Students will read and analyze personal narratives for theme, summary, word choices and style as well as learn to write a personal narrative using the writing process: planning, drafting, revising, editing and final draft. 

The standards covered for this course are:
➡️Cite textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
➡️Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text; provide an objective summary of the text.
➡️Analyze how particular elements of a story or drama interact
➡️Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings
➡️Writing informative/explanatory texts  to examine a topic and convey ideas, concepts and information through the selection, organization and analysis of relevant content.
➡️Writing narratives to develop real experiences or events using effective technique, relevant descriptive details, and well-structured event sequences

After graduating from University of South Florida in 1994 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English with an emphasis in Creative Writing, I worked for USF for several years and decided to become a Language Arts teacher. In 1996, I became an English Language Arts teacher for middle school students grades 6-8. I took post graduate credits for my education certification from USF.

Teaching Certifications from the state of Florida include:
English Middle Grades 5-9
English 6-12
ESL
ESE
Business
Media Specialist

Teaching Experience: (28 years)
1996-2018 English Language Arts teacher Middle School grades 6-8
2004 Fellowship with Tampa Bay Area Writing Project, part of the National Writing Project

2005 I.C.E. Writers Camp mentor teacher - a creative writing camp for kids ages 7-18

2018-2022 Creative Writing and Digital Design - offered online as well as in class through my school's learning management system, so I am well-versed in offering and teaching online courses.
2019-2022 Teaching Digital Design (as well as Creative Writing) using Canva graphic design app

Teaching Philosophy:
My philosophy behind my teaching is I consider my students to be writers before they take any of my classes. They might be at different levels of proficiency, but most students are required to write from the time they can hold a crayon throughout their school years. I want to give my writers the agency to express themselves creatively through poetry, short stories, and creative non-fiction (personal narratives, blogs, podcast scripts, etc.) 

Homework Offered
Each week, students will read an assigned personal narrative to read and specific questions to answer, based on the skills we are studying that week.

Each week, students will also work on writing their own personal narrative. 

There are 2 assignments due on Fridays of each week to be turned in to me inside the Outschool classroom.
1 - 2 hours per week outside of class
Assessments Offered
Learners will be given weekly feedback and encouragement to revise (if needed).
Learners can receive a letter grade upon request
Grades Offered

We will be reading the following short personal narratives:
The Scholarship Jacket by Marta Salinas
Drive In Movies by Gary Soto
Terror by Junot Diaz
Dirk, the Protector by Gary Paulsen