A girl is sitting at a desk in a classroom with her eyes closed

Middle School Division - Language Arts has two components—literature and composition.


The middle school literature component has been vertically aligned with the high school English courses.  This means that the students are reading prose and poetry that will introduce them to authors and genres that they will study in the years to come.  Sixth, seventh and eighth grade literary selections are chosen to complement the students’ work in social studies.  There are summer reading requirements as well.


Some of the novels students are reading  include  The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle. The Devil’s Arithmetic, Esperanza Rising, The Outsiders, To Kill a Mockingbird, The House on Mango Street, and Tom Sawyer.


The composition component includes instruction and practice in writing essays (expository writing).  Students also write poetry and short stories.  As they write, they work to strengthen their grammar, punctuation and spelling skills.

High School Division - The total communications curriculum embraces the areas of English (literature, composition, and speech) and journalism. The chief objectives of the communications curriculum are to aid the students in acquiring facts and concepts of literature through the skills of reading, listening and viewing, and to help the students acquire methods of communication through speech and writing, while encouraging creativity of expression. The department operates under the whole language philosophy of the integration of writing, reading, speaking and listening skills. Therefore, Providence High School English students write in various modes, purposes and for a variety of audiences. All genres of literature are presented, taught, and used as models for student writing experiences because the department believes that the connection between writing and reading forms the basis for writing instruction and for literature appreciation.