English

This course provides rigorous and challenging experiences for the student in the areas of critical reading, critical thinking, effective discussion, note-taking, essay test-taking, expository writing and research. The core of the curriculum is a chronological or thematic study of American literature, its literary periods, and major writings. Outside reading focuses on broader philosophical ideas, and encourages a wider range of reading including classics and contemporary works by American authors.

Core Works

The Crucible by Arthur Miller
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

Additional Texts May Include

The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass, The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold, Black Boy by Richard Wright, works by Edgar Allan Poe or The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

This course is an intensive study of American literature designed for students who desire further challenge in literature and writing, and who are prepared to accept the responsibilities of that challenge. This challenge includes reading at a faster pace, sometimes reading two works at a time, and a deeper probing of a text through literary analysis. Like the American Literature course, the honors course is a chronological or thematic study of American literature, its literary periods, and its major writers; however, the honors course will include more extensive reading, writing (both timed and process essays) and analytical thinking. Furthermore, students in the honors program are expected to invest significantly more academic energy into the course and to work more independently than students taking American Literature and Writing.

Core Works

The Crucible by Arthur Miller
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass
Black Boy by Richard Wright
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald                                                                                                                                         

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

Additional Texts May Include

The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien, The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold, poems and stories by Edgar Allan Poe or The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

AP Language and Composition is one of the options for English classes at the 11th grade level. Known as APLaC, this course is designed to develop and challenge students' writing skills. It is an AP-level course and demands more time, energy, focus and thought than most other classes. Writing is as much an art as a skill, and it will be through dedicated practice and close attention that students will improve and achieve.

American Focus

The 11th grade is focused on the American tradition of writing. APLaC will remain grounded in the American tradition, but will also branch out to see a world-wide perspective on rhetoric and communication.
 
Students will read core, canonical texts that their fellow juniors in other 11th grade English classes will read so that they will be ensured a common, basic experience for future grade levels. This includes one book for summer reading before the fall semester.

Skills Addressed

• Summarizing: a critical way of demonstrating understanding of a key text
• Synthesizing: connecting ideas from multiple sources
• Analyzing: evaluate claims, be aware of counter arguments, and apply them to your own writing
• Organizing: understand how texts are put together, and how to create your own texts

Texts

The basis of the course will be numerous non-fiction texts including:

• The Narrative of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave by Frederick Douglass
• The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck 
• Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger
• The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (summer reading)

This course description of Expository Reading and Writing is one option available to students for 12th grade English. Known as ERWC, this course was created by the California State University system to help prepare students for the reading and writing demands of college. 

Goals

This course is designed to help students achieve the following goals:

• Have the ability to understand high-level expository texts.
• Meet the standards of the English Placement Test
• Communicate ideas clearly through written media.
• Have the knowledge and skills to be able to pass the AP Language and Composition Test
• Meet the expectations of college and university faculty
• Meet the California English-Language Arts Content Standards
• Develop literacy skills critical to lifelong participation in the worlds of work and community

Skills Addressed

• Summarizing – a critical way of demonstrating understanding of a key text
• Synthesizing – connecting ideas from multiple sources
• Analyzing – evaluate claims and be aware of counter arguments and apply them to your own writing
• Organizing – understand how texts are put together, and how to create your own texts

Core Texts

• Numerous non-fiction articles and book excerpts
• Into the Wild by John Krakauer 
• Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

This course presents students with new ways to view multiple literary genres including, but not limited to, drama, speech, multimedia text, expository text, and the novel. Students will analyze and evaluate their world through the lenses of the texts they read and write about during this course. They will become more critical consumers of the written and spoken word through an ongoing examination of FUHSD Course Selection Guide 2022-23 Page 21 how an author manipulates a text's structure and syntax to illustrate a point. Students will explore themes of personal reflection and the human condition through expository and literary essays, creative non-fiction, persuasive speeches, and class discussions. Students will complete a senior thesis, which involves extensive, in-depth research on an individual topic and interaction with members of the community.

Course Objectives

In this course, students will:

• Analyze and evaluate the world around them through multiple lenses and perspectives.
• Investigate the human condition through essays, fiction, drama, poetry, speeches, and discussions.
• Refine their skills as a sophisticated reader, writer, and thinker.
• Reflect on who they are and who they want to be.

Core Texts

Students will engage with, at minimum, the following texts:

• The Stranger by Albert Camus
• Hamlet by William Shakespeare
• The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
• Assorted informational texts, poems, speeches and short stories

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