Semester-Long Language Arts Class: Writing, Reading, and Grammar Focus (FLEX)

In this 16 week FLEX English Language Arts course for grades 6-10, students will learn a specific topic or concept each week that targets Common Core State Standards in writing, reading, and grammar for English/Language Arts. Students will engage in a series of creative activities, critical thinking questions, and immersive scenarios as they develop skills and strengths in reading comprehension, responses to literature, writing topics and perspectives, and grammar application. As this is a FLEX class, there will be no synchronous meeting times on Zoom; however, a wide variety of communication opportunities will be embedded into this class for rich and meaningful, discussions, student collaboration, teacher contact, and more. Activities may include playing a Kahoot game or participating in an interactive lesson using Quizlet, Nearpod, sharing writing pieces or portfolios on Padlet, or other online activities as appropriate and as assigned.

Weekly independent reading and book talks/recommendations will also be included. Lessons will be posted Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, with Friday being a day to catch up, expand on, finish, or read. Instructions will be provided on Fridays, but lessons will not be posted. 

The following topics will be studied during this FLEX class:

**Week one: Memoir writing
Students will hone their skills in the craft of the personal narrative, by evolving from simply telling a story to the art of "storytelling." Students will learn techniques in creating powerful, personal memoirs, and will continue to practice throughout the week working on one main personal memoir. 

**Week two: Memoir writing, continued
Students will continue their work in the genre of personal memoirs and will be presented with a second topic to elaborate on. Mini-lessons specifically targeting elements narrative writing will be taught each day, and students will work on their second memoir piece to build upon skills that are learned.   

**Week three: Memoir writing, conclusion
Students will practice the skill of memoir writing again this week, building upon what was learned the previous two weeks to create one final "portfolio" piece that is polished, revised, and edited. Students will submit it for feedback towards the beginning of the week, and will submit their final draft copy by the end of the week. 

**Week four: Grammatical concepts
Students will practice several lessons that target important grammar concepts, such as proper use of hyphens, semi-colons, colons, capitalization, and more. Students will complete short activities to reinforce lessons for the week. 

**Week five: Grammatical concepts, continued
Students will continue to build upon what was taught the previous week and will practice additional grammatical elements such as parenthetical elements, formatting, homophones, and frequently confused words. 

**Week six: Greek and Latin Roots
Students will learn four different Greek and Latin root words and their associated vocabulary words, participating in creative writing and a Kahoot review activity. 

**Week seven: Greek and Latin Roots, continued
Students will learn four more Greek and Latin roots and their associated vocabulary words, participating in creative writing and a Kahoot review activity. 

**Week eight: Greek and Latin Roots, conclusion
Students will conclude their study of Greek and Latin roots and their associated vocabulary words, participating in creative writing opportunities and a Kahoot review activity. 

**Week nine: Novel study. Students are encouraged to select a novel in the genre of dystopian literature to read this week. Reading response questions will be provided that directly support state standards, and students will create a book review or write a short paragraph at the end thinking critically about the perspectives and events shared within the novel. Students can choose their own novel, but will be provided with a list of recommendations in the dystopian genre.

**Week ten: Persuasive writing and speaking. 
Students will learn how to write to "persuade, to argue, or to share opinions" in a writing piece that expresses this concept appropriately in an effort to affect change. Students will be guided through a series of activities to select a topic that is of importance to them, and will learn how to write in a way that avoids ad hominems, contradictory arguments, fallacies, and bias. Students will work on writing an essay about a cause that is important to them, and then preparing to record themselves giving a speech about it. 

**Week eleven: Persuasive speaking
Students will learn elements of powerful public speaking through short mini-lessons and will practice reading their persuasive speech aloud in a recorded video to share with me and gain confidence with delivering a message verbally to an audience in a persuasive and impactful way. 

**Week twelve: Research project
Students will get to participate in something called "Genius Hour," where they will choose to research a topic that interests them but that they do not know much about yet. Students will learn the essentials of proper source citation, in-text citations and paraphrasing, presenting research in a report form, formal writing, note-taking, and more. 

**Week thirteen: Research project, continued
Students will continue their "Genius Hour" research projects, and will begin working on the rough draft of their essay. Students will learn how to construct their research and reports based on their audience and message, and will be working to revise and edit their reports after sharing with me for feedback. 

**Week fourteen: Studying the classics
Students will read three different "classic" short stories and will be provided with reading response and reflective questions based on the topic, content, and theme of each. Students will then write a short paragraph at the end of the week summarizing key takeaways from each story and reflecting on the author's purpose in writing them.

**Week fifteen: Studying the classics, continued. 
Students will be presented with a book list in which they will be able to choose which classic literature piece they would like to read this week, and will respond to the text with several different critical thinking prompts and reflection questions. 

**Week sixteen: Student choice. Students will have this week to wrap up anything that is missing or that they did not get to complete during the previous fifteen weeks. All assignments will be due by the last day of class this week. Students who are caught up can also work on an extension activity that will be provided. 


--Communication and Collaboration--

Because this is a FLEX class and there will be no "live" meetings scheduled, each week at the beginning I will submit a video at the beginning of the week with an overview of the topic for the week, as well as providing links to practice activities and other collaborative opportunities for students to complete. For example, one week might feature an engaging video about the topic, followed by an interactive, short lesson on Kahoot, a collaborative writing assignment on Padlet, and an independent writing task submitted to me for feedback by the end of the week. Throughout the week various mini-topics, mini-lessons, and other writing opportunities will be provided and I will check in with each student individually during the week via direct messaging, in addition to classroom discussions.

Teacher-Student interaction during each week:
1) Direct messaging during the week
2) Response to posts on classroom discussion pages
3) Feedback on assignments submitted
4) Feedback on activities completed in online platforms such as Nearpod, Padlet, or Kahoot
5) Additional opportunities for interaction during extra activities provided for enrichment

Student-Student interaction opportunities during the week:
1) Responses to posts on classroom discussion pages
2) Responses to posts on Padlet, Nearpod, or Kahoot
3) Student comments and feedback on writing submitted to Padlet
4) Additional opportunities for interaction during extra activities provided for enrichment

**Please note that care has been taken to choose books for the novel portion of this class that are engaging, meaningful, and appropriate for ages 11-16; I would encourage families to conduct their own research of each book title with regards to content, as there may be mild language or other mature situations within each book.