The elective program in English offers a wide variety of courses for student selection. These offerings range from thematically organized courses, to special seminars on specific authors, with each course covering relevant short and long works that fit the course’s focus. The typical composition students write at this level continues to build on student’s mastery of the five-paragraph essay. Students are expected to write three such essays each semester. They also study topics such as outlining, introductions and conclusions, transitions, and parallel structure designed to develop specific skills necessary for the writing of effective essays.

This literature course introduces students to the short story and familiarizes them with selections of short stories by writers from the United States and around the world, with a few texts from the 19th century, and the majority coming from the 20th and 21st centuries. We will study authors such as O'Connor, Baldwin, Packer, Roth, Carver, Joyce, and Chekhov exploring plot, theme, narrative, characterization, and these writers’ contributions to our literary heritage.

The junior year includes continuing work in composition (critical, creative and research), and literary analysis. Students are expected to complete 2 semesters of Junior-level elective English courses. Eligible courses are included below.

The AP English Literature and Composition course is designed to engage students in the careful reading and critical analysis of literature. Through the close reading of selected texts, students can deepen their argumentation and communication skills. As they read, students should consider a work's structure, style, and themes, as well as such smaller-scale elements as the use of figurative language, imagery, symbolism, and tone. Students will strengthen their analytic writing in two different modes. First, they will draw on their prior experience to continue to compose effective analytic five-paragraph and longer essays. Additionally, students will become familiar with AP writing, which emphasizes in-class essays on shorter prompts.

The elective program in English offers a wide variety of courses for student selection. These offerings range from thematically organized courses, to special seminars on specific authors, with each course covering relevant short and long works that fit the course’s focus. The typical composition students write at this level continues to build on student’s mastery of the five-paragraph essay. Students are expected to write three such essays each semester. They also study topics such as outlining, introductions and conclusions, transitions, and parallel structure designed to develop specific skills necessary for the writing of effective essays.

Science Fiction is a literature course that focuses on the consequences of change to the tools we use, the settings we explore, the others we encounter, the invisible dimensions we think about, our essence as human beings, the rules by which we organize societies, and the habitat we transform. Fundamentally, it seeks to estrange us from our consensus reality, while simultaneously critiquing our society. We will spend time with award-winning short stories from multiple eras. Students will demonstrate their understanding of course material through reflective writings, multi-paragraph argumentative essays, group presentations, and a final world-building project.

The junior year includes continuing work in composition (critical, creative and research), and literary analysis. Students are expected to complete 2 semesters of Junior-level elective English courses. Eligible courses are included below.

This course will explore the literature written by or about the men, women and children who endured the Holocaust. Through the reading of essay, short stories, journals, poems and novels, students will gain an understanding of the almost incomprehensible events known as the Final Solution. The class will examine tremendous acts of heroism and horrendous acts of evil, and in the process, consider morality, racism, prejudice, apathy, and obedience to authority. By studying how victims of the Holocaust dealt with deprivation, terror, and death, students will gain insights into a significant historical period, the dark side of human nature, and the enormous power of the human spirit in times of incredible despair.

Our culture is obsessed with the apocalypse. Today, more than ever, we are bombarded with countless post-apocalyptic films, TV shows, and video games. Political and environmental activists warn with increasing fervor the potential for extinction through nuclear annihilation or climate change. Constantly, we are asked to imagine various scenarios for human extinction—climate catastrophe, nuclear annihilation, alien invasions, zombie infestations, disease outbreaks, robot uprisings, human infertility, and more. The driving question of this course is why have we become so obsessed with the apocalypse? What does this anxiety with our extinction reveal about our society today? We will use this genre about the end of the world to explore fundamental philosophical questions about human existence in the modern world: the dangers of science and progress, the problem of evil, the legitimate forms of political and moral authority, and ultimately, what it means to be human and have purpose in one’s life.

The elective program in English offers a wide variety of courses for student selection. These offerings range from thematically organized courses, to special seminars on specific authors, with each course covering relevant short and long works that fit the course’s focus. The typical composition students write at this level continues to build on student’s mastery of the five-paragraph essay. Students are expected to write three such essays each semester. They also study topics such as outlining, introductions and conclusions, transitions, and parallel structure designed to develop specific skills necessary for the writing of effective essays.

August Wilson is one of the great American playwrights of the twentieth century. This African American literature elective for seniors will explore four plays from Wilson's Century Cycle which chronicles the experiences of African Americans in each decade of the twentieth century. Students will examine the historical context of each play, blues music, family relations and the American Dream, African ritual, African American Legacy, poetry, and art; in Wilson's hands, these elements come alive to celebrate Black culture through American dramatic literature. We will study four of Wilson's works: Gem of the Ocean (1904), Joe Turner's Come and Gone (1911), Fences (1957), Radio Golf (1997). We may also attend a performance by one of the Bay Area's African American theater companies.

English II Honors is an accelerated course in which self-motivated students are challenged to read, discuss, and come to an in-depth understanding of numerous full length literary works and a number of additional essays, stories and poems from the American literary canon. As a survey of American Literature, the course proposes to link the themes and characters of our national literature to the historical periods from which they evolve and are influenced. Students will be held to high standards of analytic thought and writing. In the fall semester, students will compose three five-paragraph essays. In the spring semester, students will compose a five-paragraph essay and a 10-12 page research paper. A seminar format is employed. This course is for students with a great interest in reading and in the exploration of literature.

English 2 is a survey course of American Literature that explores America’s ever-evolving intellectual history. It seeks to explore what makes American literature American, how American literature reveals our culture and ethnic richness, captures our unique history and experiences, inspires our own activism, and expresses our American literary voice.

Sophomores will be expected to compose three five-paragraph essays during the first semester. During the second semester, students will write one of these essays as well as a six-to-ten-page research paper.

This class offers students the opportunity to cultivate their drafting skills (drawing, sketching, annotation, layout & plotting) while developing engineering and problem solving skills. Basic mechanical, structural and electrical engineering concepts will be introduced. Course work will focus on designing solutions and incorporating basic math and engineering computation to support project work.

This class will introduce students to technical drawing and drafting through Autodesk’s AutoCAD platform. Students will begin by learning basic CAD skills (drawing and sketching in the CAD environment) and then quickly move into developing drawing content (in-class assignments & projects). Students will learn and follow annotation, layout & plotting standards for all classroom and project work. The course will move quickly through the introductory CAD ‘how-to’ lessons allowing more time to practice skills and develop project content. Students will complete a sequence of projects designed to demonstrate competency within the CAD environment. Classes will be a combination of lecture, discussion and lab work. This is an important primer course for all Engineering and Architecture students.