The Wheeler School English and Language Arts Department
NEASC Accreditation, 2010-2011
Curriculum Overview
LOWER SCHOOL
The Lower School recently adopted an integrated and systematic spelling program that
emphasizes the interrelation of spelling, phonics (the study of the sound-letter relationships
in words), morphology (the study of the structure and form of words), and vocabulary
instruction as students progress in grade level. The faculty realizes the interconnectedness
of reading, writing, and spelling, and we want to provide our students with a program that
presents spelling skills within the larger context of language development.
First Grade Language Arts
Reading
Word Analysis, Fluency, and Vocabulary Development
In first grade, the direct teaching of phonics helps students develop word-attack skills that
are needed for decoding and encoding. Skills taught in first grade include phonemic
awareness, phonics (letter/sound connection), concepts about print, word recognition and
concept and vocabulary development.
Reading Comprehension
Students read and listen to a wide variety of literature. Students work to read
independently and answer literal and inferential questions about the text. Reading
Response Journal and group discussions help students make self-to-text, text-to-text, and
text-to-world connections.
Literary Response and Analysis
Literature across the curriculum is read to students to enhance learning experiences within
the classroom. Students identify and describe elements of the text through a variety of
media.
Writing
Strategies
First graders review how upper case letters are formed and learn how to form lower case
letters according to the Handwriting Without Tears program. Beginning writers learn how
to create sentences in response to a specific topic. Story plans that distinguish beginning,
middle and end parts of the story allow students to create original works of fiction.
Applications
First graders learn to write sentences through journal entries that highlight personal
experiences. They move on to creative writing when they are ready to work independently
to write multiple sentences within daily writing periods and attend to story parts including
plot, characters, setting, problems and solutions.
Written and Oral English Language Conventions
Students write and speak with a command of the English language. They learn to speak
and write in complete sentences. They move from phonetic to traditional spelling through a
systematic, phonetically-based spelling program. Students are introduced to basic
capitalization and punctuation rules.
Listening and Speaking
Strategies and Applications
Speaking and listening skills are practiced daily as students learn to actively participate in
class discussion as well as listen to and follow multiple-step directions.
Second Grade Language Arts
Reading
Word Analysis, Fluency, and Vocabulary Development
The focus in second grade continues to be the further development of word analysis skills,
as well as a particular emphasis on reading fluency. Our word analysis approach is based
on the alphabetical principle, including: sound/symbol relationships, syllabication rules,
and morphology. We understand the value of our students being fluent readers; accuracy
being the most critical element, along with “smooth” reading and appropriate expression.
Students are given several opportunities on a daily basis to read aloud independently, in
pairs, or small groups. Additionally, silent reading occurs daily across the curriculum.
Vocabulary development is taught through the use of analogies, direct instruction of
content area vocabulary, dictionary work, word choice (using synonyms, not repeating
words in a sentence), and word finding activities to highlight new vocabulary and pique
students’ interest before they read a given chapter.
Comprehension
Second graders learn how to read using literal, inferential and some critical thinking skills.
Some of the strategies we teach are guided reading, prediction, think aloud, and how to
frame questions such as who, what, where, when, how, and why. Teaching students that
good readers have an inner dialogue in their minds while reading helps them begin thinking
about the text and story lines. We also spend time acting out scenes from books to help
students understand character motivation and to get a better understanding of the
sequence of events.
Literary Response and Analysis
Students in second grade read a variety of literary genres including the fictional (especially
fairy tales) and the informational (biographies in particular). We believe that children
should be able to respond both verbally and in writing to the books read in class. Students
are expected to answer questions using complete sentences, generate alternative endings to
stories or chapters, compare fairy tale characters using Venn Diagrams, and analyze
characters personalities and motivations.
Writing
Strategies
Second graders use process writing as a means to learn all the steps involved in writing.
They begin with pre-writing, then drafting, revision, editing, and finally publishing. Each
student shares his/her completed book with peers as a read aloud. Other skills are taught
using “Framing Your Thoughts,” in which students use the structure of language/grammar
to enhance sentences, extend paragraphs, and develop storyline. A major focus in writing
at this level is the understanding that every story has a clear beginning, middle, and end.
The use of graphic organizers, checklists, and rubrics guides students’ writing and
thinking. These tools work to help students organize their written output and, at the same
time, help the students reflect on and self-evaluate their written work.
