Students grow as readers, writers, and thinkers in this middle school course. With engaging literary and informational texts, students learn to think critically, analyze an author's language, and cite evidence to support ideas. Students complete an in-depth study of Jack London's classic novel White Fang and read excerpts from other stories, poetry, and nonfiction. Explicit modeling and ample opportunities for practice help students sharpen their vocabulary, grammar, and listening skills. Students also respond routinely to texts they have read. In extensive, process-based writing lessons, students write topical essays in narrative, informative, analytical, and argumentative formats. In this full-year course, students develop a mastery of reading, writing, and language arts skills. (In addition to the course description below, students taking this course must exhibit strong writing skills, have excellent reading comprehension, and be self-motivated in completing class work. The Challenge 7th Grade E/LA class may move at a faster pace and include additional novels to be read independently by the student.)

This course is for students who have qualified for placement in the EAP program in elementary school or through the NSD highly capable screening and testing process. This is not a self-select course; students will be individually scheduled for this course. Using Advanced Placement (AP) strategies, students are taught to analyze complex fiction and nonfiction from a variety of genres. 7th graders stretch their composition skills by responding to analytical writing prompts. Students actively participate in text-based discussions and study vocabulary to expand their writing, reading, and speaking skills.

In this course, students build on their knowledge and blossom as thoughtful readers and clear, effective writers. A balance of literary and informational texts engage students throughout the course in reading critically, analyzing texts, and citing evidence to support claims. Students sharpen their vocabulary, grammar, and listening skills through lessons designed to provide explicit modeling and ample opportunities to practice. Students also routinely write responses to texts they have read, and use more extensive, process-based lessons to produce full-length essays in narrative, informative, analytical, and argumentative formats. In this full-year course, students develop a mastery of reading, writing, and language arts skills. (In addition to the course description below, students taking this course must exhibit strong writing skills, have excellent reading comprehension, and be self-motivated in completing class work. The Challenge 8th Grade E/LA class may move at a faster pace.)

This course is for students who have qualified for placement in the EAP program in elementary school or through the NSD highly capable screening and testing process. This is not a self-select course; students will be individually scheduled for this course. This course builds upon previous learning of the Common Core State English/Language Arts (E/LA) Standards, prepares students for the Smarter Balanced State Assessments, and establishes the skills necessary for a successful progression of learning for advanced level E/LA course work. The 8th grade E/LA curriculum extends the development of reading, composition, and speaking skills. Using Advanced Placement (AP) strategies, students are taught to analyze complex fiction and nonfiction from a variety of genres, including longer literary study of novels and a Shakespearean play, and includes a selection of novels students can choose for independent reading. The curriculum includes composition skills responding to analytical writing prompts. Students actively participate in text-based class discussions and study vocabulary to enhance their writing, reading, and speaking skills.

This freshman-year English course engages students in literary analysis and inferential evaluation of great texts both classic and contemporary. While critically reading fiction, poetry, drama, and literary nonfiction, students will master comprehension and literary-analysis strategies. Interwoven in the lessons across two semesters are activities that encourage students to strengthen their oral language skills and produce clear, coherent writing. Students will read a range of classic texts including Homer's The Odyssey, Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, and Richard Connell's "The Most Dangerous Game." They will also study short but complex texts, including influential speeches by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Ronald Reagan. Contemporary texts by Richard Preston, Julia Alvarez, and Maya Angelou round out the course.

This freshman honors English course invites students to explore a variety of diverse and complex texts organized into thematic units. Students will engage in literary analysis and inferential evaluation of great texts, both classic and contemporary. While critically reading fiction, poetry, drama, and literary nonfiction, honors students will master comprehension, use evidence to conduct in-depth literary analysis, and examine and critique how authors develop ideas in a variety of genres. Interwoven throughout the lessons are activities that encourage students to strengthen their oral language skills, research and critically analyze sources of information, and produce clear, coherent writing. In addition to activities offered to students in core courses, honors students are given additional opportunities to create and to participate in project-based learning activities, including writing a Shakespearian sonnet and creating an original interpretation of a Shakespearian play. Honors students will read a range of classic texts, including Homer's The Odyssey, Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Jack London's "To Build a Fire" and Richard Connell's "The Most Dangerous Game." Students will also read Sue Macy's full length nonfiction work Wheels of Change: How Women Rode the Bicycle to Freedom (With a Few Flat Tires Along the Way), and will study a variety of short but complex texts, including influential speeches by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Ronald Reagan. Contemporary texts by Richard Preston, Julia Alvarez, and Maya Angelou round out the course.

