Suggested Age

12-14 years

Prerequisites

ENGLISH 1, or a basic understanding of English grammar

Purpose

Can writing really be taught? Unquestionably so. Just as chemistry uses specific elements to cause the desired reaction, good writing requires certain elements to move the reader in the desired direction: either toward understanding, emotion, or a different perspective. As students learn and practice these elements, writing that was once simple and unrefined is suddenly professional and sophisticated. Such instruction will include:

• Six basic stylistic techniques that govern powerful word choice and organization
• Six ways to ensure that a paragraph will contain varied and well-structured sentences
• Accomplishing the purpose of a paragraph
• Utilizing a style rubric for each writing assignment

PROCESS

The first semester emphasizes:
• Note-taking and outlines
• Summaries from notes
• Summaries from reference material

The second semester introduces:
• A short fiction unit focusing on plot, setting, conflict, point of view, character development, drama, dialogue, and description. This culminates with the Big Screen Pitch, the students’ multi-media presentations of their own original short stories.

• A poetry unit exploring the six poetic plots, the seven poetic tools, different forms of poetry, and unique opportunities to flex their own poetic muscle. This culminates with our Poetry Slam, the students’ dramatic poetry recitations.

This year vocabulary gets—dare we say it—exciting. Our new words will be grouped according to their common English roots. This way, students not only learn to recognize the roots in these new sets of words, but they are also trained to recognize these roots in any other words they come across. This particular practice is highly recommended by PSAT and SAT to improve performance on these exams. The program includes:

• Over 160 of the most commonly used English roots
• Weekly charts will be filled out, involving definitions, roots, synonyms, and antonyms
• Fill-in-the-blank sentences and rewrites using their new words
• Spelling tests administered by the parent-teacher
• An end-of-the-year English Roots competition done Jeopardy-style

Curriculum & Texts, all available at www.pahlowsenglish.com

• English 2 Course Workbook, by Debra Pahlow
• Fix-It Grammar: Teaching Editing with the Classics, by Pamela White
• A paperback copy of Roget’s Thesaurus, to bring to class