• The Arts

    Art Appreciation

    • Intended audience: Grades 9-12
    • Credit: One trimester = 0.5 credit
    • Major outcomes: Art Appreciation is a survey of the history of Western visual arts, with a primary focus on painting. Students begin with an introduction to the basic principles of painting and learn how to critique and compare works of art. Students then explore prehistoric and early Greek and Roman art before they move on to the Middle Ages. Emphasis is placed on the Renaissance and the principles and masters that emerged in Italy and northern Europe. Students continue their art tour with the United States during the 20th century, a time of great innovation as abstract art took center stage. While Western art is the course's primary focus, students will finish the course by studying artistic traditions from Africa, Asia, Oceania, and the Americas. This course does not meet the graduation requirements for the arts.

     

    Music Appreciation I & II

    • Intended audience: Grades 9-12
    • Credit: One trimester = 0.5 credit
    • Major outcomes: Music Appreciation is a streamlined course that introduces student to the history, theory, and genres of music, from the most primitive surviving examples, through the classical to the most contemporary in the world at large. The course is offered in a two semester format: The first semester covers primitive musical forms, classical music, and American jazz. The second semester presents the rich modern traditions, including: gospel, folk, soul, blues, Latin rhythms, rock and roll, and hip-hop. The course explores the interface of music and social movements and examines how the emergent global society and the Internet is bringing musical forms together in new ways from all around the world. This course does not meet the graduation requirements for the arts. 

     

    Business and marketing

    Financial Literacy

    • Intended audience: Grades 9-12
    • Credit: One trimester = 0.5 credit
    • Major outcomes: Financial Literacy helps students recognize and develop vital skills that connect life and career goals with personalized strategies and milestone-based action plans. Students explore concepts and work toward a mastery of personal finance skills, deepening their understanding of key ideas and extending their knowledge through a variety of problem-solving applications. Course topics include career planning; income, taxation, and budgeting; savings accounts, checking accounts, and electronic banking; interest, investments, and stocks; cash, debit, credit, and credit scores; insurance; and consumer advice on how to buy, rent, or lease a car or house.

     

    College and Career Prep

    • Intended audience: Grades 9-12
    • Credit: One trimester = 0.5 credit
    • Major outcomes: In College and Career Preparation, students obtain a deeper understanding of what it means to be ready for college. Students are informed about the importance of high school performance in college admissions and how to prepare for college testing. They know the types of schools and degrees they may choose to pursue after high school and gain wide exposure to the financial resources available that make college attainable. Career readiness is also a focus. Students connect the link between interests, college majors, and future careers by analyzing career clusters. Students come away from this course understanding how smart preparation and skill development in high school can lead into expansive career opportunities after they have completed their education and are ready for the working world.

     

    English Language Arts (ELA)

    Creative Writing

    • Intended audience: Grades 10-12
    • Credit: One trimester = 0.5 credit
    • Major outcomes: Creative Writing is an English elective course that focuses on the exploration of short fiction and poetry, culminating in a written portfolio that includes one revised short story and three to five polished poems. Students draft, revise, and polish fiction and poetry through writing exercises, developing familiarity with literary terms and facility with the writing process as they study elements of creative writing.

     

    Media Literacy

    • Intended audience: Grades 9-12
    • Credit: One trimester = 0.5 credit
    • Major outcomes: Media Literacy teaches students how to build the critical thinking, writing, and reading skills required in a media-rich and increasingly technocentric world. In a world saturated with media messages, digital environments, and social networking, concepts of literacy must expand to include all forms of media. Today's students need to be able to read, comprehend, analyze, and respond to non-traditional media with the same skill level they engage with traditional print sources. A major topic in Media Literacy is non-traditional media reading skills, including how to approach, analyze, and respond to advertisements, blogs, websites, social media, news media, and wikis. Students also engage in a variety of writing activities in non-traditional media genres, such as blogging and podcast scripting.

