PTHS Curriculum Guide 2024-2025

PTHS COURSES OF STUDY

ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS

ENGLISH

ENGLISH ESSENTIALS (160, 161) Class Level: 9 Credit: 1

Prerequisite: Freshman concurrently enrolled in English I, unless approved by the English Essentials Instructor This course serves as additional support for students concurrently enrolled in English I, as the curriculum of the two courses are directly correlated. Reading skills are the emphasis of this course through a focus on six comprehension strategies: predicting, summarizing, connecting, questioning, inferring, and imaging. Students will apply these techniques to fiction as well as nonfiction texts. Acknowledging the inherent connection between reading and writing, this course also focuses on basic components of the English language, providing students with opportunities to practice and improve writing skills through a variety of modes.

ENGLISH I (100, 101) Class Level: 9 Credit: 1 Prerequisite: None

This course is an integrated study of literature and composition. Emphasis will be given to the basic literary forms: short story, novel, drama, poetry, and non-fiction. This course, while emphasizing literary vocabulary and analysis of form and content, ultimately seeks to integrate composition activities into the course. Students will complete several themes and other writing assignments based on the literature studied.

RHETORIC I (HONORS) (106, 107) Class Level: 9 Credit: 1 Prerequisite: Department Placement

This freshman honors composition course introduces the students to the special techniques of writing introductions and conclusions, moving quickly into the drafting of the body of expository papers. Emphasis is placed on theme organization with stress upon unity and coherence in the structure. The course also clarifies and completes rudimentary and secondary aspects of English grammar. This course is also a survey of the various genres of literature: short story, drama, essay, poetry, and the novel. Although students will be expected to give knowledgeable explications of the literature, the major emphasis will be placed upon acquiring and utilizing a sound literary vocabulary in analyzing literary works.

16