In implementing the core program, teachers utilize current, relevant educational research. The English program prepares students to understand and appreciate interdisciplinary connections, especially those that naturally arise between the Global Studies and English programs. The English department consists of a team of dedicated, knowledgeable and flexible practitioners who are aware of and sensitive to the rich cultural diversity of the English classroom, literature, and the power of language. Each core course translates to an honors level course in a traditional school curriculum. Since students learn that writing is a process, the department encourages students to brainstorm, use mind maps, write multiple drafts, edit, and then publish.
English teachers use writing as an assessment activity throughout all core and elective classes.
The ninth grade and tenth grade curriculums include working with the standard five-paragraph essay, the formal research process, and guidelines for research documentation. In eleventh grade, students write an American Literature paper that considers a text in relation to its period of American history. As a senior, the student writes the senior research paper for dual credit in English and another senior-year discipline. One VCU credit is earned in Research Methods upon completion of the senior research paper. Students use technology for writing and presentation purposes and are provided instruction on the use of an array of software functions offered within a word processing program.