     

    Reading Skills and Strategies

    • Intended audience: Grades 9-12
    • Credit: One trimester = 0.5 credit
    • Major outcomes: Reading Skills and Strategies is a course is designed to help the struggling reader develop mastery in the areas of reading comprehension, vocabulary building, study skills, and media literacy, which are the course's primary content strands. Using these strands, the course guides the student through the skills necessary to be successful in the academic world and beyond. The reading comprehension strand focuses on introducing the student to the varied purposes of reading (e.g., for entertainment, for information, to complete a task, or to analyze).
       

    Writing Skills and Strategies

    • Intended audience: Grades 9-12
    • Credit: One trimester = 0.5 credit
    • Major outcomes: Writing Skills and Strategies develops key language arts skills necessary for high school graduation and success on high stakes exams through a semester of interactive instruction and guided practice in composition fundamentals. The course is divided into ten mini-units of study. The first two are designed to build early success and confidence, orienting students to the writing process and to sentence and paragraph essentials through a series of low-stress, high-interest hook activities. In subsequent units, students review, practice, compose and submit one piece of writing. Four key learning strands are integrated throughout: composition practice, grammar skill building, diction and style awareness, and media and technology exploration. Guided studies emphasize the structure of essential forms of writing encountered in school, in life, and in the work place. Practice in these forms is scaffolded to accommodate learners at different skill levels.
       


    Math

    Precalculus A/B

    • Intended audience: Grades 9-12
    • Credit: Two trimester = One credit
    • Major outcomes: Precalculus is a course that combines reviews of algebra, geometry, and functions into a preparatory course for calculus. The course focuses on the mastery of critical skills and exposure to new skills necessary for success in subsequent math courses. The first semester includes linear, quadratic, exponential, logarithmic, radical, polynomial, and rational functions; systems of equations; and conic sections. The second semester covers trigonometric ratios and functions; inverse trigonometric functions; applications of trigonometry, including vectors and laws of cosine and sine; polar functions and notation; and arithmetic of complex numbers. 

     

    AP Calculus A/B

    • Intended audience: Grades 9-12
    • Credit: Two trimester = One credit
    • Major outcomes: In AP* Calculus AB, students learn to understand change geometrically and visually (by studying graphs of curves), analytically (by studying and working with mathematical formulas), numerically (by seeing patterns in sets of numbers), and verbally. Instead of simply getting the right answer, students learn to evaluate the soundness of proposed solutions and to apply mathematical reasoning to real-world models. Calculus helps scientists, engineers, and financial analysts understand the complex relationships behind real-world phenomena. The equivalent of an introductory college-level calculus course, AP Calculus AB prepares students for the AP exam and further studies in science, engineering, and mathematics. * = AP is a registered trademark of the College Board.

     


    Science

    Earth Science A/B

    • Intended audience: Grades 9-12
    • Credit: Two trimesters = One credit
    • Major outcomes: Earth Science offers a focused curriculum that explores Earth's composition, structure, processes, and history; its atmosphere, freshwater, and oceans; and its environment in space. Course topics include an exploration of the major cycles that affect every aspect of life, including weather, climate, air movement, tectonics, volcanic eruptions, rocks, minerals, geologic history, Earth's environment, sustainability, and energy resources. Optional teacher-scored labs encourage students to apply the scientific method.  

     

    Physics A/B

    • Intended audience: Grades 9-12
    • Credit: Two trimesters = One credit
    • Major outcomes: The course provides students with opportunities to learn and practice critical scientific skills within the context of relevant scientific questions. Topics include the nature of science, math for physics, energy, kinematics, force and motion, momentum, gravitation, chemistry for physics, thermodynamics, electricity, magnetism, waves, nuclear physics, quantum physics, and cosmology. 


     
    Social Studies

    Multicultural Perspectives

    • Intended audience: Grades 10-12
    • Credit: One trimester = 0.5 credit
    • Major outcomes: Multicultural Studies is a one-semester elective history and sociology course that examines the United States as a multicultural nation. The course emphasizes the perspectives of minority groups while allowing students from all backgrounds to better understand and appreciate how race, culture and ethnicity, and identity contribute to their experiences. Major topics in the course include identity, immigration, assimilation and distinctiveness, power and oppression, struggles for rights, regionalism, culture and the media, and the formation of new cultures.


