I appreciate your interest in my class! This class is suitable for students in grades 5-6 (or remedial students in grade 7) who wish to learn more advanced reading and writing strategies and techniques. I also accept students in younger grades that are advanced readers. Throughout this class, students will read pieces of literature (fiction or nonfiction), complete writing activities, study vocabulary and grammar, as well as engage in critical discussions. This class moves students past recall (who, what, when, where) and encourages students to analyze, think critically, and support ideas with evidence. For example, I might ask students to consider point of view, predict, infer, interpret, etc. Students will also analyze how these academic vocabulary words are used (helpful for test prep). Ultimately, students are asked to make connections through literature and their own lives.

Through a critical study, students will explore how context and background information advance a story's plot, how characters change and mature, how authors structure writing for specific purposes, and how types of evidence are used to persuade readers. Students will also be provided with optional resources to practice. Each week will be a new text, so students can join and leave at any time. However, classes are organized by units for continuity. It is not required for students to attend all lessons from that unit to understand what is going on.

Important: many classes have short readings assigned as homework. If you sign up within two days of the start of the next class, please message me to ask for the schedule. My response time is typically 2-6 hours.

Types of writing:
paragraph structure
breakdown of writing components (hooks, introductions, thesis statements, etc)
argumentative
persuasive
technical writing 
research 
narrative
descriptive
creative

Sample short stories that may be used:
Texts Read: 
“Charles” by Shirley Jackson
“The Scholarship Jacket” by Marta Salinas
“Eleven” by Sandra Cisneros
"The Necklace" by Guy de Maupassant
“The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst
"The Lady, or the Tiger?" by Frank Stockton
"Test" by Theodore Thomas
Mythology

Skills taught:
poetry analysis
plot elements and structure
irony
figurative language
vocabulary in context
grammar
theme and writing thematic statements
comprehension and analysis
writing effectively for a purpose
"showing" instead of telling
using textual evidence effectively
inference
writing for different audiences
test prep
rhetorical devices
reading a variety of genres and formats

JUNE: How Do Individuals Respond to Fear
Nonfiction: "Fears and Phobias," "Embarrassed? Blame Your Brain," "Aron Ralston" article
Fiction: "The Ravine" by Graham Salisbury and Excerpt from "A Long Walk to Water"
Poetry: "The Raven" by Poe
Speech: Speech by Malala

Writing: Concise Writing, Writing Prompt Analysis

JULY/AUGUST: The World Through Animals' Eyes

Fiction: Excerpt from "Pax," "Zoo" Short Story
Nonfiction: Argumentative Articles: Animals for Entertainment, Animal Testing, Shop or Adopt? Wild/Exotic Animals as Pets? 
Poetry: "The Last Wolf" and "Animal Wisdom"
Video Clip: Big Game Hunting

Writing: Comparison Paragraph Writing, Write a "Rant," Removing Personal Pronouns from Writing

SEPTEMBER: Novel in Verse 
Excerpt from "Brown Girl Dreaming"
Full Text of "Starfish" by Lisa Flipp