ENGLISH/LANGUAGE ARTS

Mission Statement | English/Language Arts

The work of the Dalton Middle School English Department is grounded in the belief that students who learn to communicate effectively will become dedicated scholars and critical thinkers. Through the study of classical and modern literature, the curriculum explores the moral complexities of the human condition. Through collaborative and individual Assignments, the literature program is a well-balanced, multi-dimensional, student-centered endeavor that encourages children to be creative, use resources thoughtfully and responsibly, and engage in inquiry-based learning. A sequential skills development program provides the underlying foundation for students to become successful readers, writers, listeners, and speakers. The comprehensive program empowers students in developing the ability to “Go Forth Unafraid” as independent, lifelong learners.

4th Grade - Writing Skills Curriculum

Writing Objective

The 4th grade writing program is committed to educating our students to: Engage in the Writing Process Students will be introduced to:

• Organizing and expressing ideas clearly, using a variety of genres in a workshop environment • Engaging in pre-writing • Writing multiple drafts • Developing an understanding of revision and copy-editing • Writing and publishing for different audiences • Writing creatively as poets and storytellers • Understanding grammar/usage

Continued reinforcement will be placed on:

Writing skills learned and practiced in the First Program

By year’s end, students will be able to:

• Write with proper sentence structure, including capitalization and punctuation • Understand the elements of an analytical paragraph • Summarize ideas within an expository paragraph • Organize their writing with a topic sentence, body, and concluding sentence

4th Grade - Reading Skills Curriculum

Reading Objective

The 4th grade reading program is committed to educating our students to: Read for Pleasure, Read for Information, and Read as Scholars.

Students will be introduced to:

• Developing personal preferences as readers • Extracting essential information from texts • Making inferences and interpreting authors’ aims • Making connections between texts and the outside world. • Drawing clear conclusions from texts.

Continued reinforcement will be placed on:

Reading skills learned and practiced in the First Program

By year’s end, students will be able to:

• Have some facility with annotating a text • Understand why texts should be annotated when reading • Have a basic knowledge of the elements of a story and figurative language • Be able to recognize a variety of genres • Be comfortable participating and engaging in class discussions • Understand how to make inferences about literature

5th Grade - Writing Skills Curriculum

Writing Objective

The 5th grade writing program is committed to educating our students to: Internalize Writing as a Process.

Students will be introduced to:

• Writing a well-structured paragraph (topic sentence, supporting details with quotations, and concluding sentences). • Writing with sentence variety • Using quotations directly from the text • Writing short stories and poems with the notion of structure and form • Fostering a unique voice and style

Continued reinforcement will be placed on:

• Pre-writing, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing • Organizing and expressing ideas clearly • Writing and publishing for different audiences. (Proper use of “I statements” and “You statements”) • Utilizing and practicing revision and copy-editing.

By year’s end, students will be able to:

• Write a single expository paragraph • Construct narrative pieces • Produce short-answer responses • Recognize and practice grammar/usage • Expand, internalize and apply vocabulary 5th Grade - Reading Skills Curriculum

Reading Objective

The 5th grade reading program is committed to educating our students to: Broaden Their Literary Perspectives, Engage in Discussions on Ethics and Examine the Individual Within a Community.

Students will be introduced to:

• Generating inferences based on evidence • Providing textual support for answers and theories • Making meaningful connections across texts and to personal experiences

Continued reinforcement will be placed on:

• Understanding literal content • Acquiring new vocabulary • Extracting essential information from texts • Making inferences and interpreting authors’ aims • Making connections between texts and the outside world • Drawing conclusions about literature

By year’s end, students will be able to:

• Produce a variety of independent responses to literary questions • Annotate texts • Have a basic understanding and familiarity with literature circles • Engage in small group discussions • Share reactions, opinions, reviews in an appropriate, constructive manner.

• Engage in culminating projects that incorporate creativity and art.