    Sociology

    • Intended audience: Grades 11 and 12
    • Credit: One trimester = .5 credit
    • Major outcomes: Sociological Perspectives-Introduction to Sociology (contributors, key concepts), research; Culture/Social Structure-Culture, socialization, groups/status, and deviance; Social Inequality-Racial/ethnic, and gender discrimination; Social Institutions-Family: marriage, divorce, domestic violence, sports, religion, or education


    Psychology I

    • Intended audience: Grades 11 and 12
    • Credit: One trimester = .5 credit
    • Major outcomes: Psychology provides a solid overview of the field's major domains: methods, biopsychology, cognitive and developmental psychology, and variations in individual and group behavior. By focusing on significant scientific research and on the questions that are most important to psychologists, students see psychology as an evolving science. Each topic clusters around challenge questions, such as “What is happiness?” Students answer these questions before, during, and after they interact with direct instruction.
       


    World languages

    Spanish I A/B

    • Intended audience: Grades 9-12
    • Credit: Two trimesters = one credit
    • Major outcomes: At the end of Spanish II, I will be able to have a simple conversation about who I am, where I come from, discuss my likes and dislikes, and speak about my family and friends, describing them and identifying likes and dislikes. I will also be able to write grammatically correct sentences on the same content, understand short conversations, and respond to a variety of questions related to content. I will be able to read various texts, appropriate to my level and respond to comprehension questions. Additionally, I will be able to respond to several classroom commands, and start to ask clarifying questions in Spanish. From a cultural standpoint, I will have a better understanding of the contributions that Hispanics have made in the United States and the Americas.

     

    Spanish II A/B

    • Prerequisite/selection process: Satisfactory performance on level I district world languages assessments and/or teacher recommendation
    • Intended audience: Grades 9-12
    • Credit: Two trimesters = one credit
    • Major outcomes: At the end of Spanish II, I will be able to have a simple conversation about who I am, where I come from, discuss my likes and dislikes, and speak about my family and friends, describing them and identifying likes and dislikes. I will also be able to write grammatically correct sentences on the same content, understand short conversations, and respond to a variety of questions related to content. I will be able to read various texts, appropriate to my level and respond to comprehension questions. Additionally, I will be able to respond to several classroom commands, and start to ask clarifying questions in Spanish. From a cultural standpoint, I will have a better understanding of the contributions that Hispanics have made in the United States and the Americas.

     

    Spanish III A/B

    • Prerequisite/selection process: Satisfactory performance in Spanish II
    • Intended audience: Grades 9-12
    • Credit: Two trimesters = one credit
    • Major outcomes: In Spanish III, students build upon the skills and knowledge they acquired in Spanish I and II. The course presents new vocabulary and grammatical concepts in context while providing students with ample opportunities to review and expand upon the material they have learned previously. Students read and listen to authentic materials from newspapers, magazines, and television. The content is focused on contemporary and relevant topics such as urbanization and population growth in Latin American countries, global health concerns, jobs of the future, and scientific advancements. The materials engage students as they improve their command of Spanish. 

     

    French I A/B

    • Intended audience: Grades 9-12
    • Credit: Two trimesters = one credit
    • Major outcomes: Bienvenue à notre classe! First, let me congratulate you for choosing to study French. This class will introduce you to the French language and the Francophone world. To assist in your discovery of the French language, you should expect to have homework almost every night. In addition to homework, I expect you to spend 10-15 minutes each night studying vocabulary and reviewing the material presented in class. Spending a little time each night instead of cramming for tests the night before will have you have a more successful experience in this class and with French in general.

     

    French II A/B

    • Prerequisite/selection process: Satisfactory performance in French I district 
    • Intended audience: Grades 9-12
    • Credit: Two trimesters = one credit
    • Major outcomes: Bienvenue à notre classe! First, let me congratulate you on choosing to continue your study of French. In this class we will build on what you learned in French I and we will continue to open new doors to the French-speaking world. To assist in your discovery of the French language, you should expect to have homework several times a week. In addition to homework, I expect you to spend 10 to 15 minutes each night studying vocab and reviewing the material presented in class. Spending a little time each night instead of cramming for tests the night before will have you have a more successful experience in this class and with French in general.