The English 9 course emphasizes the improvement of students' reading and writing skills through a variety of interesting and challenging thematic units. Students read texts from many different genres, including novels, short story, nonfiction, poetry, and media sources, and receive support in reading comprehension. Integration of content between English and other academic disciplines is emphasized. To expand their writing skills, students continue to work with Framing Your Thoughts and with the Six Traits of Writing curriculum.
Students challenge themselves and demonstrate learning by developing and communicating ideas through in-class projects, journaling and narrative, creative, expository, and persuasive writing exercises. The research process is introduced in this course; students explore a variety of means to collect data, apply citation and bibliography form, and apply their research in a culminating activity.