English 11/12 Electives

Academy Classes

Engineering Academy- SENIORS ONLY- PRE-REQUISITES: (2 periods)

Catalog Description

This course focuses on engineering research and design as students work in teams to identify a real-world technical problem and create an original solution they will be expected to defend using the scientific design process. Students develop critical reading, analytical thinking, research, and professional writing skills essential for engineering fields. The course emphasizes synthesizing information, solving problems, and communicating ideas with clarity and precision for different audiences. Integrating literature, science, and writing, students engage with fiction and nonfiction texts to deepen their understanding of physics and engineering principles. Through seminars, workshops, presentations, essays, and technical lab reports, students learn to communicate scientific and engineering findings effectively.

What It’s About

The Engineering Academy is a hands-on class that blends Engineering, Physics, and English for students interested in STEM careers or who have completed the PLTW pathway. In this course, you’ll tackle real technical problems in teams, research possible solutions, and design a final project you’ll present and defend. You’ll also learn how to write and communicate like an engineer: using clear, precise, professional language that prepares you for college and the STEM world. Through labs, readings, discussions, and technical writing, you’ll strengthen your problem-solving, critical thinking, and communication skills while exploring how engineers turn ideas into real-world solutions.

English for Health Sciences- in the Health and Wellness Academy (3 periods)

Catalog Description

This course integrates literature, science, and writing to explore how stories and research shape our understanding of health, illness, and the human body. Students will read personal narratives, scientific texts, and works of nonfiction that highlight the ethical, cultural, and professional dimensions of medicine. Through writing workshops, research projects, and collaborative presentations, students will develop skills in critical reading, academic writing, and science communication while examining questions at the intersection of language, identity, and health. By the end of the course, students will be able to craft compelling personal narratives, analyze complex ethical issues, and communicate health-related topics clearly and persuasively for diverse audiences.

What It’s About

English for Health Sciences: Where Science Meets Storytelling

If you’ve ever wondered why people get sick, how medicine actually works, or what our stories say about our bodies—this is your class. Think of it as the intersection of Grey’s Anatomy, Netflix docs, and your writer era.

In this course, you’ll dive into true stories, science reads, and real-world ethical dilemmas to figure out how language shapes what we know about health and illness. You’ll read personal narratives that hit, scientific texts that make you think, and investigative nonfiction that exposes the big questions behind medicine, identity, and equity.

You’ll also write—a lot—but in ways that actually matter. Personal narratives, research projects, science explainers, group presentations… all designed to help you communicate clearly, persuasively, and like someone who knows what they’re talking about.

By the end, you’ll be able to:

Break down any text—tone, vibe, structure, motivation, all of it.
Craft arguments that are nuanced, evidence-based, and respectfully spicy.
Join real conversations about health, ethics, and public life (yes, you’ll finally understand what’s going on in those wild medical headlines).
Research like a pro and cite in APA without crying.
Level up your vocab and your reading confidence.
Make sense of science-y writing that once felt like it was gatekept by the universe.

Law and Public Policy Academy (3 periods)

Catalog Description

This course is designed to refine your critical reading, analytical thinking, research, and writing skills within the realm of law and public policy. Focused on the intersection of language and civic engagement, this course prepares you to engage with complex texts and communicate effectively within a professional context. Throughout, we will explore foundational documents such as the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, select Federalist Papers, and key Supreme Court cases. Through rhetorical analysis, argumentative writing, and synthesis exercises, you will develop a deeper understanding of the ideas that have shaped American law and public policy.

In addition, this course will teach you to tailor your writing to different audiences by adjusting tone, style, and diction for impact and clarity. You will practice synthesizing material from multiple sources, constructing well-supported arguments, and reflecting on your writing process. By the end of the course, you should be equipped to communicate your knowledge and perspectives with professionalism, culminating in a writing portfolio and a self-assessment to demonstrate your growth as a writer and thinker in the field of law and public policy.

What It’s About

This course integrates English composition with the study of law and public policy. Students develop college-level reading, writing, and critical thinking skills through analysis of nonfiction texts, legal cases, and current policy debates. Writing instruction emphasizes argumentation and rhetoric across genres such as policy memos, editorials, case briefs, and reflective essays. The course supports students in making interdisciplinary connections between language, law, and civic engagement. English Composition for Law and Public Policy is taken concurrently with Government/Economics as part of the Law and Public Policy Academy’s cross-curricular program.

