The Del Valle Opportunity Center (OC) English department is focused on developing higher level language skills to prepare students for 21st century success.  Because people do not read, write, and express themselves at the same rate, the OC English teachers recognize the need to provide learning options to each individual student through differentiation of instruction.  In the English classroom, this simply means that each student will be considered in a holistic manner and given materials, settings and learning situations that will best help each of them to gain knowledge and skills that they can continue to use for a lifetime.  Most importantly this year, we are incorporating more critical thinking skills into all of our curriculum so that we can better help students to achieve, generalize and continue to carry with them this very crucial tool toward making their way in this world. Communication is the key to getting along well within the human race today, and we intend to bring each student from wherever they are in their abilities when they arrive here, to a better place with these skills by the time they leave us.