Writing is an integral part of the senior English curriculum.  Each student is required to write a 20 chapter Senior Memory Book (a compilation of reflective essays, personal narratives and poems); a research paper; and additional essays and paragraphs.  Composition is the focus of first semester when the research paper unit is studied.  The course provides continued and advanced instruction in writing for a variety of purposes and audiences, including preparation for college-level and workplace writing.  Senior English is also the study of British literature, combined with the study of vocabulary, grammar and usage.  The literature is chronologically studied, following the time periods of British literature:  the Anglo-Saxons, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the Restoration and 18^th century, the Romantic period, the Victorian period and the Modern era.  The major literature units include Beowulf, The Canterbury Tales, Macbeth, Of Mice and Men, and Flowers for Algernon.  Also many essays, poems, and short stories are read.  Students will also read Accelerated Reader novels and take computerized tests as part of their literature study.   A 30-lesson vocabulary series is used requiring students to constantly review words previously studied.  Part of the vocabulary series is the study of analogies, which requires the students to think very critically.  Grammar and usage are reviewed daily through the use of DOL (Daily Oral Language) exercises and weekly quizzes.  It is also assessed in almost all writing assignments, including the major Senior Memory Book unit.

Texts Used:

Holt McDougal Literature:  Grade 12: British Literature. Common Core Edition.  Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 2012.

Holt Handbook: Grammar, Usage, Mechanics, Sentences, Sixth Course; John E. Warriner, Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 2003.

 Major Supplementary Materials:

Novels – Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

         - Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

Drama – The Tragedy of Macbeth by William Shakespeare

Additional Novel Option – Lord of the Flies by William Golding

DVDs  -    Of Mice and Men

         -          First Knight

         -          Dead Poets Society

         -    Flowers for Algernon