Honors Grammar/Composition and Literature Class

     In 2009-2010 Cordis Academy further added to the list of classes offered by adding an Honor’s Program option for Grammar/Composition and Literature for students in the 10^th -12^th grade. While both the current College Prep classes and the Honors classes prepare students for life after high school, a primary difference between the classes is that students in Honors do more independent reading and write more essays and major papers.

Program Vision

College Prep Class:  English Department teachers direct interactive classes so the students are engaged and directly participate in their learning.   The College Prep classes engage students in the careful reading and critical analysis of literature while becoming skilled writers who compose for a variety of purposes.

Classes stress the importance of effective oral and written expression and utilize a range of teaching and assessment techniques.  College Prep offers its students a full, stimulating curriculum that meets the academic requirements of colleges and universities. 

• Students who begin in the College Prep program may petition to move to the Honors Program the following year.

Honors Class: English Department teachers direct interactive classes so the students are engaged and directly participate in their learning.   The Honors Grammar/Composition/Literature course is designed to help students become skilled readers of prose written in a variety of periods, disciplines, and rhetorical contexts.  The writing instruction focuses on developing coherence, unity, precision, structure, and stylistic maturity.

By their writing and reading in this course, students should become aware of the interactions among a writer’s purposes, audience expectations, and subjects.  Students will be challenged in the ability to spontaneously write an organized and developed essay that demonstrates a strong and expressive command over the English language.

·         Students may choose to take the AP examination at the end of the course.

• Students should be above average students of English and be interested in maximizing their preparation for college.  They must have a 3.0 GPA along with their instructor’s permission to sign up for the class.

• Parents of 9^th grade students who may be interested in this program must request a meeting with administration.  Past grades and samples of writing may be requested.  General academic and social maturity will be taken into consideration when considering this request.