English and Writing

MIDDLE SCHOOL ELA

The English Language Arts program focuses on reading comprehension, discussion, and writing skills in an enriching, supportive, and creative environment. Students are immersed in activities that promote life-long literacy through critical thinking, prediction, inference, and reflection. Each day, students interact with text, process, and writing.

GENERAL MIDDLE SCHOOL ELA OVERVIEW

Over the course of the school year, students will work on vocabulary, background knowledge, text structure and inferences, discussion and dialogue, grammar, expository writing, and creative writing in an environment that supports each student’s different learning style.

Vocabulary will focus on breadth and depth, indirect and direct instruction, content-specific and cross-disciplinary words, context building, multiple exposures and rehearsal, and building independent word learning skills.

Background Knowledge will focus on surveying, activating, translating, building, and integrating wide and varied knowledge and schema related to texts and the world.

Text Structure and Inferences will relate to learning purpose, text features, and signal words for different genres, uncovering local and global coherence, building surface code, textbase, and mental models, identifying cohesive ties and connectives, andgrowing individual comprehension monitoring skills.

Discussion and Dialogue will explore inquiry, reflection, and both listening and participation skills.

Grammar is taught in context through a scope and sequence for both word level and sentence level structure.

Expository Writing focuses on paragraph structure, essay writing, embedding quotes, research skills, MLA format, and transitions or flow between sentences and paragraphs.

Creative Writing is explored through work with character, setting, and plot, and additionally through symbolism, metaphor, description, dialogue, and poetry.