English for Speakers of Other Languages I
Objectives and expectations are identical to those of English I. Emphasis is placed on vocabulary expansion, written and oral communication, reading comprehension and attentive listening. This course is designed to accelerate the non-English speaking student’s social and academic English language acquisition. Course content is adapted and scaffolded as appropriate for student language proficiency levels. End of Course (EOC) tested. This course is designed for beginning to intermediate English-speaking students.
Prerequisites: Concurrent enrollment in English Language Development and Acquisition I (ELDA 1222)
English Language Development and Acquisition I
The course will provide instructional opportunities for recent immigrant students with limited English proficiency. Through comprehensible input, students will accelerate second language acquisition and will be challenged to apply higher order thinking skills in all four language domains. Emphasis is placed on word recognition, vocabulary, comprehension strategies and fluency in order to provide students opportunities to listen, speak, read, and write with confidence. This course must be taken concurrently with a corequisite language arts course. This course is designed for beginning to intermediate English-speaking students with less than 3 years in the US.
Prerequisites: Concurrent enrollment in English for Speakers of Other Languages I (ESOL I) or English language arts course
English for Speakers of Other Languages II
Objectives and expectations are identical to those of English II. Emphasis is placed on vocabulary expansion, written and oral communication, reading comprehension and attentive listening. This course is designed to accelerate the non- English speaking student’s social and academic English language acquisition. Course content is adapted and scaffolded as appropriate for student language proficiency levels. End of Course (EOC) tested. This ESOL course is designed for beginning to intermediate English-speaking students.
Prerequisites: Concurrent enrollment in English Language Development and Acquisition II (ELDA 1223)
English Language Development and Acquisition II
The course will provide instructional opportunities for recent immigrant students with limited English proficiency. Through comprehensible input, students will accelerate second language acquisition and will be challenged to apply higher order thinking skills in all four language domains. Emphasis is placed on word recognition, vocabulary, comprehension strategies and fluency in order to provide students opportunities to listen, speak, read, and write with confidence. This course must be taken concurrently with a co-requisite language arts course. This course is designed for beginning to intermediate English-speaking students with less than 3 years in the US.
Prerequisites: Concurrent enrollment in English for Speakers of Other Languages II (ESOL II) or English language arts course
English I Regular
This course requires students to read and deeply analyze a wide variety of genres including fiction, poetry, drama, and non-fiction texts including informational and argumentative as well as digital/multi-modal texts. Students will utilize their understanding of genres read and the best examples of the author’s craft to generate written texts of their own in individual and group situations through a writing process that involves planning, drafting, revising, and editing. Students will work collaboratively and independently and use listening, speaking reading, writing, and thinking skills to answer text-dependent questions and master TEA grade-level ELAR (and ELPS) standards. STAAR End of Course (EOC) tested.
Prerequisites: English Language Arts & Reading 8
Reading I, II & III
These courses are designed to help students become more skillful readers. Emphasis is placed on reading strategies which enhance reading skills and reading comprehension, vocabulary development, skills for standardized testing, and an appreciation for reading all types of texts. (A special section is set aside for students identified as dyslexic. Students can only be placed into this section at parent request and counselor approval.) Some instruction is individualized and students may enter either semester for a half-year or full-year program. A maximum of three credits in reading will apply toward graduation.
Prerequisites: No prerequisite for the first level of the program however, students must progress through levels sequentially
College Readiness and Study Skills
This one-semester course is an SAT preparation course that emphasizes vocabulary development, writing skills, and
comprehension skills needed to excel on the SAT. The curriculum also provides practice in improving reading rate,
reading flexibility, and study skills needed for college success.
Prerequisites: None
PRE-AP ENGLISH 1
Pre-AP English I focuses on reading, writing, and language skills that are relevant to students’ current work and essential for students’ future to future high school and college coursework. Texts take center stage, preparing students for close, critical reading and analytical writing. The course trains readers to observe small details in a text to arrive at a deeper understanding of the whole. It also trains writers to create complex sentences—building this foundational skill to navigate future sophisticated, longer-form analyses. The Pre-AP English areas of focus are vertically aligned to the practices embedded in high school and college English courses, including AP. This gives students multiple opportunities to prioritize and strengthen key literacy skills throughout their course of study with reading closely, valuing experience, and noticing language choices.
Prerequisites: None
English II Regular
This course requires students to read and deeply analyze a wide variety of genres including fiction, poetry, drama, and non-fiction texts including informational and argumentative as well as digital/multi-modal texts. Students will utilize their understanding of genres read and the best examples of the author’s craft to generate written texts of their own in individual and group situations through a writing process that involves planning, drafting, revising, and editing. Students will work collaboratively and independently and use listening, speaking reading, writing, and thinking skills to answer text-dependent questions and master TEA grade-level ELAR (and ELPS) standards. STAAR End of Course (EOC) tested.
