English
The GBS English Department is dedicated to fostering individual student development through the study of literature and the English language.
Students will be intellectually and personally challenged while reading, analyzing, and discussing literature that represents a variety of voices within the human experience. Students will develop their verbal, written, listening, and multimedia skills to become stronger critical thinkers, communicators, and creators.
Staff Directory
Courses
English /World History Team 163 (ENG14300S)
Grade: 9 Length: Full Year Credit: 1.00 GPA: All Subject & Academic
The TEAM South course is a program of study designed for students who learn best with a hands-on, project-oriented approach. The curriculum of this combined English and history course emphasizes reading and writing skills. More specifically, skills that are emphasized include developing the ability to critically examine historical events, the development of analytical and inferential reading, writing for a purpose, and the building of vocabulary and proper grammar usage. Students receive two credits, one for history and one for English.
English Studies 163 (ENG15300S)
Grade: 9 Length: Full Year Credit: 1.00 GPA: All Subject & Academic
This is essentially the same course as English 163, with a few important differences: students enrolled in English Studies 163 will receive substantial reading and writing help, such as the use of graphic organizers, scaffolding assignments appropriately, etc. It is on the basis of reading skills, writing skills, and teacher recommendations that students are placed into English Studies rather than English 163.
English 163 (ENG16300S)
Grade: 9 Length: Full Year Credit: 1.00 GPA: All Subject & Academic
Students in this course will study fiction (plays, long and short novels, poetry) and nonfiction, writing, oral communication, English usage and grammar, and vocabulary skills. Students will integrate the learning of the curricular components through a variety of speaking, reading, writing and service learning projects; they will work individually and in collaborative groups. Students in this course are expected to be capable of completing substantive reading assignments independently without teacher help.
Prerequisite: Initial placement is determined by the GBS English Department.
English 173 (ENG17300S)
Grade: 9 Length: Full Year Credit: 1.00 GPA: All Subject & Academic
An accelerated course of study in which students read and analyze fiction and nonfiction, write in a variety of modes, and learn higher order problem-solving skills, formal logic and systems theory. Students will study authors and their methods, going beyond summarizing books and poems and moving into deep, text-based analysis as a means of uncovering literary tools, themes, etc. Students are expected to work individually, in small groups, and in the whole class setting. Incoming students are expected to read analytically, to write polished multi-paragraph essays, and to demonstrate effective English grammar and usage.
English / U.S. History Team 263 (ENG24300S)
Grade: 10 Length: Full Year Credit: 1.00 GPA: All Subject & Academic
This course uses an integrated approach to teaching U.S. History and American Literature in order to develop advanced skills in reading, writing, listening and speaking in a supportive and flexible setting. Students receive two credits, one for history and one for English. Students enrolled in this course will simultaneously be enrolled in United States History/English Team 263.
English Studies 263 (ENG25300S)
Grade: 10 Length: Full Year Credit: 1.00 GPA: All Subject & Academic
This college preparatory course targets analytical skills in reading and writing with emphasis on the multiparagraph essay. Students read a wide range of literature including adolescent fiction, adult fiction, and Shakespeare in a structured setting.
English 263 (ENG26300S)
Grade: 10 Length: Full Year Credit: 1.00 GPA: All Subject & Academic
This college preparatory course targets analytical and reading skills with an emphasis on writing. Through novels, plays, poetry, short stories, and nonfiction that explore facets of the personal journey, students write multiparagraph essays and give presentations based on literature and personal experience.
English 273 (ENG27300S)
Grade: 10 Length: Full Year Credit: 1.00 GPA: All Subject & Academic
This course for sophomores offers an accelerated program of study that explores the tension between human potential and limitations by employing a variety of close reading techniques. Compositions from multi-paragraph papers to term papers are required.
English Studies 363 (ENG35300S)
Grade: 11 Length: Full Year Credit: 1.00 GPA: All Subject & Academic
This course prepares students for the writing, grammar, and literature analysis competencies required in senior-year English and college-level writing. Course literature selections foster self-examination and the discovery of an individual’s role in shaping the world as well as serving as models for student writing.
