Core Courses | English 12 | English Electives
The English curriculum is multifaceted and employs a range of strategies to engage students and to provide instruction based on the district’s standards and benchmarks for English/Language Arts. Reading multiple texts, formal and informal writing, research skills, cooperative learning, class discussion and projects – all provide opportunities for students to develop and to demonstrate proficiency with communication skills. Ongoing assessment is an integral part of the program, and all grade levels include evaluations that parallel the State’s Regents examination.
The English department uses literature, thematic units, and problem-solving activities to familiarize students with different genres, ideas, and cultures. Students enhance their literacy and critical thinking skills through analysis and argument. By creating a learning environment that values clarity, accuracy, and perseverance, teachers try to foster curiosity, learning, and effective communication as lifelong pursuits.
All students must earn four credits of English in the core curriculum. All regular education students must pass the New York State English Regents examination to earn a diploma.
Courses
English 9
Course Number: 0021/0010 (CTD)
Length: 1 year
Credit: 1 credit
This course is designed to accommodate both Regents and Honors level students. All students develop skills in reading, writing, researching, listening and speaking.
English 10 Regents
Course Number: 0121/0110 (Applied)
Length: 1 year
Credit: 1 credit
The English 10 Regents program continues developing skills in reading comprehension and interpretation, research process, writing, and public speaking. Class activities focus on mastery in areas described by the district standards, and evaluation tasks parallel the New York State Regents examination (Common Core).
English 10 Honors
Course Number: 0111
Length: 1 year
Credit: 1 credit
Students in this course will read and analyze representative works of world literature. The focus for discussion, research, writing, and presentations will be a developing understanding of literary genres, techniques, and cultural contexts. Teacher recommendations are based upon students’ academic achievement and demonstrated ability to read and analyze challenging texts, to write well-organized substantive essays, to consider alternative perspectives, and to ask probing questions in class discussion.
English 11 Regents
Course Number: 0221/0222 (Applied)
Length: 1 year
Credit: 1 credit
Final Assessment: NYS Regents Exam (Common Core)
The English 11 Regents program continues developing skills in reading comprehension and interpretation, research process, writing, speaking, and listening. Class activities focus on mastery in areas described by the district standards, and evaluation tasks parallel the Regents assessment. The New York State Regents examination (Common Core) is given at the end of the year.
Advanced Placement (AP) English Language
Course Number: 0210
Length: 1 year
Credit: 1 credit
Final Assessment: AP Exam in May* and NYS Regents Exam at completion
Eleventh-grade students in this introductory college-level course read and carefully analyze a broad and challenging range of nonfiction prose selections (with some supplemental fictional works), deepening their awareness of rhetoric and how language works. Through close reading and frequent writing, students develop their ability to work with language and text with a greater awareness of purpose and strategy, while strengthening their own composing abilities. Course readings feature expository, analytical, personal, and argumentative texts from a variety of authors and historical contexts. As this is an Advanced Placement course, performance expectations are appropriately high, and the workload is challenging. Students must bring to the course sufficient command of mechanical conventions and an ability to read and discuss prose.
Note: *All students registered for this course take the Advanced Placement English Language examination in May for which there is a fee to be paid to The College Board. Depending on their performance on that exam and the policies of their colleges, students may earn college credit, advance standing, or other recognition. Students will also take the New York State Regents examination upon completion of the course.
Advanced Placement (AP) English Literature 12
Course Number: 0311
Length: 1 year
Credit: 1 credit
Final Assessment: AP Exam in May*
The basic goal of the AP course is to continue students’ development as active, deliberate readers and precise, coherent writers who engage in the individual discovery of literary scholarship. Course content includes complex texts from a range of periods and genres. Students practice close reading with attention to detail, inferences, and interpretative conclusions about the work’s context and themes. Writing tasks are primarily analytical. As this is an Advanced Placement course, performance expectations are high and the workload is challenging. Students must bring to the course a high level of writing skill and a commitment to enthusiastic engagement with major works of literature.
Note: *All students take the Advanced Placement Literature examination for which there is a fee paid to The College Board. Depending on their performance on that exam and the policies of their colleges, students may earn college credit, advanced standing, or other recognition.
Syracuse University Project Advance (SUPA)
Course Number: 0308 – SUPA: Writing, 0309 – SUPA: English & Textual Studies
Length: 1 semester each
Credit: 1 credit (6 S.U. credits)
Writing 105 is a writing workshop in which students explore and develop the processes of analysis and evaluation. Students complete assigned readings, responses, research and argumentative papers. They work together to refine their thinking, composing, revising and editing skills.
SUPA English (ENG) 181 is a writing-intensive English course that employs theories of social class to interrogate and analyze how ideas such as stratification, privilege, inequality, and the intersections between race, gender and class are represented in a wide range of literary and other cultural texts (literature, film, advertising, television, etc.).
