• What does the class look like most weeks? 

    Monday through Thursdays - These days will be our assignment focus days when we really push ourselves to analyze literature and respond. 

    Fridays - These days we will primarily devote ourselves to independent reading and creating journal entries, to grammar studies, and to vocabulary and selection tests.

    At the present time, my plan for the 4th week of each grading period is to hold a week-long writing camp in which we will dive heavily into reviewing good writing techniques and practicing them. In addition, students will conduct peer reviews and editing and revising conferences and will be creating the final composition. 

     

    Year-At-A-Glance 

    Grading Period 1:

    *Unit 1: Foundations and Encounters

    ➼Students will: identify the elements and message of a creation myth.
    ➼Students will: analyze the relationship between theme, character, plot, and setting in a short story.
    ➼Students will: analyze informational texts and evaluate information in an article.
    ➼Students will: analyze how a poet accomplishes purpose through voice in poetry.
    ➼Students will: analyze the author's purpose and use of language in a historical narrative.
    ➼Students will: develop and sustain foundational skills in vocabulary
    ➼Students will: establish a purpose for self-selecting and reading independently.
    ➼Students will: write an expository essay.



    		Grading Period 4:

    *Unit 4: The Quest for Freedom

    ➼Students will: identify text that expresses the tone in a letter.
    ➼Students will: use literary elements to understand a story and analyze the structure of a literary work.
    ➼Students will: analyze informational texts and author's purpose in history writing.
    ➼Students will: evaluate the author's purpose and claims in an argument and analyze voice in poetry.
    ➼Students will: analyze connotative and denotative meanings in autobiographies.
    ➼Students will: develop and sustain foundational skills in vocabulary.
    ➼Students will: establish a purpose for self-selecting and reading independently.
    ➼Students will: write an analytical essay.
    Grading Period 2:

    *Unit 2: Building a Democracy

    ➼Students will: analyze the characteristics and structure of argumentative writing in public documents.
    ➼Students will: analyze the structure and purpose of informational texts in history writing.
    ➼Students will: analyze the structure and narrative methods of short stories.
    ➼Students will: identify words that express the speaker's emotion and attitude in a poem.
    ➼Students will: analyze the author's purpose, voice, and tone in letters.
    ➼Students will: develop and sustain foundational skills in vocabulary
    ➼Students will: establish a purpose for self-selecting and reading independently.
    ➼Students will: write a persuasive essay. ​    		 Grading Period 5:

    *Unit 5: America Transformed

    ➼Students will: analyze characters, setting, point of view, and confirm predictions of a short story.
    ➼Students will: analyze author's purpose and tone of satire.
    ➼Students will: analyze diction and syntax of a free verse poem.
    ➼Students will: analyze the author's purpose and synthesize information in a novel.
    ➼Students will: develop and sustain foundational skills in vocabulary.
    ➼Students will: establish a purpose for self-selecting and reading independently.
    ➼Students will: create and write a short story.
    Grading Period 3:

    *Unit 3: The Individual and Society

    ➼Students will: analyze poetic elements used to relay themes in free verse poetry.
    ➼Students will: analyze theme, structure, figurative language, and sound devices in poetry.
    ➼Students will: analyze sound devices and the use of imagery in free verse poetry.
    ➼Students will: analyze rhetorical questions and how the author uses suspense, ambiguity, and symbolism in a short story.
    ➼Students will: analyze and identify mood and atmosphere as conveyed through diction and syntax.
    ➼Students will: develop and sustain foundational skills in vocabulary
    ➼Students will: establish a purpose for self-selecting and reading independently.
    ➼Students will: write an expository essay. ​    		 Grading Period 6:

    *Unit 6: Contemporary Voices and Visions

    ➼Students will: analyze the setting and characterization in a short story.
    ➼Students will: analyze allegory, paradox, figurative language, and irony in a drama.
    ➼Students will: develop and sustain foundational skills in vocabulary.
    ➼Students will: establish a purpose for self-selecting and reading independently.
    ➼Students will: research a topic and write a research paper on that topic.