English

Four English credits are required for graduation. All course numbers represent a semester, earning .5 credit (except VANTAGE courses). One English credit is required each year. Electives do not fulfill this requirement but may be taken in addition to required English options. No course may be repeated unless a student has failed that particular course and wishes to repeat it for credit.

English Pathways (Suggested Course Sequencing)

All English courses are open to any student at any time during their high school years. Unless otherwise indicated, courses do not have prerequisite grades, scores or coursework. We encourage students to have meaningful conversations with their families, current teachers and counselors to choose the courses that best fit them.

Click Here to Print the English Pathways PDF

Writing Center

Student Publication Opportunities

VANTAGE Options

VANTAGE is Minnetonka High School’s advanced professional studies program. Through experiential learning, VANTAGE offers a unique opportunity for students to apply their coursework in real-world settings.

Explore how your writing and research skills connect to future career opportunities by taking a VANTAGE course:

Global Business
Explore business functions from a global perspective, learning fundamental concepts from economics and research best practices to persuasive techniques, public speaking and effective communication. This year-long, three-credit track includes AP Seminar (one English credit), IB Business Management SL or HL (one elective business credit) and AP Microeconomics (one social studies credit).

International Relations
International Relations is an introductory course on international politics and the relations between actors in the global political system. The overarching goal of this course is for students to critically engage with diverse and opposing perspectives to better understand the changing world and their role as citizens. This year-long, two-credit track includes IB Global Politics SL (one social studies credit) and College Writing (one English credit). You will also earn 4 college credits through Normandale Community College.

Multimedia Communications
Take part in the rapidly changing world of broadcast journalism and emerging media, learning innovative ways to produce stories using video and sound. This year-long, two-credit track includes Video Production and Digital Journalism (one art credit) and Investigative Research (one English credit).

Public Policy
Explore the professional world of public policy formulation, including national, state, and local government; public relations, public interest organizations, issue-advocacy organizations, political parties, and more. This year-long, two-credit track includes AP Seminar (one English credit) and CIS (College in the Schools) American Democracy in a Changing World (one social studies credit). You will also earn 4 University of Minnesota credits through the CIS (College in the Schools) program.

LEARN MORE ABOUT VANTAGE COURSES

Course Listing

American Studies 10 Honors

Course: #1022 - English, S1
Course: #1024 - English, S2
Course: #2008 - Social Studies, S1
Course: #2010 - Social Studies, S2
*Students must register for all four courses.
Grade(s) offered: Grade 10
Credits: 0.5 (per semester, full-year course)
Prerequisites: Any English 9 Course Concurrent enrollment in Social Studies 2012 & 2013

This honors-level interdisciplinary course meets across two class periods and fulfills the requirements for both 10th grade social studies and English.

AP Language and Composition 10

Course: #AP100, S1
Course: #AP101, S2
Grade(s) offered: grade 10
Credits: 0.5 (per semester, full-year course)
Prerequisites: Any English 9 Course

Students will analyze a broad and challenging range of fiction and nonfiction prose and trace the use of rhetoric in making arguments and appeals. Students will read and examine essays, letters, speeches, images, media messages, memoirs, and autobiographies from a variety of authors and historical contexts.

AP Language and Composition 12

Course: #AP104
Online Option: #T1100*, Tonka Online
*Select term F=fall, W=winter
Grade(s) offered: Grade 12
Credits: 0.5 (single semester course)
Prerequisites: Any English 11 Course

In this course, students read and examine a broad range of nonfiction prose including essays, letters, speeches, images, media messages, memoirs, and autobiographies from a variety of authors and historical contexts.

AP Literature and Composition

Course: #AP102, S1
Course: #AP103, S2
Grade(s) offered: Grade 11, Grade 12
Credits: 0.5 (per semester, full-year course)
Prerequisites: Any English 10 or 11 Course

This course emphasizes perceptive readings of major British and American Literature representing all literary genres—poetry, drama, novel, short story—covering the 17th to the 21st Century.

AP Research

Course: #AP107, S1
Course: #AP108, S2
Grade(s) offered: grade 12
Credits: 0.5 (per semester, full-year course)
Prerequisites: AP Seminar during junior year

AP Research allows students to deeply explore an academic topic, problem, or issue of individual interest. Through this exploration, students design, plan, and conduct a year-long research based investigation to address a research question.