Designed to foster students' individual growth as readers and writers,
the English program develops students' abilities to read and write for
a variety of purposes, in a variety of genres. Careful attention to all
stages of the writing process allows students to focus on revising and
refining their writing and honing their craft in targeted creative and
expository genres each year. As students move up in grade levels, they
write increasingly complex pieces; in their analytical writing, they
work toward independently developing a thesis, supported by several
well-developed examples. Students learn word processing and keyboarding
skills and, by the sixth grade, are expected to word process their
major papers. In the fall of the seventh grade year, students
participate in a formal Writing Challenge assessment, a benchmarking of
their analytical writing abilities using an established rubric that
provides clear criteria and a means of communicating students'
performance. Students collaborate with their teachers to set individual
writing goals as the result of their Writing Challenge performances.
Reading a range of works, including Core Works such as Homer's Odyssey
and Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, provides a basis for students to
stretch themselves as readers and to hone their literary response
skills. Students select their own appropriately challenging books to
practice reading strategies during reading workshop periods. Required
independent reading helps students to develop and maintain a habit of
reading. Grammar, spelling and vocabulary study are taught explicitly
and are woven into lessons on reading strategies and writing craft. All
English classes require students to participate in small group and
class discussions and to clearly articulate ideas for more formal class
presentations.
