English 9, a college preparatory course, introduces vital and foundational concepts that will serve students throughout their high school careers. Students study various literary genres: the short story, the play, the epic poem, poetry, and the novel. The course focuses on grade-level texts in order to strengthen reading comprehension and analysis, which provides the basis for academic writing. Writing centers on paragraph development using specific evidence to support a claim and draw logical conclusions. Using this paragraph structure, students write analysis and argumentative essays. Throughout the year, students deepen and apply their study of grammar and vocabulary.