English 363 (ENG36300S)
Grade: 11 Length: Full Year Credit: 1.00 GPA: All Subject & Academic
The course centers on literary works thematically linked to the American Experience. Assignments in reading, writing, language, speech and listening evolve from the themes. Individual as well as collaborative work ranges from activities to major projects and utilizes technology.
The American Experience (ENG3630AS)
Grade: 11 Length: Full Year Credit: 1.00 GPA: All Subject & Academic
The American Experience is an interdisciplinary course, taught by one history teacher and one English teacher, that explores our country’s literature and history as an interwoven tapestry rather than as discrete subjects. The course will explore American themes across time while meeting Junior year objectives in U.S. History, reading, writing, and research. This course meets every day for 90 minutes and fulfills both English and U.S. History requirements.
Advanced Placement Language and Composition 383 (ENG38300S)
Grade: 11 Length: Full Year Credit: 1.00 GPA: All Subject & Academic
This briskly-paced study of American literature is integrated with advanced-level composition. Poetry, drama, novels, short stories, and nonfiction are grouped by themes for inquiry and analysis; writing assignments are varied in purpose, form, and length, and include both literary and personal topics. Research, speech activities, critical viewing, and educational technology also figure prominently in the course design. This course emphasizes skills and content required to perform successfully on the AP exam for this course given in May.
English 463: Contemporary Literature (ENG45300SS)
Grade: 12 Length: Full Year Credit: 1.00 GPA: All Subject & Academic
This year-long course prepares students to effectively use reading, writing, and speaking skills in college, in professional settings, and/or for personal growth and expression. A wide range of fiction and nonfiction texts and films serves as the foundation for class discussions and writing assignments with the goal of preparing students for success in a variety of post-high school settings.
English 463: Humanities (ENG46300S)
Grade: 12 Length: Full Year Credit: 1.00 GPA: All Subject & Academic
This yearlong course focuses on how humankind expresses meaning in various forms. As students study-philosophy, literature, film, painting, architecture, music and dance, they examine how creativity and imagination are used by a wide range of individuals to understand oneself and one’s world. Beyond analyzing and commenting on these diverse works, students also sharpen their own critical eye and voice by creating both written and visual text that reflect on a variety of their experiences.
English 463: Rhetoric (ENG46300S)
Grade: 12 Length: Full Year Credit: 1.00 GPA: All Subject & Academic
This year-long course is appropriate for students interested in strengthening their reading and writing skills in preparation for college. Students will learn about, analyze and apply rhetorical strategies in an effort to improve their own persuasive skills. By reading nonfiction and writing a variety of papers, including the college-application essay, students will develop college-level interpretive skills. This course includes independent and collaborative research-based assignments.
English 463: World Literature (ENH46900S)
Grade: 12 Length: Full Year Credit: 1.00 GPA: All Subject & Academic
This year-long literature-based course is particularly appropriate for students interested in exploring connections among a range of texts from around the world. Students read contemporary and classic literature, write papers on personal and literary topics and deliver individual speeches as well as collaborative presentations. The course is designed for students with strong, independent reading skills.
Advanced Placement Literature and Composition 483 (ENG48300S)
Grade: 12 Length: Full Year Credit: 1.00 GPA: All Subject & Academic
This course emphasizes critical thinking and sophisticated analytical writing. Reading includes a substantial range of genres from classic to modern periods. This course emphasizes skills and content required to perform successfully on the AP exam for this course given in May.
Intensive ESL 163 (ESL13300S)
Grade: 9, 10, 11, 12 Length: Full Year Credit: 1.00 GPA: All Subject & Academic
This double-period course for English learners who speak little or no English provides beginning-level students with the opportunity to develop basic interpersonal communication skills as well as introductory literacy skills. Listening, speaking, reading, and writing are fostered through basic grammar, conversation, and vocabulary development activities.
Beginning ESL 163 / Intermediate ESL 263 / Advanced ESL 363 (ESL16300S/ESL25300S/ESL36300S)
Grade: 9, 10, 11, 12 Length: Full Year Credit: 1.00 GPA: All Subject & Academic
These courses for second-language students build on basic skills to further develop proficiency in English. Progress in listening, speaking, reading and writing is promoted as students continue to work toward the goals of communicative competence in English and expanded participation in mainstream curricular offerings.
