Advanced Language Arts Classes
Students learn
- How to use mature scholarly vocabulary to discuss writing styles and rhetorical tools/strategies
- How to write complex essays demonstrating command of common organizational patterns (cause/effect, compare/contrast, etc.) moving beyond a standardized format (five paragraph or other)
- How to clearly communicate opinions and information through writing
- How to demonstrate mature critical thinking skills through writing
- How to organize longer research papers drawn from multiple sources (5-15 pages)
- How to revise a paper independently before getting outside help
- How to develop a personal style and voice
- How to critique writing and offer constructive feedback
- How to find their own strategies to alleviate writer’s block
- How to produce polished creative work, suitable for publication or competition
- How to prepare for standardized and other academic essay tests
- How to write a college or scholarship application essay, a resume, and other real-world writing pieces
- How to analyze writing through close reading
- How to incorporate literary and non-literary or critical sources into a literary research project
- How to recognize works from various literary and historical periods
- Increasingly advanced literary terminology, such asapostrophe, aphorism, conceit, epigram, epiphany, metonymy, paradox, parallelism, persona, satire, synecdoche, understatement, catharsis, comic relief, external conflict, internal conflict, dialect, soliloquy, oral tradition, parable, stereotype, anapest, anapestic meter, approximate rhyme (also known as imperfect rhyme, near rhyme, slant rhyme, or oblique rhyme) artistic unity, aside, cacophony, static character, stock character, colloquial, dactyl, dactylic meter, dues ex machina, dilemma, direct presentation versus indirect presentation of character, euphemism, hamartia, hubris, indeterminate ending, internal rhyme, sarcasm, scansion, spondee, stream of consciousness, terza rima, tetrameter, trochee, trochaic meter, English vs. Spanish sonnet
- Writing epic poetry, "true" sonnets, multi-part stories, one-act plays, movie scripts
- Write literary essays in more than five paragraph format (well-developed introductions and conclusions, a student-created prompt and thesis, and seamless text evidence to prove each point in the essay. 3–7 pp. in length)
- How to write a full, two-hour English exam OR take the AP Literature or AP English exam