Communication Arts Department Philosophy  

The Communication Arts Department offers a wide variety of courses that focus on developing students’ reading, writing, speaking, listening, and viewing skills. In addition, students learn how to acquire, assess, and utilize information from a variety of sources. Our goal is to foster students who are critical thinkers that use their literacy skills to make meaning of the varied texts that they encounter. Department curriculum “recognizes the recursiveness of literacy skills […] and fosters increased independence of the learner” (District 203 Literacy Philosophy).

Students must earn four Communication Arts credits in order to meet graduation requirements. To obtain these credits, students complete a series of core classes that provide a solid foundation in reading and analyzing fiction and nonfiction texts, writing and speaking in various modes (narrative, expository, and persuasive), and assessing information for merit. Students have many weighted and non-weighted course offerings to choose from; furthermore, intensive reading courses and seminars exist to help students reach success. Within the curriculum, students also have the opportunity to take courses that foster an interest film, creative writing, and journalism. In addition, two Advanced Placement (AP) courses (AP Language and Composition and AP Literature and Composition) provide students with an opportunity to take exams that may lead them to earn college credit.

The Communication Arts Department utilizes a college preparatory curriculum that serves students well as they move forward in their academic careers and lives. From American literature to world literature, students will experience many of the great authors and literary works that have influenced human thought and society.