English (2024-25)

List of 7 items.

• English 8

  Grade 8

  1 credit

  
  

  English 8 is a course designed to welcome and engage students with a variety of literature, including fiction, nonfiction, drama, and poetry. Students will engage in the writing process with daily journals and writing workshops throughout the year,  aimed at developing clear and coherent writing skills for audiences ranging from personal and professional emails to argumentative essays. Students will learn active listening strategies, strong note-taking skills, and close reading annotative skills. Students will engage in small and large group discussions and will practice applying information, advancing from basic recalling and reporting to collecting evidence to support a claim. 

  
  

  Units of Study

  Journaling - Drafting and Editing Process

  Mythology - Annotating and Recognizing Thematic Elements

  Grammar / Sentence Structure Emails - Personal and Professional Communication

  Screenplay - Presentation and Communication

  Novel - Close Reading and Annotating

  Short Stories - Literary Elements

  Creative Writing / FPS - Critical Thinking Skills

  
  
  

• English Reading and Writing Workshop 9

  Grade 9

  1 credit

  
  

  English Reading and Writing Workshop 9 prepares freshmen for all of Trinity’s English opportunities. Starting with close reading, annotation, and recognizing literary techniques, students begin to understand the writer’s craft and practice those professional writing moves on their own. Using a workshop approach, students engage in daily notebook writing practice aimed at learning the drafting and editing process, which leads to polished pieces like critical reviews, letters to the editor, memoirs, and writing for an online audience. Workshops allow students to learn how to give and receive constructive criticism on their peers’ writing as well as their own. Throughout both semesters, students will explore their interests by reading independently from a selection of fiction and nonfiction books. 

  
  

  In the second semester, students are ready for higher-level literary analysis, research, and beginning rhetoric. The year of Reading and Writing Workshop 9 provides a level of confidence and independence in reading and writing that ensures each student's success in all levels of the Trinity English program.

  
  

  Units of Study

  Nonfiction Narrative - Voice and Revision

  Poetry - Annotation and Poetic Techniques

  Argument and Persuasion - Research and Communication

  Epic Poem - Introduction to Analysis

  Short Stories - Close Reading and Literary Elements

  Novel - Close Reading and Analytical Writing

  Drama - Close Reading and Public Speaking through Performance

  Multigenre Writing - Research and Creative Writing

  
  
  

• English 10

  Grade 10

  1 credit
  
  

  Prerequisite: Reading and Writing Workshop 9

  
  

  English 10 seeks to enhance students' skills in reading literature critically, writing analytically and creatively, and incorporating research into analysis. Students read selectively from American authors and respond in a variety of ways to poems, short stories, drama, essays, and novels. With close reading, students learn to cast a critical eye on various selections from the American literary canon. Through a close reading of these texts, students will explore what it means to be an American. 

  
  

  Units of Study

  Theater Through a Historical Lens - Literary Devices and Terms

  Contemporary Nonfiction and American Philosophy - Multimedia Presentations

  American Modernism - Literary Analysis

  Multiculturalism and Identity - Comparative Multigenre Study

  Social Realism - Incorporating Research into Analysis

  
  
  

• English 10 Honors

  Grade 10

  1 Credit
  
  

  Prerequisites: Grade of B+ or higher in Reading and Writing Workshop 9 and teacher recommendation

  
  

  English 10 Honors seeks to enhance students' existing skills in critical reading and writing. Students will develop their writing skills, responding to a variety of literature including poems, short stories, drama, essays, and novels. Through quick writes, dialectical journals, quotation responses, and analytic essays, students will produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, voice, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. Additionally, students will complete an extended research project in conjunction with the librarian. The goal of the project is to develop research skills that will serve them for the remainder of their education. Students who enter 10 Honors are expected to be strong readers and abstract thinkers.

  
  

  Units of Study

  Contemporary Fiction- Relationships and Communication

  Poetry- Voice and Presentation

  Drama- Critical Reading and Annotation

  Short Stories- Literary and Linguistic Style

  Novel- Incorporating Research into Analysis

• English 11

  Grade 11

  1 Credit
  
  

  Prerequisite: English 10

  
  

  Through our study of a variety of world literature, both contemporary and canonical, English 11 will hone students’ skills in critical reading, analytical writing, and oral communication. With an emphasis on literary analysis, students will practice close-reading strategies, build oral communication skills through formal presentations and informal literary discussions, take a systematic approach to conduct meaningful research, and write with clarity and precision in support of an original claim. Students will leave English 11 with a greater understanding of the complex relationships between literature and the human condition.

  
  

  Units of Study

  Nonfiction Analysis-Memoir

  Poetry Analysis

  Writing Process - Short Drama

  Fiction Analysis - Novel

  Drama Analysis

  Oral Communication - Novella

  Comparative Literature - Short Stories

• English 11 Honors

  Grade 11

  1 credit
  
  

  Prerequisites: Grade of B+ or higher in English 10 Honors, or grade of A or higher in English 10, and teacher recommendation

  
  

  English 11 Honors continues to challenge students' critical reading and writing skills. It is a rigorous writing-based course designed to build the student's ability to create expository, argument, analysis, and narrative writing. Through both independent reading and full-class novels, the students will interpret and analyze a variety of world literature — both contemporary and foundational. The class emphasizes oral communication through class discussions and presentations.

  
  

  Units of Study

  Short Stories

  Fictional Narrative

  Poetry

  Research & Presentations

  Drama & Screenplays 

  Memoir

  Introduction to Rhetorical Analysis

• English 12

  Grade 12

  1 Credit
  
  

  Prerequisite: English 11 or English 11 Honors

  
  

  English 12 focuses on the process of critical reading and acquiring an appreciation for the author’s purpose, craft, and meaning. Students will learn how to articulate their interpretations verbally and in writing. Students in this class also complete a senior project. 

  
  

  This course is designed with one foot in the relative safety of high school, while the other foot navigates the more rigorous terrain of college academics. The class will serve as a capstone to a Trinity career, calling upon the reading and writing skills these students have acquired over the last few years. Students will build on these skills while working independently on a senior project, collaborating on group projects, and developing a final presentation to be delivered in front of an audience.

  
  

  Units of Study

  Introduction to Theater: Communication and Language

  Shakespeare on the Stage and Page

  Digital Writing and Design

  Media Analysis

  Crafting a Narrative

  Interpreting Research: Independent Strategies

  Defining Process

  Building an Argument for Presentation and Print

  The Senior Presentation