Focused on application, this sophomore English course reinforces literary analysis and twenty-first century skills with superb pieces of literature and literary nonfiction, application e-resources, and educational interactives. Each thematic unit focuses on specific literary analysis skills and allows students to apply them to a range of genres and text structures. As these units meld modeling and application, they also expand on training in media literacy, twenty-first century career skills, and the essentials of grammar and vocabulary. Under the guidance of the writing software, students also compose descriptive, persuasive, expository, literary analysis, research, narrative, and compare-contrast essays.

This sophomore-year English course invites students to explore a diverse selection of world literature organized into thematic units. While critically reading fiction, poetry, drama, and expository nonfiction, students learn essential reading comprehension strategies and engage in literary analysis and evaluation of both classic and contemporary works. Interwoven in the lessons across two semesters are activities that encourage students to strengthen their listening and speaking skills and produce clear, coherent writing. Throughout the course, students read a range of classic and contemporary literary texts including William Shakespeare's The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House, George Orwell's Animal Farm, and Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis. In addition to reading a wide range of literary texts, students read and analyze complex informational and argumentative texts including Sonia Sotomayor's "A Latina Judge's Voice," Niccolò Machiavelli's The Prince, and the contemporary informational text Sugar Changed the World: A Story of Magic, Spice, Slavery, Freedom, and Science.

This junior-year English course invites students to delve into American literature from early Indigenous voices through contemporary works. Students engage in literary analysis and inferential evaluation of great texts as the centerpieces of this course. While critically reading fiction, poetry, drama, and expository nonfiction, students master comprehension and literary analysis strategies. Interwoven in the lessons across two semesters are tasks that encourage students to strengthen their oral language skills and produce creative, coherent writing. Students read a range of short but complex texts, including works by Ralph Waldo Emerson, Emily Dickinson, Herman Melville, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Martin Luther King, Jr., F. Scott Fitzgerald, Sandra Cisneros, Amy Tan, and Dave Eggers.

This senior-level English course offers fascinating insight into British literary traditions spanning from Anglo-Saxon writing to the modern period. With interactive introductions and historical contexts, this full-year course connects philosophical, political, religious, ethical, and social influences of each time period to the works of many notable authors, including Chaucer, William Shakespeare, Queen Elizabeth I, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, and Virginia Woolf. Adding an extra dimension to the British literary experience, this course also exposes students to world literature, including works from India, Europe, China, and Spain.

In this introductory college-level course designed to prepare students for the Advanced Placement exam, students advance their understanding of rhetoric and writing through the reading, analyzing, and writing of rhetorical texts. Throughout the course, students explore the basic tenets of writing and argumentation, such as rhetorical situation, claims and evidence, reasoning and organization, and style. Students will read and analyze a variety of nonfiction genres, including essays, journalism articles, political writings, science writings, nature writings, autobiographies, biographies, diaries, speeches, history writings, and criticisms from multiple perspectives and backgrounds. The primary focus is on writing evidence-based analytical, synthesis, and argumentative essays and analyzing the rhetorical choices of a wide range of nonfiction writers. In addition to explicit instruction and a variety of independent and collaborative learning opportunities, the course offers specific exam preparation lessons and practice.

In this introductory college-level course designed to prepare students for the Advanced Placement exam, students develop the fundamentals of literary analysis and introductory college compositions. The course focuses on analyzing, evaluating, and interpreting literary fiction, poetry, and drama from a range of literary periods, authors, and perspectives. The diverse canon allows students to explore the function of character, setting, structure, narrator, and figurative language. Through a wide range of instruction and collaborative writing activities, students articulate their interpretation of literature through writing. The course includes exam preparation and practice that anticipates common student misconceptions.