Hello and welcome to my 7th 8th 9th Grade English Testing Skills & Strategies: Grammar Writing Reading Diagnostic course, where we practice each week how to think like an English expert! Each class we will explore new concepts, re-visit new variations of old concepts, and tie them all to tested problems from newly-released exams. This set of meetings is designed to bring the best exam prep skills to those students in most need of testing assistance. 

*Each meeting is designed as stand-alone lesson, so that a student can enroll at any point during the year and begin to immediately receive the instruction that they need to be academically successful as they move through each grade level. The core skills throughout this entire course are inferencing and critical thinking skills - as the College Board has specifically requested that these skills be tested above all else when determining what types of problems will be written into the exams. 

*Each enrolled student in this course will receive the most up-to-date of materials to use as a main reference point for all of the work completed throughout this course. This Ongoing subscription-based course is designed to be an ever-continuous stream of new material and practice problems, designed to reinforce Common Core Standards of content knowledge and critical thinking skills.  

*Each meeting is designed to explain in full details a handful of concepts that are widely-tested . These concepts are then tied directly to practice problems and drills from newly-released exams and educational material. This method allows for a student in any one of the three grade-levels (and at any point during the duration of the course) to enroll and immediately begin receiving the academic instruction that they need. 

VOCABULARY EXERCISES

Analogies; Synonyms; Sentence Completion; Flash Cards

GRAMMAR

Commas, punctuation marks, colons, semicolons, different types of phrases, clauses, and sentence types; proper form of word; subject-ver agreement; writing for purpose and audience; diction


WRITING ESSAYS 

Examining the Structure of the Essay

Introduction, Body Paragraphs, Conclusion, Examples

The Writing Process

 Brainstorming, Free-writing, Graphic Organizers, Outlines

 Citations

 Paraphrasing, Summarizing, Synthesizing and Citing Sources 

 Essay Examples for Analysis


*ENGLISH Diagnostic Exams*

READING COMPREHENSION  

-Basic Approach to answering multiple-choice style questions

-Cracking the Passages

-POOD and the Reading Test

-Sample Passages and Questions

-Steps of the Basic Approach

-POE Criteria

-Using the Basic Approach 
—Infer, Imply, Suggest

-Vocabulary in Context

-More Question Types 
—Paired Questions, Main Idea/General Questions/Charts and Graphs, Dual Passages

-Drills 

-PSAT READING: CRACKING THE PASSAGES

-QUESTION TYPES AND FORMATS

-DETAIL (What?)

-SAMPLE PASSAGE AND QUESTIONS
--Step 1: Read the Blurb, Step 2: Select and Understand a Question, Step 3: Read What You Need, Step 4: Predict the Answer, Step 5: Use Process of Elimination, POE Criteria

ADVANCED READING SKILLS

-When the going gets tough
—Translating

-Matching Back Answer Choices 

-Reading Drills 


THE WRITING AND LANGUAGE TEST 

-Introduction to Writing and Language Strategy

-CAN YOU REALLY TEST WRITING ON A MULTIPLE-CHOICE TEST?

-WHERE DID ALL THE QUESTIONS GO?

-THE ANSWER CHOICES ASK THE QUESTIONS

-LEARN FROM THE ANSWER CHOICES

-POE DOES THE BIG WORK

-ALL OF THE QUESTIONS CAN’T BE WRONG ALL OF THE TIME

-HOW TO ACE THE WRITING AND LANGUAGE SECTION: A STRATEGY

-Writing & Language Drills 

WORDS

-The words change, but the song remains the same 

-Transitions

-Verbs 

-Pronouns 

-Vocabulary 

-Concision 

-More fun with words
—modifiers, parallelism and comparisons, frequently confused words and idioms

-Writing and Language Drills 

QUESTION TYPES 


-Purpose

-Adding and Deleting

-Order

-Combining Sentences 

-What do graphs have to do with grammar?

-Conclusion 

-Writing and Language Drills 


PUNCTUATION

-COMPLETE AND INCOMPLETE IDEAS

-STOP, GO, AND THE VERTICAL LINE TEST

-A SLIGHT PAUSE FOR COMMAS

-YOUR GOING TO BE TESTED ON APOSTROPHE’S (AND INTERNET SPELLING IS A TERRIBLE GUIDE!)

