Advanced Composition:

Grade: 12
Credit: ½
Course Length: 1
Prerequisite: English III; teacher recommendations; Summer Reading Program requirements

The Advanced Composition courses is designed for those college-bound students who wish to acquire sophisticated writing skills in the areas of analysis, argument, persuasion, and exposition. The students will also write personal, narrative, and technical pieces appropriate for the writing portfolio. Additional readings may be required to aid the writer with the acquisition of these skills. Students will write several essays and one research paper. In addition, the students review grammar, usage, and mechanics.

Creative Writing:

Grade: 9, 10, 11, 12
Credit: ½
Course Length: 1
Prerequisite: Incoming Freshmen must have English teacher recommendation

Do you keep a journal? Do you like to write letters? Have you written a poem, or wanted to? This course will give you the opportunity to develop your own written “voice” and explore you experience in writing beyond the essays and assignments in a typical English class. You’ll create your own portfolio in this class, filled with your poems, a short story, and some drama, too. Through your own writing and the examples we’ll study, you’ll gain insights into the creative process, from inspiration to final revision. This class is writing for pleasure!

Creative Writing II:

Grade: 9, 10, 11, 12
Credit: ½
Course Length: 1
Prerequisite: Creative Writing

This class builds o the writing skills developed in the Creative Writing I course, but develops and extends them in the world of fiction. Students will carefully examine the relationships between real life and imagination in works by published authors and in their own writing. They will learn to create settings and characters, and they will fully develop and polish two to three lengthy, substantial works. This course will culminate with the publication of these works and a collection of each student’s writing.

English I:

Grade: 9
Credit: 1
Course Length: 2

This course develops students’ abilities in reading, writing, speaking, and thinking. Students study a variety of types of literature and respond both orally and in writing. Students will refine their abilities in grammar usage through practice and composition. Students will complete a review of parts of speech, parts of a sentence, punctuation, and capitalization. Students’ writing experiences include practice in the stages of the writing process. Students will read and react to novels, plays, poems, and short stories. Practice in writing includes composing essays, articles, and practice in the steps of research. Students will read and react to novels, plays, poems, and short stories. Vocabulary exercises are also part of the course.

English I Advanced:

Grade: 9
Credit: 1
Course Length: 2
Prerequisite: WCMS English teacher recommendation; Summer Reading

Program requirements
This course is designed to give students who are academically advanced in language arts an opportunity to move at a faster pace, to study literature in greater depth, to have an intense program of writing, and to prepare for the senior advanced placement classes. Students will read major works and collections in literature, study vocabulary, write papers, complete one research based feature article, present reviews, and make oral presentations.

English II:

Grade: 10
Credit: 1
Course Length: 2

In this course, students extend their reading and writing skills by studying and writing about novels, plays, poetry, short stories and various forms of nonfiction. Students learn grammar, mechanics and usage primarily through the various modes of writing such as description, narration, and exposition. Students will read numerous novels and plays in addition to selections from the anthology. Students will also research, write, and present speeches that incorporate commonly used persuasive techniques.

English II Advanced:

Grade: 10
Credit: 1
Course Length: 2
Prerequisite: English I; teacher recommendation; Summer Reading

Program requirements
This course is designed to give students who are academically talents in language arts an opportunity to move at a faster pace, to study literature in greater depth, to have an intense program of writing, and to prepare for the advanced placement class. Students will read and study many important works and plays in addition to selections from the student anthology. Course participants experience the stages of the writing process and practice in the four basic writing types.

English III:

Grade: 11
Credit: 1
Course Length: 2

English III introduces students to American literature and offers them the opportunity to examine the development of American culture and to learn and practice applicable skills in reading and writing. Students will read texts in a variety of forms, including OF Mice and Men, The Crucible, and selected poems by Poe, Whitman, Dickinson, and Frost. Students will improve their grammar and writing skills to prepare for writing the memoir and On-Demand tasks.

English III Advanced:

Grade: 11
Credit: 1
Course Length: 2
Prerequisite: English II; teacher recommendation; Summer Reading requirements

English III advanced, like the general English III course, offers a broad survey of American Literature. English III advanced will involve more in-depth study and broader coverage, requiring, in particular, more reading at home and more rigorous work and writing. Students will complete a paper involving original research and analysis, as well as, many smaller writing assignments designed to prepare them for advanced composition and English IV AP.

English IV:

Grade: 12
Credit: 1
Course Length: 2
Note: This course must be requested with Senior Seminar

This course offers continued refinement of the pupil’s abilities in language arts skills. Content includes appropriate experiences in composition and the historical, cultural and aesthetic significance of British literature. Special attention to writing about literature is given in this precollege curriculum. Language and mechanics concerns are addressed within the context of student writing. Students will practice various forms of writing, to include literary analysis, a creative piece, general analysis, and workplace writing, thus completing a Senior Writing Portfolio.

English IV Advanced:

Grade: 12
Credit: 1
Course Length: 2
Note: This course must be requested with Senior Seminar Advanced

English IV Advanced resumes its study of British literature, studying writers of the Restoration through the Modern Age. Students will look at satire, the novel, poetry, short stories, and non-fiction. The senior Writing Portfolio will be completed during these terms, with students writing literary analysis, creative, general analysis, and workplace pieces.

