English

The English department will occupy a unique leadership position among Maryland’s English programs as a teaching and learning community. Our students will be in demand for their communication and problem-solving skills. 

All high school English course outcomes are aligned to the Maryland Common Core State Curriculum. Students study the elements of literature from varying perspectives, including global and historical. The focus for analysis is how authors use literary elements and language to affect reader response. Grammar and language study help students to achieve greater variety, flexibility, and linguistic accuracy in their communication.

High school English courses are designed for students to critically analyze various types of literature, both fiction and nonfiction. Students will read short stories, novels, poems, dramas, and various informational texts. Your student’s English teacher will require students to use active reading practices to better understand and remember what has been read. These active reading practices reinforce the critical reading skills that have already been developed in middle school.   Students continue to identify and analyze specific choices authors make with content, language, and structure. Students examine these rhetorical choices to emulate the writer’s style in their own writing. Your student will gain a deeper understanding of how literature is the context for learning reading, writing, and language skills. 

Grammar instruction is an integral part of the writing process. Students will understand key grammatical structures and concepts to enhance their writing. Our English teachers understand the importance of teaching grammar within the context of written and oral assignments.

Your student’s English teacher will continue to teach grammar and language usage skills using both direct and embedded approaches. The emphasis is on identification and analysis of grammatical structures within literature and the application of those structures within student written essays. Grammar topics will include form/class/function of words, noun and verb expansion, adverbials, coordination, sentence transformation, compound subject and predicate, subject/verb agreement, plural/possessive, compound sentence, rhetorical grammar, and style.

Your student’s English teacher will continue to use a balanced composition program with both written and oral assignments. While composing, students will brainstorm, plan, draft, edit, revise, and polish their written or oral product. Your student will compose often, for a variety of audiences, and for different purposes. In addition, you can expect your student to receive specific, constructive feedback from his/her teacher and/or peers throughout the composing process. 

Your student will complete various types of essays, including narrative, research, comparison/contrast, descriptive, and persuasive. The topics for these essays are based on the literature studied and discussions held during the course. 

Compositions will be graded using requirement guidelines and rubrics. Teachers will use both teacher-generated scoring tools and county rubrics aligned to writing indicators from the Maryland Common Core State Curriculum.