English 10A

Language Arts
(10^th grade English)

Course Description:

Language Arts is a program of study that blends reading, writing, speaking, listening, observing, and using technology as communication tools. The content is structured to build upon the knowledge gained by the student the previous year. This offers the student a better understanding of communication and an application of said communication. The content provides a wide range of reading experiences with print and nonprint materials that have literary, informational, persuasive, practical or school-to-work purposes. Students learn and evaluate the writing process and criteria for effective writing. Students are excepted to become effective writers, demonstrating their abilities in a variety of forms and for different audiences, therefore purposes. Speaking, listening, and observing skills (where the arts and humanities content is related to the Language Arts content) used to communicate information for a variety of authentic purposes. Students throughout the Language Arts content are continually integrating inquiry skills and technology to communicate ideas of writers, and consequently ideas of their own.

This course is intended for students who have completed English 9A and 9B as well as completed English 10A. This coursework will help prepare you for the WASL in April/May of this school year.

Students use available and emerging technology to gather, organize, manipulate, and express ideas and information for a variety of authentic purposes.

Objectives:

Literature:

• Each student will understand styles and usage of processes, contexts, and foundations for, or criteria for, abilities to pose insightful questions.
• Each student will experience different time periods effects on the writing.
• Each student will respond to "why" an author made the decisions that he/she made.
• Each student will demonstrate understanding of life by interpreting and evaluating works of literature.
• Each student will demonstrate awareness and evaluation of historical and cultural perspective of life.
• Each student will pose insightful questions.
• Each student will demonstrate understanding in her/his own life and use of a writer's work to illustrate/support a point they want to make.
• Each student will experience different types of literature:
  • Fiction
  • Non-fiction
• Each student will read varying genres of literature:
  • Novels
  • short stories
  • plays
  • poetry
  • essays
  • biographies
• Each student will use the elements of literature:
  • plot
  • character
  • setting
  • point of view
  • theme
  • irony
  • symbol
• Each student will look at literary movement and styles:
  • Classical
  • Medieval
  • Renaissance
  • Romantic
  • Modern
• Each student will be exposed to historical, multicultural, and philosophical similarities and differences in works of literature.

Writing:

• Each student will write using appropriate forms, conventions, and styles to communicate ideas and information to different audiences for different purposes.
• Each student will respond to prompts in specific form: 
  • Letter
  • Article
  • Editorial
  • Speech
• Each student will demonstrate a clear sense of the reason(s) for producing apiece of writing.
• Each student will meet the needs of the reader, or audience, by focusing on the reason for the piece.
• Each student will start a piece of writing with an understanding of the writings purpose.
• Each student will decide which idea(s) to develop.
• Each student will make the idea(s) clear to the reader.
• Each student will support the idea(s) by elaborating on them with the use of  relevant support:  detail and examples.
• Each student will arrange ideas in a clear and logical manner by joining the ideas in a smooth way that guides the reader through the piece of writing.
• Each student will compose sentences that are correct, as well as varied in length and structure.
• Each student will use wording and language that demonstrate standard usage: correct and effective words.
• Each student will spell correctly, use correct punctuation, and capitalize letters according to standard rules.
• Each student will elicit pieces of writings that:
  • narrates an event
  • persuades an audience
  • responds to a text, graphic, or chart.

Student Expectations:

Goal 1: Students are able to use basic communication skills for purposes and situations they will encounter throughout their lives.

1.1 Students use reference tools such as computer reference tools (World Wide Web) to find the information they need to meet specific demands, explore interests, or solve specific problems.

1.2 Students make sense of the variety of materials they read.

1.3 Students make sense of the various things they observe.

1.11 Students write using appropriate forms, conventions, and styles to communicate ideas and information to different audiences for different purposes.

1.16 Students use computers and other kinds of technology to collect, organize, and communicate information and ideas.

Goal 6: Students shall develop their abilities to connect and integrate experiences and new knowledge from all subject matter fields with what they have previously learned and build on past learning experiences to acquire new information through various media sources.

6.2 Students use what they already know to acquire new knowledge, develop new skills, or interpret new experiences.

Grading:

• Student must work to achieve 80% which is mastery.
• On-demand test in which the student responds to a prompt (writing assignment that includes an audience, purpose, and form) and produces a piece of writing.
• Benchmark: "A Hero's Magic" for student's response to On-Demand Requirements.
• A piece of writing to determine if the student can independently apply skills and knowledge of the writing criteria.