READING WORKSHOP Overview               Outline and Grading Objectives and Standards         Projects

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READING WORKSHOP 2010-2011

OVERVIEW

OVERVIEW

Welcome to Reading Workshop, a course designed to help you broaden your reading skills and better understand yourself and others. We will be reading, discussing and writing on various texts: fiction, non-fiction, plays, poems, advertisements, photos, paintings, and films. The course will generally follow a standard curriculum set by the English department and covering the Illinois Learning Standards, but our class will also develop organically according to our specific needs and desires. There will be readings, lectures, writing exercises, class discussions, and various other hands-on activities. We will begin talking and sharing our experiences immediately, working with a book called OUR AMERICA. During this initial phase we will also begin expressing ourselves with the written word, starting with writing exercises at the beginning of class. As the course develops we will continue in these pursuits and you will be required to demonstrate mastery of reading, writing and speaking skills through assessments that will take into consideration your rate of development and your individual learning styles.

I want to get you involved in reading and learning and encourage you to work with others. I also want you to take responsibility for your education, your life and your role as an American and as a world citizen. I want us to create an environment where each of us feels empowered and where we can experience success.

It's very important that we learn about others and not just the person next to us. The people in present day Ecuador and India are born, live, struggle and die just like you. The people of Renaissance Italy, Ancient Greece and Civil War America were born, lived, struggled and died just like you will. It’s important to understand who others are. This course will help us do that.
 
BRING THE FOLLOWING MATERIALS TO CLASS EVERY DAY:
 
1) Two spiral notebooks--one for vocabulary and note taking, one for writing assignments
2) A three-ring binder
3) Two pens

Be On time!

OUTLINE AND GRADING

Quarter 1: Career & Community: What will I do after high school?

• Students will prepare for life after high school and learn necessary writing techniques to complete resumes, personal essays, and applications.
• Skills: Basic grammar and writing review – parts of speech, sentence structure, punctuation, verbs and verb tense, active voice, note-taking.

Quarter 2: Cultural Changes: What makes one culture better and another?

• Students will explore the influences of other cultures and determine the positive and negative aspects of cultural change.
• Skills: vocabulary, spelling, editing, syntax, essay for and outlining.

Quarter 3: Struggles & Survival: How much can the human spirit endure?

• Students will examine a true account of one person’s ultimate struggles for survival.
• Skills: Research Writing – outline, note-taking, introduction, thesis, conclusion, drafts, citing sources…etc.

Quarter 4: Discovering Inner-Self: How do my beliefs influence my actions?

• Students will explore their inner-self and examine a character’s journey of self-discovery.
• Skills: Review of grammar, writing, and vocabulary skills.

  NOTE: Attendance is crucial in this class. When you are late and/or absent it adversely affects you grade. You have to be in the class to pass. Late work is acceptable if you are sick or had some family crisis. Doing make-up three weeks or three months later is not acceptable. Disruption is not acceptable; be respectful. Nor is coming without materials. The world runs because people expect things (and get them) on time and in an orderly manner. This is what is meant by “professional conduct.” You'll  notice PC is 20% of the grade. Every week or so I'll look at my attendance to see who was present, prepared, on time and acting in a professional manner. I'll give that student a 98. Tardy, absent once (without note), or unprofessional conduct  = one grade lost. (see below)

NOTE: I want no spelling mistakes on your typed essays. You have spell-check on your computers. Use it. It’s not my job to clean up the sloppy spelling of high school seniors. In the second quarter I will add another stipulation--subject-verb agreement or perhaps consistency in tense. By the end of the year, you should be able to hand in work that is free of silly errors. If you’re a student who makes these errors, now is the time to stop. What happens if I get an “essay” with a spelling error on it? It’s real simple--I won’t accept it. Nor will I mark the spelling error. I will just give it back to you with an “S” at the top of the page. It will be considered an assignment not handed in. Can it be handed in the next day for diminished credit? No. So do your spell check.

Here is how I will divide my grades:

20% professional conduct

20% homework

30% in-class essay/tests

30% drafts/portfolios

Here is the grading scale.