Note: By paying significantly discounted tuition to Syracuse University, students may earn six college credits to be applied to their college degree requirements or as transfer credit with an official Syracuse University transcript.
English 12 Lit and Composition I
Course Number: 0335
Length: 1 semester
Credit: 1/2 credit
This course is designed to accommodate both Regents and Honors level students. All students develop skills in reading, writing, researching, listening and speaking. This course will follow the model of the traditional English 9-11 Regents level curriculum. Students will read classic and contemporary works across various genres and from authors of diverse identities. This course will help students to be well-prepared for both college and the workforce. Thematic units of study will vary by semester and instructor. Fall semester courses will include a personal essay. Spring semester will include a research project.
English 12 Lit and Composition II
Course Number: 0336
Length: 1 semester
Credit: 1/2 credit
This course is designed to accommodate both Regents and Honors level students. All students develop skills in reading, writing, researching, listening and speaking. This course will follow the model of the traditional English 9-11 Regents level curriculum. Students will read across multiple genres. This course will help students be well-prepared for both college and the workforce. Thematic units of study will vary by semester and instructor.
English Electives
These courses do not replace the regular 9 through 12 English courses required for graduation.
Corporate Communications Elective
Course Number: 0866
Length: 1 semester
Credit: 1/2 credit
Requirement: Junior or Senior standing
Explore various aspects of the business world, including leadership and management styles, in this half-credit elective by analyzing corporations and their culture with written formats such as memos, business plans, and proposals. Both individual projects and team projects allow you to practice the types of reading, writing, and speaking that will someday help you get a job, no matter what field you are interested in entering. The course includes project-based learning, life skills, and real-world applications with assignments including resumes, cover letters, and mock-interviews.
Journalism 2: 21st Century Publications (2nd Semester)
Course Number: 0841
Length: 1 semester
Credit: 1/2 credit
Prerequisite: Journalism 1
Students in the Journalism 2 elective course develop essential skills for media publishing. Focused units on graphic design, layout, web development, photography, and videography employ industry-standard technology to prepare students for publishing opportunities with the RamPage school newspaper, the RamFeed news broadcast, Rambunctious literary magazine, the Hilltop Echoes yearbook, and other publications both in and out of school. Students will create stories for both RamPage and Ramfeed.
Note: Successful completion of Journalism 2 is a prerequisite for Advanced Journalism as well as Broadcast Journalism classes.
Advanced Journalism
Course Number: 0842
Length: 1 semester
Credit: 1/2 credit
Requirement: Sophomore, Junior, or Senior standing
Prerequisite: Journalism 1 & 2 or RamPage / Rambunctious advisor permissions
This is an English elective course for Sophomores, Juniors, and Seniors who have successfully completed both introductory journalism courses and wish to pursue the discipline beyond its basics. This is also available to experiential editors and staff members of RamPage and Rambunctious with advisor permission. Students work independently and in small groups to explore advanced topics in writing, publishing, technology, media, marketing, and management in support of school and independent publications. Assessment is portfolio-based.
Broadcast Journalism
Course Number: 0843
Length: 1 year
Credit: 1 credit
Requirement: Sophomore, Junior, or Senior standing
This is an English elective course for students interested in the field of broadcast media, and who have completed one year of high school. We will be exploring the different genres associated with television, broadcast journalism, and film throughout the course of the semester and year. During this course you will be responsible for creating and posting video news and features for the RamFeed. Also, throughout this course we will study other issues related to media, such as persuasion, perspective, power, etc. Broadcast Journalism will develop public speaking skills, a personal brand and an awareness of how to navigate the realm of social media.
Public Speaking
Course Number: 0850
Length: 1 semester
Credit: 1/2 credit
The primary goal of this course is to develop the oral communication skills needed in almost any career or school situation. Students will learn to prepare, organize, and present speeches for both formal and informal situations. In addition, they will learn to develop critical listening skills.
Syracuse University Project Advance (SUPA): Public Speaking
Course Number: 0851
Length: 1 semester
Credit: 1/2 credit (3 S.U. credits)
Requirement: Junior or Senior standing
Communication and Rhetorical Studies (CRS) 325 takes as its primary assumption that speaking in public is an essential component of most professions as well as a necessary skill of active citizens, able to articulate, advocate and argue in public and about public issues. Hence, the instruction of presentational speaking is based on two important principles: the need to understand the fundamental principles of speaking in public, and the need to practice different speaking types. Both objectives are directed toward developing workable presentational skills, the ability to discern the necessary speech type, understanding the link between the topic at hand and the audience, learning the process of crafting speeches, lending support to major claims, and implementing persuasive strategies that can affect audiences most effectively.