Prerequisites: English I
PRE-AP ENGLISH II
Pre-AP English II builds on the foundations of Pre-AP English I. While English I introduces the fundamentals of close observation, critical analysis, and the appreciation of author’s craft, English II requires students to apply those practices to a new array of nonfiction and literary texts.
As readers, students become aware of how poets, playwrights, novelists, and writers of nonfiction manipulate language to serve their purposes. As writers, students compose more nuanced analytical essays while never losing sight of craft and cohesion. The Pre-AP English areas of focus are vertically aligned to the practices embedded in high school and college English courses, including AP. This gives students multiple opportunities to prioritize and strengthen key literacy skills throughout their course of study with reading closely, valuing experience, and noticing language choices.
Prerequisites: English I
English III Regular
This course requires students to read and deeply analyze a wide variety of genres including fiction, poetry, drama, and non-fiction texts including informational and argumentative as well as digital/multi-modal texts. Students will utilize their understanding of genres read and the best examples of the author’s craft in a variety of genres to generate written texts of their own with a growing emphasis on critical text analysis. This will occur in individual and group situations through a writing process that involves planning, drafting, revising, and editing. Students will work collaboratively and independently and use listening, speaking reading, writing, and thinking skills to answer text-dependent questions and master TEA grade-level ELAR (and ELPS) standards.
Prerequisites: English II
Advanced Placement English Language and Composition
This course, which focuses on rhetoric, challenges advanced students to complete college preparatory work by integrating units according to chronology, genre, and theme in American Literature and by utilizing those writing skills necessary to respond to literary and nonfiction works extemporaneously. The necessary components of grammar, persuasion, and argumentation needed for success in college are reviewed. Application of abstract and analytical thinking skills, advanced vocabulary, and research skills are stressed. After completing this course, students are encouraged to take the Advanced Placement English Language and Composition exam.
Prerequisites: English II
OnRamps Rhetoric
This two-semester, six college-credit writing intensive sequence features a fall semester course in argumentation, which is essential to leadership communication skills. It is followed by a spring semester topics course, which furthers students’ writing in their application of rhetorical skill by analyzing texts related to American identities. Over the two courses, students will research and analyze the various positions held in any public debate and learn to advocate their own positions effectively through a process of drafts and revisions. In the fall, students will explore the ethics of argumentation and what it means to fairly represent someone with whom they disagree. By the spring, students are ready to analyze arguments presented by others, research a topic of their own, and craft sound and effective arguments. Across these two courses, students will develop their skills and knowledge to write four- to six-page essays and read non-fiction text aligned to college expectations for critical writing, reading, research, and analysis. Successful completion of this course earns 6 hours (3 hours each semester) of college credit for UT courses RHE 306+RHE 309 or ENGL 1301+ENGL 1302 and high school credit for English III or English IV if a student already has earned an English III credit.
Prerequisites: English II
IB English III HL (Year One)
This course will fulfill the International Baccalaureate (IB) curriculum requirements for Group 1 Language A. This rigorous pre-university program will draw from the literary heritage of English in addition to offering the international perspective of world literature. Students will read works selected from IB recommended reading lists and will demonstrate oral and written competencies based on IB standards. This course will fulfill the Texas graduation requirements for English III. This course must be followed by IB English IV Higher level (HL) in the senior year.
Prerequisites: Enrolled in the IB Program, English II
IB English III Language and Literature HL (Year One)
This course will fulfill the International Baccalaureate (IB) curriculum requirements for Group 1 Language A. The English Language and Literature course aims to develop students’ appreciation and use of the English language through the study of literature, as well as non-fiction texts. Students develop their reading, writing, and speaking abilities in a variety of contexts, focusing in particular on the language of the texts they study to become aware of the role of each text’s wider context in shaping its meaning. Texts are chosen from a variety of sources, genres and media. The course is designed to be flexible – teachers have the opportunity to construct it in a way that reflects the interests and concerns that are relevant to their students while developing in students a range of transferable skills. This course will fulfill the Texas graduation requirements for English III and must be followed by IB English IV Higher Level (HL) in the senior year.
