Composition and World Literature 1
This course is designed to introduce students to literature from various cultures, and to enhance and improve their writing abilities through various types of written assignments. Through these written assignments, projects, and various activities, students also develop research, listening, and speaking skills. The literature portion of the course reviews primary elements of literature and poetry, and examines the function of these elements within various literary works, while also incorporating relevant art, music, and philosophical ideas. In terms of writing, students will improve and develop their skills in writing narratives, multi-draft compositions, expository compositions, journals, and autobiographical compositions. This course provides a foundation for the English curriculum that students will encounter in their remaining years at St. John Bosco High School.
Composition and World Literature 1 Honors
Prerequisite: Strong performance on the High School Placement Test (HSPT). This course is designed to introduce students to literature from various cultures, and to enhance and improve their writing abilities through various types of written assignments. Through these written assignments, projects, and various activities, students also develop research, listening, and speaking skills. The literature portion of the course reviews primary elements of literature and poetry, and examines the function of these elements within various literary works, while also incorporating relevant art, music, and philosophical ideas. In terms of writing, students will improve and develop their skills in writing narratives, multi-draft compositions, expository compositions, journals, letters, and autobiographical compositions. This course provides a foundation for the English curriculum that students will encounter in their remaining years at SJBHS.
Composition and World Literature 2
Prerequisite: Composition and World Literature 1. This course continues to focus on multiculturalism as begun in the freshman year as well as on the multiplicity of social and historical issues addressed in the literature. Encompassed within the teaching of the various core novels, plays, short stories, and poetry is a concentration on writing and the writing process. Within the teaching of the writing process is the development of vocabulary including literary terms, grammar usage, and words from the literature itself. Also present is a continued focus on the development of speaking and listening skills with an emphasis on the use of visual aids and technological tools.
Composition and World Literature 2 Honors
Prerequisite: A in Composition and World Literature 1 or a minimum grade of B in Composition and World Literature
1 Honors. Composition and World Literature 2 Honors continues to focus on multiculturalism through World Literature begun in the World Literature and Composition 1, freshmen year. The course also seeks to address the multiplicity of social issues addressed in literature. Encompassed within the teaching of the various core novels, short stories, and poetry is a concentration on intensive writing and the writing process. Within the teaching of the writing process is the intense development of vocabulary including literary terms, grammar usage, and words from the literature itself. A quality, contemporary and educational vocabulary is established. In this course, language skills are reinforced in terms of grammar, mechanics, and syntax. The course continues to focus on the development of oral communication with an emphasis on the use of visual aids and electronic media. Self-assessment continues to be an important focus of the course.
American Literature and Composition
Prerequisite: Composition and World Literature 2. American Literature and Composition refines and builds upon on the basic skills presented in the ninth and tenth grades. The course’s primary focus is a survey of American literature. As such, students will explore a variety of American themes that will not only enrich them as learners but mold them into more culturally aware citizens. Through oral and written expression, students analyze the evolution of the “American Dream” from a variety of perspectives—including their own—as they further hone their personal, analytical, and creative writing. Through this comprehensive study, students will learn to refine their writing processes for senior year and beyond, while also fostering a greater understanding of our shared cultural life and what it means to be an American.
The Intersection of Race and Cultural Diversity
Prerequisite: Composition/World Literature 2. Students will learn to recognize and/or deepen their knowledge of the influence of race, ethnicity, and cultural diversity on social institutions, ideology, law, and relationships through modern scholarship and literature. Race and ethnicity are ideological and cultural categories that include all people, and therefore this course will take a broad look at the creation and perpetuation of the ideology of race and cultural diversity. The primary focus is on the historical and social relationships among European Americans, African Americans, Latino/as, and Asian/Pacific Americans. Issues of race and ethnicity are examined across different ethno-cultural traditions in order to interweave diverse experiences into a larger synthesis of the meaning of race and ethnicity in American life. We will treat race and ethnicity as dynamic, complex ideological and cultural processes that shape all social institutions, belief systems, inter-group relationships, and individual experiences, and how authors express their experiences of those social apparatus through literature and popular culture mediums.
AP English Language and Composition
Prerequisite: A in Composition and World Literature 2 or a minimum grade of B in Composition and World 2 Honors. AP Language and Composition aims to develop the critical reading and writing skills necessary to become better students and citizens. As such, the course hones and stimulates students’ curiosity, creativity, and critical thinking. Students will learn how written expression functions rhetorically by being exposed to authors, movements, and ideologies that carry with them the lofty purpose of changing the hearts and minds of readers/listeners and, subsequently, society at large. Reading and analyzing nonfiction and fiction that transcends and shapes our world is necessary for students to mature beyond the skills that will be measured on the AP Exam. Composing responses to exam prompts is not the sole purpose of AP Language and Composition. Students will participate in considerable practice in reading a wide variety of literary and nonfiction texts in order to find out how others shape, shake, and shift the status quo. Familiarity with these texts will help students become informed and rhetorically competent writers who not only consider the views of others but use writing as a way to express their own responses to a world in flux.
British Literature and Composition
Prerequisite: Composition and American Literature or AP English Language and Composition. This course continues to refine and develop those skills reintroduced and emphasized during the previous years. It surveys a core of British literature to serve as a summation and emphasis of all literary concepts from the ninth, tenth, and eleventh grades. The various activities develop students’ research and writing skills, as well as their listening and speaking skills. The literature portion of the class introduces the students to canonical and contemporary British literature, incorporating relevant art, music, and philosophical ideas. This course does give a sense of finality to the scope and sequence of the English curriculum, yet it also fosters a life-long love of literature and learning.
AP English Literature and Composition
Prerequisite: A in Composition and American Literature or a minimum grade of B in AP English Language and Composition. An alternative for those seniors who meet the minimum requirements set by the department and who wish to challenge themselves with the taking of the AP exam in May of the senior year. The course emphasizes all aspects of the English language. All literature serves as a source as the students read through the genre of the literary world. Students in this course will be prepared to take the AP Exam in May with the possibility of receiving college credit and/or placement.
Journalism
Prerequisite: Composition and World Literature 2 or Composition and World Literature 2 Honors. In Journalism, students garner an appreciation for the art of fair and factual storytelling and the press' special role in American democratic life. In the tradition and spirit of the First Amendment, students examine and critique the practices and ethics of the American mass media, whose journalistic function serves as a vital "Fourth Estate" to national power. In addition to gaining a basic academic understanding of journalism in the United States, students write, publish, and edit stories for The Brave News, St. John Bosco's online student-run news outlet.
