Course Description
Students continue their exploration of literary genres, using active reading techniques such as note-taking and drawing conclusions from texts. Students review the steps of the writing process, making connections between the stages of writing, the genre they are studying, and a well-formed final product. To prepare students for writing narrative essays, lessons focus on plot, theme, and historical setting. Writing reflective and persuasive essays based on their own thoughts and ideas allows students to demonstrate their individuality. Solid research and understanding of organizational methods and visual features provide the foundation for writing informational essays. After improving their ability to recognize biased language, students write persuasive essays to express their own opinions. Students then look at the unique characteristics of poetry, myth, and folklore, and discover the conventions of playwriting and how drama employs the elements of fiction.

Course Breakdown

“The Trouble with Television” by Robert MacNeil
“Biography of George Washington” by an anonymous author
“Solitude” by Henry David Thoreau
“Cub Pilot on the Mississippi” by Mark Twain
“Jabberwocky” by Lewis Carroll
“Paul Revere’s Ride” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
“Feelings about Words” by Mary O’Neill
“Scaffolding” by Seamus Heaney
“Silver” by Walter de la Mare
“Forgotten Language” by Shel Silverstein
“Limericks for Children” by an anonymous author
Various haiku by Matsuo Bashō
“Winter Moon” by Langston Hughes
“Harlem” by Langston Hughes
“The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost
“Identity” by Julio Noboa Polanco
“Eleven” by Sandra Cisneros
“The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst
“The Lady or the Tiger?” by Frank Stockton
“Gentleman of Rio en Medio” by Juan A. A. Sedillo
“Raymond’s Run” by Toni Cade Bambara
The Diary of Anne Frank by Francis Goodrich and Albert Hackett Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass
“Franklin’s Letter to His Daughter” by Benjamin Franklin
The Bill of Rights
“Rain, Rain, Go Away” by Isaac Asimov
“Is He Living or Is He Dead?” by Mark Twain
“My Boyhood Dreams” by Mark Twain
“Gentleman of Rio en Medio” by Juan A. A. Sedillo
“The Drummer Boy of Shiloh” by W. S. Hays
“The Man without a Country” by Edward Everett Hale
“A Retrieved Reformation” by O. Henry
“The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson
The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane
“The Finish of Patsy Barnes” by Paul Laurence Dunbar

Course Goals
Read and analyze nonfiction and fiction texts to identify different text features.
Identify bias and analyze persuasive tactics.
Read and analyze The Diary of Anne Frank.
Write a persuasive essay. Read and analyze fiction and nonfiction texts to identify different text features and literary elements.
Read and analyze The Red Badge of Courage.
Write an informational essay.