CONTACT INFO

COURSE OVERVIEW

You will extend on the Grade 7 essential question “Who am I?” by exploring growth and self-definition, and the complicated interplay between individual and community in stories, true and fictional. Expect to respond analytically, creatively and authentically to the many genres we cover including a short stories, poetry, a play, a historical novel written in free verse, a fairytale adventure and a science fiction dystopia. You will resent different characters’ perspectives, discuss essential questions related to the themes of the course, write analytical essays supported, and craft poems and illustrations exploring characters’ personalities and experiences.

REQUIRED TEXTS

Reading for 2011-2012 School Year:

The Giver by Lois Lowry

Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse

The Miracle Worker by William Gibson

Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie

Selected poems and short stories

SUPPLIES

A computer if you have one

3-ring binder with lined paper and three dividers labeled:

Class notes/Handouts

Language

Returned Papers

Assigned reading material listed above

Independent reading book

COURSE ASSESSMENT (Subject to change)

Students will be graded on the following:

30% Homework

20% Quizzes and Tests

20% Essays and Projects

10% Literature Discussions

20% Class Participation, Responsibility*

*The responsibility portion of the grade includes being prepared for class, having homework and other assignments completed on time, and coming to class on time. The class participation portion of the grade includes demonstrating effort in class, making positive contributions, and listening to and being respectful of others.

COURSE CONTENT (Subject to Changes as needed):

Essential Questions:

  • What are the qualities of a good community? Is a utopian society possible? Can one person’s utopia be another person’s dystopia?
  • Is it okay to sacrifice freedom for happiness? Is it possible to be truly happy if you aren’t free? Which kinds of limitations on your freedom are acceptable and which are not?
  • To what degree should we (as parents, as a society, as friends, etc.) protect people from wrong choices? How do you decide what is wrong and what is right?
  • Can we ignore and minimize pain in our lives--both physical and emotional--to live happier existences? Does an understanding of true happiness and fulfillment require an understanding of great misery and loss as well? Of what value(s) might suffering be?

Assessment:

  • Daily Discussion and Homework (both reading and writing)
  • Online Forum and Vocabulary Wiki (ongoing throughout year)
  • Vocabulary quiz
  • Two comprehension quizzes
  • “Community” Access TV Talk Show
  • Podcast with interviews based on in-class talk show

Essential Questions:

  • In what ways does Poe use literary devices such as rhythm, alliteration, repetition, personification, and irony to enhance his stories?
  • How does the narrative point of view of a story affect the way we read it? What are the pros and cons of having an unreliable first person narrator?
  • How does fear play into the decisions characters make in stories such as “The Tell-Tale Heart” and poems such as “The Raven”? Can intense fear of something alter one’s behavior enough to make that fear come true?

Assessment:

  • Daily Discussion and Homework (both reading and writing)
  • Online Forum and Vocabulary Wiki (ongoing throughout year)
  • Raven Storyboard illustrations
  • Pop quiz using Response Stems to analyze passages from “The Raven”
  • Modern group skits of “The Raven”

Content:

  • Review parts of speech, subject/verb, run-ons and fragments

Assessment:

  • In-class exercises, homework, and a quiz

Essential Questions:

  • Why do you think Hesse wrote Out of the Dust in free-verse poetry? How can you use poetry to explore and convey who you are and where you come from?
  • In what ways can one’s setting influence one’s sense of identity?
  • How has mankind’s treatment of the environment affected nature and, thus, people whose lives are deeply connected to nature?

Assessment:

  • Daily Discussion and Homework (both reading and writing)
  • Online Forum and Vocabulary Wiki (ongoing throughout year)
  • Personification/ Metaphor/ Simile project (colorful posters with photos)
  • Significant Setting Essay
  • Poetry Booklet
  • Vocabulary Quiz
  • Unit Exam
  • Literature Discussion #1 near end of November/beginning of December
  • Semester I Self-Evaluation

Essential Questions:

  • In what ways can the process of learning something very difficult transform you? In what ways might you be transformed by the experience of teaching something very difficult?
  • What do you think life would be like without language? Imagine a world without words of any kind. If you couldn’t see, hear, or speak, and you had never learned language, how would you communicate?
  • What are some of the ways in which the blind and deaf understand themselves as a minority community and unique culture? In what was are members in these communities divided by their differing attitudes and beliefs about their situation?
  • How have technological and medical advancements influenced the deaf and blind? Why is it that some people see such advancements (such as the cochlear implant) as a miracle while others see them as a threat?
  • How important is parental discipline and guidance to children?
  • What should the role of discipline be in child-rearing?
  • How should parents go about teaching their children self-discipline?
  • How might this concept relate to other concepts such as respect and motivation?

Assessment:

  • Daily Discussion and Homework (both reading and writing)
  • Online Forum and Vocabulary Wiki (ongoing throughout year)
  • Vocabulary Quiz
  • Unit Exam
  • Compare and Contrast Essay of three characters incorporating quotations and analysis
  • Literature Discussion #2 near mid February

Content:

  • Direct and indirect objects, diagramming sentences

Assessment:

  • In-class exercises, homework, and a quiz

Essential Questions:

  • What is the use of stories that aren’t even true?
  • What purposes can stories serve? Do they always have a purpose?
  • Where do stories come from? In what ways do new stories incorporate old stories?
  • What reasons are there for using allusions in literature, art, music, etc.?
  • How does the genre chosen influence the way we read a story? How does our purpose as a reader influence how we read a story?
  • What lessons can we learn from Haroun and the Sea of Stories about resolving conflicts, understanding different points of view, and achieving balance in life?

Assessment:

  • Daily Discussion and Homework (both reading and writing)
  • Online Forum and Vocabulary Wiki (ongoing throughout year)
  • Vocabulary Quiz
  • Debate
  • Creative Writing Final Project

Content:

  • Common spelling and punctuation issues

Assessment:

  • In-class exercises, homework, and a quiz

Essential Questions:

  • What is poetry?
  • What different purposes can poetry serve?
  • In what unique ways can poetry help you explore and convey who you are that other formats might not lend themselves to as easily?

Assessment:

  • Class discussions
  • Written responses to poems
  • Writing poetry with similar themes or styles
  • Literature Discussion #3 near end of May
  • End of year self-evaluation

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