New content built for Core State Standards features robust, real-world content through which students develop the higher-order thinking skills necessary to demonstrate their knowledge and prepare them for college and work.
English Foundations II offers a year of
skill building and strategy development in reading and writing. Semester
one is a reading program designed to help struggling readers develop
mastery in the areas of reading comprehension, vocabulary building,
study skills, and media literacy. Semester two is a writing program
which builds confidence in composition fundamentals by focusing on the
areas of composing, grammar, style, and media literacy. Both semesters
are structured around ten mini-units which offer interactive instruction
and guided practice in each of the four learning strands. Students read
for a variety of purposes and write for a variety of audiences. The
workshops stress high interest, engaging use of technology, relevant
topics, and robustly scaffolded practice. Students learn to use
different types of graphic organizers as they develop and internalize
reading and writing process strategies. They build confidence as they
develop skills and experience success on numerous low stakes assessments
that encourage growth and reinforce learning.
The reading component of the course is built to state standards and informed by the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), International Reading Association (IRA), National Reading Program (NRP), and McREL, standards. The writing component of the course is built to state standards and informed by the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) standards.
2 semesters, 1 credit
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English Foundations I supports adolescent literacy development at the
critical stage between decoding and making meaning from text. Through
intensive reading and writing skills instruction, deep practice sets,
consistent formative feedback, graduated reading levels, and helpful
strategy tips, the course leads students to improved comprehension and
text handling.
Semester 1 provides instruction in basic reading skills and vocabulary building. The student learns what a successful reader does to attack words and sentences and make meaning from them. Semester 2 provides instruction in basic writing skills, introduces academic tools, and demonstrates effective study skills. The student learns step-by-step processes for building effective paragraphs and learns how to use academic tools such as reference books and outlines. To provide additional support, the course uses text features and visual clues to draw students’ attention to important information. The use of text features is also designed to help students internalize strategies for comprehending informational text.
Characters appear throughout the instruction to offer tips and fix-up
strategies in an authentic, first-person, think-aloud format. Their
inclusion makes transparent the reading processes that go on inside the
mind of a successful reader. This extra metacognitive support serves to
bolster student confidence and provide a model of process and
perseverance.
Numerous practice opportunities are provided in the form of
assessments that move from no stakes to low stakes to high stakes
throughout a unit. This practice is centered on authentic and
age-appropriate passages that are written in a topical framework and use
controlled syntax and vocabulary. The difficulty of these passages
gradually increases from a 3rd- to 5th grade reading level over the
duration of the course. Additional support is offered through
significant formative feedback in practice and assessment.
This course guides students through the reading, writing, and basic academic skills needed to prepare for success in academic coursework. At the end of the course, the student should be poised for continued success in the academic world. The content is based on extensive national and state standards research and consultation with reading specialists and classroom teachers. This course is built to state standards for reading and writing and informed by NCTE/IRA reading and writing standards.
2 semesters, 1 credit
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The English 12 course asks students to
closely analyze world literature and consider how we humans define and
interact with the unknown, the monstrous, and the heroic. In the epic
poems TheOdyssey, Beowulf, and The Inferno, in Shakespeare’s Tempest,
in the satire of Swift, and in the rhetoric of World War II, students
examine how the ideas of “heroic” and “monstrous” have been defined
across cultures and time periods and how the treatment of the “other”
can make monsters or heroes of us all.
Reading Frankenstein and works from those who experienced
the imperialism of the British Empire, students explore the notion of
inner monstrosity and consider how the dominant culture can be seen as
monstrous in its ostensibly heroic goal of enlightening the world.
Throughout this course, students analyze a wide range of literature, both fiction and nonfiction. They build writing skills by composing analytical essays, persuasive essays, personal narratives, and research papers. In order to develop speaking and listening skills, students participate in discussions and prepare speeches. Overall, students gain an understanding of the way world literature represents the array of voices that contribute to our global identity.
2 semesters, 1 credit
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In the English 11 course, students
examine the belief systems, events, and literature that have shaped the
United States. They begin by studying the language of independence and
the system of government developed by Thomas Jefferson and other
enlightened thinkers. Next, they explore how the Romantics and
Transcendentalists emphasized the power and responsibility of the
individual in both supporting and questioning the government. Students
consider whether the American Dream is still achievable and examine the
Modernists’ disillusionment with the idea that America is a “land of
opportunity.”
Reading the words of Frederick Douglass and the text of the Civil
Rights Act, students look carefully at the experience of African
Americans and their struggle to achieve equal rights. Students explore
how individuals cope with the influence of war and cultural tensions
while trying to build and secure their own personal identity. Finally,
students examine how technology is affecting our contemporary experience
of freedom: Will we eventually change our beliefs about what it means
to be an independent human being?