Elective Classes

African American Literature (ACES)

* Seniors must have a passing score on the 11th grade CAASPP.

Catalog Description

Students will receive an introduction to the role of the African oral tradition and New World slave narratives in the creation of African American literary tradition. Through class discussions, reading, videos and collaborative workshops, students will explore the history and issues revealed through slave narratives, modern autobiographies and contemporary literature. Students will work throughout the semester toward exploring their own issues of identity in contemporary American society. Second semester, students will take knowledge from first semester to transition into the movement known as the Harlem Renaissance and its influence on the Civil Rights Movement and contemporary American literature and poetry.

What It’s About

African American Literature isn't just another English class—it's a time machine, a mirror, and a megaphone that will transform how you see history and your place in it. You'll travel through time from ancient African kingdoms to the Harlem Renaissance to today, discovering powerful voices through slave narratives, poetry, autobiographies, and contemporary fiction that refused to be silenced. Through engaging discussions, videos, and collaborative workshops, you'll explore how major historical events shaped literature that continues to influence everything from the Civil Rights Movement to the music, movies, and social issues you care about today.

This course will empower you with texts that inspire resilience, ground you in historically sound knowledge, and equip you to become a social justice advocate in your own community. You'll make connections between the past and present while examining your own identity in contemporary American society. These aren't boring old texts to memorize—these are the stories that changed the world and continue to challenge, celebrate, and demand action. Ready to discover literature that matters and find your voice in the process? Choose African American Literature.

Chicanx & Latinx Literature (ACES)

Seniors must have a passing score on the 11th grade CAASPP

Catalog Description

A two-semester course that provides an engaging introduction to a rich and complex literature and set of cultures. The literary imagination studied in this course will be represented by core works of literature, classic and contemporary, along with the examination of corresponding history, mythology, visual art, film, and music. While the course aims to explore the great themes and preoccupations that have helped shape the Chicana/o and wider Latin American experience throughout history, it also takes on the task of examining contemporary reiterations of those themes through the diversity of newer voices. Some of the topics discussed in class include conquest and colonialism; writing as a tool of empire and resistance; authorship and authority; immigration, migration and exile; the contentious relationship between art and political engagement; cultural hybridity; challenges to gender; and the ideas of modernism and postmodernism. This course will be characterized by traditional studies of literature along with more experiential pathways for discovery.

What It’s About

This course provides an introduction to Chicanx and Latinx/Latin American literature through independent reading and core texts from a variety of genres. Students will examine classic and contemporary literature, along with the study of history, visual art, film, and music. The course explores Chicanx and wider Latin American experiences and current issues. Some of the topics discussed in class include: political and social identity; cultural hybridity; conquest and colonialism; migration, immigration, and exile; and voice/authorship.

Expository Reading and Writing Course-ERWC (SENIORS ONLY)

Catalog Description

The goal of the Expository Reading and Writing Course (ERWC) is to prepare college-bound seniors for the literacy demands of higher education. Through a sequence of eight rigorous instructional modules, students in this yearlong, rhetoric-based course develop advanced proficiency in expository, analytical, and argumentative reading and writing. The cornerstone of the course - the assignment template - presents a process for helping students read, comprehend, and respond to nonfiction and literary texts. Modules also provide instruction in research methods and documentation conventions. Students will be expected to increase their awareness of the rhetorical strategies employed by authors and to apply those strategies in their own writing. They will read closely to examine the relationship between an author's argument or theme and his or her audience and purpose; to analyze the impact of structural and rhetorical strategies; and to examine the social, political, and philosophical assumptions that underlie the text. By the end of the course, students will be expected to use this process independently when reading unfamiliar texts and writing in response to them. Course texts include contemporary essays, newspaper and magazine articles, editorials, reports, biographies, memos, assorted public documents, and other nonfiction texts. The course materials

also include modules on two full-length works (one novel and one work of nonfiction). Written assessments and holistic scoring guides conclude each unit. Students who take this course by CSU ERWC Certified Teacher and who receive a grade of "C" or better in the course will be deemed ready for college level coursework in English by the CSU. Meets the CSU English proficiency exam requirement.

