Language Arts

The upper school Language Arts curriculum emphasizes critical reading, vocabulary, and writing skills. Classes use close reading, discussions, and vocabulary exercises to engage students. Grammar and essay writing promote a strong understanding of literature and complex idea expression. The language arts program aims to instill a love for reading, language mastery, and strong communication skills, which are crucial for academic and personal growth.

English Essential Questions:

1. How does reading a wide range of literature from many periods in many genres build an understanding of the many dimensions of human experience?

2. Why do we adjust our use of spoken, written, and visual language (e.g., conventions, style, vocabulary) to communicate effectively with various audiences and for different purposes?

3. How do we appropriately use different writing process elements to communicate with different audiences for various purposes?

4. How do we use language structure, language conventions (e.g., spelling and punctuation), media techniques, figurative language, and genre to create, critique, and discuss print and nonprint texts?

5. How does researching issues and interests and evaluating and synthesizing data from a variety of sources (e.g., print and nonprint texts, artifacts, people)  help us to communicate our discoveries in ways that suit our purpose and audience?