Honors English AN INFORMATIONAL GUIDE What is Honors

Honors English AN INFORMATIONAL GUIDE

What is Honors English? Ø The Honors English curriculum your child will study under lays the foundation for high school Advanced Placement classes. Ø Advanced Placement is one of The College Board's several programs that prepares students for post-secondary education (college). AP allows students to do college-level work while in high school and earn college credit and placement.

How will Honors English be different from General English? The basic content (books/articles we read, vocabulary, grammar etc. ) is the same in both Honors and General English. However, there are three main differences. THREE MAIN DIFFERENCES: 1. Depth of Knowledge 2. Writing 3. Assessments (tests, quizzes)

Depth of Knowledge Expectations Operate at a certain level of abstract thinking as opposed to concrete thinking. Understand themes and symbolism within a work of literature and how these elements connect the work to society as a whole. Read novels, articles, short stories outside of class. Come to class prepared for discussions. . Discussion points represent approximately ¼ of your grade.

Writing Expectations Use commentary to demonstrate depth of thinking which includes analyzing and/or explaining your reasoning. Complete in-class timed writing assignments that are well organized and thought out. Complete writing assignments (essays, paragraphs) outside of class. Ø Understand that writing in an honors class is graded more rigorously than in a general class.

Assessment Expectations Ø Assessments will be structured differently than in a general class. Although multiple choice tests will be given, a certain depth of thinking is required to correctly answer these types of questions. Another main difference for assessments involves short answer responses. Honors students are expected to write well developed short answer responses that reflect their understanding of the test material.

Productive Struggle After reading the three main differences between Honors and general English, you must understand this important truth. . . IT IS OKAY TO PRODUCTIVELY STRUGGLE. . . AT TIMES, YOU WILL STRUGGLE IN THIS CLASS. . . WHEN WE STRUGGLE, WE LEARN THE MOST. Ø Prepare yourself for the idea that you may not earn an "A" every nine weeks in Honors---AND THIS IS OKAY!! The pacing and material is more rigorous than a general class. Ø A "C" is considered mastery and is not a bad thing in this class. "Nothing worth having was ever achieved without effort. " Theodore Roosevelt