-CONCLUSION

Writing and Language Drills 

WORDS

-THE WORDS CHANGE, BUT THE SONG REMAINS THE SAME

-CONSISTENCY

-PRECISION

-CONCISION

-Writing and Language Drills 



*Students will begin to explore advanced Language & Literature concepts and movements + answer question-types: 

LANGUAGE SKILLS, REVIEW, & QUESTION-TYPES:

-How to approach the essays: Basic Principles

-How to approach the Synthesis Essay

How to approach the Rhetorical Analysis Essay

Rhetorical Analysis

 How to approach the Argument Essay

TERMS AND MODES REVIEW

-Rhetoric and the elements of style

 Basic rhetorical modes

Rhetorical Analysis 

Complex rhetorical modes

Rhetorical Analysis

Rhetorical Fallacies  

Rhetorical Analysis

 Introduction to the Analysis Essay

Some Basics

Types of Analysis Essay Prompts

Rating the Analysis Essay

The Unicorn

Timing and Planning the Analysis Essay

Working the Prompt

Reading and Notating the Passage

Developing the Opening Paragraph

Writing the Body of the Essay

Sample Student Essays

Rating the Essays

Other Types of Analysis Essays

Writing the Body of the Essay

Rapid Review

 Introduction to the Argumentative Essay

Some Basics

Timing and Planning the Essay

Working the Prompt
Developing the Opening Paragraph

Developing the Body of the Essay

Sample Student Essays

Rating the Essays

Rapid Review

Introduction to the Synthesis Essay

Some Basics

Timing and Planning the Synthesis Essay

Working the Prompt

Developing the Opening Paragraph

Developing the Body of the Essay

Writing the Conclusion

Sample Synthesis Essay from the Master Exam

Sample Student Essays

Rating the Essays

Rapid Review

Review the Knowledge You Need to Score High

Comprehensive Review—Analysis

Some Basics

Rhetorical Strategies

About Style

The “Connective Tissue” Issue

Voice: Pen, Paper, Action!

Says/Does

A Few Words About Coherence

An Essay Editing and Revision Template

Rapid Review

Comprehensive Review—Argument

Some Basics

The Argument

Reading the Argument

Writing the Argument

Comprehensive Review—Synthesis

Some Basics

A Few Comments Before Beginning

Strategies

A Note About Summary, Paraphrase, and Inference

Final Comment

Rapid Review


LITERATURE SKILLS, REVIEW, & QUESTION-TYPES

LITERARY MOVEMENT OVERVIEW

Metaphysical Poetry

Augustans

Romantic Poetry

The Symbolists

Modernism

The Harlem Renaissance

Postmodernism

The Beats

Confessional Poets

“New York School of Poets

Black Arts Movement

Black Mountain Poets

“Other Important Representative Poets and Poems

Poetry Analysis Questions

“READING POETRY LIKE A PRO

“SAMPLE POETRY ANALYSIS PASSAGE AND QUESTIONS”

“Poetry Analysis Passage Drills”

“Prose Fiction Analysis Questions”

“USING THE SAMPLE PASSAGES AND QUESTIONS

“TAKING CONTROL OF PROSE FICTION ANALYSIS PASSAGES

“GETTING TO KNOW THE QUESTIONS

“SAMPLE PROSE FICTION ANALYSIS PASSAGE AND QUESTIONS”

GENERAL COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS

DETAIL QUESTIONS

Literary Term Questions

“The Art of the Seven-Minute Passage

“Prose Fiction Analysis Passage Drills

“The Idea Machine: Starting Your Essays with a High Score”

“FROM IDEA TO EXECUTION

-The Approach

“The Classic Essay Question

“Sample Poetry Analysis and Prose Fiction Analysis Essays”

-“SAMPLE POETRY ANALYSIS ESSAY

“Poetry Analysis Answers in General

“SAMPLE ESSAY ON PROSE FICTION

“Essay (Suggested Time—40 Minutes)”

Literary Argument

“HOW DO YOU PREPARE FOR AN ESSAY ON ANYTHING?

