English 9 is a standard, college prep English course. Fundamentally, it is an introduction to high school English. Emphasis is placed on reading and writing fluency, MLA (Modern Language Association) research, writing, and documentation skills as well as new-word acquisition and usage.
English 9 includes a variety of literary units, including Shakespearean drama, coming-of-age and dystopian novels, short stories, poetry, and non-fiction selections.
English 9 also includes an extensive study of Standard American Grammar. While proper grammar is expected in all written work products, grammar is also taught explicitly as its own discipline. Students will receive extensive grammar instruction and should expect grammar-specific assessments throughout the course.
Essay writing prompts are concrete, and instruction related to blending quotes and including textual and scholarly evidence in academic essays is detailed, explicit, highly scaffolded, and moves at a slower pace than Advanced English 9.
English 9 is an appropriate course for students entering Charlotte Catholic with a wide range of ability levels in English Language Arts skills.
English 9 assessments include application, synthesis, and evaluation questions, but rely more heavily on knowledge and comprehension level questions.
Advanced English 9
Advanced English 9 is for the dedicated, dutiful, intrinsically motivated reader, writer, and critical thinker.
Advanced English 9 is ideally for the student who enjoys reading and writing for pleasure.
In addition to the grammar and vocabulary units and literary texts included in the English 9 course, students in Advanced English 9 read at least one memoir, an additional 19/20th century novel, and extensive passages (or entire works) from Homeric epic poetry and/or Sophoclean Greek tragedy.
*Reading in Advanced English 9 is completed more quickly and much more independently when compared to the slower pace and teacher scaffolding offered in English 9.
While grammar is explicitly taught, scaffolded, and modeled in English 9, it is quickly reviewed in Advanced English 9. Students are expected to arrive in Advanced English 9 having mastered grammar concepts developed in the middle school years.
Essay writing prompts are far more abstract and/or multi-tiered in Advanced English 9. Instruction related to blending quotes and including textual and scholarly evidence in academic essays, while also detailed and explicit, moves at a faster pace than English 9. Grading rubrics and standards for Advanced English 9 writing assignments are higher and more stringent than those in English 9.
Advanced English 9 assessments include far more application, synthesis, and evaluation level questions than simply plot recall knowledge and comprehension level questions.
Both Courses
Both English 9 and Advanced English 9 are academically rigorous, college-prep courses.
Both prepare students for success in high school and college-level English courses.
Both provide students solid English Language Arts skills essential for any high school or college course where reading, writing, research, and critical questioning skills are required.
