Purpose

• Teach students to think critically about what they’re reading
• Take students’ thoughts and help communicate them effectively
• Mold reading and writing together to make students better communicators and comprehenders of what they read

Details

• Twelve teachers in the department
• Five advanced placement classes, 35 college prep classes
• Bowen is the current chair of three years

Classes offered and teachers

• Bowen, CP British Literature,  AP Literature and Composition, Literature Types and Composition
• Tara Burnette, Gifted Literature and Composition, World Literature
• Nancy Close, AP Language and Composition, AP Art History, CP American Literature and Composition
• Ashley Collins, CP American Literature and Composition, Literature and Composition
• Lela Crowder, AP Language and Composition, CP American Literature and Composition
• Shad Genovese, CP British Literature and Composition, Gifted World Literature, AP Literature and Composition
• Brandon Kendall, Literature and Composition, Speech, Debate
• Whitney Shoemaker, Reading Enrichment, Gifted Literature and Composition, CP American Literature and Composition
• Debbie Smelley, Gifted World Literature, CP British Literature
• Justin Spencer, World Literature, Writer’s Workshop, Journalism
• Katherine Tucker, World Literature
• Juliana Wright, Literature and Composition

“English is one of those subjects where no one can say they won’t ever need it in life because it’s teaching skills of reading and writing and everyone uses it everyday,” Bowen said.

Every student is required to have at least four credits in English by the end of senior year. These include ninth grade Language/Composition, 10th grade World Literature/Composition, 11th grade American Literature and 12th grade British Literature.

Students are required to take the new Georgia Milestone test freshman and junior year. This test is used across the state to evaluate a student’s ability after their completion of a course.

In preparation for the test, “we use the resources the state has released for students and teachers and look through the assessment guide,” Close said, “and we do a lot of the practice exercising that are in the student resource guide.”

Websites such as USA Test Prep give students the opportunity to take practice tests set up similar to the Milestone.

“With USA Test Prep, the biggest benefit is that it has the passage-based questions along with the questions that go along with it,” Bowen said.  “Whether or not it’s based on what the state will be assessing, it’s still great practice.”

In addition to the mandatory classes, the Mill offers English electives as well that include Journalism, Creative Writing, Writer’s Workshop, Speech, Debate and Reading Enrichment.

Next year, Starr’s Mill will be offering an additional elective English course, the Bible as Literature, where Genovese will lead students in discussing the Bible in a literary context.

No matter the class, teachers in this department work together to come up with ideas and plans for their classes to help students succeed. The department’s goal is to “constantly push our kids to be better readers, writers, and thinkers,” Bowen said.

The same 12 teachers have been working in the English department for the past three years that Bowen has been chair. “It’s great because we kind of feel like a family and we all get along and work with each other really well,” Bowen said.