Course Descriptions

A survey of American literature from the period of exploration and settlement to the present. Students will study works of prose, poetry, drama, and fiction in relation to their historical and cultural contexts. Texts will be selected from among a diverse group of authors for what they reflect and reveal about the evolving American experience and character. The texts studied in the course include standard fiction and poetry, as well as primary sources such as government documents, personal narratives, other forms of nonfiction. This course emphasizes traditional literary study but is also a concentration on research, writing, and critical thinking. Students will continue to develop composition skills through expository, persuasive, and research oriented writing.

AP English Language and Composition is an introductory college-level composition course. Students cultivate their understanding of writing and rhetorical arguments through reading, analyzing, and writing texts as they explore topics like rhetorical situation, claims and evidence, reasoning and organization, and style. The course ends with the AP exam, through which students have the possibility of earning college credit. The AP exam is required for students to earn weighted credit. ​ Summer reading is a requirement.

This course is an Advanced Placement course, alternating between AP Literature and AP Language each year. The course follows those frameworks and is geared toward improving student writing, communication, and critical thinking. The course is devoted to the reading of important texts including classic and contemporary works. Students spend time reading such works and writing both expository essays and research papers dealing with the works and the cultures to which they belong. The course ends with the AP exam, through which students have the possibility of earning college credit. The AP exam is required for students to earn weighted credit. Summer reading is a requirement.

This course is a chronological study of British letters beginning with early Anglo-Saxon texts and ending with contemporary works of the 21st century. The course follows major literary and artistic trends, as well as political events, as students study works related to colonialism, the British Civil War, and the slave trade. The texts studied in the course include standard fiction and poetry, as well as primary sources such as government documents, personal narratives, other forms of nonfiction. This course emphasizes traditional literary study but is also a concentration on research, writing, and critical thinking. Students will continue to develop composition skills through expository, persuasive, and research oriented writing.