Applications
Writing in second grade is expressed and taught in many forms. We believe that students
should write personal narratives, create fiction, and compose expository text that reflect the
social studies curriculum. Creating stories that are not always teacher-directed
assignments allows students the opportunity to have more ownership of their writing.
Written and Oral English Language Conventions
Second graders are taught the basic mechanics of sentence structure. They are expected to
begin sentences with capital letters and to use appropriate ending punctuation for each
sentence. They are introduced to the use of quotation marks when writing dialogue.
Students are introduced to the concept of paragraph formation. Weekly mini- lessons,
based on the students’ writing, focus on formal conventions such as grammar,
punctuation, and style. We expect students to apply the spelling skills taught as well as to
incorporate the high frequency words in their writing. Legible penmanship is required.
Listening and Speaking
Strategies and Applications
Discussions and meetings occur throughout the day. Students are expected to participate
in both small and large group settings. Over the course of the year, each student has a
chance to teach their peers a lesson on a particular subject that appeals to them. Learning
to listen to classmates and respond constructively is an ongoing expectation. Other
strategies used to enhance speaking and listening skills include: “Turn and Talk,” morning
meeting share, and peer response to written work.
Third Grade Language Arts
Reading
Word Analysis, Fluency, and Vocabulary Development
Third Graders are continuing to work on the “learning to read” skills and are beginning to
transition into “reading to learn.” Through vocabulary words taken from their reading text,
students work on understanding meaning. They are required to study these words nightly.
In addition, students are expected to read independently every night.
Students practice reading aloud on a daily basis to develop their fluency skills. They are
taught how to read accurately with expression and intonation, such as how to pause after
commas and periods. Students also work on their oral fluency by learning how to break up
multisyllabic words.
Comprehension
Students are presented with both fiction and nonfiction texts and are expected to respond
to and analyze passages. Students discuss plot, setting, and character. They learn how to
use the table of contents, chapter headings, indexes and glossaries to find information in
the text. They learn how to develop their answers to the text through using information
found in the passage. Students demonstrate comprehension by finding the correct answers
in the text, making inferences and doing some critical thinking. Distinguising the main idea
from the supporting details is another area of emphasis, as is summarizing text into one’s
own words. The students are expected write about the text using correct spelling and
complete sentences.
Literary Response and Analysis
Students are exposed to different genres of literature, including poetry, fiction, and
biographies. Furthermore, we support our literature curriculum in social studies and
science through reading nonfiction books. The students work on character analysis by
using descriptive words that they think explain the character that they are reading about.
They are expected to find passages or quotes that support their ideas.
Writing
Writing Strategies
Students are expected to write legibly and to use correct spacing. They begin learning how
to write D’Nealian cursive. Students learn how to write paragraphs (including indenting),
friendly letters, and text to a wordless book. They also learn how to write paragraphs that
have topic and closing sentences with supporting details and facts. Students are provided
with checklists to support their understanding of clear writing.
Applications
Students write poetry, narratives, nonfiction, thank you notes, and personal letters. In their
personal letters, they learn where to place the date, proper salutation, body, closing, and
signature
Written and Oral English Language Conventions
Students learn proper writing conventions such as complete sentences with proper capitals,
organization, spelling, and punctuation. Students are exposed to learning how to write
sentences that include predicate expanders (where, why, when and how). They learn about
the subject-predicate structure of a bare bones sentence and about where to place
prepositional phrases, adjectives, and adverbs.
Students are given weekly spelling words that focus on phonics skills and high-frequency
words. They are given a weekly spelling test which includes dictation.
Listening and Speaking
Strategies and Applications
Students present oral book reports to an audience of peers throughout the year. For their
book reports, they present details about the characters and information about the theme.
In the case of biographies, they answer a range of assigned questions about the life to
which they have been assigned. We expect students to speak in clear, audible voices and to
make eye contact with their classmates.
In a given class, students might debate one another about questions in the text. In addition
to developing their own opinions, they are expected to respect their peers’ ideas and to
build meaning collaboratively.
Fourth Grade Language Arts
Reading
Word Analysis, Fluency, and Vocabulary Development
The bulk of new vocabulary words is based on content (math, social studies, science). A
preview of new or unfamiliar vocabulary is given when students read in-class texts
independently. Ongoing discussion of vocabulary occurs when readings are done in a group
setting. The text Vocabulary Cartoons is used on a daily basis to expose students to novel
words using rhyming and visual mnemonics. We celebrate our ever-growing vocabulary
with the annual Fourth Grade Vocabulary Parade.
