English Language Arts
At each grade level in any English course granting full English credit, students can expect to study works from the State mandated core reading list and to write based on that study. Communication is a vital part of everyone’s life. Reading, writing, speaking and listening are skills that everyone needs to develop in order to be better communicators. The English program is designed to help the student learn and improve these skills. The following courses provide the basis for the development of more sophisticated skills in the areas of critical thinking, listening, composition and reading. The curriculum is literature-based and requires intensive reading, writing, speaking and listening. Out of class reading and in class reading (including, but not limited to, short stories, plays, novels, poetry, essays and biographies) will be used to increase reading comprehension, broaden creative thinking and analytical skills and improve writing and speaking skills.
Kristina Bailey |
 Luke Bannon English luke.bannon @simivalleyusd.org |
 Lindy Cooper English linda.cooper @simivalleyusd.org |
 Theresa Hamilton English theresa.hamilton @simivalleyusd.org |
||
|
|
|
|
Ryan Rosuck |
||
|
|
|
Sarah Todd |
Tanya Wismann |
This course is designed to fulfill the 9th grade English requirement for graduation and also meets the English entrance requirements for four-year universities.
Students enrolled in this course will:
- Read from a variety of genres, surveying traditional and modern literature.
- Read works from a variety of time periods.
- Organize thoughts and information, using the writing process.
- Write for a variety of purposes and audiences.
- Write an autobiographical essay.
- Use the appropriate conventions of written language.
- Use appropriate, effective and specific vocabulary.
- Understand, evaluate and speak effectively.
- Communicate ideas through oral language.
10 Credits
Satisfies UC/CSU entry requirements.
This course is designed to fulfill the 9th grade English requirement for graduation and also meets the English entrance requirements for four-year universities. English Honors 9 is an enrichment course which includes considerably more reading, writing and speaking than required in English 9. The student will be expected to write papers and complete projects which reflect, not only the various literary works used in class, but the relevance and importance of these works as well, in addition to meeting the standards set for English 9.
10 Credits (Not graded on a 5 point scale)
Satisfies UC/CSU entry requirements.
PREREQUISITE(S): “A” or “B” in Honors English 8 or “A” in English 8 and/or have a recommendation from the current/previous English teacher. For the purpose of
an appeal or when other criteria are not present, a writing sample is used. The student will submit a writing sample of an approved prompt, and a common scoring rubric will be used.
This course is designed to fulfill the 10th grade English requirement for graduation and also meets the English entrance requirements for four-year universities.
Students enrolled in this course will:
- Read from a variety of genres, surveying tradition and modern literature.
- Read works from a variety of time periods.
- Write for a variety of purposes and audiences.
- Use the appropriate conventions of modern language.
- Use appropriate, effective and specific vocabulary.
- Understand, evaluate and speak effectively.
- .Communicate ideas through oral language
Satisfies UC/CSU entry requirements.
10 Credits
English 10 Honors
This course is designed to fulfill the 10th grade English requirement for graduation and also meets the English entrance requirements for four-year universities. English Honors 10 is an enrichment course which includes considerably more reading, writing and speaking than required in English 10. The objectives of the course are to further develop advanced critical reading skills and increase the development of oral communication skills. This course will involve required reading assignments, oral presentations and various frequent writing assignments in addition to meeting the standards established for the English 10 course.
Students enrolled in this course will:
- Read from a variety of genres, surveying world literature.
- Read works from a variety of time periods.
- Organize thoughts and information, using the writing process.
- Write for a variety of purposes and audiences.
- Use appropriate, effective, and specific vocabulary.
- Understand, evaluate, and speak effectively.
- Communicate ideas through oral language.
Satisfies UC/CSU entry requirements.
10 Credits (Not graded on a 5 point scale)
PREREQUISITE(S): “A” or “B” in Honors English 9 or “A” or “B" in CP English 9 and/or have a recommendation from the current/previous English teacher. For the purpose of an appeal or when other criteria are not present, a writing sample is used. The student will submit a writing sample of an approved prompt, and a common scoring rubric will be used.
This course is designed to fulfill the 11th grade English requirement for graduation and also meets the English entrance requirements for four-year universities.
Students enrolled in this course will:
- Read from a variety of genres, surveying American literature.
- Read works from a variety of time periods.
- Organize thoughts and information, using the writing process.
- Write for a variety of purposes and audiences.
- Write a research paper.
- Write an expository essay.
- Use the appropriate conventions of written language.
- Use appropriate, effective and specific vocabulary.
- Understand, evaluate and speak effectively.
- Communicate ideas through oral language.
Satisfies UC/CSU entry requirements.
This course is designed to fulfill the 12th grade English requirement for graduation and also meets the English entrance requirements for four-year universities.
Students enrolled in this course will:
- Read from a variety of genres, surveying British works and selected world literature.
- Read from works from a variety of time periods.
- Organize thoughts and information, using the writing process.
- Write for a variety of purposes and audiences.
- Use the appropriate conventions of written language.
- Use appropriate, effective and specific vocabulary.
- Use technology effectively to illustrate or argue a point.
- Use research methodology effectively to demonstrate an understanding of the research process.
Satisfies UC/CSU entry requirements.
The Advanced Placement Language and Composition course encourages students to become skilled readers of prose written in a variety of time periods, and skilled writers who compose for a variety of purposes and forms, as well as addressing the English 11 American Literature curriculum content. The course focuses on rhetoric, style analysis, sentence variety, grammatical structures, and
preparation for the Advanced Placement English Language exam. Students who enroll in this class are strongly encouraged to take the Advanced Placement exam given in May.
Satisfies UC/CSU entry requirements.
10 Credits, graded on a 5 point scale
PREREQUISITE(S): Students must have “A” or “B” in Honors English or “A” in CP English and/or have a recommendation from the current/ previous English teacher. For the purpose of an appeal or when other criteria are not present, a writing sample is used. The student will submit a writing sample of an approved prompt, and a common scoring rubric will be used. Students are required to read two books during the summer and write briefly about them before class begins.
AP English Literature
Advanced Placement English is the highest level academic English course available to the high school student. This course demands many hours of reading and writing. The first semester is concerned with western thought from the Old Testament through contemporary literature. The second semester concentrates on British and American prose and poetry from the Elizabethan Age through the 20th Century. Students who enroll in this course are strongly encouraged to take the Advanced Placement examination given in May.
Satisfies UC/CSU entry requirements.
10 credits, graded on a 5 point scale
PREREQUISITE(S): Students must have “A” or “B” in AP or Honors English or “A” in CP English and/or have a recommendation from the current/ previous English teacher. Submit an approved writing sample (a common scoring rubric will be used) – writing sample is used when other criteria are not present or for the purpose of appeal. When requests exceed space available, the English Language Arts California Standards Test score shall be used as a ranking tie-breaker to determine order of placement. Students who sign up for AP classes after the registration period will be accommodated on a space available basis. Students are required to read three books during the summer and to write briefly about them before class begins.
Expository Reading and Writing (ERWC)
The goal is to prepare seniors for the literacy demands of higher education. Through a sequence of fourteen rigorous instructional modules, students in this yearlong, rhetoric-based course develop advanced proficiency 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 nonfiction 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/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. Students will be expected to use this process independently when reading unfamiliar texts and writing in response to them.
Satisfies UC/CSU entry requirements.
10 Credits
PREREQUISITE(S): English 9, English10 and English 11
