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- Language Arts Course Descriptions 2025-26
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Teaching & Learning
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High School Program Planning Guide 2025-26
- Spring Hill Schools Courses Required for Graduation Through 2027
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- Fine Arts, Communications, and STEM Course List
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Career and Technical Education 2024
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- Language Arts Course Descriptions 2025-26
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High School Program Planning Guide 2025-26
Language Arts Course Descriptions
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American Literature
Grade: 11 & 12 Prerequisite: English II Length of Course: Semester
Description: American Literature is only a semester course focussed on some of the highlights pieces of American Literature. This course is to encourage students to discover ideas, beliefs, and values of Americans from the Puritan settlers to modern society; however,. The course follows Americans’ changing relationships and attitudes by surveying literature written over the course of approximately 200 years. Major works include The Crucible, The Great Gatsby and A Raisin in the Sun, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Death of a Salesman. Class activities include discussion, group study and presentation, and close reading of texts. Emphasis will be placed upon developing skills for analyzing literature through discussion and written assignments. Students will also write in the following domains of writing: narrative, technical, research, and persuasive.This course is designed in part to prepare students for admission to a university.
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AP Language and Composition
Grade: 11 & 12 Prerequisite: (A or B in both semesters of Honors English 2 OR TEACHER RECOMMENDATION) Length of Course: Year
Description: The AP English Language and Composition course aligns to an introductory college-level rhetoric and writing curriculum, which requires students to develop evidence-based analytic and argumentative essays that proceed through several stages or drafts. This is a course designed to teach the content of a college freshman level rhetoric and composition class. Our focus is on building close reading skills with both fiction and nonfiction reading passages, analyzing short passages as well as full length major works for an author's overall purpose and writing critically about those passages. Additionally, students in this course will study the art of argumentation, responding to arguments and also writing original arguments by generating their own evidence and incorporating evidence from their reading and experience. Major works of study include Unbroken, The Crucible, and The Great Gatsby. At the end of the course, students are highly encouraged to take the College Board AP English Language and Composition exam. This course is designed in part to prepare students for admission to a university.
Instructional Resource
AP Language Arts: The Language of Composition, 2018
Publisher: Bedford, Freeman, & Worth
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BronCore
Grade: 9-12 Prerequisite: Teacher Recommendation & Student need
Length of Course: Semester or Year
Description: BronCore is a class designed to provide support for students who show a need for additional instruction in the areas of reading and math. BronCore is structured in a way to individually assist students in building key grade-level skills, as well as to monitor a student’s progress and adjust learning to their progress. The class may also supplement curriculum in a student’s English and math classes.
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Composition I Honors
JCCC College Now Course---3 credits (dual credit course taught at SHHS) *approximate cost of course will be $250-$300
Grade: 12 Prerequisite: C or better in courses taken junior year and must meet one of the following criteria. To receive college credit a student must have a 19 on the English sub-score of the ACT or a qualifying score on the JCCC free assessment test (taken at JCCC). Length of Course: Semester (1st sem. only)
Description: The concern of Composition I, a one-semester course, is the composing process for standard English prose. Through the process of exploring, focusing, developing, organizing, writing, revising, proofreading, and editing, the conscientious graduate of Composition I should be able to produce a piece of nonfiction prose suitable in its expression and materials to both its occasion and its audience. The essay should clearly communicate a central idea or thesis; contain sufficient detail to be written in English. This course is designed in part to prepare students for admission to a university.
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Composition II Honors
JCCC College Now Course---3 credits (dual credit course taught at the high school)
Grade: 12 Prerequisite: Must have passed Composition I with a C or better Length of Course: Semester (2nd sem. only)
Description: This course is a continuation of Composition I. Composition II also teaches students the process of effective writing, but it emphasizes the organizing and polishing steps so important in composing analysis and synthesis. Furthermore, because of the deliberative and argumentative nature of its materials, Composition II helps students develop the skills of orderly thought and effective persuasion essential for learning for success in our world. This course is designed in part to prepare students for admission to a university.
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English I
Grade: 9 Prerequisite: None Length of Course: Year
Description: English 1 is a one-year required course for all 9th graders that is designed to build foundational skills in vocabulary, grammar, reading, writing, speaking, and critical thinking. The course expects students to apply the skills necessary to read and communicate effectively in a variety of situations. A selection of literature by diverse authors will be read to expand knowledge and reading comprehension levels. Students will apply analytic and critical reading skills to texts, write multi-paragraph compositions and research essays, explain and justify perspectives, and deliver effective presentations for a variety of purposes to selected audiences. The course also emphasizes reading comprehension strategies that align with Kansas State Reading Standards. By the end of the course, students will be equipped with the skills to succeed in their future high school English classes, the Kansas State Reading Assessment, and standardized tests. This course is designed to prepare students for English classes sophomore year, and in part, to prepare students for admission to a university.
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English II
Grade: 10 Prerequisite: English I Length of Course: Year
Description: English II is a one-year required course which will review and expand the literary genres and techniques begun in English I. Students read a variety of literature to expand the student’s knowledge and reading comprehension levels. The course includes frequent writing practice with an emphasis on sentences, paragraphs, short compositions, and a research project. Grammar, usage, punctuation, spelling, and vocabulary are also studied to help students effectively apply the conventions of standard in expressing their ideas. By the end of the course, students will be well-prepared for the Kansas State Reading Assessment, equipped with the skills to succeed in both high school English and future standardized tests. This course is designed to prepare them for their English classes their junior year, and in part, to prepare students for admission to a university.