6th Grade - Writing Skills Curriculum

Writing Objective

The 6th grade writing program is committed to educating our students to: Express Critical Thinking Through the Writing Process. Students will be introduced to:

• Crafting a thesis statement as a controlling argument for a literary analytical essay • Writing a multi-paragraph literary analytical essay, including:

Incorporating a clear thesis sentence

Connecting topic sentences

Utilizing quotes from reading and analyzing their importance

Clear concluding sentences • Developing personal authorial style • Examining contextual vocabulary for use in their own writing

Continued reinforcement will be placed on:

• Engaging in pre-writing • Writing multiple drafts • Furthering an understanding of revision and copy-editing • Utilizing sentence variety • Using expressive language • Writing in a variety of genres • Deploying proper grammar usage

By year’s end, students will be able to:

• Take a methodical approach to a multi-paragraph essay and incorporate the necessary components of a successful essay - Write with proper sentence structure, including capitalization and punctuation • Understand the elements of a paragraph • Include supporting arguments within a paragraph • Organize their writing with a topic sentence, body, and concluding sentence

6th Grade - Reading Skills Curriculum

Reading Objective

The 6th grade reading program is committed to educating our students to: Examine Literature with a Critical Eye. Students will be introduced to:

• Becoming proficient in annotation, inference, and analysis. • Broadening understanding of the foundational elements of Greek myth and theatre

Continued reinforcement will be placed on:

• Extracting essential information from texts • Making inferences and interpreting authors’ aims • Making connections between texts and the outside world • Drawing conclusions about literature • Reading with fluency and expression • Annotating a text

• Understanding and identifying story elements and figurative language

By year’s end, students will be able to:

• Have some facility with and understanding the importance of annotating a text • Understand and identify the elements of a story and figurative language • Be able to recognize a variety of genres • Be comfortable participating and engaging in class discussions. • Understand how to make inferences about literature

7th Grade - Writing Skills Curriculum

Writing Objective

The 7th grade writing program is committed to educating our students to: Use the Writing Process to Develop a Nuanced Argument.

Students will be introduced to:

• Writing a complete five-paragraph essay • Crafting an effective conclusion paragraph • Utilizing mini-quotes • Taking famous prose works from the page and transforming them to dramatic versions for the stage

Continued reinforcement will be placed on:

• Pre-writing • Producing multiple drafts • Creating arguable thesis statements • Providing textual evidence to prove thesis statements • Employing expressive language and varied sentence structures • Using proper punctuation, capitalization, and verb tense • Crafting creative pieces: short stories, plays, and poetry • Developing personal authorial style

By year’s end, students will be able to:

• Independently craft a provable thesis statement • Engage in all three phases of the writing process (pre-writing, drafting, and editing) to produce a five-paragraph essay • Support their arguments with multiple forms of evidence from the text 7th Grade - Reading Skills Curriculum

Reading Objective

The 7th grade reading program is committed to educating our students to: Examine Authorial Intent and Technique.

Students will be introduced to:

• Close quotation analysis • Reading like a writer and interpreting authorial choices Continued reinforcement will be placed on:

• Annotating texts • Making inferences and interpreting authors’ aims • Understanding and identifying story elements and figurative language • Extracting essential information from texts • Understanding the role that historical context plays in literature. • Drawing conclusions • Understanding universality in literature

By year’s end, students will be able to:

• Read and annotate a text independently • Utilize different reading strategies when studying various genres 8th Grade - Writing Skills Curriculum

Writing Objective

The 8th grade writing program is committed to educating our students to: Manage the Writing Process Independently.

Students will be introduced to:

• Breaking away from the traditional five-paragraph essay • Taking greater ownership of the entire writing process • Evaluating, writing, and delivering persuasive speeches

Continued reinforcement will be placed on:

• Utilizing sentence variety • Writing paragraphs • Independently crafting an arguable thesis statement • Utilizing mini-quotes • Using expressive language • Developing personal authorial style. • Proper grammar and usage.

By year’s end, students will be able to:

• Reach a degree of comfort with the five-paragraph essay so that breaking away from that format can be done confidently • Independently engage in the writing process from pre-write to final draft • Tailor the writing process to their individual needs • Confidently give a persuasive speech to an audience of their peers 8th Grade - Reading Skills Curriculum

Reading Objective

The 8th grade reading program is committed to educating our students to: Make Multiple Critical Thinking Connections Independently.

