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English Honors Program- A Brief Overview
Freshman year
Semester 1- English 1* or English 2* & outside reading and essay as part of the honors application process
Semester 2- English 1* or English 2*& outside reading and essay as part of the honors application process
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English 1*- Grammar & Composition
This course stresses composition techniques and basic grammar, mechanics, usage and vocabulary. The composition process of pre-writing, writing, and revising is emphasized. Students will write a variety of essays, including one on a required novel, one on the play A Raisin in the Sun, and one emphasizing research techniques.
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English 2*- Literature
English 2 is an introduction to different genres of literature including the short story, the novel, poetry, drama, and mythology. Vocabulary study continues in this course.
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Sophomore year
Semester 1- Honors English 4
Semester 2- Honors English 3
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Honors English 3- Speech & Rhetorical Studies
This course will involve a study of communication theories as applied to speech in addition to a study of rhetorical analyses and practical experience in public speaking. Students are required to write and deliver different types of speeches, ranging from impromptus to persuasive to research. Critical thinking and analytical writing skills will be emphasized.
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Honors English 4- Literature & Composition
Students will engage in an in-depth study of traditional works like The Odyssey and Gilgamesh, and selections from creation mythology, noting the move from matriarchy to patriarchy, as well as studying several modern works. The purpose of this study is to examine Jungian archetypal symbolism, characterization and theme, as well as to examine how cultural factors shape storytelling. In addition, students will be introduced to aspects of literary analysis key to the AP approach of studying literature.
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Junior year
Semester 1- Honors Advanced Composition
Semester 2- Literature Elective* & independent study consisting of one novel specific to literature elective course content (includes an outside literary analysis essay)
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Honors Advanced Composition- Composition & Grammar
Students will become skilled writers who compose for many different purposes and utilize multiple rhetorical modes. Students will also learn how to effectively study nonfiction literature, disciplines and rhetorical contexts in order to improve their own composition skills. To fully develop these skills, this course requires students to actively participate in the process of writing, creating and revising many different drafts of their work. Additionally, students will learn how to use various advanced grammatical structures in order to improve their writing and will take part in a rigorous vocabulary study which focuses on Latin and Greek roots.
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Literature Elective*-
Second semester their junior year, honors students are to select a senior level literature course to take as preparation for their senior honors AP course.
Recommended courses include:
· British Literature
· Modern Thought in Literature
· Literature Seminar
For specific course descriptions, please see the high school’s course handbook on the district’s web page.
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Senior year
Semester 1 & 2- Honors AP English
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Honors AP English is the culminating experience for students in the Honors English program. The goals of this course are to offer participants an opportunity to explore multiple genres of literature in great breadth and depth and to explore various rhetorical contexts. As the students work toward these goals, they will also engage in vocabulary, sentence structure, critical thinking and debate activities to further their writing and oral presentation skills. Thus, the purpose of the course is to enable students to read complex texts with understanding and to write prose of sufficient richness and complexity to communicate effectively with mature readers. Finally, to work toward this complex aim requires students to become aware of their own composing processes: the way they explore ideas, contemplate strategies, and revise their essays. Writing activities in class will include impromptu essay writing, timed writing activities, writing and revising of prepared essays and creative writing opportunities. To further improve students' writing skills, all testing will be in essay form, including the final examination. Finally, students will be responsible for leading class discussions, as well as giving oral presentations of seminar papers based on some of the works read.
--Students who are enrolled in Honors AP English will take 2 AP tests- Literature and Composition & Language and Composition
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*Courses which are a part of our regular English curriculum which are not a part of the honors program
Honors English for 10th-12th Grade Application Information 2011-2012
Outside Reading Assignments and Testing
Basic Requirements to Apply for Honors English:
Ø Complete outside reading in English 1 or 2, Semester 1
Complete impromptu essay to be taken at school on Saturday, Dec. 3 at 9:00 a.m. in the English Department computer lab. The reading must be completed by testing date.
Ø Complete outside reading in English 1 or 2, Semester 2
Complete impromptu essay and Honors English objective test to be taken at school on Saturday, March 3 from 9:00-11:30 a.m. in the English Department computer lab and room 256. The reading must be completed by testing date.
**It is imperative that students be present on the scheduled testing date**
Ø Receive a B or above for all 4 quarters of Freshman English
Outside reading options - students must choose a different novel each semester:
** Denotes more difficult novels
Great Expectations – Charles Dickens
Considered by many to be Dickens finest novel. Set in 19th century England, a poor boy pursues his dreams and learns about friendships, loss and his own search for self.
