Course Outline

I. LITERATURE

Students read writings from diverse traditions and genres, including poetry, drama, short stories, nonfiction, and novels. Online lessons help students develop skills of close reading. Students analyze formal features of literary works; explore theme, character, and uses of language; and learn to articulate an interpretation based on textual evidence. Many lessons provide background information to help students connect the work to the historical or biographical context. Students also practice the critical reading and analysis skills that are necessary for taking standardized assessments.

Readings include:

Novels (choose any two of the following)

• Sense and Sensibilityby Jane Austen
• The Scarlet Pimpernelby Baroness Orczy
• Cry, the Beloved Countryby Alan Paton
• Nightby Elie Wiesel
• The Way to Rainy Mountainby N. Scott Momaday
• Frankensteinby Mary Shelley

Drama

• Macbethby William Shakespeare

Prose Fiction and Nonfiction

Works by Edgar Allan Poe, Anton Chekhov, Kate Chopin, O. Henry, Flannery O'Connor, Sherwood Anderson, Tillie Olsen, Jerome Weidman, Richard Rodriguez, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Amy Tan, and others.

Poetry

Works by William Shakespeare, Lord Byron, Walt Whitman, Stephen Crane, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Ezra Pound, William Carlos Williams, Langston Hughes, Robert Frost, D. H. Lawrence, Wilfred Owen, Sara Teasdale, Rita Dove, Dudley Randall, Judith Ortiz Cofer, and others.

Partial List of Skills Taught:

• Analyze the relationship between a literary work and its historical period and cultural influences.
• Recognize and examine the impact of voice, persona, and the choice of narrator on a work of literature.
• Identify character traits and motivations.
• Describe and analyze characters based on speech, actions, or interactions with others.
• Analyze the relationship between character actions/interactions and plot.
• Identify elements of plot and analyze plot development.
• Identify conflict and resolution.
• Recognize literary devices, such as foreshadowing, flashbacks, suspense, irony, metaphor, simile, symbolism, and other figures of speech.
• Identify author's purpose, style, tone, and intended audience.
• Identify and understand universal themes.
• Compare and contrast characters based on their actions, traits, and motives.
• Compare and contrast themes in different works and across different genres.
• Recognize the impact of word choice, style, and figurative language on tone, mood, and theme.
• Analyze imagery, personification, irony, hyperbole, paradox, and figures of speech in poetry and fiction.
• Examine the use of sound devices to create rhythm, appeal to the senses, or establish mood in literature.
• Recognize and examine a writer's use of poetic conventions and structures, such as line, stanza, rhythm, rhyme, meter, and sound devices.
• Interpret oral readings from literary and informational texts.
• Recite poetry using effective delivery skills, such as tone, rate, volume, pitch, gesture, pronunciation, and enunciation.

II . COMPOSITION

Students begin the Composition units by reading model essays and analyzing the essays from the perspective of both a reader and a writer. In writing their own essays, students apply the concepts they have learned from studying the models. Using the writing process, students plan, organize, write, revise, and proofread their essays, implementing feedback they receive from teachers and mentors. In addition to writing full-length essays, students also write timed responses to prompts, similar to those found on standardized tests.

Narrative: I Believe

Students analyze a sample narrative with the theme of "I Believe" and then write their own narrative that explains something they believe and how they arrived at that belief.

Persuasive Essay

Students analyze a sample persuasive essay, learn about the importance of using logical and emotional appeals and connotative language, and understand the significance of conceding a point and issuing a call to action. They then plan, write, and revise their persuasive essays.

Persuasive Speech

Students first read and then listen to a speech, based on the model persuasive essay. They study how an oral presentation differs from a written one. Then they use their own persuasive essays as the basis for writing and delivering their persuasive speeches.

Research Paper

Students analyze a model research paper on a scientific topic and learn how to locate appropriate resources and evaluate the reliability of the sources. They take notes, create a formal outline, and write and revise their own research papers.

Practical Writing

In this optional unit, students read a model cover letter and application for a job. Then they create their own cover letter and

application for their "dream" job.

II. GRAMMAR, USAGE , AND MECHANICS

K¹²'s Grammar covers not only grammar but also usage and mechanics. Often referred to as "GUM," this online course helps students understand how language works so that they can apply the concepts in their own writing. In addition to GUM skills, lessons on such topics as clear sentences, sentence combining, parallel structure, placement of modifiers, wordiness, diction, and idioms help students learn skills frequently tested on standardized tests. Each lesson ends with an optional activity that provides additional practice.

Partial List of Topics Include:

• Prepositional Phrases
• Sentences and Sentence Errors
• Clauses: Adjective, Adverb, Noun
• Clear Sentences: Coordination, Subordination, Combining Sentences
• Subject-Verb Agreement
• Verb Forms and Usage
• Pronouns and Pronoun Usage
• Verbals and Verbal Phrases: Participles, Gerunds, Infinitives
• Refining Sentences: Modifiers, Parallel Structure

IV. VOCABULARY

K¹²'s Vocabulary program uses the Vocabulary Achievement workbook (from Great Source Publisher) to provide a systematic approach to new vocabulary acquisition, application, and retention. Students study logical grouping of words in clearly structured lessons. To unlock word meaning, students apply a variety of strategies including contextual clues and determining roots and affixes. Students also practice the kinds of items that are frequently used in sentence-completion and critical-reading assessments, including the SAT.

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