Style and Rhetoric    

This one semester course is designed to improve reading and writing. Students will go beyond simply identifying content  to how writers express themselves the way they do.  Students will apply techniques learned to their own writing as they create products including a children’s story and a poem based on a piece of art.

Students will also focus on rhetoric (or the art of persuasion) as it exists in advertising and non-fiction. They will study persuasive techniques in advertising, illogical arguments and faulty reasoning, and evaluate web pages.  Projects reflecting the student's understanding of rhetoric will include creating a parody ad and a mock web page, as well as writing a persuasive essay.

In addition to critical reading and related writing, students will master the rules of standard English and expand their vocabularies by breaking words apart and learning the meanings of various Latin roots. Not only will this course make students better readers, writers, and thinkers ,it will prepare them for standardized tests, such as the ACT and college-entrance exams.

Pre-requisite: English 9                           Grade: 10-12                            Credit: .5