Comprehension
Students in fourth grade are transitioning from “learning to read” to “reading to learn.”
Comprehension skills—how to locate details as evidence to support true and false
statements, how to use one’s knowledge of the text to make inferences, how to read
between the lines, how to make predictions, and how to form personal connections to the
text—are all elements of the fourth grade program.
Literary Response and Analysis
Through required nightly independent reading, exposure to both fiction and non-fiction
texts in various subjects, and literary response and analysis, fourth grade students are
supported in developing a love of reading and in increasing their quiver of skills as readers.
All students expand their reading horizons through participation in the annual Battle of the
Books, reading from a variety of genres selected by individual school librarians.
Writing
Strategies
Writing is woven throughout the fourth grade curriculum in an interdisciplinary fashion.
However, through all of these assignments, consistent attention is given to the skills of
formulating a cohesive paragraph with an introduction, topic sentence, supporting details,
and conclusion. Frames and templates help students to scaffold and organize their ideas,
and rubrics help them to self-assess the quality and completeness of their work.
Applications
Students in fourth grade write in various genres and for a variety of purposes: to express
their knowledge, to reflect on experiences, and to give voice to their creativity. They write
personal narratives and first-person narratives from the perspective of historical figures.
They compose poetry and express their opinions on persuasive essays. A comprehensive
portfolio of their writing from fourth grade is assembled at the end of the year and
presented to students’ families as an end-of-the-year keepsake.
Written and Oral English Language Conventions
Through the use of mini-lessons on vocabulary, sentence structure, mechanics, and
spelling rules, students are taught and given opportunities for guided practice and
implementation of proper mechanics and conventions.
Listening and Speaking
Strategies and Applications
Students are expected to orally present projects including writing assignments, to express
themselves aloud in morning meeting and other subject areas, and to read aloud fluently
during class lessons. Occasional memorization of poetry is a component of performance in
class and at school-wide events. Students are prompted to know their role both as a
speaker and as a listener. Class participation is highly encouraged and supported by the
teacher.
Fifth Grade Language Arts
Reading
Word Analysis, Fluency, and Vocabulary Development
Upon entering fifth grade, students are expected to already have appropriate word attack
skills. Although they are given the opportunity to read aloud in class, the majority of
fluency training takes place on an individual basis through classroom pullout/tutoring
based on a Qualitative Reading Inventory or evaluation information.
Students are expected to use context clues to infer the meaning of new words as well as use
tools such as the dictionary to add words to their working vocabulary. Along with learning
content-specific vocabulary, students work through Wordly-Wise lessons to build their
everyday working vocabulary.
Comprehension
Fifth graders are expected to think meta-cognitively and employ various reading
comprehension strategies such as connecting with the text, asking questions, visualizing,
monitoring, predicting and making inferences. These strategies are introduced through
modeling with children’s picture book read-alouds. They are expected to comprehend text
at the literal level and to look beyond the surface for a deeper, inferential layer of meaning.
Literary Response and Analysis
Students are expected to using higher order thinking to analyze and respond to questions
about the text as well as monitor for important details for summarizing.
Writing
Strategies
Fifth graders focus on expository writing and organizing their thoughts during
brainstorming through use of graphic organizers. Students are expected to have an
awareness of the audience and apply the appropriate voice and tone to their writing.
Applications
Students continue their study of the structure of writing, building off of bare-boned
sentences. They continue to work on organized paragraphs as building blocks of a larger
multi-paragraph essay. Students are expected to include a thesis statement in expository
writing that relates to the topics of each body paragraph. Body paragraphs contain a topic
sentence, lead details, follow-up specific details, and a clinching sentence. Students learn
the importance of transition sentences to tie together paragraphs.
Written and Oral English Language Conventions
Students are expected to become their own editors for punctuation, spelling, and sentence
variety using lessons from Project Read as well as direct instruction of COPS rules.
Listening and Speaking
Strategies and Applications
Students are given ample opportunities to make oral presentations to their peers during
which they are expected to speak in an articulate manner, make eye contact with their
audience, and demonstrate knowledge of their subject. Students present book report
projects, make PowerPoint presentations, and present research. Students are expected to
be active listeners and participants during all discussions.
