English

Over half of our teachers are Teacher Consultants with the Third Coast Writing Project (TCWP) at Western Michigan University, a site of the National Writing Project (NPA), whose mission 'focuses the knowledge, expertise, and leadership of our nation's educators on sustained efforts to improve writing and learning for all learners.'

Points of Pride

SJPS students have benefited from the expert leadership of our teachers as demonstrated by their many achievements.

  • SJPS has had a national winner in seven of the last ten years in the National Council Teachers of English Writing Awards.
  • Students have earned $4,375 for writing prizes in the past two years alone. These include first and third places two years in row for the local Rotary Essay Contest and first and third places in last year's Michael Collins Awards for short stories.
  • AP Literature students have tested well and many have earned college credit over the years since the class was introduced.
  • The Wind-Up, our school newspaper, is a winner of the Columbia Scholastic Press Association's Medalist Award, the Quill and Scroll's George H. Gallup Award, and was named Best Newspaper by the Michiana Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists for five years in a row. A point of pride for us is that one of our former editors graduated as valedictorian of Notre Dame, class of 2009, and shared the dais with President Barack Obama.
  • Afterglow, our school's literary magazine, was ranked excellent by the National Council of Teachers of English Program to Recognize Excellence in Student Literary Magazines (PRESLIM).

Curriculum Overviews

  • English 9
  • Honors English 9
  • English 10
  • Honors English 10
  • English 11
  • Honors English 11
  • English 12
  • College Writing
  • AP Literature
  • Journalism 1
  • Journalism 2
  • Yearbook