English
MSMS requires students to take English courses every semester. Journalism, Yearbook, Debate, and Creative Writing are offered to all students but may NOT be used to meet graduation requirements in English. Juniors are required to enroll in a 100-level course each semester to satisfy the 1-credit requirement. Seniors are required to enroll in either EN 200 (University English II), or EN 214 (Selected Works of British Literature) or EN 216 (World Literature) and EN235 (Southern Writers) . Seniors can earn elective credit for courses other than EN100, EN200, or EN214. Registration for courses as electives will depend upon the space necessary to accommodate all students who need courses to meet the English requirement for graduation.
Requirements for graduation
MSMS requires that English be taken each semester. Journalism, Yearbook, Debate, and Creative Writing are offered to all students but may NOT be used to meet graduation requirements in English. Juniors are required to enroll in a 100-level course each semester to satisfy the 1-credit requirement.
Seniors are required to enroll in either EN 200 (University English II), or EN 214 (Selected Works of British Literature) or EN 216 (World Literature) and EN235 (Southern Writers) . Seniors can earn elective credit for courses other than EN100, EN200, or EN214.
Registration for courses as electives will depend upon the space necessary to accommodate all students who need courses to meet the English requirement for graduation.
Objectives
Specifically, the objectives of the program are to equip students:
To comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and use what they read;
To write well-organized, effective papers;
To listen effectively and discuss ideas intelligently;
To appreciate the breadth and depth of their literary heritage;
To discover how their literary heritage enhances imagination and ethical understanding;
To recognize how their literary heritage relates to the customs, ideas, and values of today’s life and culture; and
To utilize technology as they integrate reading, writing, speaking, listening, and viewing in English studies.
Courses offered
Students who take University Composition must have a composite score of 21 on the ACT. This course is offered for dual credit. By an articulation agreement with the Mississippi University for Women, students who successfully complete the class will satisfy the requirement for junior English at MSMS and receive six semester hours of college credit: three hours for MUW-EN 101 (English Composition I) and three hours for MUW-EN 102 (English Composition II).
The yearlong course explores writing across multiple modes and encourages the development of analytical skills, as students will write essays based on readings, observations, interviews, and memories. Students will also practice research methods and source integration, culminating in the junior research paper. One section of this course, the Real Mississippi Podcast section, requires students to turn their research into podcasts that will be disseminated on various social media platforms. These students will also participate in the National Public Radio podcast challenge.
Students who take University English I must have a composite score of 25 on the ACT. This course is offered for dual credit. The course is a survey of American literature from the colonial period to the present. It also has a writing component that includes narrative, descriptive, expository, and critical essays, and a research paper.
Students who take University American Literature II must have completed University American Literature I. This course is offered for dual credit for 3 semester hours of college credit for MUW-EN 204 (Survey of American Lit II). The course is a survey of American Literature from the mid 19th century to the present. It also has a writing component that includes narrative, descriptive, expository, and critical essays, and a research paper. It is recommended that students take this course in sequence with EN 106.
This course is an introduction to the works of William Shakespeare and will concentrate on early plays. Students will read approximately a dozen plays, including The Comedy of Errors, Richard III, and the Henry plays.
The course will focus on the later plays of Shakespeare. Students will read ten to twelve plays, including Othello, King Lear, Anthony and Cleopatra, and The Tempest.
The focus of this course is on the great epic poems of the Greeks and Romans. Students will read The Iliad, The Odyssey, and The Aeneid. This literature provides students with an excellent background for more modern European and American works.
Students will study the works of the great Greek playwrights: Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, and Aristophanes. Students will also read selections from Greek and Roman philosophers, including Plato, Aristotle, Seneca, and Epictetus.
This course will focus on the poetry of Whitman, Dickinson, Frost, and Stevens. Students will also study the works of several other modern American poets. Students will get an in-depth look at the works of our finest poets. Offered during the fall semester.
This course teaches critical reading/critical writing skills through the examination of contemporary literature. Students are expected to complete outside reading, and to respond to the literature through analytical essays, timed examinations, and class discussions. Most of the works considered in the course will have been published within the last five years or by authors who are still living. Analysis of the texts will focus on craft and structure, and arguments and themes. Topics will range from coming of age to social justice. Offered in the fall semester.
