Content:  This course can provide credit in 8th, 9th or 10th grade English, especially when Written Expression 3 or Written Expression 4 is taken as a companion course.

Emphasis is on the development of active reading strategies and techniques. Students read literature in three genres -- short stories and compact novels, poetry and drama.

Students write about the reading and learn how to build vocabulary as well as increase comprehension and retention through annotating, paraphrasing and summarizing text. Students also learn how to critically analyze the poem, the essay, the structure and techniques of the drama and the elements of the short story.

Guided reading is an instructional cornerstone. Other priorities include maintaining a daily journal on reading assignments and how to read, comprehend and interpret passages aloud. Attention to detail, organization, planning, neatness and study skills permeate the course, 

Authors read include Steinbeck, Shakespeare, Fitzgerald, Williams, Housman, and Hemingway.

Materials: 

• Perrine’s Literature Structure, Sound and Sense, 8th Edition (Arp & Johnson)
• Sophocles/The Oedipus Cycle (Harcourt Brace)
• Other materials selected to meet individual student’s needs