to compare different points of view regarding a single historical event and explain reasons for the similarities and differences. Students are expected to write and revise a minimum of six academic compositions within the eleventh-grade year. This course provides students opportunities to increase awareness of the audience, purpose, and progression of the stages of the writing process and writing conventions to produce narrative, persuasive, expository, and descriptive texts of at least 1,500 words each, including timed writing. This course fulfills a B requirement of the UC/CSU Subject Area Requirements.
Annual Course – Grades 11 or 12
Prerequisite: English 10AB
230125 AP ENG LANG A
230126 AP ENG LANG B
Course Description: 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. The course cultivates the rhetorical understanding and use of written language by directing students’ attention to writer/reader interactions in their reading and writing of various formal and informal genres (e.g., memos, letters, advertisements, political satires, personal narratives, scientific arguments, cultural critiques, research reports).
Reading and writing activities in the course also deepen students’ knowledge and control of formal conventions of written language (e.g., vocabulary, diction, syntax, spelling, punctuation, paragraphing, genre). The course helps students understand that formal conventions of the English language in its many written and spoken dialects are historically, culturally, and socially produced; that the use of these conventions may intentionally or unintentionally contribute to the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of a piece of writing in a particular rhetorical context; and that a particular set of language conventions defines Standard Written English, the preferred dialect for academic discourse.
Annual Course – Grade 12
Prerequisite: American Literature and Composition / Contemporary Composition
230231 ERWC A
230232 ERWC B
Course Description: The major purpose of this year-long course is to prepare students for the literacy demands of college and the world of work. Through a sequence of fourteen rigorous instructional modules, students in this yearlong, rhetoric-based course develop advanced proficiencies in expository, analytical, and argumentative reading and writing. The cornerstone of the course—the assignment template—presents a process for helping students read, comprehend, and respond to non-fiction and literary texts. Modules also provide instruction in research methods and documentation conventions. Students will be expected to increase their awareness of the rhetorical strategies employed by authors, and to apply those strategies in their own writing. They will read closely to examine the relationship between an author’s argument or theme and his or her audience and purpose, to analyze the impact of structural and rhetorical strategies, and to examine the social, political, and philosophical assumptions that underlie the text. By the end of the course, students will be expected to use this process independently when reading unfamiliar texts and writing in response to them. Course texts include contemporary essays, newspaper and magazine articles, editorials, reports, biographies, memos, assorted public documents, and other non-fiction texts. The course materials also include modules on two full-length works (one novel and one work of non-fiction). Written assessments and holistic scoring guides conclude each unit.
Students are expected to write and revise a minimum of eight academic compositions within the twelfth-grade year, including timed writing pieces and developed compositions. The California Reading/Language Arts Framework states that students in the twelfth grade are expected to read two million words annually on their own that will transition them into adult reading. They will also apply and refine their command of the writing process, writing conventions, and rhetorical strategies to produce texts of at least 1,500 words each. Expository Reading and Writing Course fulfills a B requirement of the UC/CSU Subject Area Requirement.
Semester Course – Grade 12
Prerequisite: American Literature and Composition / Contemporary Composition
230205 EXPOS COMP
Course Description: The major purpose of this semester course is to provide experiences in writing that are characterized by logical and coherent organization, clarity of expression, and suitability in style, usage, and the conventions of writing. The student is required to read closely within and across expository and informational genres (e.g., essays, biographies, critiques, précis, and newspaper and magazine articles) for literal and implied meaning and to demonstrate through classroom discussion, oral presentation, and written expression an understanding of the text(s). Emphasis in this course is on expository reading and writing and the essential skills of editing, although the course provides some practice in other domains of writing.
The curriculum of this semester course was developed by a collaborative group of California State University and high school faculty to help students meet the expectations of college and university faculty, meet the California English-Language Arts Content Standards, and develop literacy skills critical to lifelong participation to the worlds of work and community. Students will read one full-length work, engage major research, and participate in multiple readings and discussions of varied genres through a recursive sequence of integrated reading and writing assignments. The interactive reading and writing assignments, many of which include informal writing throughout the process, move from pre-reading activities, through reading and post-reading activities, to formal writing assignments. Students learn to make predictions about texts, analyze both the content and the rhetorical structures, and properly use materials from the texts they read in supporting their own oral and written arguments. The modules in the sequence of lessons in Expository Composition provide a recursive approach to the teaching of reading and writing that aims to support students’ developing abilities to negotiate a variety of complex texts of different genres that students will encounter in college and the diverse communities where they live and work.
Students are expected to write and revise a minimum of eight academic compositions within the twelfth-grade year, including timed writing pieces and developed compositions. The California Reading/Language Arts Framework states that students in the twelfth grade are expected to read two million words annually on their own, including a good representation of classic and contemporary literature, magazines, newspapers, and online articles. Students will apply and refine their command of the writing process, writing conventions, and rhetorical strategies of narration, exposition, persuasion, and description to produce texts of at least 1,500 words each. Expository Composition fulfills a B requirement of the UC/CSU Subject Area Requirements.