Scarlet Letter – Nathaniel Hawthorne
Deals with the abuses of women in a Puritan society too rigid in its moral ideals to still be human, and how a young woman struggles to survive.
The Picture of Dorian Gray – Oscar Wilde
Victorian novel about a handsome young man who remains eternally young while a portrait of him grows old due to his vile actions.
Persuasion – Jane Austen
Focuses on the regret and loneliness of Anne Elliot who rejects a proposal of marriage from the man she truly loves.
**All the King’s Men – Robert Penn Warren
The life of a Southern politician during the Depression era whose ambitious nature leaves him susceptible to scandal and corruption.
A Tale of Two Cities – Charles Dickens
One of Dickens most famous novels set in the late 18th century against the backdrop of the French revolution.
**Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man – James Joyce
Tells the story of Stephen Dedalus’s Dublin childhood and youth and how he questions the relationship of an artist to his family, his culture and his race.
My Antonia – Willa Cather
Tale of a spirited European young woman whose farm family settles in Nebraska as she struggles with a new language, a new culture and new ideas in a foreign country.
**Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck
Follows the Joad family during the Great Depression who lose their farm and must travel to California searching for a better life while struggling to maintain a sense of human dignity.
**As I Lay Dying – William Faulkner
Distinct narrative structure using multiple points-of-view of various family members as they escort the family matriarch back to where she wants to be buried.
A Farewell to Arms – Ernest Hemingway
Classic novel of World War I taking place in Italy involving an American G.I. falling in love with a British nurse and their tenuous love story in a time of war.
Twelfth Night – William Shakespeare
Shakespearean comedy involving mistaken identity, young love, practical jokes and much humor.
**Native Son – Richard Wright
Bigger Thomas, a young black man in 1940’s Chicago, commits a murder of which he is unrepentant. Novel offers a profoundly disturbing image of racism. (Contains violent language and situations.)
The Jungle – Upton Sinclair
An immigrant family comes to Chicago trying to make their way within the meat-packing industry of Chicago. Chronicles the insurmountable difficulties in a world with little or no support for the newly arrived immigrant.
Animal Farm – George Orwell
A satirical allegory, this novel criticizes totalitarianism through the actions of animals on a farm.
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time – Mark Haddon
In this novel, Christopher, a 15-year-old with Asperser Syndrome, sets out to uncover the mystery of a neighbor’s dead poodle, learning much more about himself in the process.
**The House of the Spirits- Isabel Allende
Told mainly from the perspective of two protagonists, Esteban and Clara, this Latin American novel details the life of the Trueba family, spanning four generations, tracing the social and political upheavals of the Latin American country they live in.
Go Tell It on the Mountain – James Baldwin
This novel follows fourteen year old John as he struggles against the environmental influences of Harlem, New York.
Siddhartha – Herman Hesse
This allegory follows the character Siddhartha though ancient India (around the time of Buddha) as he tries to discover himself.
The Things They Carried – Tim O’Brien
In this collection of related stories, O’Brien writes about a platoon of American soldiers in the Vietnam war, based very loosely on his own experiences (he calls the work a piece of fiction).
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan – Lisa See
Set in nineteenth-century China, this piece follows Lily and Snow Flower and their friendship which blossomed through the era’s common secret code for female communication- nu shu.
My Sister’s Keeper – Jodi Picoult
Narrated by seven characters, this novel focuses on the story of a young girl, Anna, who sues her parents for the right to make her own decision in donating her kidney to her older sister, Kate.
**The Alchemist – Paul Coelho
Based off of the Oscar Wilde poem “The Disciple,” this symbolic fable, journeys with Santiago, the main character, who sets out to see the world and find treasure.
In the Time of the Butterflies – Julia Alvarez
This novel describes the story of the four Mirabal sisters in the Dominican Republic under the dictatorship of Trujillo, four sisters who ultimately sacrifice their safety and comfort in the name of freedom. (Contains some sexually explicit content.)
**Death be not Proud – John Gunther
In this novel, Gunther recounts the true story of his son’s struggle with a brain tumor and his ultimate death at the young age of seventeen.
Jasmine – Bharati Mukherjee
Set in the contemporary, this novel is about a young Indian woman who flees India, and, trying to adapt to American life, changes identities several times.
Children of the River – Linda Crew
This novel follows thirteen-year-old Sundara, who fled Cambodia with her Aunt’s family, leaving her mother, father, and siblings at home, and her adjustment to her new life in Oregon.
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