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The English Department is committed to developing and enhancing our students’ ability to think critically and express themselves effectively. The critical and aesthetic examination and analysis of classic and contemporary literature serve as a context for students’ development as critical thinkers and writers with their own creative voice. All students must complete four years of English. The English Language Arts (ELA) Regents examination is generally taken after the junior year, but English honors students do so after the sophomore year (i.e. English 4H).
Close textual reading, process writing, and critical thinking skills drive the curriculum. A balanced literacy approach is also utilized.
The ELA curriculum includes the following components each term:
- Studying three or four major works (novels, dramas, and memoirs) in addition to short stories, poetry, and non-fiction essays.
- Producing a variety of writing products, including: reading responses, expository essays, reflective essays, literary essays, research papers, poetry, monologues, and dialogues.
- Writing a minimum of three essays, two specifically written in class to give students practice writing an organized, thoughtful essay in a forty-minute period of time.
- Building vocabulary, with a minimum of 100 new words pulled from the texts studied.
- Employing literary terms, with a minimum of 5-10 specific terms assigned each term according to grade level to ensure the scaffolding of skills and knowledge.
- Employing grammar devices, with a minimum of 5-10 specific devices assigned each term according to grade level to ensure the scaffolding of skills and knowledge.
- Mastering specific skills needed for success on the ELA Regents including modeling of essay prompts. Skills covered include: listening, reading and producing reports, reading graph material, comparing/contrasting two pieces of literature, interpreting a critical lens, and firmly taking a position or point of view in writing an essay.
- Utilizing skills needed for success on the SAT 2400; models of the SAT essay prompts are utilized to help students prepare for the writing portion of the exam.
Course Offerings
Grade 9
English 1 and 2 - The grammar and composition component is focused on the study of grammar components, literary texts, vocabulary, and other related skills with the main objective to hone written and verbal communication. Types of writing produced include: reading responses, reflective essays, personal narratives, literary essays, and creative assignments. Literature studied includes: plays by Sophocles, Shakespeare, and Wilson; novels by Salinger, Kingsolver, and Morrison; and a variety of non-fiction essays, short stories, myths, and poems.
English 1 Honors and English 2 Honors - Freshman Honors follows the freshman English curriculum at an accelerated pace with higher expectations and more required independent reading and writing.
Reading Workshop - A supplementary English course for students who need to build literacy skills. The course follows the workshop model and supports student reading and writing across the disciplines. Class size is reduced.
Grade 10
English 3 and 4 - American literature is the focus of the sophomore curriculum with a theme that explores what it means to be American, the role of literature in shaping the American identity, and the power of the American dream. Students are exposed to research skills and develop deeper analytic thinking and writing skills. In addition to analytic literary essays, students produce reading responses and creative assignments. Literature studied includes: plays by Miller and Williams; novels by Hawthorne, Chopin, Twain, Wharton, James, Hurston, Wright, Fitzgerald, Steinbeck, and Ellison; and a variety of poems.
English 3 Honors and English 4 Honors - Sophomore Honors follows the sophomore English curriculum at an accelerated pace with higher expectations and more required independent reading and writing. Students are also prepared for the ELA Regents exam in June.
Writing Workshop - This course is designed to assist students who have demonstrated writing challenges and need to focus on writing skills. Students read literature, but the emphasis of the course is on improving writing skills. Writing in the computer lab is scheduled weekly, and students work on the various tasks and skills required on the ELA Regents.
Grade 11
English 5 and 6 - British literature is the focus of the junior curriculum, with a heavy emphasis on works by William Shakespeare. Students continue their progress as critical readers, writers, and thinkers. The stress is on writing analytic literary essays, but students also practice expository and persuasive strategies in preparation for the ELA Regents. In addition to Shakespeare’s tragedies and comedies, students read works by Chaucer, Swift, Austen, Emily and Charlotte Bronte, Dickens, Hardy, Joyce, Wilde, Woolf, Huxley, Orwell, and various poets.
English Literature Honors 5 and 6 - This course follows the junior year English literature curriculum at an accelerated pace with higher expectations and more required independent reading and writing.
English Language and Composition, Advanced Placement - This course engages students in becoming skilled readers of non-fiction essays and texts from a variety of periods, disciplines, and rhetorical contexts, and in becoming skilled writers for a variety of purposes. Students are prepared for the AP Language and Composition exam. The course also incorporates some of the British literature covered in the junior year curriculum.
Writing Workshop - This course is designed to assist students who have demonstrated writing challenges and need to focus on writing skills. Students read literature, but the emphasis of the course is on improving writing skills. Writing in the computer lab is scheduled weekly, and students work on the various tasks and skills required on the ELA Regents.
Grade 12
English 7 - World literature is the focus of the senior fall term and covers literature from all continents, including writers like Aristotle, Sophocles, Flaubert, Marquez, Dostoyevsky, Ibsen, Saikaku, Kafka, Sartre, Hesse, Allende, and Yoshimoto. Students work on their college application essay, write a research paper, and produce comparative literary essays.
English 8 - The spring term offers seniors a variety of electives, inlcuding: Asian Literature, Black Literature, Creative Writing, Film and Literature. In each course, students are required to make formal presentations, write analytic and creative essays, and read a book independently in preparation for collaborative work in book groups.
Creative Writing Honors - This course is designed to hone students’ creative voices while they study different genres and styles. Students produce a portfolio of creative poetry, essays, and short stories. Students in the class are also involved in writing for and helping produce the school’s literary magazine, The Lively Arts. In addition to creative writing, students work on the college application essay and the analytic literary essay.
English Literature and Composition, Advanced Placement - This course involves close and critical reading of outstanding works of literature from ancient to present times. Students analyze the writers’ craft and use of language to both better appreciate literature and to prepare for the AP examination. Literature studied includes work by Aristotle, Shakespeare, Balzac, Ibsen, Shaw, Joyce, Kafka, Hesse, Faulkner, Hemingway, and Marquez, and poets like Donne, Keats, Eliot, and Plath. Students also work on their college application essay, write an extensive research paper, and produce a variety of analytic literary essays.
Writing Workshop - This course is designed to assist students who have demonstrated writing challenges and need to focus on writing skills. Students read literature, but the emphasis of the course is on improving writing skills. Writing in the computer lab is scheduled weekly, and students work on the various tasks and skills required on the ELA Regents.
Journalism: Theory and Practice - This one-semester elective course is available to seniors interested in studying journalism and writing for and helping produce the school newspaper, State of the Arts. In addition to reading from The New York Times daily to be current with the “news,” students explore different concepts in regard to the history and purpose of journalism and study one to two major pieces of literature.
Library and Media Center
The Library is open to all members of the school community throughout the day. Students are welcome whenever they have no scheduled class, providing they present their program card or official school pass. Students may borrow circulating materials using their school photo identification card.
The Library has a large collection separated into various areas: Art, Music, Dance, Drama, cds, and videos. In addition, there is an assortment of material related to literature and the social sciences that support the curricula. Numerous databases (accessible at school and home) are available to students as well. As students attending a New York City public high school, LaGuardia students are entitled to a New York City Public Library card -- which gives them borrowing privileges and access to hundreds of additional database resources.
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