 A = 90-100

 B = 80-89

 C = 70-79

 D = 60-69

 F = below 60

 NOTE 1: I’m not inclined to give number grades since most of the assignments will be written and it’s rather ridiculous to give one student an 88 on an essay and another an 87. I can’t make that fine a distinction. On the other hand, I know “A” work and I know “B” work and I know what is in between. Thus, I will grade as follows

 95 = a solid A

 90 = between an A and a B

 85 = a solid B

 80 = between a B and a C

 75 = a solid C

 70 = between a C and D

 65 = a solid D

 50 = F work

 00 = not handed in

NOTE 2: There are formative assessments and summative assessments. Formative means the degree to which you improved from time A to time B; summative  means a test at a particular time. My "drafts/portfolios" are formative assessments. My "in-class essays/tests" are summative assessments. Show me improvement in your writing. It's 30% of the grade.

NOTE 3: It is assumed that since you are seniors, you will act accordingly. If you disrupt or distract the class, the other students loose the opportunity to learn. You are, in effect, lowering their grades because they won't have had the necessary in-class time to learn all they can for an assessment. Following logically, your penalty will be the lowering of your grade.

^{NOTE: In the first four weeks the teachers will be teaching the same materials. This way if students transfer from one class to another, they will be familiar with what has been taught and also have a grade up to that point.} 

^{OBJECTIVES AND STANDARDS}

^{Course Description: Reading Workshop is a full-year course whose objective is to help students develop critical reading of literary genres from around the world and improve their writing and thinking skills, though essays and research. Vocabulary skills, interpretative skills, critical judgment, and clarity of expression are developed through class discussion and written assignments.}

^{WRITING ASSIGNMENTS}

^{·         Writing Exercises}

^{·         Journals}

^{·         Personal Statement}

^{·         Resumes and Cover Letters}

^{·         In-Class Essays.}

^{·         Career Research Paper}

^{·         Literature Analysis Paper}

^{·         Characters Analysis}

^{·         Senior Research Paper}

^{·         Scholarship Essays}

^{·         Write-Zone Essay Contests}

^{Course Objectives:} 

^{1.       Students will read with comprehension}

^{2.       Students will understand literature of various societies, eras and ideas}

^{3.       Students will write to communicate for a variety of purposes}

^{4.       Students will listen and speak fluently}

^{5.       Students will use language arts to communicate information}

^{State Standards and Illinois Learning Standards:}

^{1. State Goal #1: Read with understanding and fluency}

^{2. State Goal #2: Read and understand literature representative of various societies, eras,   and ideas}

^{3. State Goal #3: Write to communicate for a variety of purposes}

^{4. State Goal #4: Listen and Speak effectively in a variety of situations}

^{5. State Goal #5: Use the language arts to acquire, assess, and communicate information.}

^{POSSIBLE SERVICE LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES:}

^{Reading to the blind}

^{Voter Registrations}

^{Collecting WWII narratives from nursing homes}

^{Reading to the Elderly}

^{Writing servicemen and women}

^PROJECTS

Below are some possible research projects

Napoleon Bonaparte

Martin Luther King Jr.

Rosa Parks

Harriet Tubman

Susan B. Anthony

Benjamin Franklin

Amelia Earhart

Thomas Edison

Albert Einstein

Thomas Jefferson

Abraham Lincoln

Harry Truman

George Washington

Franklin Roosevelt

Robert E. Lee

Ulysses S. Grant

Genghis Kahn

William Shakespeare

Sir Winston Churchill

Queen Elizabeth I

King Henry the VIII

Queen Victoria

Sir Isaac Newton

Ludwig van Beethoven

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach

Pablo Picasso

Vincent Van Gogh

Leonardo da Vinci

Michelangelo

Joseph Stalin

Adolf Hitler

Benito Mussolini

Civil War

Anaconda Plan and blockade

Battle of Bull Run

Battle of Gettysburg

Pickett’s Charge

Battle of Shiloh

Battle of Vicksburg

World War I

African campaigns

Serbian campaign

War in the Balkans

Battle of the Marne

Battle of Ypres

Battle of Somme

World War II

D-Day

The Holocaust

Blitzkrieg

Guadalcanal campaign

Invasion of Poland, Austria, and France

Siege of Leningrad and Stalingrad

Napoleonic Wars

Battle of Copenhagen

Battle of Waterloo

Revolutionary War

Siege of Boston

Battle of Brandywine

Gorilla Warfare

The Great Depression

The Stock Market Collapse/ Black Tuesday

The role of Farming

Recession of 1937

The New Deal

Political Consequences

Other Possible Topics to narrow down:

The American Indian War and the History of Immigration in the United States.  However, There are limitless numbers of historical events to choose from.  If you are inclined to do so you can pick any topic you like as long as either Mr. Rychlewski or myself approve the topic and you can find the necessary research sources.