English

What is the fundamental purpose of our department?
The mission of the English Department is to enjoy the journey of learning where students and colleagues successfully communicate through critically thinking, reading, and writing toward positively engaging humanity.

How do we achieve our desired end results?
Education is most enriching when approached through the lenses of humanity, integrity, and wisdom.

How must we behave to support our mission and vision?
The English Department values students and teachers through integrity, humanity, and learning.

What are our fundamental beliefs?
We believe in the following:
• Doing what’s best for each student according to his/her needs
• Cultivating an excitement for learning and developing a passion for what we teach
• Upholding high academic standards and achievements
• Providing a positive and creative learning environment
• All people have the ability to learn.
• Teaching students self-respect and respect for others
• The necessity of effective reading, writing, and inquiry

Focusing our MVVB on the Four Questions
Question #1 – What do we expect our students to learn?
• We expect students to write with clarity and depth—demonstrating evidence of understanding.
• We expect students to be active and deliberate readers.
• We expect students to use the process of inquiry to formulate questions and engage in information analysis.

Question #2 – How will we know what they have learned?
We will know students have learned through evaluation of student writing, classroom analysis, and standardized test data.

Question #3 – How will we respond to students who aren’t learning?
We will access resources within the classroom, department, the school, and the home to strengthen individual student learning.

Question #4 – How do we respond to students who have already learned the material?
We will access resources within the department, school, community, and higher education to strengthen individual and collaborative student learning.