English 9 Course Syllabus
Two Rivers High School: 2019 - 2020
Course Description: English 9 is a class that is devoted to exploring how we, as individuals, fit into the world around us. We will tackle texts and assignments that ask you to reflect on your own experiences and your own perspectives. More importantly, we will cover material that will ask you to further develop your own perspectives and understanding of the world.
Another major goal of English 9 is exposure! I want you to be exposed to multiple experiences and many different points of view. I want you to see what other people have to go through. I want you to understand what connects us (humans) across cultures and time. And I want you to have a deeper understanding of what it means to be an individual—who you are and what you want out of life! These are goals that go beyond any type of “school skill” and therefore are much more important than any one type of assignment.
So, what types of “stuff” do we have to do in English 9?
1) We will write. A lot. Like, every week. You will write in your notebook. You will write on-line as part of our on-line discussions. You will write critical summaries. You will write explanatory reports. You will write structured, developed essays. You will write, dear children, and you will improve. Students struggle with structure so we will tackle many essays to help you better understand how to develop consistent, connected thoughts. Students struggle with substance—they don’t go deep enough and they don’t think critically enough through their writing. Students struggle with explaining as they write, so we will drill into analysis and writing complete, rationalized thinking.
2) We will read everything we can interact with. To start, we will change your understanding of reading. Students hear “read” and, most often, think of novels. Maybe they think of words on a page. For almost all kids, however, “reading” means pronouncing words in my head so I can “get to the end” or “get it done.” This is not reading!!! Reading is the process of taking in information and thinking through that information to understand what is going on. For example, musicians read music. Drivers read traffic. A quarterback reads the defense. A boyfriend can “read” his girlfriend’s facial expressions and body language and know that he has screwed up. We can read music, film, videos, articles, art, each other…basically, reading is an ongoing process we never escape from. You will become stronger readers if you start to embrace this process.
3) We will talk. A lot. Like, every day. We will talk with partners, with small groups, and as a large class. We will talk about what is going on in the world around us, what we have been reading, what we think something really means, what our opinions are, what needs to be corrected, what we remember, what we think will happen next…let’s just say we will talk almost daily. Our goal isn’t just to “say stuff,” though; the goal of talking is to learn. By talking to each other we learn how to think deeper and how to think more clearly. We hear other perspectives and opinions; we hear someone else explain an idea that we have never thought of or that wasn’t making sense. When we talk, we want to leave the conversation feeling like we gained something. If your goal is to say “two or three things” to get credit, then we haven’t really embraced the power of conversation.
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