MIDDLE SCHOOL
Sixth Grade Language Arts
Reading
Word Analysis and Vocabulary Development
Students will read texts across genre--historical fiction to poetry and newspaper articles to
online sources--from which they investigate vocabulary and grammar used in increasingly
complex contexts.
Reading Comprehension
Students demonstrate their understanding of texts through “active reading”: extracting
main ideas or arguments, making connections between readings or viewpoints, and
drawing inferences and conclusions. They support their own opinions and ideas with
evidence from the text, exploring literary features such as cause and effect, literary and
poetic devices, plot structure, theme, and setting.
Literary Response and Analysis
Students read independently, searching for meaning and connection with other
readings/writings and their own life experiences. This emphasis on choice expects students
to calculate their own reading level and pace, to identify their personal interests, and to
connect with a cohort through reading letters and peer reviews.
Writing
Strategies
Students write for a variety of purposes, organizing their ideas clearly and discovering a
unique voice that can be used across writing assignments. Student writing makes
comprehensive use of the writing process from brainstorming to publishing, with a special
focus on the editing and revising phases, which demonstrate a student’s knowledge of the
standards of the English language. We expect students to write increasingly complex
sentences by combining ideas using phrases and clauses and to compose fluid paragraphs
by organizing evidence and using transitions.
Applications
Students will be able to write for a variety of purposes and will produce writing in a number
of genres. Across writing assignments, we expect that students will: employ strong topic
and thesis sentences; include fully developed, sequential ideas; show rather than tell when
describing; take positions and support their opinions; and use evidence from text or
research to give credibility to their expressed ideas.
Written and Oral English Language Conventions
In both speaking and writing, students use standard English conventions appropriate to
the grade level. Areas of focus this year include:
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Combining sentences: appositives, compound and complex sentences, transitions
and conjunctions.
Comma usage in series, introductory phrases, and appositives
Quotation marks to cite textual evidence
In addition, students are expected to retain and demonstrate capitalization, punctuation,
and spelling conventions mastered in previous years of school.
Listening and Speaking
Strategies and Applications
In formal, rehearsed presentations and in structured class discussions, students convey
their spoken ideas clearly and with evidence; in doing so, they reflect on their past
experiences, their prior learning, and their intended impact on their audience.
Students employ organizational structures in prepared presentations and engage the
audience with delivery skills which include: articulating clearly; maintaining eye contact
and posture; regulating pitch, pauses, and speed to enhance meaning; and using
appropriate facial expressions and hand gestures to communicate non-verbally.
In structured discussions, students analyze texts and other forms of media, respond
directly to other students’ ideas critically but without criticism, clarify and support ideas
and opinions with examples and evidence, and ask questions to further discussion and
clarify peers’ ideas.
Seventh and Eighth Grade English
In grades seven and eight, students transition from the all-encompassing Language Arts
model of lower school and sixth grade to a more specific focus on studying literature in
English. These two years of the middle school curriculum have been conceived and planned
as a continuum.
Reading
Word Analysis and Vocabulary Development
In seventh and eighth grade, students learn selected Greek, Latin, and Anglo-Saxon roots
and affixes with a special focus on Greek and Roman mythology and the wealth of
etymology from those traditions. They study key developments in the history of English as a
living, changing language, from Old English origins to today’s global English. They work
independently to broaden their personal reading vocabulary, researching new terms
encountered in reading, studying their etymology, and connecting them to familiar, related
terms.
Middle school students’ growing cognitive flexibility allows them to better identify and
analyze idioms, analogies, metaphors, and similes to infer literal and figurative meanings.
In distinguishing between denotative and connotative meanings, students become more
adept at interpreting the associative power of words. Throughout this process of vocabulary
development, students show their ability to verify meanings by definition, restatement,
example, comparison, and contrast.
