High School English Teachers/Students

Can't answer for California, each state is different. I can answer for South Carolina if you like.

California school districts purchase a curriculum; lots of the high schools have Web sites explaining the requirements, etc.

Regarding student privacy, read about FERPA.

This is all from my experience, in a New England Public High School:

English is tiered both for grade levels and ability.

We had the equivalend of remedial, "average", and honors English classes, and the option of AP english senior year.

We also took english all four years, though that may vary between schools.

Some reading requirements: A Separate Peace, Lord of the Flies, A Tale of Two Cities, The Color Purple, Kite Runner, Huckleberry Finn. Often, we also got choices of contemporary novels to do projects on. I read Memoirs of a Geisha, Prep, The Stand, and Life of Pi for such projects.

Things like grammar and vocabulary are mixed in with the literature, and taught in the same class. usually you'd be assigned a book to read, with a paper to write on it, and also have a vocab list to study for a test, and be graded on correct spelling and grammar in your papers. In younger grades, things like adverbs/nouns/verbs/sentence structure is taught as part of the curriculum.

Assuming someone failed english one year, it would most likely depend on their overall GPA whether they'd graduate or not. My bf failed a total of two classes over the entire course of high school and still graduated with no problems, because he had an acceptable GPA. He didn't have to re-take any of the classes, he was just placed in a "remedial" class the following year, consistent with his apparent abilities (which was really just laziness, lol)

In larger schools, there are often "electives" that can be substituted for one year of english. it would have to be something like creative writing or speech-writing or journalism. Something with ties to literature or english.

Most seniors don't turn 18 until the end of the year (my 18th birthday was actually the last day of classes) so I think most parents are involved mostly until the end, but I recall that kids who were 18 were allowed to sign themselves out of school early and the school couldn't do anything about it. Again, this probably depends on the school.

In NY, you must have credit for four years of English. If you fail one, you usually retake it in summer school. There is a book list and curriculum standards listed for all four grades. Honors students may not read what lower level students read though and districts may differ in how books are selected: teacher, department head, department committee. Some want every child in a grade reading the same thing at the same time, others gear more toward interests. There is a lot of leeway, but everyone will pass four years of English and the Regents exam at the end to graduate.

Many states have their standards online. Google state standards English grades 9-12 and see what comes up. The federal Common Core standards are also available online. Just came upon this link in another thread about teachers. Sorry I didn't think to link to the thread for you. I'm sure you'll see it though.

http://www.corestandards.org/the-st...tandards/reading-literature-6-12/grade-11-12/

What does your story NEED? We'll help you fill in the blanks. As others have pointed out - Standards in the US vary from state to state, and from district to district within each state.

Yep, it varies. We had a requirement of 4 years, and you really wouldn't graduate if you didn't pass them all. We had summer school and a special school for near-dropouts (mainly) to help get the work done in time.

We had set requirements, so that we often had to redo books we'd studied before, just because they were on the standardized curriculum. We'd studied them before because earlier teachers thought it was time. I think we did Macbeth every year, lol. That's one that was on our official syllabus for senior year.

Otherwise, we did so many books, but I remember As I Lay Dying, Invisible Man, Night, and Siddhartha. Tons of Shakespeare, too, because my teachers had us act out plays for 'fun' days. King Lear may have been on the official curriculum for senior year.

In MA you have to take four years of English in high school (each year, no doubling up) and you have to pass the state test in English (and in Math, and in Science) to graduate. Many towns have a different curriculum by year, for example 9th Grade is sort of Introduction to Literature, reading authors from various backgrounds, races, ethnicities, etc. Short stories and poetry are also part of the curriculum, plus one Shakespearean play. (Romeo and Juliet is popular for Grade 9.)

Grade 10 continues this trend, but the books are a bit more difficult. Grade 11 quite often focuses on American lit, and Grade 12 is English lit.

But short stories, plays and at least one Shakespearean play are covered each year.

Writing, vocabulary and grammar are included each year, too, though in Grades 11 and 12 grammar is usually a quick 'review.'

I loved English class in high school. My favorite class even though I later got my degree in Biology.

Just so you know, I am a high school English teacher in Florida, so all of my answers will reflect this state only.

Becca_H said:

Is high school English tiered to the grade level? Is there a set curriculum for each grade, or are the grades mixed (based on ability, preferences etc).

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Yes, it goes English I in ninth grade to English IV in twelfth grade.

Becca_H said:

If it's tiered, could someone give me an example of what a senior would study in compulsory English classes? It doesn't need to be too specific, but commonly assigned books or essays topics would be great. Also: is English language and English literature (compulsory elements) typically taught together or separately?