In this course, students analyze a wide range of literature, both fiction and nonfiction. They build writing skills by composing analytical essays, persuasive essays, personal narratives, and research papers. In order to develop speaking and listening skills, students participate in discussions and prepare speeches. Overall, students gain an understanding of the way American literature represents the array of voices contributing to our multicultural identity.
2 semesters, 1 credit
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The focus of the English 10 course is
the writing process. Three writing applications guide the curriculum:
persuasive, expository, and narrative writing. Each lesson culminates in
a written assignment that lets students demonstrate their developing
skill in one of these applications.
English 10 follows the model of English 9 by including at least one
anchor text per lesson, but the essays, articles, stories, poems, and
speeches are often presented as models for students to emulate as they
practice their own writing. So that these readings may serve as proper
examples for students, a high proportion of texts for this course are
original pieces.
English 10 also continues to develop students’ reading, listening, and speaking skills. Readings include poems, stories, speeches, plays, and a graphic novel, as well as a variety of informational texts. The readings represent a wide variety of purposes and cultural perspectives, ranging from the Indian epic The Ramayana to accounts of Hurricane Katrina told through different media. Audio and video presentations enhance students’ awareness and command of rhetorical techniques and increase their understanding of writing for different audiences.
2 semesters, 1 credit
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The English 9 course is an overview of exemplar selections of literature in fiction and nonfiction genres. Students read short stories, poems, a full-length novel, and a full-length Shakespeare play, analyzing the use of elements of literature in developing character, plot, and theme. For example, in selected stories, students compare the effect of setting on tone and character development. Likewise, in the poetry unit, students analyze how artists and writers draw from and interpret source material.
Each unit includes informational texts inviting students to consider the historical, social, and literary context of the main texts they study. For example, in the first semester, a Nikolai Gogol story that is offered as an exemplar of magical realism is accompanied by instruction on that genre. Together, the lesson content and reading prompt students to demonstrate their understanding of magical realism by analyzing its qualities in a literary text.
Throughout the course, students respond to others’ claims and support their own claims in essays, discussions, and presentations, consistently using thorough textual evidence. The range of texts includes canonical authors such as William Shakespeare, Franz Kafka, and Elie Wiesel, as well as writers from diverse backgrounds, such as Alice Walker, Li-Young Lee, and Robert Lake-Thom (Medicine Grizzlybear).
*2 semesters, 1 credit
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The focus of the English 10 course is the writing process. Three writing applications guide the curriculum: persuasive, expository, and narrative writing. Each lesson culminates in a written assignment that lets students demonstrate their developing skill in one of these applications.
English 10 follows the model of English 9 by including at least one anchor text per lesson, but the essays, articles, stories, poems, and speeches are often presented as models for students to emulate as they practice their own writing. So that these readings may serve as proper examples for students, a high proportion of texts for this course are original pieces.
English 10 also continues to develop students’ reading, listening, and speaking skills. Readings include poems, stories, speeches, plays, and a graphic novel, as well as a variety of informational texts. The readings represent a wide variety of purposes and cultural perspectives, ranging from the Indian epic The Ramayana to accounts of Hurricane Katrina told through different media. Audio and video presentations enhance students’ awareness and command of rhetorical techniques and increase their understanding of writing for different audiences.
*2 semesters, 1 credit
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English 7 delivers instruction, practice, and review designed to build students’ communication and reading comprehension skills. Reading comprehension lessons strengthen students’ critical analysis skills as they study how nonfiction and literature can be used to share ideas. Writing lessons combine free-response exercises with drafting strategies and exemplars to help students communicate clearly and credibly in narrative, argumentative, and explanatory styles. To develop skills specific to public discourse, speaking and listening lessons guide students as they evaluate clips and readings from speeches and discussions. In language lessons, students build foundational grammar skills they need to articulate their ideas and understand challenging words.
The two-semester course is arranged in themed units, each with three to six lessons. Each lesson includes a variety of activities such as direct instruction, application of skills, performance tasks, and formative and summative assessments. Students engage with the subject matter in an interactive, feedback-rich environment as they progress through standards-aligned content and demonstrate their learning through computer- and teacher-scored assignments.
*2 semesters
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Writing Skills and Strategies develops key language arts skills necessary for high school graduation and success on high stakes exams through a semester of interactive instruction and guided practice in composition fundamentals. The course is divided into ten mini-units of study. The first two are designed to build early success and confidence, orienting students to the writing process and to sentence and paragraph essentials through a series of low-stress, high-interest hook activities. In subsequent units, students review, practice, compose and submit one piece of writing. Four key learning strands are integrated throughout: composition practice, grammar skill building, diction and style awareness, and media and technology exploration. Guided studies emphasize the structure of essential forms of writing encountered in school, in life, and in the work place. Practice in these forms is scaffolded to accommodate learners at different skill levels.
This course is built to state standards and informed by the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) standards.
*1 semester
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