ENGLISH
HONORS CURRICULUM
FOR 9TH AND 10TH GRADES
9th GRADE HONORS CURRICULUM
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Remove HSPA open-ended assignments and timed SAT writing
Replace with A.P. “look-alike” assignments that allow students to
identify and explain an author’s use of rhetorical strategies
Poetry analysis
Prose analysis
Nonfiction analysis
Literature open-ended response
Incorporate both fiction and nonfiction readings from several genres
and from early to contemporary periods
Replace “genre study-personal commentary” with personal
essay/memoir writing
Concentration on narration and description for paragraph
development
Introduction to rhetorical strategies (diction and syntax
appropriate for particular audiences)
Inclusion of models of memoir and personal writing
demonstrating the relationship of author to audience and
author to subject
Replace HSPA picture prompt with rhetorical analysis of a visual text
(A.P. exam “look-alike”)
“To reflect the increasing importance of graphics and visual
images in texts published in print and electronics media, students
are asked to analyze how such images both relate to written texts
and serve as alternative forms of text themselves.” (9, College
Board AP English Language Course Description)
Replace “genre study – feature article” with an expository essay
developed through the rhetorical mode of classification.
10TH GRADE HONORS CURRICULUM
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Remove HSPA open-ended assignments and timed SAT writing
Replace with A.P. “look-alike” assignments that allow students to identify
and explain an author’s use of rhetorical strategies
Poetry analysis
Prose analysis
Nonfiction analysis
Literature open-ended response
Incorporate both fiction and nonfiction readings from several genres and from
early to contemporary periods
Replace “genre study – research-based writing” with synthesis argument
paper (position based on several documents) in preparation for the English
Language and Composition AP free response question.
Replace “genre study-opinion” with personal essay/memoir writing
Concentration on narration and description for
paragraph development
Introduction to rhetorical strategies (diction and syntax
appropriate for particular audiences)
Inclusion of models of memoir and personal writing
demonstrating the relationship of author to audience
and author to subject
Replace HSPA picture prompt with rhetorical analysis of a visual text
(A.P. exam “look-alike”)
“To reflect the increasing importance of graphics and visual images in
texts published in print and electronic media, students are asked to
analyze how such images both relate to written texts and serve as
alternative forms of text themselves”. (9, College Board AP English
Language Course Description)
Replace the fourth marking period literary analysis essay with an
expository essay developed through the rhetorical mode of comparisoncontrast in preparation for the AP English Language and Composition
course.