Transitional English 463 (ESL46300S)
Grade: 9, 10, 11, 12 Length: Full Year Credit: 1.00 GPA: All Subject & Academic
An advanced course for English learners, this class provides a “bridge” between the ELL program and mainstream English classes. Reading and writing activities focus on a variety of literary works, and activities reinforce those skills that are most challenging to English learners.
Advanced Journalism Honors: Newspaper / Yearbook (ETJ27300S)
Grade: 10, 11, 12 Length: Full Year Credit: 1.00 GPA: All Subject & Academic
Editors of the school newspaper and editors of the school yearbook are eligible to enroll in this advanced journalism and leadership course in which students are expected to demonstrate expertise in a variety of journalistic disciplines including reporting, writing, copy-editing, layout design, and photography. Students will make content decisions, manage staff deadlines, mentor staff members, and will learn a variety of organizational and management techniques to assist them in working with staff members. Honors Advanced Journalism is the culminating course in the print-journalism program at Glenbrook South and serves as a bridge to college and professional-level publication work.
Prerequisite: At least one year of yearbook or newspaper and consent of the instructor.
Journalistic Writing 161 (ETJ16100S)
Grade: 9, 10, 11, 12 Length: One Semester Credit: 0.50 GPA: All Subject & Academic
in this introductory course, which emphasizes writing, editing, journalistic ethics, and student First-Amendment rights, students learn the basics of writing news, features, sports stories, and editorials. Enrolled students become members of the school newspaper staff for the duration of the semester-long course and may have their stories published in the school newspaper. Students are also eligible to maintain membership on the school newspaper staff throughout the remainder of high school. The course is a prerequisite for the Newspaper and Honors Advanced Journalism courses.
Yearbook (ETJ30300S)
Grade: 10, 11, 12 Length: Full Year Credit: 1.00 GPA: All Subject & Academic
The course offers on-the-job training for staff members and editors of the school yearbook. Students practice organization, design, layout, and journalistic writing skills. Students also learn about sales, advertising, and photography. Course may be repeated for additional credit.
Prerequisite: Journalistic Writing 161 OR Consent of the instructor.
Creative Writing 161, 261 (ENW16100S)
Grade: 10, 11, 12 Length: One Semester Credit: 0.50 GPA: All Subject & Academic
The course gives students who enjoy writing an opportunity to experiment with various forms of written expression. Students learn to explore personal experience and to draw on their imaginations to compose poetry, short stories, and creative non-fiction. English credit. Note: Course may be repeated for additional credit.
Film Studies (ENL16100S)
Grade: 10, 11, 12 Length: One Semester Credit: 0.50 GPA: All Subject & Academic
Film Studies explores both the art and impact of filmmaking as students study the history of cinema, analyze a variety of film techniques and learn how movies are scripted, shot and edited. Students watch and analyze several feature-length films and produce a major film-related research project at the semester’s conclusion. Film Studies is designed to appeal to the general film-going population as well as the film enthusiast.
Reading Skills Development 161 (ENR16100S)
Grade: 9, 10, 11, 12 Length: One Semester Credit: 0.50 GPA: All Subject & Academic
This course is for (1) students who have tested at least two grades below the average in vocabulary or comprehension or (2) students who wish to improve their overall reading abilities. Students are tested individually to determine placement and evaluate growth over the course of the semester(s). Students will learn and practice reading strategies with a wide variety of reading materials. Enrollment is limited because individual instruction is given to enhance students’ strengths and improve their skills.
Program of Studies
Student Support
- Open 7:15 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. ( 4 p.m. on Fridays)
- The Titan Learning Center (TLC) offers support in all subjects. For academic help, there are peer tutors and qualified adults available to assist students. Peer tutors are trained, vetted, and assigned according to the classes they are most qualified to tutor. Walk-ins are welcome.
- GBS Library
- Open 7 a.m. -4 p.m.
- The GBS Library has 3 certified teacher librarians who can provide research support, citation help and readers’ advisory services. Students can also receive Chromebook support at the Chrome Depot, located at the back of the library. All GBS Library resources and contact information can be found on the GBS LibGuides.