English

The English Department strives to help every student attain maximum effectiveness as a communicator. This commitment is based on the premise that language is the key that unlocks a student's potential. Through writing, reading, and discussion, the primary focus is to confront the moral foundations evident in classic and contemporary literature. Organizational skills and research techniques are developed through this program.

Students are required to complete four years of an English sequence for graduation. Questions about appropriate leveling should be directed to the Department Chair.  

English I – Regular: 1 Credit

In this introductory English course, students meet for seven periods per week to study the basic structure of the short story, the novel, the Shakespearean drama, and poetry. A strong composition and grammar program begins in this course focusing on the writing process, research techniques, and grammatical structure. Emphasis is placed on understanding diction and syntax. The curriculum includes: The Odyssey, Romeo and Juliet, To Kill a Mockingbird, Fahrenheit 451, Twelve Angry Men, a unit on mythology, a novel by Dickens, a biography, and various short stories and poems.
Homework requirement: 30 minutes per night

Freshman English Seminar: .5 Credit

Prerequisite: Teacher recommendation
This seminar is enrichment for freshmen seeking a more rigorous discussion experience. Students will explore elements of the human condition through a close examination of the author's purpose, writing style, and cultural background. Readings focus on non-fiction texts, such as memoirs, essays, and articles. In addition, one writing assignment will completed each quarter. Freshman Seminar meets once a week.
Homework requirement: 2 hours per week.

English II – Regular: 1 Credit

In this course, the primary focus is on critical analysis and expository writing, which allows students to further develop their own writing skills. The literary emphasis is on world literature including: Antigone, Macbeth, Frankenstein, Annie John, Cyrano de Bergerac, Things Fall Apart, and various short stories and poems.
Homework requirement: 30 minutes per night
 

English II – Honors: 1 Credit

Prerequisite: Teacher recommendation and test scores.
This accelerated class focuses on world and British literature. Students explore questions concerning human nature through studying varying philosophical approaches and developing their own. The writing component emphasizes vocabulary development, expository writing, and literary criticism. Works covered include: Oedipus, Antigone, Beowulf, Dawn, Othello, Gulliver's Travels, Pygmalion, and a novel by Dickens.
Homework requirement: 1 hour per night

Sophomore Seminar: .5 Credits

Prerequisite: Teacher recommendation.
In this seminar, students will examine a wide range of texts paying close attention to the author's reality, style of writing, and historical background. Readings include a Shakespeare text, various short stories, parables and essays. Awareness of diction and syntax is stressed.
Homework requirement: 2 hours per week

English III – Regular: 1 Credit

In this course, students study American literature to gain insight into what it means to be “American.” The first semester focuses on events prior to the Civil War and the second semester continues through the 20th century. Vocabulary and grammar are emphasized, and the writing process focuses on expository essays. Students also study Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice to understand religious persecution and intolerance. Other texts include The Autobiography of Frederick Douglass, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Ethan Frome, Farewell to Manzanar, The Glass Menagerie, and The Bean Trees. In addition, students read various selections from a literature anthology, and study a unit on Jewish American writers.
Homework requirement: 45 minutes per night

English III – Honors: 1 Credit

Prerequisite: Teacher recommendation.
This course focuses on great American writers including Hawthorne, Twain, Lewis, Fitzgerald, Steinbeck, Salinger, and McCullers. In addition, students complete a unit on Jewish American writers. The writing component of this class requires students to write a research paper, which reinforces the skills taught freshman year. Also, students learn how to read and write literary analysis, with special emphasis placed on form and content in writing.  Through small and large group discussions, independent reading, and composition, students enhance their skills in critical thinking, reading comprehension, and writing.
Homework requirement: 1.5 hours per night

Junior and Senior Seminars: .5 Credits

Prerequisite: Teacher recommendation.
These seminars provide students with additional opportunities to read, write and discuss literature. The junior curriculum is aimed at understanding the American experience. These students read documents, speeches, and essays focusing on American persona. Seminar discussions focus on the text and theme. The senior curriculum emphasizes the sometimes controversial concepts in philosophical essays written by a wide variety of authors including Plato, Camus, and Morton. In all seminars, students are expected to write several papers throughout the year. Seminars meet Friday mornings.
Homework requirement: 3 hours per week 

English IV – Regular: 1 Credit

This course is in conjunction with Loyola University, where seniors take Rhetoric 105 at Ida Crown Jewish Academy. On top of earning high school credit, students earn one semester of college credit. This class focuses on rhetorical structures in essays and how they are developed. Students read expository essays written by a variety of authors.

