LAKESIDE UPPER SCHOOL ENGLISH SCOPE & SEQUENCE – January 2012
th
9
to
12th
9th
10th
11th
12th
WHY (Philosophy/Purpose)
Our highest goals are to inspire in
students a love of literature and to help
them develop skills as readers, writers,
and speakers.
WHAT? (Content / Themes)
We aim to provide a wide spectrum of
literary genres from a variety of eras
and countries. This includes examining
connections between content and form.
Specific Goals:
--Build students’ empathy through study
of literary characters whose cultures,
backgrounds, and concerns may differ
from their own;
--Give students tools that inspire
confidence in their abilities as readers,
writers, speakers, and thinkers;
--Work to integrate students from
Lakeside Middle School with those from
other area middle schools to provide a
common base of all skills.
--Use an international selection of
literature to spark students’ moral
imaginations and help them make sense
of their world; encourage students to
explore aspects of their identities and, in
light of relevant ethical and philosophical
concerns, refine personal beliefs;
--Develop students’ critical, creative, and
collaborative writing and speaking skills
and deepen their grasp of literary genres
(thus setting them up for later electives).
Specific Content & Themes:
Themes: Rebellion, coming-of-age, the
individual & the collective, the role of
family, insiders & outsiders;
--Novels, short stories, poems, and films
featuring a variety of cultures and
nationalities;
--Intro to different modes of writing;
--Fundamental grammar & mechanics;
--Study of vocab usage & connotations.
--Encourage students to think, write, and
speak astutely about the cultural
constituents of American identities and
about cultural, and ethical dilemmas;
--Encourage students to see connections
between American lit. and their own
various ethnic and social backgrounds;
--Help students make relevant
connections between readings and
personal / school-related global travel.
--Foster in our students an ability to think
critically and flexibly about a wide range
of complex concepts/issues, including
historical, philosophical, cultural, moral,
and ethical questions;
--Give students a sense of – and direct
exposure to – the range and depth of
important genres, categories and periods
throughout history and across the world;
--Help students gain confidence with
advanced conceptual discussions;
--Encourage students to view themselves
as intellectually curious and morally
conscious citizens.
--Exposure to major American literary
voices from 1850 to the present;
--Through the readings, exposure to
major issues of class, race, ethnicity,
and gender/sexual orientation;
--Examination of the cultural margin-tocenter dynamic in texts and intricate
links between culture and identity;
--Vocabulary and literary terms.
Themes: Innocence & experience,
conformity & rebellion, culture &
identity, love & hate, mortality;
--Specific characteristics and effects of
different literary genres;
--Pertinent novels and a wide variety of
poetry, short fiction, and literary nonfiction from an anthology crossreferencing theme and genre;
--Vocab and grammar most relevant to
students’ writing skills at this stage.
Wide range of themes related to moral,
social, cultural, and philosophical
questions; explorations of human
consciousness; technical investigations
of literary craft and film technique;
--Electives exposing students to major
literary traditions, from 19th c. Russian
to African-American, from the memoir
to science fiction;
--Opportunities to work on creative
expression (poetry, film-making, art);
--Interdisciplinary team-taught courses
combining English with Science, Math,
Drama, and History.
HOW? (Pedagogy / Skills)
We emphasize close reading, practicing
writing skills in different modes (while
coaching process & academic integrity),
seminar discussions, and both individual
& student group projects / presentations.
Specific focus:
--A continuing move towards greater
student independence in their work,
decision-making, and self-advocacy;
--Practice with literary analysis and
annotation;
--Practice with technical skills such as
thesis creation, paragraphing, timed
writing, and longer-term writing;
--Peer editing, constructive feedback;
--Practice with new grammar & vocab
--Initial exposure to public speaking.
--Identifying specific genre elements;
developing critical reading skills;
--Continuing development of technical
aspects of various types of writing skills;
--Use of creative projects to underscore
the “pleasure of the text” and to access
critical, analytical, interpretive skills;
--Scholarly research skill development
(writers, periods, cultural contexts);
--Developing discussion skills,
collaboration and leadership;
--Informal & formal speeches to promote
poise/confidence as speakers.
--Studying cultural artifacts in different
media to illuminate American culture;
--Assigning college-level papers and
projects handling abstract concepts;
--Using various evaluation tools including
analytical, compare/contrast, creative
writing, and multi-genre projects;
--Building on students’ strengths in using
technology and online resources,
especially for research presentations.
--Continuing use of more challenging
literature; greater student independence
their work, planning, and self-advocacy;
--Papers and projects of increasing
sophistication and complexity, requiring
an ability to handle and reflect on a
range of advanced abstract concepts;
--Frequent exposure to online tools and
internet research resources;
--Frequent opportunities for students to
do teamwork, independent research,
presentations, and peer-teaching;
--Continuing sophistication in levels of
discussions and concepts.