High school courses

English II uses the hero’s journey to explore world literature from ancient to modern times. Students will practice literary analysis and composition and learn about essential grammar and literary concepts. Finally, students will learn narrative & research writing concepts.

Grammar is the system and structure of a language, the governing force. It gives the users of that language rules, patterns, and guidelines to help them communicate effectively. Elements of Grammar will explore the important aspects of English language grammar. The course will begin by examining single words and build to developing varied and complex sentences.

Take an epic journey to refine your reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills. You will dive into literary and informational texts to discover the tools authors use to achieve their purpose and voyage through classic and contemporary works to reach new limits of comprehension.

In this course, students engage with fiction narrative as both readers and writers. Students learn about key elements of fiction including plot, theme, character, dialogue, setting, tone, and sensory language. Students analyze stories for these elements and create short written pieces of their own. Introduction to Fiction culminates with the development of a story outline that can later be transformed into a full-length story. 

Film and television is an increasingly relevant way to experience storytelling and its lessons in modern culture. Film and television communicate meaning differently than written text, and their realm is a  world of rich visual language. This form of storytelling is just as worthy of analysis as traditional literature. Cinema as Literature will examine the elements of visual language and how filmmakers use them to translate traditional literary devices.

Students read and respond to works of British literature that reflect the importance of historical and cultural context. They choose a piece of literature from seven different eras in British history and complete a project to show their understanding of that literature. Through these projects, students find patterns and common themes, examine structure, and analyze the use of literary elements and devices.

Students learn the characteristics of argumentative writing and how to build a resonable, logical argument. They analyze written arguments and speeches and write an argumentative research essay on the topic of their choice. This course emphasizes structure, evidence, and rhetoric in building an argument. It also emphasizes the importance of research, focusing on evaluating and properly citing sources.