English IV – Honors: 1 Credit

Prerequisite: Teacher recommendation.
This class is intended for the serious college bound student interested in building critical reading and writing skills and in becoming familiar with literary works of great significance and maturity. Close reading and re-reading is emphasized. Two 800-word essays are required as well as an original researched biography. The curriculum includes modern poetry, essays, and short stories, as well as Hamlet, A Doll's House, The Great Gatsby, and Cry, The Beloved Country. Every student gives an oral presentation once per semester.
Homework requirement: 1 hour per night

English IV – Advanced Placement: 1 Credit

Prerequisite: teacher recommendation, appropriate writing sample, and acceptable standardized test scores. Advanced Placement English focuses on developing the types of interpretative skills and writing competencies that prepare students for advanced work at the college level and for the A.P. exam. Selections are drawn from a wide range of historical periods. Students must read widely and reflect on their reading through extensive discussion and writing. Students must assume considerable responsibility for the amount of reading they do outside of class. Authors covered in the past include Wilde, Shakespeare, Dostoyevsky, Ellison, Paton, Faulkner, O'Connor, Eliot, and Maxwell. Each semester two 800-word analytic papers are required. Expository essays, often based on A.P. test questions, are completed weekly in class.
Homework requirement: 1.5 hours per night

AP English Language and Composition: 1 Credit

This course engages students in becoming skilled readers of prose focusing on American literature and in becoming skilled writers who compose for a variety of purposes.  This composition course enables students to read complex texts with understanding and to write prose of sufficient richness and complexity to communicate effectively with mature readers.  The study of language itself –differences between oral and written discourse, formal and informal language, historical changes in speech and writing-becomes the basis for this class.  This course assumes that students already understand and use Standard English grammar.  Upon completion of this course students should be able to: analyze and interpret samples of good writing, identifying and explaining an author’s use of rhetorical strategies and techniques; apply effective strategies in their own writing; write in a variety of genres and contexts; understand the progression of ideas inherent in American literature.  Students are expected to complete a research paper.
Homework requirement: 1.5-2 hours per night

Journalism: .5 Credits

Elective open to 10th, 11th, and 12th graders.
Two days a week, two semesters.
In this elective course, students study journalistic ethics, writing, editing, and design. Emphasis is placed on interviewing techniques, writing skills, and photography layout. Students examine professional news copy, editorials, features, sports, advertising, and production as well as write their own copy. This course promotes participation in the monthly school newspaper, The Crown Prints. This class meets two days a week and is offered both semesters.
Homework requirement: 2 hours per week

Public Speaking: .5 Credits

Elective for 12th grade, second semester.
This one semester elective course sharpens oral communication skills by building on specific public speaking abilities and heightening critical listening skills. Students learn the fundamentals of voice control, nonverbal delivery, and audience analysis. Each student prepares and delivers both extemporaneous and planned speeches. Required speeches include: informative, interpretive, demonstrative, and persuasive. For the final exam in May, each student prepares a speech for a live audience.
Homework requirement: 2 hours per week

Film: .5 Credits

Elective for 12th grade, second semester.
In this course, the primary goals are to develop the habits of analysis, criticism, understanding and appreciation of film in a disciplined and creative manner. It begins with a general overview of film theory and research followed by a closer look at twelve specific films. Much of what students learn about language and culture is filtered through the visual media. The course moves beyond text analysis (plot, theme, character) to cinematic concepts such as framing, lighting, editing, and sound without becoming too technical. The course traces the history of cinema in the United States, and explores the star system, the importance of directors, the combat film, romantic comedy, and film noir. Films are screened in class and discussions follow each screening. Early films include those by Charlie Chaplin, Laurel and Hardy, and the Marx Brothers, Citizen Kane, and Singing in the Rain. Modern directors, such as Penny Marshall, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg are studied as well.
Homework requirement: .5 hour per night