Purpose

High School English 1 introduces students to a variety of writing types and purposes, as well as literary analysis elements and techniques. These include narrative, descriptive, and persuasive writing, literary analysis, basic essay writing, and research and presentation skills.

Process

High School English 1 is an introductory writing and composition course for the high school years. Students review basic grammar, punctuation, and sentence composition through daily grammar practice exercises. Students are also introduced to sentence variety and complexity through a focused study of clauses and phrases and will build on previous vocabulary study by continuing work with vocabulary roots and derivatives. Writing instruction includes scaffolded instruction for a variety of writing purposes: narrative, descriptive, persuasive, informative, personal narrative, and creative writing, as well as building literary analysis skills through the study of plot, literary terms, figurative language, imagery, and authors’ techniques. Students are introduced to research paper writing and Modern Language Association (MLA) formatting and citation through a career research paper and presentation.

Parental Responsibilities

Parents are responsible for helping students establish a routine that includes daily grammar and sentence writing practice as well as time to work on required homework and class preparation. Parents are responsible for grading anything with a key, which includes Vocabulary and Grammar, while teachers will grade all writing, compositions, and exams. It is highly recommended that parents review student writing and offer feedback before final drafts are turned in.