(Image of The Odeon of Herodes Atticus, courtesy of Creative Commons).

Welcome to 10th-Grade English & 10th-Grade Honors English.
English (or any language for that matter) is an arbitrary social construct that allows for the transmission of information from the sender to the receiver. Since English is the most widely used language in the United States -- and as of 2012, the international language for business (Neeley, 2012) -- this class will allow students to gain the tools to be successful not only in their future career and college endeavors.

The 10th-Grade English & 10th-Grade Honors English will be broken down into four components that will cover the entire year.

Quarter 1
Topic: Argumentation
An example of a topic covered during Quarter 1:

• Introduce students to the classical Greek Rhetorical Appeals: ethos ("ethical appeal"), logos ("logical appeal"), pathos ("emotional appeal"), and kairos ("timeliness of appeal"/"rhetorical timing").

Quarter 2
Topic: Literary and Rhetorical Analysis of Fiction
An example of a topic covered during Quarter 2:

• Reading The Tragedy of Macbeth (Shakespeare, 1623).

Quarter 3
Topic: Synthesis
An example of a topic covered during Quarter 3:

• Taking data from multiple texts and forming a position based upon that data.

Quarter 4
Topic: Comparative Analysis
An example of a topic covered during Quarter 4:

• Compare and Contrast essays.