Vanoss Public Schools

Welcome Juniors & Seniors

I consider it a priviledge to be a part of your high school experience. English III curriculum centers on American Literature, while English IV curriculum has historically focused on British Literature. We will study/learn language arts primarily through the literature, which will be used as a springboard to many additional assignments. The relationship between reading, synthesizing, evaluating, and composing will be key to your individual growth in the area of language arts. The objectives for this course focus on a wide variety of quality reading selections, critical thinking and reading skills, as evidenced by your original writing. Importantly, the literature will be connected to your own experiences through the development of themes relevant to your lives.

We will build vocabulary, read and analyze quality literature, incorporate technology, think and write, while working to make it an enjoyable expedition. The literature chronicles the development of the English language, and it offers a historical methodology to understanding our language; plus presenting a variety of genres, literary elements, figurative language and sound devices. The literary works will provide an environment for analysis and evaluation which translates into original thinking.

Additional projects will include, but not be limited to a personal career portfolio, a writing portfolio, poetry collection, storyboard, group projects, essays for competition and accelerated reading. Each semester you will be responsible for reading “classic” literature, followed with a detailed literary analysis and accelerated reading test. Outside reading will be one of your primary homework assignments.

As a citizen and consumer it is important that you develop the ability to read critically, while thinking, listening, speaking, writing and communicating your point of view effectively. As a citizen in a free society, you must critically analyze and evaluate information. Each day you are bombarded with a great deal of language which must be deciphered and either dismissed or synthesized into part of your life. Historical literature provides still another means for scrutinizing our world today. I hope you are ready to think! I eagerly anticipate the next few months and the growth that each of us will indeed experience, because I learn each day too!

Mrs. Beverly Rambo

A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, con a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.
-Robert Heinlein