“WHAT THE TEST WRITERS REALLY WANT FROM YOUR LITERARY ARGUMENT

THE PRIMARY WORKS

THE SECONDARY WORK

“What Does “Prepare the Work” Mean?

The Prose Passage Essay

Introduction to the Prose Passage Essay

Types of Prose Passage Essay Questions

Rating the Prose Passage Essay

Timing the Essay

Working the Prompt

Reading and Notating the Prose Passage

Writing the Opening Paragraph

Writing the Body

Sample Student Essays

Rating the Student Essays

Rapid Review

The Poetry Essay

Introduction to the Poetry Essay

Types of Prompts Used for the Poetry Essay

Timing and Planning the Poetry Essay

Working the Prompt

Reading and Notating the Poetry Selection

Writing the Opening Paragraph

Writing the Body of the Poetry Essay

Sample Student Essays

Rating the Student Essays

Rapid Review

 The Free-Response Essay

Introduction to the Free-Response Essay

Types of Free-Response Prompts

General Rubrics for the Free-Response Essay

Timing and Planning the Free-Response Essay

Working the Prompt from the Diagnostic/Master Exam

Developing the Opening Paragraph

Developing the Body of the Essay

Sample Student Essays

Rating the Student Essays

Final Comments

Rapid Review

Review the Knowledge You Need to Score High

Introduction to Review Section

Comprehensive Review—Prose

Introduction to Prose

Five Aspects of Every Narrative

Types of Novels

Literary Terminology

Prose Analysis

Final Comments

Rapid Review


Comprehensive Review—Poetry

Introduction to Poetry

The Structure of Poetry

Types of Poetry

Interpretation of Poetry

Poems for Comparison and Contrast

Rapid Review


COMPREHENSIVE LITERARY REVIEW AND PRACTICE PROBLEMS:

 Pre-20th-Century Prose

Louisa May Alcott, “An Old-fashioned Girl”

Frances Burney, Evelina

Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote

Kate Chopin, “The Kiss”

New William Congreve, The Way of the World: A Comedy (1895)

Hannah Cowley, “The Belle“s Strategem”

Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Crime and Punishment

Euripides, Medea

Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary”

Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter

Mary Shelley, Frankenstein

Jonathan Swift, Gulliver“s Travels

Sophocles, Oedipus the King

Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray

Chapter 2 20th-Century/Contemporary Prose

Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness

New Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man

New Susan Glaspell, “Suppressed Desires”

Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes, “Mule Bone: A Comedy of Negro Life”

Henry James, The Turn of the Screw

James Joyce, “The Dead”

Franz Kafka, “Metamorphosis”

Sinclair Lewis, Babbitt

New Naguib Mahfouz, Midaq Alley

New Rohinton Mistry, A Fine Balance

New R. A. Sasaki, “Driving to Colma”

New Zadie Smith, White Teeth

Upton Sinclair, The Jungle

New Ngugi wa Thiong“o, The River Between

Virginia Woolf, “An Unwritten Novel”


 Pre-20th-Century Poetry

Anne Bradstreet, “The Author to Her Book”

Emily Dickinson, “Success is counted sweetest …”

Jayadeva, Excerpt from Gita Govinda

Andrew Marvell, “To His Coy Mistress”

Christina Rossetti, “Winter: My Secret”

Phyllis Wheatley, “An Hymn to the Evening”

Walt Whitman, “O Captain! My Captain!”

William Wordsworth, “The world is too much with us”

Countee Cullen, “I Have a Rendezvous with Life”

Kahlil Gibran, “Defeat”

20th-Century/Contemporary Poetry

New Pamela Hart, “Kevlar Poem”

New David Hernandez, “I Made a Door”

New David Tomas Martinez, “To the Young”

New Dorothy Parker, “Men I Am Not Married To”

New Tracy K. Smith, “The Good Life”

Rabindranath Tagore, “The Home”

New Sara Teasdale, “From the Woolworth Tower”

William Butler Yeats, “That the Night Come”