Course Theme: The Individual in Conflict: Conscience, Cause, and Corruption
In this accelerated version of the English 10 course, students further explore the world of literary characters who face difficult personal, moral, spiritual, psychological, and religious choices, often perceived as “outsiders” as a result of their heroic feats or tragic flaws. Through works such as William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Reginald Rose’s Twelve Angry Men, J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye, along with a book of a student’s choice and other supplementary nonfiction works, students read and analyze several challenging pieces of literature and engage in writing for literary analysis and interpretation. Attention to a writer's craft, tone, and style complements the students’ ability to produce critical essays that interpret, evaluate, analyze, argue, and synthesize. In addition to text-appropriate vocabulary, students read for context clues and for the nuances of a writer's diction in both fiction and nonfiction. In preparation for the ELA Common Core Regents exam in the junior year, students read closely and critically and produce text-based arguments and analyses in addition to writing from a variety of perspectives. In preparation for the SAT and ACT, students are regularly assessed with standardized reading comprehension quizzes, and each month, students review and are assessed on a different grammar and writing topic that appears on these exams.
**Admission to this course is based on: 1) approval of the English Department, 2) an overall 93% average in English 9 or 90% in English 9(H), 3) an English 9/9H midterm and final score of at least 80%, 4) the student’s conduct which is appropriate for an intensive reading and writing course, and 5) an evaluation of the student’s formal writings from freshman year.**