Course descriptions as written in the Perth Amboy Curriculum Course Guide

English 2 College Prep (CP)/Honors (H)

Course Description

English 2 College Prep (CP) and Honors (H) curriculum is a required course designed to help students master 

the skills to be independent critical thinkers, readers, and writers while introducing students to different 

genres in literature (novel, play, epic, poetry, memoir). Students will attain an understanding of each genre’s 

key features through the reading of complex literature and informational texts. The aim is to delve into texts 

through close-reading--not glide over the surface. These studies will also encourage the development of 

communication skills, including grammar, research presentation, composition, and vocabulary. By the end of 

the course, students will have a solid foundation on which to build their skills, moving forward toward more 

sophisticated texts and synthesis

English 3 College Prep (CP)/Honors(H)

Course Description

The English 3 College Prep(CP) and Honors (H) curriculum is designed to help students become college and career ready. To do this, students must grapple with works of exceptional craft and thought whose range extends across genres, cultures, and centuries. Through wide and deep reading of literature and literary nonfiction of steadily increasing sophistication, students gain a reservoir of literary and cultural knowledge, references, and images; the ability to evaluate intricate arguments; and the capacity to surmount the challenges posed by complex texts. Furthermore, to build a foundation for college and career readiness, students need to learn to use writing as a way of offering and supporting opinions, demonstrating understanding of the subjects they are studying, and conveying real and imagined experiences and events. They learn to appreciate that a key purpose of writing is to communicate clearly to an external, sometimes unfamiliar audience, and they begin to adapt the form and content of their writing to accomplish a particular task and purpose. They develop the capacity to build knowledge on a subject through research projects and to respond analytically to literary and informational sources. To meet these goals, students must devote significant time and effort to writing, producing numerous pieces over short and extended time frames throughout the year.