Online Programs

What we'll do

Each week, we’ll read a lesson on literary concepts and/or writing techniques followed by a selection of several chapters from the course texts. We will then apply this knowledge in a reading comprehension quiz that will test your critical reading skills, discuss the book in writing with peers in asynchronous discussion forums, and produce a longer piece of writing that will challenge you to apply analytical, argumentative, and creative writing skills. Units are broken up by week with a Sunday night deadline. Each week, instructors will also provide written feedback that you will apply to your own writing.

What we’ll learn

• Critical reading and comprehension skills
• How to analyze and discuss literature in writing
• Writing techniques for fiction (e.g., short stories and poems)
• Writing techniques for non-fiction (e.g., persuasive and informative essays)

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

• Engage in online discussions with various topics, texts, and issues, determining the development of themes and central ideas in a text and citing strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text
• Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and update individual or shared writing products, taking advantage of technology's capacity to link to other information and to display information flexibly and dynamically
• Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events, using effective technique, well-chosen details, and well-structured event sequences
• Analyze an author’s choices concerning the text—the development of complex characters, the structuring of the text (i.e. parallel plots, manipulating time, mystery, tension, suspense, etc.—and how those choices advance the plot or develop the theme
• Analyze a particular point of view or cultural experience reflected in a work of literature from outside the United States, drawing on a wide reading of world literature
• Write informative/explanatory texts and arguments to support claims to convey ideas clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence
• Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on addressing what is most significant for a specific purpose and audience
• Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, assessing whether the reasoning is valid and the evidence is relevant and sufficient; identify false statements and fallacious reasoning

How we'll measure learning

Instructors evaluate student work using rubrics and provide constructive feedback on writing assignments. The course is aligned to ELA Common Core standards for grades 9-10.