Our department consists of 18 teachers who are committed to helping students increase their reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills by offering instruction based on a reading of a variety of texts, written tasks, class discussions, and inquiry-based case studies. We want students to become efficient, yet life-long readers who can find themselves in books and select texts that fit them well. Our department includes teachers who are writers and readers themselves and who model for their students what they want them to do.