Comprehension
With their broadening vocabulary for literary analysis and response, seventh and eighth
graders are becoming better equipped to refer to specific literary terms in their study of
what they read. Although they continue to read non-fiction, the curriculum focuses on the
moves one makes when reading fiction. These interpretative strategies are taught explicitly
through shared textual analysis, and then students are expected to rehearse and master
the techniques in their independent reading. Such strategies include (but are not limited
to):
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Analyzing the structural elements of plot (subplots, parallel episodes, climax, time,
sequence, tempo, foreshadowing, and flashbacks), plot development, and conflict
resolution or irresolution
Analyzing setting, the writer’s strategies for creating a particular sense of place and
time, and the interplay of setting and character, plot, and theme
Analyzing character motives, relationships, and internal and external conflicts,
including the interplay of central and subordinate characters
Distinguishing, and seeing points of connection, between internal and external
characterization
Recognizing how voice, persona, and choice of narrator affect characterization, tone,
plot, and style
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Interpreting the significance of literary devices and figurative language, including
imagery, ambiguity, symbolism, and irony
Evaluating the aesthetic qualities of narrative style, including the impact of diction,
figurative language, descriptive language, dialogue, and tempo upon mood and theme
Literary Response and Analysis
Like their sixth grade counterparts, seventh and eighth graders read literature of many
genres, identifying and analyzing their core elements of structure and style, with a constant
aim of finding connections within texts, between texts, and to the world at large. Like their
upper school counterparts, seventh and eighth graders are also ready to read widely across
literary genres, exploring classic and contemporary works within the artistic traditions and
cultural circumstances from which they arise.
There is a particular focus on the structure of different genres. Students analyze, compare,
and contrast the characteristics that distinguish literary genres (including short stories,
novels, memoirs/autobiographies, personal essays, allegories, comedies, tragedies,
dramatic monologues, lyric poems, and narrative poems). In doing so, they explore how
genre shapes theme, character, action, setting, and voice. They trace generic conventions
over time, comparing and contrasting traditional and innovative approaches within genres
in classical and contemporary works. They also compare and contrast differing directorial
approaches to drama (e.g., traditional vs. modernized Shakespeare).
Middle school students of English also begin to consider how the literature they read
reflects the circumstances of its production. They look at the salient historical issues and
the author’s cultural origins and analyze how the text responds to, questions, or challenges
literary traditions.
Writing
Strategies
Middle school students begin to read as writers who are developing their own literary voices
and practicing literary writing in a variety of forms. As they look to established writers as
models for their own prose, students broaden their own writing vocabulary, adopting and
adapting new terms and phrases that express and describe precisely, vividly, and
distinctively, and recognizing and eschewing clichéd, imprecise, vague, dated, and
otherwise ineffective word choices.
Applications
In addition to building a portfolio of creative fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, seventh and
eighth graders hone their skills of written literary analysis in informal pieces, brief formal
analyses in class, and full-fledged critical essays that undergo the full writing process.
Written and Oral English Language Conventions
Students’ work in the areas of grammar and mechanics happens within the authentic
context of their own writing. Students continue to improve in their ability to recognize and
repair common sentence errors (e.g. fragments) and flaws (e.g. wordiness), and they
practice varying sentence length and structure to diversity prose style. Punctuation rules
and formatting conventions (e.g. dialogue, citations) are also reinforced.
Listening and Speaking
Strategies and Applications
Seventh and eighth graders benefit from active class sessions that unfold in several varied
stages, from the vocal and communal to the reflective and individual. Over the course of a
typical week, class meetings offer a balance of workshop and seminar activities to explore
reading and writing, as well as individual student-teacher conferences regarding current
writing. There is a strong emphasis on small-group and individual presentations, ranging
from informal class discussions to fully scripted and staged dramatic presentations.
UPPER SCHOOL
Ninth Grade English
Reading
Word Analysis and Vocabulary Development
Throughout the year, ninth graders review narrative and poetic terminology, relearning
important, discipline-specific academic vocabulary that helps inform their ability to analyze
text. Students learn new vocabulary, grade-appropriate Tier Two words, as those words
appear in the reading. They look up and use the new terms in original sentences and are
held accountable for learning them through periodic quizzes. Special attention is paid to
idiomatic usages and the connotative meanings of these words. Students are also
encouraged to read with a dictionary in hand so that they can look up and clarify
unfamiliar vocabulary to aid comprehension.
Reading Comprehension
Building on the skills introduced in middle school, ninth graders read text closely and
actively, monitoring comprehension and rereading when necessary, looking up unfamiliar
words, and annotating when they have questions or observations. A special premium is
placed on formulating a comprehensive theory about the text that explains or accounts for
the greatest number of details therein.
