Pre-AP English 2

Pre-AP English 2 builds on the foundations of Pre-AP English 1. While English 1 introduces the fundamentals of close observation, critical analysis, and the appreciation of author’s craft, English 2 requires students to apply those practices to a new array of nonfiction and literary texts.

As readers, students become aware of how poets, playwrights, novelists, and writers of nonfiction manipulate language to serve their purposes. As writers, students compose more nuanced analytical essays while never losing sight of craft and cohesion.

The areas of focus are reasoning skills that provide vertical alignment within a discipline, giving students the opportunity to develop and strengthen these skills as they progress through subsequent Pre-AP courses and into advanced coursework.

• Reading closely
• Valuing evidence
• Noticing language choices

Pre-AP English 2 has four main units. Review their key topics and the recommended length for each unit:

• Unit 1: Argument (~5 weeks)
• Unit 2: Persuasion in Literature (~4 weeks)
• Unit 3: Voice in Synthesis (~5 weeks)
• Unit 4: Purpose in Poetry and Prose (~4 weeks)

These big ideas are integrated across all units:

• Engaging with texts
• Constructing texts
• Focusing on language
• Investigating through research
• Entering the conversation

Each unit contains:

• Model lessons: Student and teacher resources that demonstrate how to translate the course framework, shared principles, and areas of focus into daily instruction.
• In-lesson formative assessments: Short, open-ended problems that highlight the targeted content and skills for each lesson.
• 2 learning checkpoints: These multiple-choice and technology-enhanced questions are modeled closely after the types of questions students encounter on AP Exams and the SAT. Learning checkpoints require students to examine graphs, data, and short texts—often in authentic contexts—to respond to questions that measure students' understanding of the unit’s concepts and skills.
• 1 performance task: A sustained problem-solving task that asks students to synthesize the unit’s skills and concepts while answering questions about a novel context.

Before implementing a Pre-AP course, teachers need to complete Pre-AP Course Audit. This process is required to: 

• Grant teachers access to Pre-AP Classroom, including instructional materials, professional learning, and assessment tools 
• Authorize the school to use "Pre-AP" in its course names 
• Include the school in Pre-AP Course Ledger