Reading:
Semester 1
The Short Story
Over the course of the first semester we will look
extensively at the short story form, from its earliest beginnings in Aesop's
Fables & The Prodigal Son, to its modern reinvention in Chekov & Hawthorne
and finally to contemporary works by Daniel Keyes, Roald Dahl & Kurt
Vonnegut Jr.. Through reading, evaluating, analyzing and creating their own
short story, students will become thoroughly familiar with this aspect of
literature.
Drama & Poetry
Towards the end of the semester our focus shifts to plays
& poetry. We will again start at the beginning by looking at the birth of
drama in ancient Greece and then focus our study around one Shakespearean and
one modern work. Students will also survey a selection of poetry and
perform with the group Poetry Company.
Semester 2
The Novel
Our final semester will be spent with the final literary
form, the novel. We will read both the modern classic To Kill A Mockingbird, as
well as The Count of Monte Cristo.
Language Arts:
Semester 1
Review & mastery of parts of speech. Introduction to
Writer's Workshop.
Through diagnostics & weekly grammar goals students will
work towards displaying mastery of basic parts of speech through a
quarter final. In Writer's Workshop students will work on a combination of
assigned essays, including persuasion & research, as well as a selection of
free choice essays. All of which will go into a Portfolio for final
assessment.
Sentence structures, phrases & clauses. Intermediate
Writer's Workshop.
Through diagnostics & weekly grammar goals students will
work towards displaying mastery of sentence structures through a quarter final.
In Writer's Workshop students will work on a combination of assigned & free
choice essays, focusing on improving their writing through specific strategies
aimed at improving word choice.
Semester 2
Common Usage Problems. Advanced Writer's Workshop.
For the second half of the year we relax the instruction on
grammar by informally going through a series of common usage problems. The
focus of the class is almost entirely on the Writer's Workshop where students
will be learning specific editing techniques to move their writing to the next
level by improving fluency as well as over all conciseness.