Prerequisites: English II
English IV Regular
This course requires students to read and deeply analyze a wide variety of genres including fiction, poetry, drama, and non-fiction texts including informational and argumentative as well as digital/multi-modal texts. Students will utilize their understanding of genres read and the best examples of the author’s craft in a variety of genres to generate written texts of their own with a growing emphasis on critical text analysis. This will occur in individual and group situations through a writing process that involves planning, drafting, revising, and editing. Students will work collaboratively and independently and use listening, speaking reading, writing, and thinking skills to answer text-dependent questions and master TEA grade-level ELAR (and ELPS) standards.
Prerequisites: English III
Advanced Placement English Literature and Composition
This advanced, college-level course is a chronological study of world and European literature presented from college-level texts. Through analytical, oral, and written examinations of poetry, essays, short stories, drama, and the novel, the student explores the nature of society. After completing this course, students are encouraged to take the Advanced Placement English Literature and Composition exam given by the College Board.
Prerequisites: Application Required
IB English IV Literature HL (Year Two)
This course is a continuation of IB English III and will fulfill the International Baccalaureate (IB) requirements for
Group 1 Language A HL. Students will continue to improve their proficiency in literary analysis and oral and written
communication. This course will fulfill the Texas graduation requirements for English IV.
Prerequisites: IB English III
IB English IV Language and Literature (Year Two)
This course is a continuation of IB English III and will fulfill the International Baccalaureate (IB) requirements for Group 1 Language A HL. Students will continue to improve their proficiency in literary analysis and oral and written communication. This course will fulfill the Texas graduation requirements for English IV.
Prerequisites: IB English III
Theory of Knowledge
This course will fulfill the International Baccalaureate (IB) curriculum requirements for Theory of Knowledge. This course challenges students to reflect critically on diverse ways of knowing and areas of knowledge, and to consider the role which knowledge plays in the global society. This course is meant to encourage students to become aware of themselves as thinkers, to become aware of the complexity of knowledge, and to recognize the need to act responsibly in an increasingly interconnected world. This course is taken the spring of the junior year and the fall of the senior year. This course is required for the IB Diploma.
Prerequisites: Enrolled in the IB Program
Humanities
This course concentrates on exposing the student to the creative achievements in literature, art, architecture, music
and philosophy (LAMP) throughout Western Civilization. Critical thinking skills are developed through analysis of the
relationship of these creative forms of expression through reading, written and oral response, class discussion, and
audio/visual presentations. Concert and museum field trips after school will be encouraged.
Prerequisites: None
Literary Genres D: World Literature
This course, a survey of World literature, integrates writing and language concepts and skills as well as literature and reading concepts and skills. This course includes intensive writing instruction and provides the critical thinking, reading, and writing skills necessary for college entrance.
Prerequisites: English III
Literary Genres A: Shakespeare
This is a literature-intensive course aimed at, but not limited to, the college-bound senior. The course offers a comprehensive view of the origins and history of the Elizabethan age, and of the modern English language through a focus on the major literary types of this period, including the ballad, the sonnet, and drama. Extensive study is made of the plots, themes, and other literary devices of selected tragedies and comedies of William Shakespeare, which are read during the semester. Student writing is emphasized through literary analysis of plays.
Prerequisites: English III
Literary Genres C: Philosophy
This course explores the creative ideas that have shaped our culture from the Ancient Greek Pre- Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, to the twentieth-century existentialists. With the core consisting of Western ideas, time will also be devoted to exploring our parallels with Asian and Middle Eastern philosophies. The student’s thinking skills will be sharpened through lecture and dialogue as we examine how our worldview and society have been shaped by great thinkers.
Prerequisites: None
Literary Genres B: Women’s Literary Voices
This course offers an opportunity to read and explore several literary works by and/or about women. The poems, stories, essays, and novels covered in this course provide valuable insights into the changing role of women in literature and offer a sharply focused perspective on what it means to be a contemporary woman.
Prerequisites: English II
Practical Writing Skills
This course is designed to increase the student’s ability to use English effectively in practical situations. It emphasizes sentence structure, grammar, vocabulary, and different forms of oral and written communication needed to function in the business world. The reading assignments are directed toward the need for clear communication.
Prerequisites: English III
Creative / Imaginative Writing
This writing course is designed especially to challenge the imagination and creativity of the student by encouraging
spontaneity of expression by increasing awareness of the power of language, and by refining the individual original
characteristics of language style in such literary types as short stories, poetry and nonfiction writing.
Prerequisites: None
Independent Study: Academic Decathlon
The United States Academic Decathlon® is a ten-event scholastic competition for teams of high school students. Each high school enters a team of nine students: 3 Honor students (3.80 – 4.00 GPA), 3 Scholastic students (3.20 – 3.799 GPA), and 3 Varsity students (0.00 – 3.199 GPA). The theme of study changes each year.
Prerequisites: Teacher approval