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English Department

Summer Reading Assignments 2025

Spending time in the summer reading an additional title or two (along with some excellent poetry) will make you better prepared for honors and AP classes, college, and life as a fully realized human being.

 

The Written Word

A genuine writing program is a cumulative process. This continuous and inclusive writing program guarantees the best learning and most individualized instruction for all students.

The English Department of Helena School District #1 presents balanced instruction in reading, writing, speaking, and listening to enable students to be proficient readers, writers, and thinkers in today’s world.  Course content is guided by the Montana Common Core State Standards, and designed to prepare students for the challenges that lay ahead, whether college or career.

 

Course Offerings

All Helena High School students will complete four years of English prior to graduation. The first two years will lay the groundwork for more focused studies in junior and senior years.

In freshman year, English I and Honors English I transition from Middle School to High School, and learn the importance of the course’s evaluative criteria: timely homework completion, class participation, essays, and tests.

In English II and Honors English II, students build the skills they will need for upper level English instruction, including additional reading, writing, research, and critical thinking skills.

In junior year, students may opt to take English III or AP English Language and Composition. English III features a chronological and/or thematic study of American literature from colonial times into the 20th century.  AP English Language and Composition is a rigorous and challenging course focused on rhetoric and requiring students to read and write at the college level in preparation for the AP Language Exam in the Spring. This course focuses on close reading of primarily nonfiction in order to  enable students to recognize the elements of rhetoric and apply these to their own writing.

At the senior level, students are presented with a variety of options, including several English IV course pairings, AP Lit or Dual-Credit courses.

English IV: All seniors share the fall semester exploring World Literature. Second semester offers course genre-specific options. These Spring Semester Course pairings include Sports Literature, Mythology, Crime & Holocaust, and Gothic & Modern Horror.

AP Literature is a high-level learning experience focusing on first-year college material. The classics are read in all genres: short stories, novel, poetry, drama, and essay. Like other AP courses, this class will prepare students to take an AP Exam in the Spring.

Dual Credit courses make students eligible to receive college credit through Helena College University of Montana as well as high school credit. The college course offerings include: Writ 101: College Writing (Fall Semester), Eng Lit 110: Intro to Lit (Spring Semester) and COMMX: Communications in the Workplace and Technical Writing (Year Long Course). These courses are college-level courses designed to take care of general education credits for most college majors (undergraduate degree studies) and lay the groundwork for those pursuing further academic studies.

 

Juniors and seniors may also take elective courses through the English department. These courses are designed to extend a student’s use of English-related skills in fun new ways that apply to students’ lives and interests. Electives include Speech & Debate, Reading the Movies, Creative Writing, Journalism, and Yearbook.

Novel Rationales for Grades 9-12

Click here to obtain the Novel Rationales for HSD English.

English Faculty