What It’s About

This course is all about building the reading, writing, and critical-thinking skills you’ll need in college. You’ll work through engaging modules that use real-world texts — articles, essays, memoirs, reports, and two full-length books — to help you level up your argument, analysis, and rhetorical superpowers.

You’ll learn how to break down complex nonfiction, spot an author’s purpose and strategies, research effectively, and write arguments that are clear, confident, and convincing. By the end of the year, you’ll be able to handle unfamiliar college-level texts on your own.

Bonus: If you earn a C or better with a CSU-certified ERWC teacher, you’re officially college-ready for English at any CSU. No placement test needed.

If you want a class that builds skills and confidence for life after high school, ERWC has your back.

Feminist Literature (ACES)

* Seniors must have a passing score on the 11th grade CAASPP

Catalog Description

In Feminist Literature, students will receive an introduction to feminist thought throughout history and the feminist critical lens as an approach to literature. Through class discussions, reading, videos, and collaborative writing workshops, students will explore the history and issues revealed through various nonfiction texts on feminism, and apply the lens to fiction and poetry. Additionally, students will reflect on modern feminism’s reach in their own lives, how it relates to their personal values and identity, and how feminist ideology has changed over time.

What It’s About

How many definitions does “feminism” have? More than you think! If you’re interested in exploring how gender plays a role in the world around you, this class is for you. In semester 1, we explore a variety of takes on feminism, and apply our learning to short stories and to the American Women’s Movement. In semester 2, you’ll explore your own interests through research, apply your own definition of feminism to classic and contemporary literature, and write creatively to express your own views. This class is for everyone – all gender identities and expressions welcome.

Folktales and Mythology (ACES)

* Seniors must have a passing score on the 11th grade CAASPP

Catalog Description

The first semester of Folktales and Mythology is dedicated to the reading and studying of classical mythology from around the globe. We focus on learning about, identifying, and understanding key mythological characters in order to explore what these world myths reveal about their culture, power structures, and values as well as how they connect to our society today. In Folktales, second semester, we explore multicultural tales through various critical approaches, such as psychological, archetypal, feminist, and more. This class is devoted to helping students expand upon the skills garnered in previous English classes while refining the students' personal style as a writer, reader and critical thinker along with preparing them for life after high school.

What It’s About

Calling all Percy Jackson, God of War, and Disney fans! This course explores the many cultural, political, psychological and classical aspects of literature. The first semester of Folktales and Mythology is dedicated to the reading and studying of classical mythology from around the globe. We focus on learning about, identifying, and understanding key mythological characters in order to explore what these world myths reveal about their culture, power structures, and values as well as how they connect to our society today.

In Folktales, we explore multicultural tales through various critical approaches, such as historical-cultural, feminist, psychological, archetypal, and more. This class is devoted to helping students expand upon the skills garnered in previous English classes while refining the students' personal style as a writer, reader and critical thinker along with preparing them for life after high school. Over the course of the year, students will explore a variety of perspectives, backgrounds, eras, and global cultures that have shaped our collective unconscious.

Graphic Novels and Literature (ACES)

* Seniors must have a passing score on the 11th grade CAASPP

Catalog Description

This course will explore the relationship between “classical” literature and graphic novels. Students will critically analyze the ways in which graphic novels and comic narratives are a means of exploring our own stories and identities in a cultural and socio-political context. We will relate the study of graphic novels to interdisciplinary fields of study, including but not limited to literature, history, political science, gender studies, ethnic studies, sociology, etc. What are the unique literary characteristics of Graphic Novels and

how do they compare to traditional novels? What do Graphic Novels add to the literary canon? How do Graphic Novels function structurally to tell a story? How do we deconstruct graphic novels and comics and analyze them as a literary medium? Students will complete a Capstone project at the end of second semester to showcase their work throughout the year.

What It’s About

This course will explore the relationship between “classical” literature and graphic novels. While reading both classic texts and graphic novels, students will critically analyze the ways in which graphic novels and comic narratives are a means of exploring our own stories and identities in a cultural and socio-political context. We will relate the study of graphic novels to interdisciplinary fields of study, including but not limited to literature, history, political science, gender studies, ethnic studies, sociology, etc. What are the unique literary characteristics of Graphic Novels and how do they compare to traditional novels? What do Graphic Novels add to the literary canon? How do Graphic Novels function structurally to tell a story? How can we deconstruct graphic novels and comics and analyze them as a literary medium? Students will complete a Capstone project in which they create their own graphic novel at the end of second semester to showcase their work throughout the year.