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This is greatly dependent on the level of the class (regular, honors, or A.P.), but some pretty common novels I have seen studied include: Hamlet by William Shakespeare, Brave New World, and Macbeth.

Becca_H said:

If I understand correctly, California requires students to take three years of English in high school. So if they pass grades 9-11, can they theoretically drop English entirely in Grade 12?

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To graduate in Florida, a student must take all 4 years of English

Becca_H said:

Also, based on the above system, what happens if a student failed English one year? I know this is unlikely, but if it happened, what's the protocol? If they failed Grade 9, would they re-take freshman English in Grade 10, and end up never touching Grade 12? Is it feasible for someone who fails to skip that year and carry on with their class, so long as they have three years?

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This kind of depends on the school. I have heard of students retaking the class the following year, retaking the class in summer school, or I have seen students take two English classes in the same year (like they failed English I, then the next year they take English I and II). They MUST pass all four years or they don't graduate, even if that means they're in high school for five years.

Becca_H said:

Assuming they failed one year, and looked like they were set to fail again, what's the protocol? Would the teacher and counselor step in with extra help and tutoring? This is a student with no special educational needs. And then, assuming that didn't work (or wasn't provided) would they not receive a diploma?

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I haven't run into this problem yet, but they should already be getting extra tutoring during their second time through the course. As I said before, they must take all four classes in order to earn their diploma.

Becca_H said:

And can English-related electives, and AP English, count towards the compulsory English elements? So would a student be able to fulfil these requirements with say, British Literature and Journalism?

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Absolutely, however, it depends on the class. Only AP English can count as a compulsory English class. Things like creative writing, journalism, anything else does not count. I should also tell you that just recently Florida has said that AP English no longer counts as a core class, with AP being an elective, so schools do not need to abide by the maximum of 25 students per class anymore for these classes. That may be something that could be interesting in your story.

Becca_H said:

Also, an unrelated question: Can a student elect to cut their parents out from their academic life when they turn eighteen? So if a student was over 18, and their parents contacted a teacher about grades, could the student ask the teacher not to provide the information?

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I have no idea because I teach only English I (9th grade). However, I would guess that there is a process a student could go through to do this once they turn 18.

If you have any other questions, feel free to pm me, and I'll answer as soon as I can, but my answers will only apply to Florida.

Hope this helps.

http://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/gs/hs/hsgrfaq.asp

Will answer your questions specifically FOR California. If your student is in their Senior year they might be 'cruising' on their electives - having completed three years of english, two of foreign language, and the requisite math. Much also depends on what their plan is after graduation. Different college systems have different requirements. When we moved to CA from TX, our son was going into Junior year. Texas had a MUCH higher level of requirements for graduation than California. The Advisor looked at his records from Texas - saw that he had almost completed the requirements for graduation and said "Well... he can cruise through." - A lot of his peers did just that in their Senior year.

So - IF you want English to be a problem for him - and frankly - I don't see that as believable unless it's a second language for him - than he would be REPEATING level three his Senior year - in order to graduate. But honestly - it's not very demanding. Failing would be a matter of not completing assignments, rather than not comprehending them.

I could see getting jammed up on a FOREIGN language requirement as much more believable - really needing the second year of German or French - and struggling with it.

(In point of fact, it was ALGEBRA that our son struggled with.)

If it's a possibility for the student and situation, you can always make it a made-up private school. The same graduation requirements as private school would apply, but you could throw in extra ones if you wanted. I could be wrong, but I think three years of English is required in my state, too, but my school required four. (And what was pretty cool in retrospect was the teachers seemed to get to decide on what topic the last year was focused — some did postmodernism, some did magical realism, etc. — but that would probably be pretty strange for most schools.)

Ok, Here all the stuff i know about English classes from when i was in highschool (graduated 2008)

No you do not have mixed classes, only for your grade.

Freshman year- usually reading books from all over and working on book reports, vocab, and how to write a highschool level essay. Books you would have to read "Animal Farm", "Secrete life of Bees"

Sophmore year- British lit is the main focus, you still have vocab to learn, and learn how to write essays Books you would read "MacBeth" "Cantaberry Tales" "Beowolf"

Junior Year- American lit is the main focus, vocab is still learned and a higher value is placed on preparing all the kids for SAT's. This year is less focused of actual books and more focused on poems and short stories, by Poe, Walt Witman, Emily Dickenson, and Twain, along with others. A book you would have to read "How to kill a mocking bird" and usually an individual report on a book of your choice (usually from a list the teacher provides)

Senior Year- Worldy Aincent lit- This year is to get you to start thinking independently and has a lot of history mixed in with it as you go over works like "Gilgamesh" "The Aneid" "Dante's Inferno" "Othello". You will have to do alot of Compare and constrast essays and vocab is still taught. By now you should KNOW how to write an awesome essay.

