Idaho Arts Charter School
English Department
SEVENTH GRADE ENGLISH
EIGHTH GRADE ENGLISH
FRESHMAN ENGLISH
TENTH GRADE ENGLISH
SENIOR ENGLISH
SPEECH
SHAKESPEARE
SEVENTH GRADE ENGLISH
This course will focus on the following:
- Shurley English Grammar
- Novels that tie into current school Focus Investigations
- Portfolios created
- Selections of prose and poetry from literature anthology
- Focusing on the sentence and the paragraph as integral parts of the five-paragraph emphasizing pre-writing, drafting and revising, as well as grammar skills.
- Selections read will enhance reading comprehension, build vocabulary, complement grammar and writing instruction.
EIGHTH GRADE ENGLISH
This course will focus on the following:
- Shurley English Grammar
- Reading from literature anthology that support Focused Investigations and develop comprehension concepts of expository and literary text
- Acquire decoding skills using root words, prefixes, suffixes
- Develop vocabulary and explain relationships of words including connotation/denotation, antonyms, synonyms, multiple meanings
- Development of prewriting, drafting, editing, revising and publishing of written work
- Emphasis on expository, persuasive and creative writing
FRESHMAN ENGLISH
This course will focus on the following:
- Shurley English Grammar
- Enhancing reading comprehension, build vocabulary, emphasize the steps in writing the five - paragraph essay
- Emphasis on textual analysis through prose and poetry selections
- Understanding of Shakespeare through the play "Romeo and Juliet".
- Emphasis on current Focus Investigations through novels and projects
- Portfolios created
TENTH GRADE ENGLISH
Students will continue their study of literature, grammar and writing. Literature units covered include fiction (the short-story), non-fiction, poetry, drama, the novel, and the heroic tradition. Students will use the writing process to complete a variety of writing projects that include but are not limited to a short story, expository writing, persuasive writing, literary response, poetry, and a research paper.
SENIOR ENGLISH
This course will focus on the following:
- Selections will focus on the British Tradition. We will begin with the earliest literature from the Anglo Saxon Period and will include "Beowulf" and "Canterbury Tales". A general overview of the Renaissance and then the Romantic time period with readings from the Eighteenth Century and Victorian authors will be a major part of the curriculum. In the 20th Century literature, literary works will be read and discussed to show the change in thought and beliefs through the centuries. The Time Machine and The Lord of the Flies will be read for this time period.
- A research paper, in the MLA style, will be done as a final project.
SPEECH
During this semester course students will acquire listening skills by considering point of view, support of ideas, quality and effectiveness of the communication. Students will also develop speaking skills that demonstrate the ability to analyze the audience and appropriate topic, deliver narrative, expository and persuasive presentations that incorporate multiple perspectives, well-reasoned arguments and effective speaking techniques. Study of the various forms of mass media and their uses and effects will be covered.
SHAKESPEARE SYLLABUS
"The starting point, and perhaps the ending point as well, in any encounter with Shakespeare is simply to enjoy him, to savor his imaginative richness, to take pleasure in his infinite delight in language."
Stephen Greenblatt
Course Description:
This course will (1) introduce you to Shakespeare's greatest plays, works that have been acknowledged as among our culture's supreme works of art; (2) delight you with the pleasures of closely reading difficult texts, and (3) challenge you to become better readers, thinkers, and writers as you shape your own interpretations and encounter a range of critical opinions about Shakespeare's plays.
Textbooks:
The Tempest
The Taming of the Shrew
Richard III
King Lear
The Merchant of Venice
Some Assumptions:
- Reading is an active and demanding process; it is a process of constructing meaning. Thus, you should read with a pencil in your hand and questions in your mind: talk back to the text, question assumptions and techniques; try to understand why the text is as it is or how it could be different. Learn to trust in your own interpretations rather than immediately turning to Authorities - either in books, notes, or teachers. DON'T EXPECT TO UNDERSTAND THIS LITERATURE WITH ONE QUICK READING - IT TAKES TIME AND EFFORT.