English IV AP:

Grade: 12
Credit: 1
Course Length: 2
Prerequisites: Advanced Composition; Summer Reading Program requirements
Note: This course must be requested with Advanced Composition

In an Advanced Placement course in English Literature, students are engaged in the careful reading of literary works. Through such study, they sharpen their awareness of language and their understanding of the writer’s craft. They develop critical standards for the independent appreciation of any literary work, and they increase their sensitivity to literature as shared experience. To achieve these goals, students study the individual work, its language, characters, action, and themes. They consider its structure, meaning, and value and its relationship to contemporary experience as well as to the times in which it was written. In English Literature, students are involved on both the study and practice of writing and the study of literature. They will learn to use the modes of discourse and to recognize the assumptions underlying various rhetorical strategies. Through speaking, listening, and reading, but chiefly through the experience of their own writing, students will become more aware of the resources of language: connotation, metaphor, irony, syntax, and tone. Writing assignments should focus on critical analysis of literature and should include essays in exposition and argument. Although much of the writing in the course will be about literature, speaking and writing about different kinds of subjects should further develop the students’ sense of how style, subject, and audience are related. The desired goals are the honest and effective use of language and the organization of ideas in a clear, coherent, and persuasive way. In addition to intensive study of numerous novels and plays, students will read short stories, poetry and nonfiction. Students take practice advanced placement examinations, write numerous in-class essays and do structures activities to refine reading speed, comprehension, and vocabulary.

Film I/ Visual Literacy:

Grade: 9, 10, 11, 12
Credit: ½
Course Length: 1
Prerequisite: A grade of “C” or better in Film I, teacher recommendation; or a grade of “C” or better in Media III, teacher recommendation

Contemporary Film/Visual Literacy will enable students to analyze, interpret and critique various forms of visual media. The class will examine the various film genres and the elements of filmmaking. Students will discuss and write about films they have seen and analyze the acting, directing, soundtrack, script, etc. Ultimately, students will gain deeper and more lasting appreciation of film and other visual media.

Film II/ Advanced Film Studies:

Grade: 10, 11, 12
Credit: ½
Course Length: 1

Film II is a course designed to meet the needs of those students who took Film I and have a burning desire to pursue more advanced film studies. Film I familiarizes students with the basic dramatic, literary, and cinematic aspects of film. Film II will delve more deeply into the art of film. Students will become familiar theory (feminist, auteur, Marxist, and deconstructionist), genre, terminology, analysis, screenwriting, and basic filmmaking. Students will view important classic and modern films; read critical essays on film, research directors, genres, and specific films; and in teams, write a screenplay for, score, edit, and direct their own film shorts. Writing in the class will move beyond the reviews concentrated on in Film I, to more complex film analysis and interpretation.

Senior Seminar:

Grade: 12
Credit: ½
Course Length: 1
Note: This course must be requested with English IV

Senior Seminar is the first trimester of a year long English class that hopes to assist students with their writing and expose them to European authors and their works. In addition to the literature component, Seminar is an extensive study of On-Demand writing, college essay writing, and ACT preparation. Students enrolled in the class will work toward crafting effective and varied sentence, blending them in engaging paragraphs that create purposeful and focused essays.

Senior Seminar Advanced:

Grade: 12
Credit: ½
Course Length: 1
Note: This course must be requested with English IV Advanced

Senior Seminar advanced is the first term of year long English class for the college bound student. In addition to the study of British literature, Seminar is an extensive study of On-Demand writing, college essay writing, and ACT preparation. Students will complete one piece of their senior Writing Portfolio and will work toward crafting effective and varied sentences, blending them in engaging paragraphs that create purposeful and focused essays.

Speech and Debate:

Grade: 9, 10, 11, 12
Credit: ½
Course Length: 1

This is a survey course, exploring various types of speech situations. Much time is pent on self-awareness and self-improvement, as well as on small group discussion. The areas of informative, inspirational, entertaining and persuasive speeches, town hall and panel discussions, interviews, debate and special occasion speeches are covered. Students will prepare and deliver speeches in advertising, are a creative feature of this class. Students will participate in speech competitions sponsored by local organizations.

Theatre I:

Grade: 9, 10, 11, 12
Credit: ½
Course Length: 1
This course will satisfy the Arts/Humanities Applied Art requirement

This class enables students to develop an appreciation of theatre as an audience member, as well as a participant. It covers areas of performance (monologue to group play), theatre exercises, pantomime, improvisation, characterization, script analysis, a history of theater, literature, dramatic criticism, technical theater and production demands. The diversity of material helps students appreciate, respect, and demand good theater. Students will be responsible for comprehension of terms and historical periods, literature and theatrical vocabulary. Students will perform individually and in groups. This course serves as a foundation for performance and interpretation of dramatic art.

Theatre II:

Grade: 9, 10, 11, 12
Credit: ½
Course Length: 1
Prerequisite: Theatre I; grade of “C” or better in Theatre I; teacher recommendation

This class is designed and offered for the advanced theatre student. This class will focus on the intricacies of play production from start to finish. Students will focus on individual projects with supplemental activities designed to generate creative collaboration between students. A variety of opportunities will be available as students will learn and perform using various acting techniques, design and build sets, design and build costumes, design lighting effects, and work a play for the entire school. These performances will be culmination of the theatre experience at Woodford County High School.