In this 16-week class, students will do the second half of Introduction to Literature and Composition where we will analyze fiction, informational texts, & plays, and write papers/essays on related topics. This class can be used as a core English/Literature/Language Arts/ELA course for 9th or 10th grade (US standards). For non US-students, please contact me and I can send you the standards to see if it will suit your high school/secondary school student's needs.  

*Students do not need to have taken Semester A of Introduction to Literature and Composition to take Semester B.*

This class uses the Moving Beyond the Page Language Arts curriculum. As such learners will use literature to learn language arts, develop their critical thinking and creativity skills, and use the 6+1 traits of writing approach (Ideas, Organization, Voice, Word Choice, Sentence Fluency, Conventions, Presentations). A Summary of Skills will be provided when you enroll that tells you which state and national (US) standards that each unit covers for your own planning and any documentation requirements that you need to submit to your local authorities.   

Students will read novels, informational texts, and plays as we work through various themes and topics throughout the course.

Unit 1 - Ender's Game - approx. 4-5 weeks
In this unit, you will read Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card and explore the literary genre of science fiction. You will learn more about literary devices such as flashback, point of view, subplot, and internal and external conflict. Students will watch the adaptation, Ender's Game (2013), and compare to the book. For your final project, you will choose three small projects that allow you to explore certain areas of the story more closely. This could involve sketching a storyboard, writing additions to the novel, solving puzzles, or learning more about history.

Unit 2 - Informational Texts - approx. 5 weeks
This unit covers a variety of texts whose primary goal is to convey information. The unit's main text is Outliers, a look at some of the hidden factors that influence people's ability to succeed. The unit also explores what readers can learn from primary and secondary historical texts, how science writers and technical writers can take complicated information and communicate it in an understandable way, and how writers use rhetoric to persuade readers. For the final project, students will write and present an argumentative research essay.

Unit 3 - Drama - approx. 5-6 weeks
In this unit, you will explore the world of theater by studying different genres of plays and learning the terms associated with plays. You will also learn how playwrights construct a script by analyzing elements of figurative language and character development. You will read two plays: A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry and Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. Students will watch the films: Fences (2016), a modern film adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, a recorded performance of Romeo and Juliet on YouTube. Optional activity will be to see a live play in their community. For your final project, you will complete  creative mini-projects related to Romeo and Juliet.

There is a separate Grammar unit that the class will utilize throughout the entire semester:
Grammar, Part II 
In this unit, you will learn advanced grammar rules concerning pronouns, punctuation (colons, semicolons, and apostrophes), subject-verb agreement, conjunctions, and verbs. You will also explore more commonly confused words.