- This class will be much more profitable and enjoyable if we all come to class each day ready to discuss the work. You cannot fully appreciate or even understand this literature if I'm the only one who talks about it in class. We have much to learn from one another.
- Writing about what you read is one of the best ways to actively understand the subject. Writing forces you to gather your thoughts and helps to establish your opinions. Writing leads to discovery. I will ask you to write short critical reports to be shared with the entire class over various parts of the plays. More details to follow. I will also ask for weekly brief writings that include responses to our readings, ideas, and questions, reactions to class discussions, etc.
Class Discussions: We are, in one sense, all teaching and learning from each other. You are held responsible for participating in this process by contributing your perceptions to our classroom discussion and by considering the remarks for you fellow students. I require courtesy in the classroom. Save your private conversations for outside of class and make your remarks that apply to the class discussion public for the entire class to enjoy. Courtesy also means that you come to class on time. Please do not bring food to class or chew gum as we will be sharing in the readings.
Course Objectives:
- To be able to read and understand Shakespeare's plays
- To appreciate the dramatic techniques used by Shakespeare
- To understand Elizabethan background
- To improve one's writing and critical thinking ability
- To understand the relevance of Shakespeare to our time
- To enjoy Shakespeare's plays
- To write clear, perceptive analysis of individual plays
State Standards:
Reading and Writing Standards:
- 12.L.A.2.1.3 - Clarify an understanding of text by creating outlines, notes, annotations, charts, and/or diagrams. Goal 2.1: Acquire strategies and skill for comprehending text
- 12.L.A.2.3.2 - Evaluate how voice and the choice of a narrator affect characterization and the tone, plot, and credibility of a text (752.02) Goal 2.3: Acquire skills for comprehending literary text
- 12.L.A.2.3.3 - Evaluate the ways in which the theme represents a view or comment on life, using textual evidence to support the claim. (752.02) Goal 2.3: Acquire skills for comprehending literary text
- 12.L.A.2.3.4 - Analyze the ways in which irony, tone, mood, symbolism, and the "sound" of language achieve specific rhetorical or aesthetic purposes. (752.02) Goal 2.3: Acquire skills for comprehending literary text
- 12.L.A.2.3.5 - Evaluate the aesthetic qualities of style, including the impact of diction and figurative language, on tone, mood, and theme. (752.01 g. 752.02 d) Goal 2.3: Acquire skills for comprehending literary text
- 12.L.A.3.1.5 - Produce a piece of writing within a set period of time. Goal 3.1: Acquire prewriting skills
- 12.L.A.3.2.2 - Sequence ideas in a cohesive, meaningful order. (753.02 b) Goal 3.2: Acquire skills for writing a draft
- 12.L.A.3.3.6 - Conference with others to improve writing. (753.01 a) Goal 3.3: Acquire skills for revising a draft
- 12.L.A.3.4.2 - Edit for correct punctuation, spelling, grammar, and usage errors. (753.02 a) Goal 3.4: Acquire skills for editing a draft
- 12.L.A.3.5.2 - Share writing with intended audience. (753.04 c. 753.06 b) Goal 3.5: Acquire skills to publish writing
- 12.L.A.3.5.3 - Use appropriate technology to produce a final draft. (753.03 b)
Bibliography:
There may be one short response paper for each play we read and this will be your reaction to outside articles read online. I will supply websites for you to read articles at a later date.
Requirements:
- Quizzes and final tests over each play
- Daily responses and questions to be shared and turned in when asked
- For each play an imagery explication one page paper. In other words, you will analyze a metaphor or an image pattern which runs through one of the plays we read. An image is a verbal picture, the literary representation of an object with tangible reality. You will show how Shakespeare uses the image to convey meaning, how it functions with other images, and what thematic implications are associated with the image's use.
- At the end of the school year, possibly at semester also, we will memorize and perform excerpts from the plays for an outside audience.
Required Materials:
- pens and pencils ( no highlighters as the books are school property)
- Five composition books - one for each play studied.
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