Students will be able to...
     - Participate in Reading, Writing, and Discussion 
          - With a Short Story Unit 
          - Two Novel Studies
     - Gain a Deeper Understanding of Skills 
     - Learn how to Analyze and Utilize Skills in Our Own Writing
     - Make Cross-Curricular Connections from a Book to Real-Life
     - Identify STEM Elements within a Novel
     - Investigate STEM-Related Careers
     - Perform a Close Reading
     - Participate in Collaborative Discussions
     - Write every Single Day 
     - Write Effective Analytical Paragraphs
     - Identify Elements of a Narrative and Interpretative Writing
     - Read Two Stories a Week 
     - Explain How to Annotate
     - Identify Why Annotations are Important and Useful
     - Annotate within a Novel or Short Story
     - Develop Plots for a Short Story
     - Analyze a Character
     - Write a Character Analysis Paragraph
     - Practice Editing and Revising
     - Pull Quotes and Use Evidence
     - Define and Identify Symbolism and Themes
     - Explain a Character Arc
     - Use Previous Writing to Develop Longer Essays
     - Use Claim, Evidence, and Warrant
     - Complete Citations and MLA Formatting
     - Use Collaborative Work in Your Own Essay
     - Discuss Elements of Movie to Book Adaptations
     - Examine and Analyze Writing Exemplars
     - Explain How Authors Develop Characters
     - Use Quotes and Evidence to Deepen Understanding
     - Interpret the Ending of the Novel
     - Debate the Ending and Defend Arguments
     - Lead a Discussion and Debate
     - Choose a Topic to Research
     - Utilize Research Elements
     - Perform a Compare and Contrast Presentation
     - Presenting Research

I have been teaching professionally for over 5 years in both Missouri and in Colorado. I have been on Outschool for over three years and can provide links to classes where I teach the concepts of this semester-long class so you can look through them and look at the reviews to see how other parents and students have reacted to my courses. I am happy to answer any questions that you have!

Classic Literature - A Novel Study (A course where students choose the novels we read)
     - https://outschool.com/classes/classic-literature-novel-study-V9NC71b3?usid=l0R3fRwf&signup=true&utm_campaign=share_activity_link
Writing a Novel (Employs the creative writing skills that we will be using in our course)
     - https://outschool.com/classes/writing-a-novel-or-short-story-on-going-workshops-YTo8o2q7?usid=l0R3fRwf&signup=true&utm_campaign=share_activity_link
Writing Historical Fiction (Employs the creative writing skills that we will be using in our course)
     - https://outschool.com/classes/writing-short-stories-historical-fiction-xTk6Rddd?usid=l0R3fRwf&signup=true&utm_campaign=share_activity_link
High School Research Skills: Level I
     - https://outschool.com/classes/high-school-research-developing-skills-CnfSxLHD?usid=l0R3fRwf&signup=true&utm_campaign=share_activity_link
High School Research Skills: Level 2
     - https://outschool.com/classes/high-school-research-ii-perfecting-skills-SrlmIdgF?usid=l0R3fRwf&signup=true&utm_campaign=share_activity_link
Annotations: The Key to Close Reading (Non-Fiction Unit skills)
     - https://outschool.com/classes/annotations-the-key-to-close-reading-uaev8ybk?usid=l0R3fRwf&signup=true&utm_campaign=share_activity_link

Homework Offered
Students will be asked to complete all of their reading outside of class. If some of our writing work is unfinished after class, students will be asked to complete that work outside of class as well. But the majority of work will be completed in class.
1 - 2 hours per week outside of class
Assessments Offered
Students will be given several formal writing assignments throughout the semester. While these are not tests, per se, they can be used as assessment pieces for homeschooling evidence, which many states and countries require. All formal writing in my class will be completed with multiple rounds of written and verbal feedback. Students will have the opportunity to work through their writing skills as a group and 1-1 with me in class!
Grades Offered
Grading - Students will have the opportunity to receive a grade in the form of their choosing.I am happy to provide a grade in the form of a percentage, letter, or both. I can also offer a formal letter for submission to state programs. I ask students throughout the semester about their needs for grading and am happy to work with parents to create a plan that meets their needs! Please note that Grading is NOT required.

The Martian by Andy Weir:
"Six days ago astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first people to walk on Mars.

"Now he's sure he'll be the first person to die there.

"After a dust storm forces his crew to evacuate the planet while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded on Mars's surface, with no way to signal Earth that he's alive. And even if he could get word out, his supplies would be gone years before a rescue could arrive.

"Chances are, though, Mark won't have time to starve to death. The damaged machinery, unforgiving environment, or plain old "human error" are much more likely to kill him first.

"Armed with nothing but his ingenuity, his engineering skills - and gallows sense of humor that proves to be his greatest source of strength - Mark embarks on a dogged quest to stay alive. But will his resourcefulness be enough to overcome the impossible odds against him?".
          - Weir, Andy. The Martian. New York, Ballantine Books, 2011.

Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell:
"In understanding successful people, we have come to focus far too much on their intelligence and ambition and personality traits. Instead, Malcolm Gladwell argues in Outliers, we should look at the world that surrounds the successful - their culture, their family, their generation, and the idiosyncratic experiences of their upbringing. Along the way, Gladwell reveals what the Beatles and Bill Gates have in common, the reason you've never heard of the smartest man in the world, why almost no star hockey players are born in the fall, and why, when it comes to plane crashes, where the pilots are born matters as much as how well they are trained.

"The lives of outliers - people whose achievements fall outside normal experience - follow a peculiar and unexpected logic, and in uncovering that logic, Gladwell presents a fascinating and provocative blueprint for making the most of human potential". 
          - Gladwell, Malcolm. Outliers. New York, Back Bay Books/Little, Brown and Company, 2008.