This course will mimic a middle grade language arts classroom. It is appropriate for advanced middle school students (7th-8th grade) or 9th grade English students.  Treasure Island is a challenging but exciting adventure story with lots of material for study and learning.  This class will cover a reading schedule for the novel, quizzes between sections (approximately every 6 chapters), an exploration of applicable standards, and include several written responses for students to learn how to form their opinions through writing based in support from the text. It will rely heavily on student inference as they learn how to organize and explain their writing.

There is a free, online version of this book if you don't have a copy of your own!

Students will interact through Nearpod via teacher provided links (no Nearpod account required). The teacher will facilitate discussions for each section of the novel via written response. At the end of the novel, students will brainstorm ideas and work through a writers workshop of their final essay. Additionally, there will be a test at the end of the novel designed to test students' critical thinking and ability to write constructed response style answers that rely on textual evidence and strong writing skills. Constructed and extended response writing are critical skills needed moving forward in education, including heavy use on standardized assessments.

The first 7 weeks of the course will be guided by a reading schedule. The novel is broken down into sections containing 4-6 chapters each. Each of these sections will correspond to a week in our class. Each section will feature highlights, lessons on essential reading skills, and a quiz that will include critical thinking, constructed response questions. Each quiz will be open book so students are expected to use quotes and/or paraphrases from the book to support their answers.  The first week of class, while students are reading the first section of the book, will feature relevant background information to help students acclimate and understand this classic piece of British literature.

The last 3 weeks of class will be focused on building writing skills, culminating in a final essay. Students will be taught skills necessary to organize and explain their ideas, work together to brainstorm and peer edit, and present their final paper for review. The teacher will guide them through every step of the writing process and require all students to share drafts for feedback. The final paper will be graded via rubric.