Ok now on to what would happen if you fail. If you fail you will go to summer school, if you fail summer school you will have to repeat the entire grade over again. That is the protocal end of story.

Now what you need to know is that highschool classes are tracked Which means that there are anywhere from 3 to 4 different groupings of people that end up taking different level of class work intensities in each grade.

For example in my school you had:
First track or Honors, these were kids in the top 10% of the class that were above average and therefore got above agerage corse workload and learned at a higher intensity level then others

Second Track- which were all the average kids

And Thrid track- which were below average kids, techers who taught these classes taught things slower and focused more on basics to help the kids succeed.

Now if your character ended up failing English they would go to summer school and then the next year be placed a track lower to better suit there acidemic needs. After you once fail a subject and go to summer school the teacher ( depending of the size of the school) will pay more attention to you and help you along more.

If you continued to fail you would be left back a grade or possibly dismissed from the school.

just a helpful tip: with a little google-fu (probably things like california public school + english class + reading list) you can easily find real, recent class reading lists/syllabi for various schools. teachers always post them online now. if you can find syllabi, that's even better, because they'll sometimes have detailed lesson plans (like, "jan 8-10: poetry. list of poems to be read:" etc etc....)

It looks like you forgot to consider the fact that high school is divided into semesters. Meaning you could plausibly take all of your english credits in two years (I know a lot of people who did.) So if a student failed english 9, he/she could retake it the next semester. You basically have 8 possible opportunities to pass 3 or 4 classes. Actually, there's summer school as well, so 12 opportunities.
When kids were close to failing in my school, the guidance counselor stepped in and worked with the teacher and parents to maybe do some extra credit. If the person only failed english and couldn't graduate, they didn't get to walk across stage at graduation and they had to take a summer class.

If they fail the summer class, they can always re-register. In maryland, I think you're allowed to stay until you're 22 or you graduate, whichever comes first. After that, you get kicked out and have to get a GED.

Also, in MD, and a lot of other places now grades are posted online. They have the parents register an account with the software service, and they're encouraged to check the student's grades, which the teachers keep very up to date, usually week to week. So even if you turn 18, your parents can still log in and check your grades.

But you can drop out and they couldn't do anything about it. I think in MD you can drop out at 16.

hope that helps

I'm not sure about California, but I've heard that California takes the Regents exams in high school. I'm from New York, and we take Regents, so maybe it's similar.

High school English in NY is tiered to the grade level. For each grade, there are two different classes - Ninth grade is English 9, and Enriched English 9. Same with tenth grade, and then in eleventh grade, it's either American Literature, which is the equivalent of the 11th grade level, and British Literature, which is the enriched 11th grade level. In 12th grade, you have the choice to take Advanced Placement English, or two english electives. They're silly electives, like Detective Fiction, Journalism, Fantasy Fiction, Survey in Shakespeare, etc. I can grab my old course guide if you'd like the rest of the titles, it's no problem - I still keep it in my bookcase. In NY we have to have 4 credits for English, but the last credit is just electives.
However, if California only requires three years of English, then that would imply they could drop it in 12th. I did the same thing with Science and Math, I just dropped them in 12th.

