READING, WRITING AND EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN

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January 10, 2026

For information on admission to Notre Dame Prep, please click here.

How Notre Dame Prep builds confident communicators and thinkers from pre-kindergarten to high school diploma with an exceptional English Language Arts program.

In classrooms often teeming with inquisitive questions and lined with books about faraway centuries and continents, it’s clear Notre Dame Prep’s language arts curriculum isn’t about surface skills — it’s about much more. From the early days of Pre-K literacy development to advanced International Baccalaureate (IB) analysis in the upper school, NDP’s language arts program prioritizes not just what students write, but why they write and how they come to understand their own voices.

At a time when educators nationwide are wrestling with the challenges and opportunities posed by generative AI, research from Carnegie Mellon University underscores a fundamental truth: writing is not simply “text output,” but a complex cognitive process involving planning, reflection and discipline — skills that machines cannot replace. 

At Notre Dame Prep, that research isn’t an abstract ideal; it’s classroom reality.

The lower school: foundations built with intent

In the early grades at NDP, literacy instruction goes far beyond rote drills. Jennette Wrobel, lower school reading specialist and language arts department head, sees reading and writing as the connective tissue that binds all learning.

“We do not view reading and writing as isolated skills, but instead as building blocks to help further their education and thinking,” Wrobel said. For the youngest students, literacy is woven into everything — from IB-infused research projects to persuasive writing that explores perspective and purpose. That transdisciplinary approach aligns closely with IB Primary Years Program (PYP) philosophy, cultivating critical thinkers who ask why as often as they ask what.

Wrobel also stresses early exposure to foundational language skills. She revamped the lower school’s literacy curriculum to align with the “science of reading,” introducing an explicit, systematic phonics program and diagnostic tools like Lexia to strengthen students’ reading development.

Science of reading and the PYP

​​According to IB, the science of reading underpins various reading programs that emphasize sequential and direct instruction of reading based on the development of foundational skills, including phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency and comprehension.

PYP inquiry emphasizes transdisciplinary themes, concepts, skills and IB learner profile attributes. This approach is both holistic and student-centered.

IB adds that the principles behind the science of reading support what an IB community really cares about: student success in the classroom and in life. Science of reading complements the PYP as strong readers are better able to access rich conceptual material, transdisciplinary skills and the learner profile attributes.

“Our Pre-K teachers do a wonderful job exposing our students to the foundational building blocks for reading, allowing them to start kindergarten ahead of the curve,” Wrobel said.

This early momentum isn’t incidental. It reflects a deep commitment to early literacy, which is an investment that research has linked to long-term academic success, and positions NDP students to thrive as they progress into more complex reading and writing challenges.

Middle school: skills, strategy, growth

As students advance into sixth through eighth grades, Notre Dame Prep’s Middle Years Program (MYP) pulls writing and reading into sharper focus. Here, comprehension strategies like synthesizing, predicting and evaluating aren’t abstract bullet points — they’re everyday classroom practices. Students read across genres, from myths and poetry to nonfiction arguments, while deepening their engagement with literary devices and sustained analysis.

Writing instruction in the middle school builds on those reading experiences. Students refine grammar, mechanics and structure, and begin mastering MLA citation — a skill that prepares them for the analytical demands of high school research and beyond.

The curriculum embeds the IB MYP Learner Profile and Approaches to Learning skills throughout, encouraging students to reflect on how they learn, think and communicate. These frameworks reinforce metacognitive practices highlighted in the Carnegie Mellon white paper as essential for strong writing — particularly the ability to plan, revise and represent ideas with precision and purpose.

Upper school: where rigor meets voice

For upper school students, language arts become even more ambitious. “We focus on media literacy with a lot of writing, which generally is the constant across all three divisions,” said Anthony Butorac, upper school English teacher and NDP’s English department chair.

Butorac emphasizes that high-quality literature and rigorous writing instruction are not only academic tools, but instruments of confidence and self-expression.

“One thing that I think we’re leaning into a little bit more recently is the importance of good quality literature,” he said, noting that many schools have drifted away from deep literary study. “At NDP, teachers intentionally engage students with texts that challenge assumptions and invite interpretation — from Greek tragedies to contemporary works. That commitment to quality fosters both analytical precision and intellectual curiosity.”

Butorac also points to the International Baccalaureate English program as a transformative element of the upper school curriculum. “IB English … has been one of the best things that happened to this school,” he said. The program’s rigor, especially in writing and analysis, pushes students beyond formulaic responses toward independent, evidence-based interpretation.

“There’s a lot of high-level analysis,” he said. “It really pays dividends for them as they get older, especially with regards to writing.”

Writing, Butorac argues, is where learning and personal growth intersect. “If we were to really just nail down one thing that we emphasize over anything else … it would be writing. I think writing is the most practical skill … but it’s also a fulfilling skill for the learners. When they learn to write, they just feel better about themselves.”

It’s personal

NDP’s curriculum doesn’t stop at traditional literature and composition. Student writing sits at the center of the personal project, the culminating academic experience of Notre Dame Prep’s International Baccalaureate Middle Years Program. Through sustained research, reflection and composition, students demonstrate not only what they have learned, but how they think. Clear, purposeful writing allows students to articulate a meaningful goal, document their process and evaluate their growth, turning the project into a true measure of intellectual development rather than a single final product.

