A Full-Year High School English Curriculum for the Only English Teacher
ELA Complete – High School is built for the English teacher who carries grades 9–12 without a department: 100+ ready resources for literary analysis across stories, novels, drama, poetry and nonfiction, plus analytical and argumentative writing in multi-paragraph essays. It gives you a four-year spine to teach from, so freshman and senior English stop being separate puzzles you solve every weekend.
See the English curriculum →ELA Complete – High School is a ready-to-teach English curriculum for grades 9–12 with 100+ resources, from $149.90. Literary analysis covers short stories, novels, drama, poetry, essays, speeches and nonfiction, with theme, characterization, symbolism, structure, rhetoric and point of view. Writing covers narrative, informative, argumentative and analytical multi-paragraph essays from planning to editing. It gives a high school's only English teacher one structured course across all four grades.
The curriculum
ELA Complete – High School, Grades 9–12
Start with the full curriculum. The other resources below are optional add-ons. Open any cover for the full contents and price.
The real problem
Freshman through senior English with no department behind you
When one person is the English department, every level of the high school runs through your room. Ninth graders still need help building a thesis. Juniors should be analyzing rhetoric in a speech. Seniors ought to write analytical essays that hold together for several pages. Without a department, nobody sets a shared definition of a strong paragraph, so you are inventing the writing ladder and teaching it at the same time. Poetry and drama are the units that slip first when you are stretched; they take the most preparation, and it is easier to stay with prose. The grading load is the other problem. Four grade levels of multi-paragraph essays, with no colleague to split a calibration session, can swallow every weekend from October to May. Small schools also expect the English teacher to cover speech, yearbook or test prep. A curriculum that organizes literary analysis and essay writing across grades 9–12 does not reduce the essays you grade. It does remove the hours spent building the lessons that produce them.
Why it fits
What it covers when you are the whole English department
These features map to the parts of a high school English program that are hardest to carry alone.
- Drama and poetry units sit next to prose, so the genres that need the most prep are ready.
- Rhetoric and point of view in speeches and essays give juniors and seniors serious nonfiction analysis.
- Analytical essay instruction runs from planning through editing, giving every grade the same writing language.
- Theme, characterization, symbolism and structure are taught as repeatable lenses you can apply to any novel.
- Answer keys for reading tasks free your grading time for the essays that need real comments.
Getting started
A first two weeks for a one-person department
A suggested launch that sets shared expectations before the essays pile up.
- Write your four-grade mapAssign genres and essay types to each grade, for example narrative and literary analysis early, argument and rhetoric later. This is the department plan you never had.
- Start with one shared analysis lensGive every class a short story and work on theme and characterization. Using one lens across grades shows you how far each group has come.
- Set one thesis expectationTeach a common thesis and evidence pattern to all grades, raising complexity for upper classes. A single standard saves you from four grading systems.
- Get poetry on the calendar earlyPlace a poetry or drama unit in the first months instead of saving it for spring. Prepared material means it no longer gets pushed out when time runs short.
- Stagger essay due datesPlan the first multi-paragraph essay for each grade in different weeks. When you are the only grader, spacing deadlines is the easiest workload control you have.
Which version
Base version or the Teach-Life-Balance version
Both include the same 100+ resources for grades 9–12. The base version costs $149.90. The $189.90 version adds Teach-Life-Balance, a digital course with a planner, guides and templates on managing teacher time. It does not add literature or writing lessons. For an English teacher grading four grade levels of essays, time management is a reasonable thing to pay for, but it is optional and the course works fully without it. If you also have a middle school ELA section, buying both Complete Curricula with code TEACHMORE15 gives 15% off.
Honest limits
What you need to know first
No novel class sets or full-length plays are included. If your school assigns specific titles, you provide the books and apply the analysis materials to them. There is no test-prep program for a particular exam. The curriculum is written for U.S. high school classrooms; you need to check it against your state ELA standards and graduation or credit requirements. Use by other teachers in your school needs a short message to Teach Lessons first. If it does not fit, it can be exchanged within 7 days for store credit of equal value, not refunded in cash.
Good to know
Frequently asked questions
Does it meet Common Core or state ELA standards?
No state or standards body has endorsed or certified it, and we do not guarantee alignment with Common Core or any state framework. It is written for U.S. high school English classrooms and covers literary analysis and essay writing. Check it against your state standards and your school's course requirements before using it as the core of your program.
Can I use it with the novels my school already owns?
Yes. The analysis work on theme, characterization, symbolism, structure and point of view is designed around skills, not one book. You can apply those lenses to the novels on your shelves, while using the included stories, poems, drama and nonfiction for the rest of the year.
I teach grades 9 through 12. Is that one product or four?
It is one product for grades 9–12. Units can be used as a full sequence or individually, so you can place them by grade. Writing moves from structured essays toward analytical work, which fits a single teacher planning a four-year progression.
How does it help with essay grading?
It does not grade for you. What it does is give you consistent essay instruction, from planning to editing, so expectations match across grades. Answer keys cover reading tasks, so you spend less time on comprehension checks and more on writing feedback.
Is there enough nonfiction?
Essays, speeches and nonfiction are part of the reading content, and rhetoric is an explicit focus. That gives upper grades practice analyzing arguments, which also supports their own argumentative essays.
Can I see what is in it?
The product page lists what is included. Read it against your four-grade map to see where the course covers your plan and where you will add your own titles.
Teach four grades of English from one plan
The product page lists every resource in both versions.
See the English curriculum →