Reading text aloud in class allows teachers and students to gauge their understanding of
the material. It also provides an opportunity for students to hear how prosody and
inflection contribute to meaning.
Literary Response and Analysis
Students continue to hone their skills reading closely— beyond the plot— and inferring
characterization and theme from implied details (physical description, dialogue, tone). They
identify and explicate salient passages from text, showing how imagery and figurative
language contribute to meaning.
The curriculum covers all the major genres, including an extensive unit on poetry that
builds off what students have learned in middle school. They also read short stories,
Shakespearean and classical Greek drama, and contemporary novels dealing with themes
of adolescence.
Writing
Strategies
Students write frequently in ninth grade English. They compose both critical and creative/
personal responses to the texts they read. Major assignments start with a response to a
teacher generated prompt and go through a multi-phase process involving planning,
drafting, and revision. Students are expected to write two drafts of every major assignment.
By the end of the ninth grade year, students should be able to write a cogent thesis that
stakes out a position on a topic in a way that is defensible and worth arguing. The
introductory paragraphs of critical essays provide an overview of the piece and a
preliminary sense of its organizational structure; personal essays promptly tunnel into the
subject(s) to be explored rather than hovering on the periphery. Students treat paragraphs
as building blocks of meaning in which to develop coherent ideas and from which to
transition gracefully to related ideas. Direct quotation, properly formatted and cited, should
provide critical evidence where appropriate; it should be embedded in close reading that
explicates what the passage means and explains how it contributes to the writer’s
argument. We expect students’ essays to end thoughtfully and gracefully.
Applications
Students write in a variety of genres and with different audiences and intents: poetry, short
fiction, memoir, critical essays, and reviews. In creative and critical assignments, students
make an effort to show rather than tell, using vivid subject-predicate-object cores and
effective sensory imagery to share their perspective with the reader. In critical essays,
students learn to construct a receptive reader and structure their argument to address the
questions and concerns of that imagined audience.
Written and Oral English Language Conventions
Students in ninth grade are reintroduced to fundamental grammar concepts to which they
were exposed in middle and lower school (e.g. complete sentences, subject-predicate
agreement, punctuation rules). They also study models to improve the rhetorical variety
and effectiveness of their writing (e.g. subordinate elements, advanced use of punctuation)
and learn to recognize and repair more subtle errors (e.g. pronoun antecedent agreement).
Although much of this instruction grows organically out of their own writing, students
complete a series of usage exercises generated by the department.
Listening and Speaking
Strategies and Applications
Ninth graders should come to class ready to contribute to discussion in a variety of venues:
pairs work, small group, and whole class. By the end of the year, they should be able to
share responsibilities equitably for that work (time keeper, scribe, quote finder, mediator)
without teacher mediation. Those contributions may vary widely depending on the
particular student (or the particular class), but we hope that their questions and comments
will fall along the more analytical, synthetic, and evaluative spectrum of Bloom’s taxonomy.
Students are expected to listen to their teacher and their peers and keep detailed notes or
annotations recording those conversations. During the poetry unit, for example, each
student recites and teaches a poem that he or she has studied; the rest of the class is
responsible for taking notes on and asking questions about the presentation, and their
engagement and learning are assessed in a subsequent test.
Tenth Grade English
Reading
Word Analysis and Vocabulary Development
Etymology is reinforced as a useful tool for close-reading and general vocabulary building.
Students are shown how to make use of the etymological/morphological material provided
in dictionaries, etc. to gain a more substantive sense of a given word’s meanings. Etymology
also helps students understand how connotations of words evolve or devolve over time. Our
work here is guided to some degree by Emerson’s sentiment that “all language is fossilized
poetry”.
Literary Response and Analysis
Students will read a variety of texts from different literary genres and cultures to develop a
sense of how culture influences art and yet remain aware of how our essential human
experiences and natures drive that same art.
Building upon the work begun in English 9, sophomores continue to discuss, think about,
and make use of the imaginative experience of reading. Students are encouraged and
eventually expected to use their senses, perceived or imagined, to extend their
understanding of a given text beyond that of literal interpretation. We teach students to use
their empathy, which is essentially an imaginative process, to improve their critical work
with characters, as representatives of human beings and their actions, and the plot
situations we find them in.