Modern Media and Storytelling (ACES)

* Seniors must have a passing score on the 11th grade CAASPP

Catalog Description

This year-long course explores storytelling across film, music, podcasts, advertising, and digital platforms. Drawing on Los Angeles’s creative landscape, students learn screenwriting, media production, and narrative analysis while strengthening reading, writing, and media literacy skills.

Students examine stories from diverse creators—African American filmmakers, LGBTQ+ artists, feminist storytellers, immigrant voices, working-class perspectives, and creators with disabilities or who are neurodivergent—and analyze how identity, power, and culture shape media.

Guided by key questions—Who is telling the story? How is it being told? Whose voices are centered or missing?—the course integrates Ethnic Studies principles and teaches students to think critically about representation and public perception.

Students collaborate, analyze media’s cultural impact, and create original narratives across formats such as film, podcasts, photography, or digital storytelling. The culminating Modern Media Symposium showcases their final media projects, highlighting personal perspectives, ethical storytelling, and industry-relevant production skills.

What It’s About

Welcome to the class where your screen time finally counts as academic research.

All year long, we’ll explore the stories shaping your world through movies, music, podcasts, ads, and whatever new platform drops next week. You’ll learn the secrets behind screenwriting, media production, and how creators make us laugh, cry, rage, and repost.

We spotlight storytellers from all kinds of backgroundsL Black filmmakers, LGBTQ+ creators, feminist voices, immigrant storytellers, disabled and neurodivergent creators, because media isn’t just entertainment; it’s power. You’ll ask big questions like: Who gets the mic? Who’s editing the story? Who’s left on the cutting-room floor?

You’ll create projects that actually feel real—not just essays collecting dust in Google Drive. The year ends with our Modern Media Symposium, where you debut your own masterpiece: a short film, podcast, photo series, or digital story.

If you’ve got a voice, a vision, or a vibe—this class wants it.

RU/LA? Understanding Culture through Literature and Design (ACES)

* Seniors must have a passing score on the 11th grade CAASPP

Catalog Description

RU/LA?, asks students the question: Are you Los Angeles? This class provides real-life, authentic reasons to read and write. Students will begin by reading, analyzing, and synthesizing their learning about the culture of Los Angeles -- its cities, its neighborhoods, and its people. It is a city that has complex histories and perspectives for a place notorious for superficiality- a juxtaposition that offers today’s students a rich, intricate focal point to dive into deep learning and make informed, sophisticated conclusions. Part of LA’s rich history is its diversity, and with that diversity comes a plethora of problems that revolve around culture, or misunderstandings about culture. Students will take that learning and engage in the design thinking process to identify a problem in Los Angeles. With teammates, students will research, design, and implement a solution to that problem in their own unique project, letting their ideas and voices make a difference to the people of Los Angeles.

What It’s About

RU/LA? is not your typical English class. Instead of just reading books and writing essays, you’ll dive into the real Los Angeles—the people, the neighborhoods, the culture, the drama, the beauty, and the messiness that make this city what it is. You’ll figure out what LA means and where you fit into the story.

We start by exploring LA’s history and identities—its hype, its stereotypes, its diversity, and the real issues people actually deal with. Then you’ll team up to use design thinking (aka: problem-solving for real people, not just for a grade) to find a problem in LA that matters to you and create a project that could actually help fix it. Yes, you get to make something real. Yes, your voice matters.

This class is about using your reading, writing, speaking, and creative skills to make sense of the world around you—not just to pass a test. You’ll investigate the city, talk to people, do field research, design solutions, and level up your communication, collaboration, and critical-thinking skills along the way.

By the end, you won’t just know more about Los Angeles—you’ll understand how culture shapes people, how systems work, and how you can make an impact. RU/LA counts for your ACES requirement, but more importantly, it helps you figure out who you are in the place you live.

Basically, this class turns LA into your classroom, your project, and your story.