Find the course syllabus here, along with other important information and documents.

Understanding character, setting, plot, and narrator are fundamental to interpreting fiction. Unit 1 builds on student understandings of these fundamentals from previous courses while establishing a foundation for the skills and knowledge necessary for this course. Students begin to examine how these fundamental elements function in a text.

Poetry and prose differ in a variety of ways, with structure often being the most obvious and notable of these differences. Unit 2 explores these differences and helps students better understand how the structures of poetry contribute to meaning and interpretations. In this unit, students will also explore other fundamentals often associated with—though not unique to—poetry: word choice and the foundations of simile and metaphor.

You've made it to your senior year! It's been a challenging but productive journey, and it's only going to get better as you start your college application process!

Unit 3 focuses on one or more extended narratives of the teacher’s selection, exploring the development of characters, conflicts, and plots and how these relate and contribute to the representation of values. Students will develop the skill of analyzing characters, specifically looking at how a character’s perspective shifts over the course of the narrative. 

Main text: 1984

Characters, plots, and dramatic situations—like people and events in the real world—are complex and nuanced. Unit 4 introduces the complexities of characters, the nuances of dramatic situations, and the complications of literary conflicts. The various contrasts an author introduces necessarily affect the interpretations that students make; therefore, students should learn to account for these elements as they choose evidence and develop the commentary that explains their thinking.

The book is always better than the movie! Or is it? Authors and producers utilize different tools in their respective mediums, but what does the audience think? An audience must compare and contrast visual and written texts in order analyze and interpret meaning.

Main text: The Kite Runner, Life of Pi, or One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

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Main text: Dracula

SPOILER ALERT: Everyone dies! Get down with the Bard and analyze how he uses language to develop character and explore universal themes and ideas.

Main text: Macbeth

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Main text: Numerous options