Writing
Strategies
Students will also be expected to manipulate the formal structure of the essay, which they
learned in ninth grade, to accommodate the needs of an emerging argument. In other
words, sophomores will need to think about the relationship of their ideas/argument to its
form, and be able to manipulate the parameters of the essay’s structure to meet the needs
of the argument as it develops over the course of the writing process.
Students are also taught to evaluate argument coherence through teacher feedback and
personal editing. Sophomores learn to make use of transitions and transitional phrasing to
improve argument coherence, as well as the coherence of individual paragraphs, as they
write and revise.
Applications
As in ninth grade, students write a variety of pieces, both critical and creative/ personal, in
response to the thinking initiated in their reading and further fleshed out in class
discussion. In keeping a roughly 1:2 ratio between creative and critical assignments, we
hope that their growing expository and narrative skills will allow sophomore English
students to take advantage of developmental gains in the areas of analytical facility and
complexity and emotional/intellectual maturity.
Written and Oral English Language Conventions
All students will be held accountable for the grammatical concepts covered in the freshman
year at Wheeler. This foundation will serve as our anchor as we begin to approach writing,
especially the writing of analytical essays, as an artful practice; and we will do so by
focusing, closely, on style, voice, and revision.
Listening and Speaking
Strategies and Applications
Students are expected to be actively involved in a wide variety of discussion activities.
Working as a class or in smaller groups, students have the opportunity to talk about their
imaginative and analytical responses to the reading and share their ideas with their peers.
The classroom dynamic will also require students to listen and respond to their peers’
comments and identify the originator of a given idea within the context of the oral response
thereto.
Eleventh Grade English
Reading
In the fall semester of eleventh grade, students are required to read American texts from
the 1860's until the 1990's. We want to foster in our students an appreciation for the
literary roots of American literature. We emphasize common themes in these texts that
include novels, short stories, poetry and drama.
Literary Response and Analysis
Joyce Carol Oates wrote that no art is above politics. In this class, students explore
American literature as a reflection and as a response to the times. For example, as
students read Whitman and Dickinson, they compare their unique use of syntax and
diction to their American predecessors and their British contemporaries. How is American
Literature independent from European models? What elements make American literature
unique? Thoreau, Emerson, and Douglass are read not only as historical texts but also as
examples of diverse rhetorical styles that reflect the times in which they were written.
While reading Hemingway, they draw on their historical knowledge of the Lost Generation;
during their study of Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, they discuss Gatsby and Nick
Carraway's philosophies within the context of the Great Depression, immigration, and
socio-economics. Additionally, the students are expected to connect these earlier works
with the themes discussed in more contemporary dramas like Death of a Salesman and
Twilight. In their interpreting of American literature, students are expected to identify the
significance both of individual texts and of the larger body of work from which each text
borrows and to which it pays homage.
Writing
In eleventh grade, students write both critical and personal essays. In tenth grade,
students' analytical essays generally focus on one text. By eleventh grade, critical essays
include more than one text; analyses are broader and the scope of the argument more
sophisticated. Additionally, certain critical essay assignments may focus on one particular
rhetorical device. Personal essays allow students to craft their in-class reflections into a
compelling narrative. For example, in November, the juniors spend a morning on the
Wheeler Farm campus where they have an opportunity to reflect in nature. Guided by
prompts, quotations, and a film, they write journal entries, which become the germ of a
longer, crafted essay. Classes similarly might begin with a five to ten-minute writing
exercise that will open up discussion and be the thesis for an analytical essay or the
introduction to a personal piece. We spend time encouraging students to write clearly and
concisely; to use more sophisticated vocabulary; and to employ more varied sentence
structure as well as diverse rhetorical techniques. Students might be asked to parody a
writer's style or imitate an analytical essay's structure, opening up their own work so it
goes beyond the more traditional five-paragraph structure. We encourage them to explore
the essays of essayists like de Montaigne and Scarry, for example, for inspiration. Students
use their teachers' and their peers’ feedback to revise their first draft into a more coherent,
lucid essay.
Listening and Speaking
The semester begins with the question of national identity: "What does it mean to be an
American?" The students share their own stories of personal identity with anecdotes about
their own lives and their ancestors. Their anecdotes enhance the curriculum as students
learn not only from their teacher from each other. By eleventh grade, students should be
capable of making connections between the texts and their own lives, history and current
events. Unique to American literature are the often transparent connections between the
students' stories, history, and the texts they read. During a conversation about the
disparity between the Eggs, New York City, and the ash heaps, students will talk about the
socio-economic differences in their own communities. When discussing Thoreau and
Emerson's essays, they talk about the contrast between transcendentalist philosophies and
the frenetic speed at which they live, a rhythm which technology only seems to speed up.
