English Language Arts
Brendan McGowan
District Director of English Language Arts and Reading, K-12
brendan_mcgowan@manhassetschools.org
Manhasset Public Schools
200 Memorial Place
Manhasset, NY 11030
(516) 267-7582
The Secondary School English and Reading curricula have as their goal mastery of reading and writing skills for all students. Middle school English classes in grades 7 and 8 emphasize reading literature within an overarching themes of “Who am I” in 7th grade and “Where am I going”? in 8th grade. Students learn to read selected works closely, gaining the ability to analyze text and understand the use of rhetorical devices to inform meaning. Literature selections are course-specific, selected by grade-level teams with departmental approval. Writing emphasizes the development of multi-paragraph, expository, literature-based essays. Students conduct research to further explore given topics growing from literature selections, culminating in a research paper. Students are also prepared for the New York State English Language Arts exam, administered each spring. Middle School English courses are aligned to Common Core Learning Standards.
The high school English department offers both required and elective courses. In the required program, students are enrolled in regents or honors level courses by virtue of recommendation or override to selected course levels. All high school courses continue to hone the skills of close-reading and text-based writing; as students progress, they read increasingly sophisticated works of literature, selected by grade-level teams with departmental approval. Each course includes a research project or paper; students are asked to conduct research to develop an authoritative perspective, supported by evidence, which is based on literature read in the course. The high school program includes two Advanced Placement courses, A.P. Language and A.P. Literature, and several electives, such as Journalism, Creative Writing, Film Study and Speech and Debate. Students are also prepared for the New York State English Language Arts Common Core Regents exam, administered each spring. All high school courses are aligned to Common Core Learning Standards.
For both middle and high school English courses, academic intervention support services are offered. These include reading and writing workshop classes in grades 7 through 10, and a regents preparation course for selected students in 11th grade. AIS classes are taught by certified department members, with emphasis on skills remediation and support for English class reading and writing assignments.