English

In English, students acquire and apply the skills in reading, writing, discussion, and organization necessary for academic success in the Upper School. Through an anti-bias lens that focuses on the themes of identity and belonging in literature, students improve reading comprehension and critical thinking skills. English students learn self-advocacy skills and collaborative techniques to use in discussions and in group projects. Additionally, sixth graders learn about time management, breaking down large assignments into steps, and developing habits for organizing work and materials. Students build active reading skills through direct instruction, study guides, and annotation techniques. Fiction and nonfiction selections typically include these titles: Class Act, Inside Out and Back Again, The Breadwinner, The Giver, and various short stories and poetry. In addition to class novels, students are required to read books independently and produce one IRB (independent reading book) project per trimester; recommended titles include genres and authors that provide both windows and mirrors for students. Additionally, sixth graders write in a wide variety of genres, including narrative storytelling, exposition, persuasion, analysis, and poetry. Through creative and expository writing, students learn to express a main idea using supporting examples/quotations and providing a context. Grammar and vocabulary are taught throughout as students use the writing process to build a more proficient writing style. Engaging with teachers, they learn to apply feedback to strengthen their writing skills. Grade 6 English fosters a love of reading across genres, promotes critical thinking skills around the Harkness table, and develops sound writing habits that encourage students to execute their insights on the page with clarity and cohesion.

Grade 7 English builds upon the essential skills of the sixth grade program—reading, writing, discussion, and critical thinking. Students expand their appreciation for literature through conversation and written analysis. Building off of the anti-bias lens introduced in the sixth grade humanities course, texts and writing assignments focus on questions of identity, belonging, and the self, as students engage in an intellectual process of discovery, both within themselves and the world at large. Students learn to pose meaningful questions and articulate their values about literature and its relationship to society and ourselves. Students write in a variety of forms and genres, and teacher feedback guides them as they grow and develop into confident and proficient writers, both analytically and creatively. Through guided practice and modeling, seventh graders become better self-editors and use feedback to revise and expand their ideas. Seventh graders learn about the elements of literature, and they develop strategies to help them understand, interpret, and appreciate what they read. Vocabulary and grammar study emphasize the practical application of new words and phrases to help students build a broader working vocabulary and more sophisticated syntax. Various projects provide opportunities for creativity, choice, and independence. Books and resources include The Outsiders, King and the Dragonflies, Brown Girl Dreaming, various short stories and poetry, and a choice novel unit built to help students interpret features of the coming of age genre. Grade 7 English fosters a love of reading and equips students to communicate effectively across disciplines.

Through elementary to middle school transition curriculum and skill development, discussions, cooperation, formal communication, reading comprehension, writing practices, refined content expression techniques, sixth graders will expand their academic horizons while focusing on language and overall independent learning strategy development. Sixth-grade language and practice focuses on generating an inquisitive mindset that utilizes analytical strategies to process literature and other academic challenges in a more comprehensive, in-depth manner that yields healthy, personal success. Students develop a strategic approach to academic behaviors that facilitate academic success and confidence. Highlights in Language and Practice include Creative Writing Stories, Markers of a Successful Self project, The Demystification of Writing, The Year in a Blog activity, and dynamic, expressive activities.

Grade 7 Language and Practice engages students in refining their own academic and behavioral success strategies that informs their process towards achieving positive, goal oriented success throughout their day. The class focuses on providing students opportunities to explore their own learning process by means of exposing them to various literary genres, concepts, stories, and activities that are designed to engage a vast array of Executive, study-skills based strategies. Students will spend the year learning specific tools to engage with developing study habits, building an approach to writing, literary analysis, and building robust grammar skills to improve their confidence with language based exercises. Students are encouraged to develop and refine their approach to writing in an effort to enhance their ability to be descriptive, use targeted grammar skills, organize ideas within paragraph to page structure, use evidence from the text to ground assertions, and to develop a process by which students generate confidence with writing. The class emphasizes a student-centered approach that’s designed to afford students the space and time to workshop their writing; to reinforce the concept that writing is a process that requires a sustained focus. This process revolves around class discussions on literary content, practice activities to engage with specific components of grammar skill development, and a collaborative writing process that emphasizes: brainstorming, idea organization, drafting, editing, and self-advocating throughout to ensure that students feel empowered to grapple with any writing assignment they may encounter throughout their learning experience at Shore. A key component of this process that the class emphasizes is that of reflection, and developing a mindful relationship with their own learning. Through this process, students will learn how to approach study and writing habits, organization of physical and digital resources, and how to effectuate a plan to be successful throughout their academic day, in school and at home. Highlights of the Language and Practice class content includes creative stories, FBI Agent Crime Solving, Middle School Life in the future, storytelling in images project, and a carefully curated portfolio project to showcase their incredible growth throughout the year.

Grade 8 English emphasizes active reading, thoughtful writing, critical thinking, and rigorous yet respectful discussion. Students engage in a variety of activities to deepen their learning and strengthen their skills as readers, writers, and literary analysts. Examples include: roundtable discussions, in-class journaling, analytical writing, creative and personal writing, projects, and lower-stakes writing such as blog posts. Eighth graders build upon the foundational skills of the sixth and seventh grade, and they are encouraged to hone their craft as they become increasingly sophisticated, proficient, and confident writers. Students learn to infer meaning from text, support their ideas with properly framed evidence, write increasingly complex and varied prose with precise vocabulary, and present ideas creatively. Literature is the springboard for student-centered discussions that ask children to take ownership of their learning, negotiate meaning through conversation, and defend opinions with textual evidence. Students choose from a variety of project modalities in order to synthesize concepts and content, and NoRedInk provides individually differentiated grammar instruction and support. Reflection upon one’s own writing provides for growth and self-awareness. Throughout this process, eighth graders become increasingly confident and empowered as they prepare to enter a high school English classroom. Books and resources include The House on Mango Street, Romeo and Juliet, The Marrow Thieves, The 57 Bus, This I Believe, short stories, and poetry from various sources. Vocabulary development continues to be an important goal while the clause, sentence types, and common mechanical errors in student writing are foci in grammar.