Purpose: The purpose of this course is to ensure that students learn the reading and language skills needed to succeed in school, in the workplace, and in their lives, with the ultimate goal for students to become life-long learners.
Goal: Students will become proficient in verbal and written communication skills. Students will be able to produce original writings in various styles, which include varied sentence structures and proper mechanics (punctuation, spelling, subject/verb agreement, etc.). Also, students will be exposed to various literary works from which they will be able to draw key points of information.
Methods: The course can be organized into three sections –
a) Applying grammar rules and mechanics in communication b) Producing original writings in various styles c) The study of assorted forms and genres of literature
The materials will be presented through lecture, discussion, independent and guided reading, class assignments and exercises, writing prompts, and other teaching methods. One or more novels will be read as a group and/or individually. A research paper with proper citation methods will be written, and a PowerPoint presentation with proper citation methods will be given. Also, one or more major projects for individuals or groups will be completed during the school year. Students will be required to maintain a notebook for writing guidelines and grammar rules.
***Note: Monroe County Schools has made the switch to Common Core during the 2014-2015 year.
Class requirements: One folder with center brads, pencils, pens (blue or black only), highlighters, note cards, and paper. Students should bring writing utensils to class every day.
Grading procedure: Each assignment, test, project, etc. will be given a relative point value according to the difficulty or scale of the assignment. Example: an in-class assignment may be worth 15 points while a research paper may be worth 150 points. The student’s grade will be determined by dividing the number of points earned by the number of possible points. Earning 9 out of 10 points will give a grade of 90%.