Online Programs

What we'll do

Each week, students will read a lesson on literary concepts and/or writing techniques followed by a selection of several chapters from the course texts. Students will then apply this knowledge in a reading comprehension quiz that will test their critical reading skills, discuss the book in writing with peers in asynchronous discussion forums, and produce a longer piece of writing that will challenge them 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 students will apply to their 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/poems)
• Writing techniques for non-fiction (e.g., persuasive/informative essays)

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

• Engage collaboratively in online discussions with various topics, texts, and issues—determining the development of themes and central ideas in a text, 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
• Analyze how complex characters (e.g., those with multiple or conflicting motivations) develop over the course of a text, interact with other characters, and advance the plot or develop the theme
• Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events, using effective techniques, well-chosen details, and well-structured event sequences
• Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the cumulative impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone (e.g., how the language evokes a sense of time and place; how it sets a formal or informal tone)
• Analyze an author’s choices concerning the text, including 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
• 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
• Gather relevant information from multiple sources, assess the usefulness of each source in answering the research question; integrate information into the text selectively to maintain the flow of ideas

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.