Middle School English: Reading Rhapsody

Description

Community, books, laughter, and learning! In this class, we are hitting reading hard! We are closing gaps, building skills, and enriching the reading skills of all kids who take this class, regardless of their strengths and weaknesses. We are serious about helping kids develop the reading skills they need to be successful in every single academic endeavor they will face. As we build their skills, they will begin to start enjoying reading more.

“If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet depreciate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters. This struggle may be a moral one; or it may be a physical one; or it may be both moral and physical; but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.”
Frederick Douglass, Frederick Douglass: Selected Speeches and Writings

Frederick Douglass was an astounding man. He was a slave who contended with much, but my favorite thing about him is that he taught himself to read. Then he taught others to read. He didn’t shy away from struggle, as shown in the quote above. Reading or writing may be a struggle for your learner. You may have experienced tears, frustration, and sorrow over school struggles. But like Frederick Douglass said, without struggle, there is no progress. Here, we EMBRACE the struggle and power through it for the joy on the other side.

This ongoing class gives families the ultimate flexibility without compromising on the quality of education. We pack an academic punch in these once-weekly classes and keep them fun so students master skills. Each class meets once per week, and students have reading homework. They will choose their own books and report back on their page number each week. They will read for 100 minutes per week. It’s easy for students to manage and easy for parents to be a little more hands-off. We want students to start mastering these skills on their own.

A Snapshot of Each Class:

1. We begin with vocabulary work, building knowledge of words
2. Next, the instructor teaches an explicit skill or understanding. This direct teaching is supported by a large body of research proving this method is effective in increasing learning
3. Students practice the skill with guidance from the teacher
4. Finally, students have the opportunity to show their learning in an independent way
5. Students read a novel of their choice for homework

A Year of English Language Arts Content:

You can jump in and out of class as you’d like! These lessons stand alone, and this ongoing class is flexible! Students can stay in class for a comprehensive year of English Language Arts, or just pop in for a week during their break from a brick-and-mortar school. A course that you may find similar and equally enjoyable: Smart Cookie.

Schedule:

• A focus on vocabulary and words
  The week starting Sept 3: decoding long words with prefixes and suffixes
  The week starting Sept 10: learning the meaning of prefixes and suffixes
  The week starting Sept 17: vocabulary / word families
  The week starting Sept 24: how to use context clues
• A focus on understanding other ways narratives are structured as well as the ordering of ideas in sentences, paragraphs, and informational texts.
  The week starting Oct 1: dividing sentences into chunks of meaning
  The week starting Oct 8: dividing paragraphs into parts
  The week starting Oct 15: organizing an informational essay
  The week starting Oct 22: analyzing different structures in narratives (in medias res, flashback, etc.)
• A focus on close reading, understanding, and paraphrasing informational texts.
  The week starting Oct 29: learn how to read for understanding
  The week starting Nov 5: learn to annotate a text for close reading
  The week starting Nov 12: learn to paraphrase a text in their own words without plagiarism
  THE WEEK STARTING NOV 19–NO CLASS
  The week starting Nov 26: learn how to study for a test by reading, annotating, outlining, and writing
  The week starting Dec 3: illustrate narrative passages
  The week starting Dec 10: diagram informational passages
• A focus on learning to make inferences and build background knowledge, analyze text features, and analyze graphs and charts
  The week starting Dec 17: making inferences
  DEC 24-JAN 6–NO CLASS
  The week starting Jan 7: how to recognize a lack of background knowledge and what to do about it
  The week starting Jan 14: using text features
  The week starting Jan 21: how to read charts & graphs
  The week starting Jan 28: approaches to reading: skimming, scanning, reading aloud
  The week starting Feb 4: how to take tests
• A focus on reading short stories
  The week starting Feb 11: “The Monkey’s Paw” by W.W. Jacobs
  The week starting Feb 18: “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe
  The week starting Feb 25: “A Retrieved Reformation” by O. Henry
• A focus on reading poetry
  The week starting Mar 3: intro to poetry
  The week starting Mar 10: figurative language
  The week starting Mar 17: figurative language
  The week starting Mar 24: figurative language
• A focus on reading a novel (The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman)
  The week starting Mar 31: Using inferences
  The week starting Apr 7: Allusions
  The week starting Apr 14: Keeping track of characters
  The week starting Apr 21: Analyzing a character
  The week starting Apr 28: Analyzing plot elements