Students will be introduced to:

• Deepening critical thinking connections with a text • Balancing the author’s concrete goals with their use of figurative language

Continued reinforcement will be placed on:

• Understanding and naming story elements • Understanding and naming figurative language • Further developing annotation and close reading skills • Quotation Analysis • Considering stylistic approaches and authorial intent • Understanding the role that historical context plays in authorial choices and the lasting impact of specific texts • Gaining exposure to a diverse set of authors and topics • Drawing links between authors and texts across genres

By year’s end, students will be able to:

• Annotate independently • Approach a text critically • Identify the nuances and authorial goals from a variety of genres • Select and appreciate independent reading books that will broaden their understanding of literature and the world

English 6

The 6th grade writing program is committed to educating our students to express critical thinking through the writing process. Over the course of the year, 6th grade students are introduced to developing an analytical essay starting with a single paragraph. The writing curriculum focuses on teaching the use of prewriting graphic organizers, thoughtful crafting of thesis statements, effective utilization of textual evidence to support the writer’s argument, and concluding sentences that comment upon the essay in its entirety. Additionally, students build on previous experience by generating multiple drafts, engaging in the editing and revision process, varying their sentence structure, and properly applying rules of grammar and usage. By the end of the year, students are expected to independently create a well-crafted and adequately supported analytical essay free of grammar and usage errors. Finally, as part of an interdisciplinary Greek Festival, the students craft monologues that they deliver in a theatrical production.

The 6th grade reading program is committed to educating our students to examine literature with a critical eye. Over the course of the year, sixth grade students are introduced to the process of becoming proficient in close reading and annotation, inference, and analysis. They are also beginning to broaden their understanding of the foundational elements of Greek mythology and theatre, in addition to studying full length works such as Jar of Dreams by Yoshiko Uchida, Lizzie Bright, and the Buckminster Boy by Gary Schmidt, Book of Greek Myths by Ingri, and Edgar Parin D’Aulaire, Black Ships Before Troy and The Wanderings of Odysseus by Rosemary Sutcliff, and short works of nonfiction, as well as poetry, folktales, and legends.

English 7

The 7th grade English curriculum strives to help students consider authorial intent and the impact of the audience in literature. Furthermore, in the 7th grade, students work to understand language as an art form and learn to use it to create and shape not just narrative but also imagery, voice, and tone. The overriding goal of the year is to help students achieve a comfort level with language that will allow them to consider and internalize the way an author utilizes style and technique to shape their work and literary vision.

The literature curriculum in seventh grade features a variety of genres to achieve these goals. Plays such as Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun and William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet complement short story and poetry texts as students solidify their critical reading skills and understanding of characterization and plot. In addition, novels such as William Golding’s Lord of the Flies provide excellent fodder for large group discussions and serve as a bridge to the essay writing component of the course. focusing on punctuation—while acquiring a broader base of vocabulary words gleaned from the texts. In addition, the literature curriculum includes a unit on memoirs and incorporates twentiethcentury American texts, such as Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. Public Speaking also holds a formal place in the curriculum. Students study famous modern and historical speeches and learn about Ethos, Pathos, Logos, and the rhetorical devices that make such speeches successful. The writing component of the curriculum aims to give students the confidence to break away from the structure and strictures of the 5 paragraph essay. Students engage in a wide variety of writing tasks—ranging from informal journaling to passage analysis work to formal essay writing—all to provide practice in utilizing the entire writing process. Great emphasis is placed on using Lab to contextualize and deepen their understanding of analytical writing. In-class and take-home assignments vary throughout the year in an effort to prepare students for the assortment of tasks they will face in high school English classes.

In addition to building on their vocabulary and grammar knowledge, students focus on crafting a provable thesis, engaging in all phases of the writing process such as pre-writing, drafting, and editing—and supporting their arguments with multiple forms of textual evidence. Instruction is provided on how best to create a strong conclusion paragraph and how this fits into the five-paragraph essay’s larger structure. The overarching goal of the 7th grade writing curriculum is to teach students how to create and prove a nuanced argument in their analytical work.

English 8

The 8th grade English curriculum focuses on helping students take ownership of their reading and writing skills. Building on the grammar and vocabulary foundations established in previous years, students increase their functional grammatical knowledge—specifically