English

Graduation Requirements

4 credits of English 

COURSES

Freshman

English I - Freshman Survey

Academic Pathway: Honors

Term: Year-long course

Credit: 1 full English credit

Honors English I develops students’ reading, writing, speaking, and critical-thinking skills while preparing them for the expectations of International Baccalaureate (IB) coursework. Students closely analyze literary, informational, and visual texts, focusing on how authors and creators use language, structure, literary devices, and other choices to communicate larger ideas. Students explore themes such as identity, food and culture, moral responsibility, loyalty, community, and the power of individual voices through texts such as Notes from a Young Black Chef, And Then There Were None, and Romeo and Juliet, as well as speeches, essays, films, and visual texts. Students practice moving beyond summary to explain what a creator is doing, how they are doing it, and why those choices matter. Through annotation, seminar-style discussions, analytical writing, presentations, and creative projects, students learn to develop claims, select strong evidence, and communicate about the world.

English I - Freshman Survey

Academic Pathway: College Prep

Term: Year-long course

Credit: 1 full English credit

College Prep English I builds the foundational reading, writing, speaking, and critical-thinking skills students need for high school and future IB coursework. Students learn to read closely, identify themes, recognize authorial choices, cite textual evidence, and explain how specific choices create meaning. Students explore ideas such as the love of language and reading, silence and speaking up, courage, community, and the power of voice through choice novels, and a variety of literary, informational, and visual texts. Choice reading may include works such as The Glass Castle, Lord of the Flies, and Fahrenheit 451. Students practice these skills through annotation, small-group seminars, analytical writing, discussion, reflection, and creative projects while strengthening grammar, vocabulary, writing conventions, and independent reading habits.

Sophomore

English II - Genre Literature

Academic Pathway: Honors

Term: Year-long course

Credit: 1 full English credit

Honors English II builds upon the analytical skills developed during freshman year and further prepares students for the reading, writing, and discussion expectations of IB English. Students analyze increasingly complex literary, informational, and visual texts while considering how literature reflects larger cultural, historical, and global issues. Students explore ideas such as the American Dream, ambition, inequality, choices and consequences, grief, revenge, and cycles of violence through texts such as The Great Gatsby, The Other Wes Moore, and Long Way Down, alongside nonfiction and visual texts. Through close reading, annotation, seminar-style discussions, analytical writing, comparison of multiple texts and mediums, and independent work, students develop increasingly sophisticated interpretations supported by strong textual evidence.

English II - Genre Literature

Academic Pathway: College Prep

Term: Year-long course

Credit: 1 full English credit

College Prep English II strengthens students’ ability to independently read, discuss, and analyze increasingly complex literary, informational, and visual texts while preparing them for future IB coursework. Students examine themes and global issues, including ideas surrounding the American Dream, ambition, identity, opportunity, success, and inequality, while analyzing how authors use literary devices, language, structure, characterization, and other choices to create meaning. For example, students study The Great Gatsby in both novel and film form and work with additional literary and informational texts throughout the year. Students practice supporting interpretations with strong textual evidence and developing their ideas through close reading, annotation, discussion, and analytical writing.

Junior/Senior

HL IB Language & Literature

Academic Pathway: IB

Term: Two-year course

Credit: 2 full English credits

IB English Language & Literature SL is a two-year course focused on how language and texts create meaning within personal, cultural, and global contexts. Students analyze both literary and non-literary texts and consider how creators use language, structure, perspective, imagery, and other choices to shape an audience’s understanding. Texts such as The House on Mango Street and Persepolis, alongside public art, speeches, and other non-literary bodies of work, allow students to explore larger ideas surrounding identity, community, culture, gender, education, power, belonging, and global issues. Students develop increasingly sophisticated skills in close reading, annotation, discussion, comparison, and analytical writing while preparing for the written and oral assessments required by the IB program.

SL IB Language & Literature

Academic Pathway: IB

Term: Year-long course

Credit: 2 full English credits

IB English Language & Literature HL is a rigorous two-year course focused on the close analysis of literary and non-literary texts and the ways language shapes meaning, identity, culture, and society. Students explore ideas such as identity, masculinity, health and well-being, social class, inequality, power, social expectations, and social criticism through works such as The Things They Carried and Klara and the Sun, alongside film, photography, visual texts, and other non-literary works. Through close reading, annotation, seminar-style discussion, analytical writing, comparison, research, and presentations, students develop sophisticated interpretations and consider how context, audience, purpose, and perspective influence meaning. Throughout the two-year course, students prepare for the written and oral assessments required by the IB program and for the independence expected in college-level study.

FACULTY