2010- 2011 Course Description Guide - Midland Independent ...

LANGUAGE ARTS COURSESRequired courses are always offered; electives are offered as enrollment justifies demand.COMMUNICATIONS APPLICATIONS (Course #1651)Grade Level: 9, 10, 11, 12; Length: SemesterCommunications Applications is the ONLY approved speech class which satisfies state graduation requirements.Gives the student practical experience speaking in a variety of public situations. Fundamentals of research,organization, and argumentation are explored as well as verbal and non‐verbal delivery. Speeches include experiencein giving informative, persuasive, entertaining, and specialized speeches such as after‐dinner presentations.ENGLISH I (Course #1120)Grade Level: 9; Length: YearEnglish l stresses the integration of literature, composition, language and reading. The course uses the writingprocess, including the steps of prewriting, writing, revising, editing, and publishing, to teach composition. TAKSobjectives in reading, writing, and viewing/representing are reviewed as students prepare for the 9 th grade TAKSReading test and the Exit‐Level TAKS English Language Arts test.ENGLISH I / Pre‐AP (Course #1130)Grade Level: 9; Length: YearThis course prepares students for entry into the Advanced Placement courses in the junior and senior years bychallenging students to develop advanced skills in ready, composition, oral communication, and logical argument. Thegrammatical, mechanical, and syntactical skills of language are taught within the meaningful context of the writingprocess.ENGLISH ll – (Course # 1220)Grade Level: 10; Length: YearPrerequisite: English lEnglish ll continues to stress the integration of literature, composition, language, and reading. This course uses thewriting process, including prewriting, writing, revising, editing, and publishing steps, to teach composition. Studentsalso review various English skills in reading, writing, and viewing/representing to prepare for the predictor EnglishLanguage Arts TAKS test, given in the spring of the 10 th grade year, and the Exit‐Level TAKS given in the 11 th grade.Pre‐AP ENGLISH II – (Course # 1230)Grade Level: 10; Length: YearStudents enrolled in Pre‐AP English ll increase and refine their reading, writing and interpretive skills. Pre‐AP English IIstudents are expected to plan, draft, and complete error‐free drafts of written compositions on a regular basis,enhancing their ability to use grammatical conventions appropriately, demonstrating more sophistication of a stylisticmaturity in their prose. Students will practice all forms of writing with an emphasis placed on expository, analytical,and reflective forms of writing. They will read extensively in multiple genres from world literature, including shortstories, drama, novel and poetry. Students will learn literary terms and rhetorical forms and they will readdeliberately and thoroughly, taking time to understand a work’s literary form. Additional study of vocabulary andGreek and Latin roots increases the student’s appreciation of language.ENGLISH III ‐ (Course # 1320)Grade Level: 11; Length: YearPrerequisite: English IIEnglish III continues to stress the integration of literature, composition, language, and reading. American literatureserves as the basis for the literature study. This course continues to use the writing process to refine compositionskills. Students continue to focus on reading, writing, and viewing/representing skills that are tested on the Exit‐LevelTAKS English Language Arts test.ENGLISH III / DUAL CREDIT – (Course # 1321)Grade Level: 11; Length: YearPrerequisite: English II14