ELA Summer Camp: Digging Deep Into Text Analysis!

In this six week summer camp, students will receive rigorous ELA instruction with the goal of improving writing, research, and reading comprehension skills. My curriculum is created completely by me, and loosely follows the Common Core Standards. I am an experienced and certified English teacher with eight years of experience in the classroom, education consultation, and in curriculum creation. My classes involve lots of project-based learning and gamified learning, so sign up for my class if you are ready for a hands-on learning experience! Games, in-class projects, groupwork, and class discussions are central to my class, so I expect students to participate for as much as they are comfortable. 

Each class session will involve a short presentation/lecture on a specific literary topic. Students will be provided with guided notes at the beginning of each week to print off, or they can take notes on a separate sheet of paper or by typing. Most of my classes look something like this: 

2-5 minutes: Opening game/question/discussion 
10-15 minutes: Lesson on week's topic 
20-25 minutes: Applying the literary topic with groupwork (breakout rooms), Nearpod, discussion, game, or project (or a combination of these) 
2-5 minutes: Go over homework and answer questions 

We will be focusing on more challenging material, including completing research and analyzing poetry for deeper meaning. This class was created in order to challenge bright middle schoolers, help middle schoolers prepare for high school, or to give high school students more experience and practice with ELA curriculum. 

All work completed in and out of class will be given feedback, even if the assignment was turned in late. 

CORE TEXTS: 
Selection of poems
"I Have a Dream" and "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" (Martin Luther King, Jr.)
"The Ballot or the Bullet" (Malcolm X)
Excerpts from Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, etc. (we will NOT read an entire Shakespeare play. I will choose selections from certain texts) 

The camp will follow the following schedule (please be aware that this schedule is subject to some changes based on how quickly work is completed in class and based on student needs/requests): 

Poetry Analysis 
Week 1: How to analyze poetry for deeper meaning
Week 2: Introduction to "I Have a Dream," reading for purpose 
Week 3: Rhetoric & persuasive strategies 
Week 4: "The Ballot or the Bullet" and "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" comparative analysis 
Week 5: Theme and author's purpose: MLK & Malcolm X, Shakespeare, other excerpts 
Week 6: Shakespeare excerpts: a deep dive into characterization


Throughout weeks 1-3, students will be working on a poetry project. This will include several elements, including writing their own poetry and creating a blackout poem. 
Throughout weeks 3-6, students will be working on an analysis essay. This essay will include research, citations, text evidence from the text, etc. 


**Please remember that we play lots of educational games (Kahoot, Gimkit, Jeopardy) and work together on group projects and class discussions. Each class session involves about 10-15 minutes of a lesson/lecture, but please do not sign up for this class if you are looking for a completely lecture-based class. Students who wish to work by themselves and not with partners is completely fine, but note that they will be placed in a breakout room by themselves to work (I will be in each breakout room periodically)**