Instructional Leader - Mary (Ellen) Donahue

Email - Donahue@phoenixunion.org

Regular English Section Descriptions

English 1-2 is the first course in the series for required English graduation credits. It is designed to prepare students to meet proficiency on the Arizona English 9-10 standards that includes reading, writing, speaking, and listening and language skills. The course includes thematic units with fiction and non-fiction short and longer texts and writing topics that are relevant to students’ personal life experiences and engages them in evidence-based reading and writing. *Students enrolled in the honors course complete an “Honors Capstone Project.”  

English 3-4 is the second course in the series for required English graduation credits. It is designed to prepare students to meet proficiency on the Arizona English 9-10 standards that includes reading, writing, speaking, and listening and language skills. The course includes thematic units with fiction and non-fiction short and longer texts and writing topics that include multiple world experiences and perspectives while engaging students in evidence-based reading and writing. *Students enrolled in the honors course complete an “Honors Capstone Project.” 

English 5-6 is the third course in the series for required English graduation credits. It is designed to prepare students to meet proficiency on the Arizona English 11-12 standards that includes reading, writing, speaking, and listening and language skills. The course includes thematic units with fiction and non-fiction short and longer texts and writing topics that include multiple historical and contemporary American perspectives that are relevant to student experiences while engaging them in evidence-based reading and writing. 

English 7-8 is the final course in the series for required English graduation credits. It is designed to prepare students to meet proficiency on the Arizona English 11-12 standards that includes reading, writing, speaking, and listening and language skills. The course includes thematic units with fiction and non-fiction short and longer texts and writing topics that include multiple historical and contemporary perspectives from a broad variety of authors that are relevant to student experiences and engages them in evidence-based reading and writing. Students will complete a senior capstone project. 

7-8 Honors/Duel Credit English

English 7-8 HD is the final course in the series for required English graduation credits. It is designed  to prepare students to meet proficiency on the Arizona English 11-12 standards that includes reading, writing, speaking and listening, and language skills. The course includes thematic units with fiction  and non-fiction short and longer texts and writing topics that include multiple historical and contemporary perspectives from a broad variety of authors that are relevant to student experiences and engages them in evidence-based reading and writing. The goal of this class is to integrate  MCC ENG 101 and ENG 102.The writing portion of the class will meet the MCC requirements for ENG 101 and 102 and demand more mature writing from the students, with special emphasis on  formal essays, incorporating vocabulary reinforcement and grammar practice. It is expected that all students in this class agree to register for the MCC credit.  Students not interested in obtaining credit may be transferred out to make room for students who do.  All lesson plans are designed according to Maricopa Community Colleges and Phoenix Union High School Districts Standards. 

AP LITERATURE

The goal of this class is to integrate the study of literature with history, showing the progression of literary movements as results of the cultural and historical environment. This course will be examining dramatic, poetic, and prose genres with an emphasis on analysis and understanding, focusing on literary analysis of theme, character, and figurative language study.  The writing portion of the class will demand more mature writing from the students, with special emphasis on formal essays and prose, incorporating vocabulary reinforcement and grammar practice. Students enrolled in this class are required to take the AP Exam in May.  Students will have the option to concurrently enroll in Phoenix College for dual enrollment credit.  All lesson plans are designed according to the PXU Essential Standards, AP College Board standards and competencies, and Phoenix College course competencies.  

AP LANGUAGE

 This course engages students in becoming skilled readers of prose written in a variety of periods, disciplines, and rhetorical contexts, and in becoming skilled writers who compose for a variety of purposes. The course emphasizes the expository, analytical, and argumentative writing that is the basis of academic and professional communication. Students will also learn to read primary and secondary sources carefully and to synthesize material from these texts in their own writing. They will also learn to cite sources using conventions of the Modern Language Association. Students enrolled in this class are required to take the AP Exam in May.  Students will have the option to concurrently enroll in Phoenix College for dual enrollment credit.  All lesson plans are designed according to the PXU Essential Standards, AP College Board standards and competencies, and Phoenix College course competencies.  

7-8 Culturally Relevant from African American Perspective

English 7-8 Culturally Relevant from the African American Perspective is an additional option for the final course in the series of required English graduation credits. It is designed to prepare students to meet proficiency on the Arizona English 11-12 standards that includes reading, writing, speaking and listening and language skills. The course includes thematic units with fiction and non-fiction short and longer texts and writing topics that focus on African American literature from a variety of genres. Through a culturally relevant perspective, students will learn how race, class, gender, culture and language have shaped African American literature. Students will apply literacy discourse and understandings while engaging in evidence-based reading and writing. Students will complete a senior capstone project. 

Essential Standards

Reading  

R.1: Textual Evidence & Inference  

Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.  

R.2: Theme/Main Idea & Details  

Determine two or more themes or central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to produce a complex account or analysis; provide an objective summary of the text.  

RI.3 Construction and Interaction of Ideas 

Analyze a complex set of ideas or sequence of events and explain how specific individuals, ideas, or events interact and develop over the course of the text. 

R.4: Impact of Word Choice  

Determine the meaning(s) of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative, connotative and technical meanings, while analyzing the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone or analyze how an author uses and refines the meaning of a key term or terms over the course of a text.  

RI.6: Determine and Analyze Point of View & Purpose  

Determine an author’s point of view or purpose in a text in which the rhetoric is particularly effective, analyzing how style and content contribute to the effectiveness of the text.  

R.8: Evaluating Argument  

Delineate and evaluate the rhetorical effectiveness of the authors' reasoning, premises, purpose, and argument in seminal U.S. and world texts.  

Writing  

W.1: Argument Writing  

Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.   

W.2: Informative/ Expository Writing  

Write informative/ explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content.   

Language  

L.1: Grammar, Usage & Conventions  

Demonstrate command of the conventions of Standard English grammar, usage, and mechanics when writing.  

L.4: Determine Meaning of Words  

Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies.  

Speaking & Listening  

SL.1: Collaborative Discussions  

Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 11 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.