Note: By paying significantly discounted tuition to Syracuse University, students can earn three college credits to be applied to their college degree requirements or as transfer credit with an official Syracuse University transcript
Theatre Arts 1
Course Number: 0862
Length: 1 semester
Credit: 1/2 credit
This course is a performance workshop that focuses on the fundamentals of acting. Basic performance strategies of blocking, character development, working with props, utilizing voice and physicality are prioritized. Performances may include monologues, short plays, pantomimes, and improvisation scenes. This is an excellent course for beginners and experienced performers alike.
Theatre Arts 2
Course Number: 0863
Length: 1 semester
Credit: 1/2 credit
This course builds on the fundamentals learned in Theater Arts 1, and enables students to engage with more challenging performance roles and situations. Opportunities for script writing and directing scenes are afforded as appropriate. Experience working ‘behind the scenes’ is an added possibility.
Advanced Theatre Arts
Course Number: 0864
Length: 1 semester
Credit: 1/2 credit
This course builds on the fundamentals learned in Theater Arts 1 & 2, and enables students to engage with more challenging performance roles and situations. Opportunities for script writing and directing scenes are afforded as appropriate. Experience working ‘behind the scenes’ is an added possibility.
Reading Films 1
Course Number: 0845
Length: 1 semester
Credit: 1/2 credit
Requirement: Parental permission is required for this course as “R”-rated films are included in the viewing list.
This course is a genre-based approach to studying film as the primary text. The focus is on identifying the conventions of each genre (Gangster, Horror, Drama, Animated, War, etc.) and analyzing cinematic techniques and the meaning they create. Class time is primarily spent on screening films and seminar-style class discussions.
Reading Films 2
Course Number: 0846
Length: 1 semester
Credit: 1/2 credit
Requirement: Parental permission is required for this course as “R”-rated films are included in the viewing list.
Prerequisite: Reading Films 1
This course examines the filmography of influential film directors, such as Hitchcock, Scorsese, Eastwood, Lee, Bigelow, and others. Utilizing an understanding of basic cinematic techniques learned in Reading Films 1, students analyze how the director employs them to create meaning and develop her personal creative vision. The signature style of each director is identified and analyzed to appreciate how she might qualify as the “author” of her own artwork under auteur theory. Class time is primarily spent on screening films and seminar-style class discussions.
Advanced Reading Films
Course Number: 0847
Length: 1 semester
Credit: 1/2 credit
Requirement: Parental permission is required for this course as “R”-rated films are included in the viewing list.
Prerequisite: Reading Films 1 & 2
Building on genre, auteur, and cinematic concepts from Reading Films I & II, films are analyzed through various critical lenses, including archetypal, feminist, Marxist, historical, and psychoanalytical theory, to peel back the layers of meaning in a rich film text. Class time is primarily spent on screening films and seminar-style class discussions.
Creative Writing
Course Number: 0860
Length: 1 semester
Credit: 1/2 credit
Final Assessment: Final portfolio of published work*
Many students miss having time to write. Between their studies, extracurricular activities, work and other obligations, there just seems to be no time. Creative Writing class gives students back that time. This course allows students to improve their creative writing skills through consistent, monitored practice, peer response and teacher conferences. The majority of each class is devoted to focus on individual writing. While a number of short lessons in various genres, forms, and techniques are offered, each student negotiates his or her own writing objectives with the teacher.
Note: A final portfolio of publishable work is compiled at the end of the semester showcasing the student’s best work and providing reflection and analysis of his or her own growth as a writer.
Advanced Creative Writing
Course Number: 0861
Length: 1 semester
Credit: 1/2 credit
Final Assessment: Final portfolio of published work*
Prerequisite: 1 semester of Creative Writing
Students who have completed a semester of Creative Writing are eligible to enroll in Advanced Creative Writing. While advancing and refining their own writing craft, students will also open their work to thoughtful, helpful, and constructive critiques within the class. Reading as a key component of writing practice is also emphasized as students will keep a writer’s reading log, looking closely at the style and craft of writers they admire.
Note: *A final course portfolio of publishable work serves as a final assessment in the course.
Pop Culture & Psychology
Course Number: 0857
Length: 1 semester
Credit: 1/2 credit
This course applies the work of Freud, Lacan, Klein, Jung, Adler, Ainsworth, and other influential scholars of psychology to popular cultural stories (print, TV, film, comics, graphic novels, etc.). Topics may include, but not be limited to, dreams, the conscious and subconscious minds, the ID, ego, and superego, defense mechanisms, the collective unconscious, memory, behaviors, psychological complexes and disorders, PTSD and identity construction. These concepts will be applied to the conflicts, characters, and composers of pop culture stories, such as Harry Potter, Batman, The Big Bang Theory, Dexter, and beyond.