prep's high school english course descriptions

Literature & Composition I
World Literature is the focus of this college preparatory class. In addition to literature study, students continue honing
their writing skills and building their vocabulary.
Grade: 9
Length: Year
Prerequisite: None

Literature & Composition II
Literature II covers American literature from the colonial period through this century. The literature is studied by
historical periods, while addressing the philosophical movements that influenced literature. Representative authors
are William Bradford, Benjamin Franklin, Nathanial Hawthorn, Henry David Thoreau, Herman Melville, Samual
Clemens and Thorton Wilder. Students’ critical thinking skills are honed through literary analysis.
Grade: 10
Length: Year
Prerequisite: Literature & Composition I

Literature & Composition III (H)
British Literature covers the history of literature from the Anglo-Saxon period through the post modernism. Chaucer,
Shakespeare, Dickens, Rand, Stoppard, and Hardy are representative of the authors studied. Advanced writing skills
are honed through a survey of rhetorical structure.
Grade: 11
Length: Year
Prerequisite: Literature & Composition II

Literature & Composition IV (AP)
Encompassing great works from throughout history while addressing the philosophical movements that influenced
literature, this course prepares students to take the AP Literature and Composition exam. Various philosophies are
studied and analyzed through literary analysis. Students write various essays employing advanced rhetorical
strategies in preparation for ENG101.
Grade: 12
Length: Year
Prerequisite: Literature & Composition III

Bible Literature I
The course is an overview of the Bible with an emphasis on historical and cultural background, literary genre,
themes, people, and events.
Grade: 9-12
Length: 1 semester
Prerequisite: none

Bible Literature II
The course is a continuation of Bible Literature I and is an overview of the Bible with emphasis on historical and
cultural background, literary genre, structure, themes, people, and events.
Grade: 9-12
Length: 1 semester
Prerequisite: none

Business Communications
Business Communications is a semester long course that will cover various topics in the area of business
communications. Topics to be covered are; communications history, technology, communications law, resumes
preparation, interviewing, and marketing.
The course will feature group exercises and projects designed to give the students opportunities to exercise the skills
learned in class.
Grade: 9-12
Length: 1 semester
Prerequisite: none

Creative Writing (UL)
This course is designed to tap student’s creativity and expose them to a variety of writing techniques. Students study
various elements of writing such as dialogue, narration, pace and theme. This course is taught in conjunction with Rio
Salado College.
Grade: 11-12
Length: 1 Semester
Prerequisite: These classes are open to qualifying juniors and seniors. Students need to have 2 semester track
record of subject GPA over 3.0. A passing grade on AIMS reading and writing is required and so is Literature teacher’
s recommendation and approval of the college liaison.

Modern Fiction (UL)
This is a dual enrollment class that surveys short stories and plays of the modernist and post modernist periods.
Grade: 11-12
Length: 1 Semester
Prerequisite: These classes are open to qualifying juniors and seniors. Students need to have 2 semester track
record of subject GPA over 3.0. A passing grade on AIMS reading and writing is required and so is Literature teacher’
s recommendation and approval of the college liaison.

University ENG101 (UL)
ENG101 is a dual enrollment class that teaches writing and composition. Various rhetorical strategies are analyzed.
Students write four essays and present one paper
Grade: 11-12
Length: 1 Semester
Prerequisite: Rio Salado Accuplacer. These classes are open to qualifying juniors and seniors. Students need to
have 2 semester track record of subject GPA over 3.0. A passing grade on AIMS reading and writing is required and
so is Lit teacher’s recommendation and approval of the college liaison.

University ENG102 (UL)
ENG102 is a dual enrollment class that focuses on the rhetorical strategy of Argumentation. Students write one 15
page argumentative research paper.
Grade: 12
Length: 1 Semester
Prerequisite: University ENG101

Speech
This course provides the student with a foundation of speech communication with emphasis given to preparation,
organization, composition and delivery of the extemporaneous speech. Students study modern communication
theory, classical rhetoric and traditional logic. Students also develop research skills including note-taking, the works
cited page and the use of a variety of research tools. Students present speeches including the speech to inform, the
speech to persuade, the debate speech and the problem solving group discussion.
Grade: 9-12
Length: 1 Semester
Prerequisite: None

Advanced Speech
Advanced Speech
Speech provides experiences for all students to appreciate the various facets of both interpersonal communication
and public speaking. Advanced Speech and Debate utilizes these concepts and expounds upon them integrating
various acting techniques, peer reviews, and self-analysis to allow the student to grow as a public speaker. The
course emphasizes reading informational text, researching, evaluating information, and writing speeches along with
performance of these.
Grade: 9-12
Length: 1 semester
Prerequisite: Speech