English 1 Honors is a rigorous course designed to prepare students for the skills and mindset needed to be successful in students' college and career endeavors. We will emphasize oral and written language skills, growth in the skills of collaboration and creativity, as well as critical thinking. Finally, and most importantly, we will develop students' skills and understandings as readers. These skills will help them navigate the challenges of academic and professional experiences.

Students have access to our daily, weekly, and quarterly agendas through eKadence. On our course homepage students have access to our week at a glance which provides the lessons everyday for the entire semester. If students are absent, this is the first place they should look to find out what they missed. Instruction, assignments, and explanations are provided and/or hyperlinked in the Slides for the week at a glance.

Quarter 1: Narrative writing. We will emphasize reading and writing narrative techniques through poetry and short stories. This quarter we do an author study of Sandra Cisneros, culminating in the reading of "The House on Mango Street" and multiple personal narrative writings.

Quarter 2: Informative Writing. We will be reading "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian" by Sherman Alexie and "Of Mice and Men" by John Steinbeck, in which we will focus heavily on literary analysis and tone.

Quarter 3: Informative and Argument. We will be reading two core texts based on World War II: "Zoot Suit" by Luis Valdez and "Night" by Elie Wiesel. We will emphasize message, theme, author's purpose, and characterization.

Quarter 4: Argument Writing. We will be reading "Romeo and Juliet" by William Shakespeare, in which we will emphasize literary analysis and response to literature.