Some of the most compelling stories come out of the question regarding the American
Dream. Does it still exist? Has it changed? Students are encouraged to share stories and
to test the authors' views on the American Dream by comparing and contrasting them with
their own experiences. Working as a class or in smaller groups, students will share their
own interpretations of the texts, critique each other's writing, or share their own essays.
Twelfth Grade English
Reading
Word Analysis and Vocabulary Development
In the senior year, students are exposed to literary terminology surrounding the premodern and modern texts they read. For example, as they read Hamlet and The Sound and
the Fury, they are introduced to such terms as empiricism, existentialism, and alienation as
contexts for the characters they read. Furthermore, seniors are introduced to examples of
scholarly criticism and are encouraged to bring more sophisticated academic discourse into
the writing of their critical essays. Vocabulary study occurs within the context of the
course reading.
Literary Response and Analysis
As they become more independent readers and writers in preparation for college, students
are asked in class discussion to identify the passages that they see as especially important.
At the same time, they continue to respond to passages introduced by the instructor for
their perusal. In their reading of Hamlet, students examine the way Shakespeare’s use of
irony, syntax, and figurative language contributes to meaning. They spend significant time
closely reading soliloquies and tracing the changes in character that the speeches suggest.
One major essay assignment asks them to explicate a scene in close detail. With The
Sound and the Fury, literary response and analysis also requires students to consider the
implications of stream-of consciousness techniques and the challenges of non-linear
narration. As they tackle the remaining texts of the course, a modern play, a contemporary
collection of poetry, and an anthology of essays, students continue to identify potent
moments in dialogue and detail. With the poems, in particular, their literary response often
focuses around noticing connections between distinct poems in the collection.
Writing
Strategies and Applications
Seniors are expected not only to develop their own theses in response to the literature and
their consideration of literary criticism, but also to make comparisons between the focus
text and other works of literature. Once students have mastered the sophisticated and
effective critical argument, they are encouraged to begin to experiment more with their own
style and voice as analytical writers. Creative assignments are often based on writing in
homage to or in imitation of another author’s style. For example, students write a “stream
of consciousness” personal essay mimicking Faulkner’s first person perspective in The
Sound and the Fury as well as his use of symbolic imagery, fragmented narrative structure
and non-linear time progression.
Though most essays are still developed through a thorough draft and revision process,
seniors also write several one-draft papers as preparation for college English courses. The
emphasis in 12th grade English is on helping students move beyond socialized, correct
writing to establish their own distinctive perspective, voice and style. Exposure to writers
with unique approaches to storytelling and a focus on modernist experimentation with
narrative structure provide the inspiration for students’ exploration of their own forms.
Listening and Speaking
Strategies and Applications
As is the case at each grade level, English 12 is run as a seminar, and as such, students
are expected to contribute to the discussions by offering thoughtful comments and asking
informed questions. Students continue to participate both in small groups and in the
larger context of the class as a whole. Furthermore, they are required to read their writing,
both creative and critical, aloud to the class and to solicit feedback that will help them
during their revision process. In a writing workshop exercise, the students listening must
respond to the writer who is reading his/her work aloud with kind, constructive comments,
sharing both specific observations about what is successful about the piece, as well as
pointed suggestions for how to make the piece stronger.
We also require our seniors to memorize and deliver a recitation of Hamlet’s famous “To be
or not to be” soliloquy. The goal of this assignment is to encourage the students to learn
the speech inside and out, to pay special attention to the phrasing, turns, contradictions,
and nuances of the speech as they are striving to set it to memory. When students deliver
the soliloquy, they are assessed both on the basis of how accurately they deliver it, as well
as how well they convey to the listener that they understand the speaker’s conundrum.
A final strategy for encouraging strong listening and speaking skills in our seniors,
continued from previous years, is to suggest that they confer with the instructor outside of
class when they want advice about revising their essays. In these sessions, teachers ask
questions as a way of guiding students toward their articulation of what they want to say in
their writing. The conversation often allows the student to discover a focus for his or her
essay.