English
Overview
The English Department provides a college-preparatory and an Advanced Placement curriculum through which students are taught to value great literature, to write with an awareness of their audience, and to communicate effectively. An awareness of the need for technological research skills permeates the department. Through the study of literature, composition, and oral communication, students become ever more creative and independent thinkers in a world of global communication expectations.
Students at John Carroll take four years of a traditional college preparatory course in English. Honors and AP credit courses are offered and enrichment activities are many and varied. The department uses interactive web sites to collect and grade papers electronically and is actively working to incorporate additional internet resources into our curricula.
Required summer reading helps to keep students academically my Selections range from ninth grade “social issue” texts to upper level choices that include literary works found on college reading lists. Seminar discussions and testing of summer reading take place during the first weeks of the new school year.
The English Department and our Media Specialists collaborate teaching our ninth grade students Inforskills, a cross-curricula research program. Classes are held in the library classroom, a state of the art computer lab. A formal research paper is taught in tenth. grade, extending instruction in both writing and research skills. Readings at the ninth and tenth grade levels include a World Literature Anthology emphasizing multi-cultural studies.
Field trips are taken on all grade levels depending on availability of resources. Recent trips have included visits to the Folger Shakespeare Theater in Washington D.C., a renaissance program, the Holocaust Museum in D.C., and a performance of King Lear at Center Stage in Baltimore.
The eleventh grade program includes a survey of American literature, SAT preparation via expository writing assignments, vocabulary study, and test-taking practice. Students write literary analysis term papers.
Senior year affords the students a wide variety of experiences in addition to the study of British Literature—from a Holocaust unit, including presentations by Holocaust survivors, a class trip to Washington, D.C, to a culminating project synthesizing works studied with student philosophies
Over the years John Carroll students have scored exceptionally well on the College Board’s AP Tests, thus earning them college credits while still in high school.
Honors level courses offered at all levels entail greater challenges, a faster pace, and more in-depth study of literature. Placements are at teacher request and via application initiated by students. Two AP courses, AP Language and Composition and AP Literature and Composition, are offered to junior and senior students. Over the years John Carroll students have scored exceptionally well on the College Board’s AP Tests, thus earning them college credits while still in high school.
From family scrap-booking in their freshman year to a personal philosophy year-long project as seniors, English students at The John Carroll School have the opportunity to express themselves in creative and challenging ways.
Curriculum
English 9/Honors English 9
The freshman English course is a literary genre-based curriculum with an emphasis on world literature using the anthology Adventures in Appreciation. The curriculum has at its core a short story unit, a poetry unit, a novel unit, a drama (Shakespearean) unit, and a research unit, all with a multicultural focus. Additional novels and plays will be assigned to enrich the students' understanding during the units. Throughout the course, rigorous attention will be given to expository writing skills, grammar study, and vocabulary building for writing and oral speaking. Lastly, a strong emphasis will be placed on teaching students critical reading and thinking skills for higher level literary analysis and discussion.
English 10
Sophomore English is a continuation of the literary genre-based curriculum of English 9 using the Adventures in Appreciation anthology. Poetry and short fiction are emphasized in the first semester, and drama and the novel are emphasized in the second semester when students read and discuss Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice and J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye. The research process is taught in preparation of the sophomore research paper, and students are directed in creating and supporting an argumentative thesis statement. In addition, outside reading assignments are required in specified literary genres, and formal grammar and vocabulary studies continue from English 9.
English 11
Junior English consists of two semesters of American Literature from the Colonial era to the present. Students are instructed in all facets of grammar with a goal of strengthening writing skills that are transferable to many subjects and areas of their lives. Emphasis is also placed on vocabulary skills, with attention given to developing SAT awareness. Students read one novel in the summer as well as two assigned novels during the school year as outside readings. An additional novel by an American author serves as the basis for a term paper of original literary analysis. The essential question of the course: What does it mean to be American as witnessed in the literature we read?
English 12
Senior English is a chronologically arranged survey course of the works of select writers of British literature from the Anglo-Saxon period to the Modern Age. The course traces the development of English language/literature and examines the effects of cultural elements and historical periods on both genres and the individual works within those genres. A comprehensive study of writing styles and techniques culminates with a comparative analysis term paper. SAT review occurs in the fall semester. There is a year-long grammar program. In addition to required summer reading, one outside reading is assigned each semester. Students complete a capstone project as the summary activity of the course of study. While the focus of senior level English is British literature, there is also exploration of world literature.
Honors English Program
Honors courses are offered at each year level. The courses follow the regular curriculum, covering more material at greater depth. Supplemental readings are required, and an emphasis is placed upon expository writing of the type that is required in college-level courses. At the junior and senior level, honors students are encouraged to take the AP English tests offered by the College Board.
Advanced Placement Program
AP courses in English are offered at the junior and senior year levels. The courses challenge students in critical thinking, reading, and writing. The curriculum is designed to resemble a college course both in content and methodology. At the end of Junior AP English, students are required to take the AP Language and Composition Exam, while Senior AP students take the AP Literature and Composition Exam.
Awards
The English Prize is awarded to the graduating senior with a high cumulative average, who displays an enthusiasm for and a love of literature as well as an excellence in writing.
Summer Reading Program
Because we recognize the importance of regular reading in meeting the academic challenges of a college-preparatory curriculum, the English Department has a required Summer Reading Program. Students are tested on the assigned reading books during the first week of classes in September, and their grades become part of the first quarter evaluation. As part of the reading experience, we recommend that students keep a reading journal in which they record key events from the plot, a list of major and minor characters, and new vocabulary they encounter; these notes will be useful in reviewing prior to testing in September. We encourage students to read additional books from recommended reading lists with a goal of acquiring the habit and love of reading.
| English Department Faculty | |
|---|---|
| Matthew S. Blair | M.A. The Catholic University of America |
| Susan A. Fisher, Chair | M.A. University of Toledo |
| Louise Brink Géczy | B.A. University of South Florida |
| Mark A. Ionescu | B.A. Johns Hopkins University |
| Thorkild S. Paaby, Jr. | M.L.A. Johns Hopkins University |
| James Peters, Jr. | M.A. Johns Hopkins University |
| Elizabeth Pyzik | M.Ed. Loyola College of Maryland |
| Celeste F. Smith | M.Ed. Loyola College of Maryland |
| Robert E. Schick | M. A. College of Notre Dame |
| Christine S. Zurkowski | M.Ed. McDaniel College |