In Journalism I, students both produce the school newspaper (The Vision) and study the elements of journalism. Students are introduced to the basic elements of composition, layout, and editing. Students will be expected to become proficient in writing news, features, sports, reviews, and opinions; using the digital camera or video camera; and retouching pictures using PhotoShop and laying out a print issue in InDesign.
In Journalism II, students will continue their study of journalism. Issues of leadership such as editorships are the focus of this curriculum. Students will learn and use the SNO’s WordPress software to lay out the newspaper; manage files and articles from Journalism I students; conduct editorial board meetings; make decisions about the content and format of The Vision, the school newspaper; edit articles and evaluate them for inclusion in the paper; and learn about web site and social media management.
Students who take University English Literature must have a 25 composite score on the ACT by the April national test date of the junior year and complete enrollment requirements for MUW students. The course offers senior students an opportunity to receive dual credit in English from MSMS (English IV requirement) and from Mississippi University for Women (three hours for MUW-EN 202, Survey of Early English Literature, and three hours for MUW-EN 203, Survey of Late English Literature). The course is a study in chronological order of selected works representative of different periods of English literature from Beowulf through the modern period. Emphasis is given to the historical, intellectual, and social contexts which produced the literature and on the resulting intertext of literature and society. The course includes collateral readings. Students will write a variety of compositions, including critical essays and a research paper.
Students in this yearlong course will read stories, dramas, poems, and essays and view films representative of British and Commonwealth literature. They will consider the works in relation to significant themes and literary movements of the ages which produced them, as well as explore the social and intellectual contexts in which they were written. Special attention will be paid during the second semester to the periods in which the British Empire expanded, then lost, its colonial power. Students will utilize library and Internet sources to produce presentations for class and for compositions, including critical essays and a research paper.
World Literature explores in translation the major writers from Europe, the Americas, Africa, the subcontinent of India, China, and Japan, and from a variety of historical periods and literary movements. Readings will include the major genres of literature: poetry, short story, novel, drama, and essay. The course will be reading- and discussion-based, but students will also write literary analysis essays (including the senior research paper) and make presentations to the class.
This course, when paired with Southern Writers, satisfies the MSMS requirement for senior English credit.
Students in this one semester course will explore the place of the American South in the literary world by reading short stories, memoirs, poetry, novels, and plays from the Antebellum period to the present, with special attention paid to the historical contexts in which the works arise. Students will also interrogate definitions of Southernness in works of criticism, placing themselves in academic conversation with scholars of Southern arts and culture.
The course will be reading and discussion-based, but students will also write literary analysis essays and make presentations to the class. Students will also be expected to attend the Eudora Welty Writers’ Symposium at MUW in the fall semester. This course, when paired with World Literature, satisfies the MSMS requirement for senior English credit.
Students will practice techniques of poetry and short fiction composition as well as write creative non-fiction pieces. Part of the course requirement is to write for, design, and lay out a literary magazine for both print and electronic publication. Students will prepare manuscripts for local, state, regional, and national competitions. The course will meet for ninety minutes each week for the entire year. Juniors or Seniors may enroll in this course.
Students in Creative Writing II will continue to develop and practice composition techniques for writing poetry, short stories, and descriptive/narrative essays which exhibit mature elements of style: “lucidity, elegance, and individuality.” Students will pursue individualized writing projects in genres they select. Students will also write for, design, and lay out a literary magazine for both print and electronic publication. Students will prepare manuscripts for local, state, regional, and national competitions. The course will meet for ninety minutes each week for the entire year. Juniors or seniors may enroll in this course if they have earned credit in Creative Writing I.
This elective course is based on student interest and may be offered on a one-time or a rotating basis. It may concentrate on a specific topic.
The course will introduce and expand the student’s ability to give presentations and argue for and against positions. The student will give many presentations throughout the year, both in the classroom and at competitive events. The student will learn how to organize a speech, adjust to the audience, research evidence, respond to critique, and how to be persuasive and memorable.