The personal project, and elective for sophomores, requires students to communicate complex ideas to an authentic audience, a task that depends on strong writing skills developed over time. From research questions and process journals to the final report, students rely on writing to analyze sources, make connections and reflect on challenges. This emphasis mirrors the broader expectations of the IB-MYP, which prioritizes critical thinking, inquiry and effective communication across disciplines.

While Notre Dame Prep cannot change the basic requirements of the personal project course, the newer elective approach that more fully supports participants reflects the school's commitment to helping students better manage their course loads. 

A natural extension

Megan Rochon, who works as a librarian at Notre Dame Prep and is the IB-MYP personal project coordinator, is consistently amazed to see the talent exhibited by the students.

"The personal project is a one-semester, independent project course that sophomores can elect to take," she said. "It's part of the IB Middle Years Program and each year, the students end the project by presenting their impressive projects to the freshmen who will have the same opportunities next year."

As another example of the continuum of curriculum at NDP, the personal project becomes a natural extension of the school’s comprehensive literacy program. The same skills introduced in early grades and reinforced year after year empower students to take ownership of their learning, reflect with purpose and communicate their ideas effectively — hallmarks of both the personal project and the school’s broader academic mission.

Research and the real world

Notre Dame Prep’s writing program aligns with contemporary research confirming what educators have long known: that strong writers are strong thinkers. The Carnegie Mellon white paper on the future of writing instruction emphasizes that writing is inherently a process of thought — planning, drafting, reflecting and revising — and that instruction must attend to all these stages to cultivate true competence .

By explicitly teaching genre awareness methodologies and embedding metacognitive reflection into every level of instruction, NDP strives to meet that challenge head-on.

Support structures that expand opportunity

Beyond the core curriculum, Notre Dame Prep offers robust supports to help all students succeed as writers and communicators. Academic resource support includes coaching and structured feedback loops to build organizational and metacognitive skills written into growth plans. In the lower school, Wrobel is in constant student-assessment mode to spot weaknesses and areas that need work.

“Through on-going assessments, I do a type of deep dive to identify the students' specific needs and then give targeted small group instruction to my students to help strengthen their skills,” she said. “Many times with younger students, I work on things like phonemic awareness and letter sounds, then move on to things like orthographic mapping, phonics instruction, decoding, fluency building and comprehension as they get older. I use a hands-on approach and try to provide as many manipulatives as I can to make it engaging for the students.” 

Alumni flourish with ‘head start’

At the other end of the spectrum, NDP alumni consistently report back that the literary skills they learned in high school were instrumental in their later academic and professional success.

Al Smith, a 2012 Notre Dame Prep alum, graduated from the University of Michigan in 2016 with a degree in screenwriting and screen arts. While he was a junior at U-M, Smith was given one of the most renowned writing awards conferred by the university, the Avery Hopwood and Jule Hopwood Creative Writing Award, which is a big deal to win it even once. But for Smith, it was the second year in a row he had won it. Past (one-time) Hopwood winners include Frank O’Hara, Lawrence Kasdan and Arthur Miller.

Now gainfully employed as a copywriter, Smith still gives props to his high school for getting him this far.

"I don't think it's a coincidence I ended up with a career in writing," he said recently, catching up with his high school alma mater. "Having been taught by the Notre Dame Prep English 'dream team,' the importance of literature and writing was instilled in me all throughout high school. It wasn't until college that I realized what a head start they had given me. Even now, in my career, I use the skills they taught me on a daily basis."

A program with purpose and results

More than 150 school news articles in 2025 highlighted academic achievement at Notre Dame Prep, including recognition of IB Diploma candidates — underscoring the community’s attention to intellectual rigor and student success. At every level, NDP students learn to think like writers — to synthesize ideas, to articulate arguments and to understand that effective communication is as much about empathy and insight as it is about grammar or structure.

In an era where digital tools can mimic sentences but not judgment, Notre Dame Prep’s language arts curriculum equips students with the cognitive tools that will help define their academic and professional futures. From phonics in the lower school to IB analysis in the upper school, NDP’s writing instruction reflects a singular belief: that confident communicators are confident thinkers, and that confident thinkers are much better prepared for whatever comes next.

For information on admission to Notre Dame Prep, please click here.

Comments or questions? mkelly@ndpma.org

About Notre Dame Preparatory School
"At Notre Dame Prep, we inspire our students to become the best versions of themselves. We challenge them through an experience of academic excellence, focused on active, project-based learning. We invite them to explore a world of opportunities beyond the classroom. We guide them as they grow in spirituality within a community strong in its Catholic and Marist identity."

Notre Dame Preparatory School is a private, Catholic, independent, coeducational day school located in Oakland County. Notre Dame Preparatory School's upper school enrolls students in grades nine through twelve and has been named one of the nation's best 50 Catholic high schools (Acton Institute) four times since 2005. Notre Dame Prep's middle and lower schools enroll students in pre-kindergarten through grade eight. All three schools are International Baccalaureate "World Schools." NDP is conducted by the Marist Fathers and Brothers and is accredited by the Independent Schools Association of the Central States and the National Association of Independent Schools. For more on Notre Dame Preparatory School, visit the school’s home page at www.ndpma.org.