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English II Honors
Grade: 10 Prerequisite: A in English I required and teacher approval Length of Course: Year
Description: An accelerated class that requires students to think deeply and richly about both fiction and non-fiction, this course offers a blend of classic and contemporary works from authors of diverse backgrounds. Thus, students will be exposed to a variety of authors. While the course places a heavy emphasis on a variety of writing and reading skills in preparation for the Kansas English Language Arts Assessment and ACT Test; it also introduces students to concepts that will be addressed more thoroughly in Composition and prepare students for college after high school. Students should expect a rigorous, challenging, active experience in the course.This course is designed in part to prepare students for admission to a university.
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Literature and Composition in Focus: British Literature
Grade: 12 Prerequisite: English II Length of Course: Semester
Description: This course is a junior-senior class that incorporates 21st century skills. Practical skills in reading British literature, poetry, and short stories combined with literary analysis and writing, listening, and speaking skills. Composition in all genres is a component of this course, as well as development of analytical and critical thinking skills.Literary study will be infused with historical applications for a better understanding of the social and historical context of the readings. Literary terms and elements of poetry and literature will be discussed throughout this course. The study of grammar and mechanics of writing will continue with a focus on reviewing concepts and avoiding common errors. This course is designed in part to prepare students for admission to a university.
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Literature and Composition in Focus: Creative Writing Approach to Short Stories
Grade: 11 & 12 Prerequisite: English II Length of Course: Semester
Description: Students in creative writing are encouraged to explore and develop their own ideas and are encouraged to explore many different ways of conveying meaning through writing and to see how methods and styles vary within cultures and time periods. The central focus of the course will explore and study the short story genre through a creative writing process. Students are encouraged to see connections between their own writing, the writing of others, and the broader world around them. This course offers highly motivated students an opportunity to become disciplined writers by writing in a variety of forms. This course is designed in part to prepare students for admission to a university.
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Literature and Composition in Focus: Dystopian Literature
Grade: 11 & 12 Prerequisite: English II Length of Course: Semester
Description: Students will investigate dystopian themes in literature while exploring how authors from various cultures and time periods have attempted to answer the question: Could a utopian society ever exist, and why does such a search for the perfect world typically backfire? In reading a variety of dystopian novels and short stories, as well as in viewing some dystopian films, students will identify and analyze how dystopian authors turn an inquisitive eye on their own societies in answering this question. Students will examine a variety of literary techniques in each novel (e.g., the use of metaphor, symbol, language, moral fable, and general novel structure) and will consider how these techniques help us understand issues of identity, self-development, social problems, struggles of the individual against society, and larger theoretical questions concerning genre. Students will complete reflective, analytical and creative writing assignments/projects.
This course is designed in part to prepare students for admission to a university.
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Literature and Composition in Focus: Epic/Greek Literature
Grade: 11 & 12 Prerequisite: English II Length of Course: Semester
Description: The purpose of this course is to understand the beginnings of the literature of Western civilization, to recognize the basis for classical allusions in Western literature, to appreciate the values and attitudes of Greek and Roman heroes, and to see the influence of Homer on later authors such as Virgil and others. This course is designed for the student who wants a background in classical literature. Students will learn the history of Greek drama and tragedies and read plays written by early Greek playwrights.
This course is designed in part to prepare students for admission to a university.
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Literature and Composition in Focus: Sports Literature
Grade: 11 & 12 Prerequisite: English II Length of Course: Semester
Description: Students will be exposed to a variety of genres related to literature of sports. This will include, but not be limited to novels, periodicals, poetry, and current publications. The course will include both fiction and non-fiction works. In addition, the time period, and/or culture related to the period will parallel the studied material. Also, with the examination of sports related material, students will continue to develop and advance their writing competencies. Writing and composition will be central to the analysis of the curriculum.This course is designed in part to prepare students for admission to a university.
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Literature and Composition in Focus: War Literature
Grade: 11 & 12 Prerequisite: English II Length of Course: Semester
Description: This course introduces a range of international texts and films pertaining to war in order to explore the social, cultural, political, and historical conditions that have led to war, the experiences of those directly and indirectly involved in war, as well as its aftermath. Explores various perspectives, including those of combatants and their families, innocent victims, returning soldiers and veterans, and later generations. Explores the many complex questions about the evolving definitions of war; the morality of war; the roles of race, gender and religion in war; the ways in which wars are remembered and forgotten; and the possibilities for peace. Covers memoirs, fiction, poetry, literary nonfiction, graphic novels, documentaries and feature films. Students will study various contemporary literary forms, including the novel, short story, poetry, fiction, nonfiction, narrative and drama. Reading comprehension, analytical skills, and personal response will be emphasized.This course is designed in part to prepare students for admission to a university.
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Literature and Composition in Focus: World Literature
Grade: 11 & 12 Prerequisite: English II Length of Course: Semester
Description: Students study literature from around the world. Each unit allows for close study of literary works, as well as consideration of historical and cultural context. The units focus not only on geographical regions, but also on themes and literary forms that pertain to them. Thus, students come to grasp the relationship between local concerns and universal questions. They become aware of the authors’ views of literature itself – its forms, peculiarities, language, and relationship to reality. This course is designed in part to prepare students for admission to a university.