Semester Course – Grade 12
Prerequisite: American Literature and Composition / Contemporary Composition
230421 LIT MIN AMER
Course Description: The major purpose of this standards-aligned semester elective course is to study selected literature of various ethnic groups within the United States and examine their literary, cultural, and historical influences and contributions to a diverse national literary identity. Investigations include political, religious, ethical, and social lenses and their influences on issues of cultural identity, significance of oral history, and embodiments of heritage. Students study the influences of archetypes drawn from myth and tradition to make connections between the philosophical arguments and universal themes. In this analysis, they will examine similarities and differences in customs, beliefs, arts, and literature, and study recurring themes, motifs, patterns, and types of folklore such as legends, fables, tales, and poems found in classical and modern literature. As a means of developing the critical thinking and communication skills necessary for the demands of college and work, students will engage in discussion to prepare oral and written arguments that provide all relevant perspectives and consider the validity and reliability of sources. Students will engage in a study of interpretative theories to help them understand multiple perspectives and ways to understand literature through different lenses.
In this course, there is an emphasis on writing. Literature of Minorities in America includes the historical investigation report, which requires students to use primary and secondary sources to compare different points of view regarding a single historical event and explain reasons for the similarities and differences. Students are expected to write and revise a minimum of eight academic compositions, including timed writing pieces, within the twelfth-grade year. This course provides students opportunities to increase awareness of the audience, purpose, and progression of the stages of the writing process and writing conventions to produce narrative, persuasive, expository, and descriptive texts of at least 1,500 words each. California Reading/Language Arts Framework states that students in the twelfth grade are expected to read two million words annually on their own, including a good representation of classic and contemporary literature, magazines, newspapers, and online articles. Literature of Minorities in America fulfills a B requirement of the UC/CSU Subject Area Requirements and is one of the possible courses paired with Expository Composition or Advanced Composition.
Semester Course – Grade 12
Prerequisite: American Literature and Composition / Contemporary Composition
230437 WORLD LIT
Course Description: The major purpose of this standards-aligned semester elective course is to study world literature in order to examine and analyze the historical, social, and cultural forces that influence writers and their unique aesthetic, social, and cultural contributions to global literature. The selected works are organized by genres (fiction and nonfiction) or themes that explore values, ideas, and ideals both similar to and different from our own and to the literary quality of the work. Students will develop an understanding of international works through investigations of universal themes across cultural, social, historical contexts and evaluations of how the influences of the regions and historical eras shaped the characters, plots, and settings. As a means of developing the critical thinking and communication skills necessary for the demands of college and work, students will engage in discussion to prepare oral and written arguments that provide all relevant perspectives and consider the validity and reliability of sources. Students will engage in a study of interpretative theories to help them understand multiple perspectives and ways to understand literature through different lenses.
In this course, there is an emphasis on writing. World Literature includes the historical investigation report, which requires students to use primary and secondary sources to compare different points of view regarding a single historical event and explain reasons for the similarities and differences. Students are expected to write and revise a minimum of eight academic compositions, including timed writing pieces, within the twelfth-grade year. This course provides students opportunities to increase awareness of the audience, purpose, and progression of the stages of the writing process and writing conventions to produce narrative, persuasive, expository, and descriptive texts of at least 1,500 words each. California Reading/Language Arts Framework states that students in the twelfth grade are expected to read two million words annually on their own, including a good representation of classic and contemporary literature, magazines, newspapers, and online articles. World Literature fulfills a B requirement of the UC/CSU Subject Area Requirements and is one of the possible courses paired with Expository Composition or Advanced Composition.
Annual Course – Grade 12
Prerequisite: English 10AB
230117 AP ENG LIT A
230118 AP ENG LIT B
Course Description: An AP English Literature and Composition course engages students in the careful reading and critical analysis of imaginative literature. Through the close reading of selected texts, students deepen their understanding of the ways writers use language to provide both meaning and pleasure for their readers. As they read, students consider a work’s structure, style and themes, as well as such smaller-scale elements as the use of figurative language, imagery, symbolism and tone.
The course includes intensive study of representative works from various genres and periods, concentrating on works of recognized literary merit such as those by the authors listed on pages 10 –11. The pieces chosen invite and reward rereading and do not, like ephemeral works in such popular genres as detective or romance fiction, yield all (or nearly all) of their pleasures of thought and feeling the first time through. The AP English Literature and Composition Development Committee agrees with Henry David Thoreau that it is wisest to read the best books first; the committee also believes that such reading should be accompanied by thoughtful discussion and writing about those books in the company of one’s fellow students.
*Honors sections are available.