If a student fails English in NY, they have to take that course again the next year, along with their current class. So if they failed grade 9 english, then in tenth grade they would have to take grade 10 english in one period, and grade 9 english in another period. I'm not sure if you're including the Regents exams in your story, but there's different policies for failing Regents exams compared to failing classes. If you fail a class, you can't take the Regents exam, and you have to take both the next year. If you pass a class, but fail the exam, you get credit for the class, but you have to take the exam again at the end of the next year.
For your question about failing grade 9, and skipping that year, I know that some classes are required. For example, you can't take Grade 11 English unless you passed Grade 9 and 10 English. And if you fail Grade 9 Global, you still have to take that again, because it's a required class, so you can't skip it. I don't know about Grade 9 English being a required class to graduate - I suppose it would depend on the school. But in my school they wouldn't let you take Grade 10 English unless you had already taken Grade 9 English, or were taking it that same year.
I know that with the No Child Left Behind act there was something about not being able to be held back a grade more than once or twice, or something like that, but if you mean just failing the one class, then it would depend on how big the school is. My old school had about 50 students in each grade. You met with your own counselor for one period every week, and she counseled you through everything, and you could request special tutors, etc. But in the school I graduated from, there were 500 kids in my class, so it was a huge difference.
The guidance counselor only met with a student if the student or her parents requested a meeting. If you couldn't solve the issue in one meeting, you would be sent to the school social worker. She could meet with you on a weekly basis, but if you went to her, she mostly just talked. It was like getting a free therapy session, and you went over your past traumas, etc. Unless you had a very specific problem - like a certain teacher was treating you unfairly, or a group of students. But if you found you never had any friends, or you were failing classes a lot, or skipping school, they were always poking around for the underlying problem. If the character in your book is only failing one class, English, and this would be the second time she failed, and she went to my school (a large one), then the teacher would have sent a routine note home to say that the student was failing. They're literally half-page, copied forms, that the teacher signs, fills in the student's name, and checks off a box indicating 'the student is failing due to absence' or 'due to missing assignments,' etc. If the student or her parent requested help, the guidance counselor may dig up a list of tutors, which the parents would have to pay for themselves, or they may offer a program where twelfth grade students tutor younger students in a specific subject. Or, they may just suggest that the student talk to the teacher themselves. If the student approached the teacher herself and asked about missing assignments, and what she can do to pass, the teacher would most likely tell her quickly the assignments she's missing, and then they wouldn't bring it up again until the student either handed in the assignments, or failed. In my old school, the extremely small one, the teachers and staff would have been all over it, contacting each other and offering extra credit, and different ways to fix the situation. So it would depend on the school.

In my school, you either have to take Brit Lit or American Lit, so Brit Lit definitely counts towards a credit. And the fourth credit can be filled with english electives like journalism, however the first, second, and third credit have to be English 9, 10, 11, or Enriched English 9, 10, 11. So you couldn't fill your tenth grade english credit with an elective like journalism. Brit Lit isn't an elective in my school.

I'm not sure about the last question. I know that when they turn 18, they can legally drop out without parental permission, however I would assume that asking the teacher not to provide information would depend on the teacher. The parents could argue that it's their right to know if you're living in their house, but I would guess that some teachers might respect that decision. I think that on something like that, the teacher wouldn't have a rule about it necessarily, so they would just decide themselves. But I wouldn't know.

Good luck! I hope this helps!

missesdash said:

It looks like you forgot to consider the fact that high school is divided into semesters. Meaning you could plausibly take all of your english credits in two years (I know a lot of people who did.) So if a student failed english 9, he/she could retake it the next semester. You basically have 8 possible opportunities to pass 3 or 4 classes. Actually, there's summer school as well, so 12 opportunities.
When kids were close to failing in my school, the guidance counselor stepped in and worked with the teacher and parents to maybe do some extra credit. If the person only failed english and couldn't graduate, they didn't get to walk across stage at graduation and they had to take a summer class.

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It looks like there's a lot of variation from state to state (though I absolutely believe you that it's like this in MD.) In two states I'm familiar with, you have to have 4 full years of English, which is the equivalent to 8 semesters. If you fail any of them, you have to retake them in summer school.

Just a little reminder - the answers to these questions are also highly dependent on the time period in which your story is set. If it's contemporary, the answers you're getting are fine, but if it's 20, 50 years ago, they aren't (50 years = back in the day when David Copperfield was the 9th grade novel and Silas Marner the 10th). AP classes are a fairly recent development. Puma

missesdash said:

It looks like you forgot to consider the fact that high school is divided into semesters. Meaning you could plausibly take all of your english credits in two years (I know a lot of people who did.)

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This would only work for a school that uses block scheduling. In other schools, like the one I work at, each of the four English classes is a year long course, so you need to take one each year.

I can't answer for California, but I can answer for my Michigan public school.

In HS, we had required English classes for freshman and sophomore year. After that, it didn't matter what we took as long as we got two more English credits. Our choices were basic composition, college composition, world literature, and AP literature. I took AP Lit my junior year and college comp my senior year.

In College comp we studied Of Mice and Men, To Kill a Mockingbird, and Hamlet. We also had to write a research project on a topic of our choice. In World Lit I remember people talking about reading Macbeth. In our school, English language and literature were always taught together, with more emphasis on the literature.

In our school, if a student failed English one year they'd have to make it up either through retaking the class, taking another English class, online credit recovery, or summer school. We had to have four English credits so that's trickier than just having three.

Some English-related electives counted towards English credits. Like I said, I chose to take AP Lit which was worth 1.5 credits out of the 4 required English credits. In the past, Creative Writing and Journalism counted towards English credits at our school. By the time I got to take the classes, you could no longer take them for English credit. I think that part really depends on the school curriculum.