English Language Arts

The English department curriculum spirals to develop three main tasks: comprehension of text, interpretation of text and writing.  Our curriculum includes reading essays, poetry, magazine articles, graphic novels, novels, and research reports.  Students are learning to analyze and develop interpretations supported by the text.  Students will become better readers, writers and thinkers at each grade level.  In addition to the foundation skills of language and grammar taught each year, our dynamic English Language Arts curriculum supports students to develop the skills and confidence needed to take on challenging textsand tasks as they progress towards high school and college.

Authors our students read and interpret include poets such as Luci Tapahonso, Martin Espada, Emily Dickinson, e.e. cummings and Pablo Neruda.  Students read essays by writers such as Annie Dillard, Michael Pollan, and William Upski Wimsatt.  Reading units include works from Richard Wright, Raymond Carver, Shirley Jackson, Stephen King and S.E. Hinton.

Each grade level has multiple independent reading projects throughout the year, encouraging students to select texts that appeal to their own personal interests and preferred genre.

• The 6^th grade has an extensive Magazine Study project that culminates in the creation of a student-made magazine featuring articles and columns authored by the students.  In addition, they are taught to read like a detective, to test out, and investigate their theories while reading Carl Hiassen’s novel Scat.
• In the 7^th grade, the focus on writing is rewarded with students seeing their own work published in a hardback book shared in an author’s night at a local book store.
• The culmination of the writer’s life work is the foundation of the 8^th grade Portfolio project, a three part reflection on the student’s experiences and accomplishments while at Wood Middle School.  Students share their stories in a written personal narrative, and present artifacts from their journey towards gradation in an interview with Wood teachers.

Some highlights throughout the school year are:  a school-wide spelling bee, from which the champion competes at the county and then hopefully at the state level; an authors’ night where students share their self-published books at a local book store; and the 8^th grade Portfolio project.

The English department successfully collaborated to develop a writing unit that prepared students for the 7^th grade writing exam that is given to all 7^th grade students in the state.  The results from 2012 were incredible, the students went from 67% proficient in 2011 to 91% proficient in 2012!  These results have encouraged further collaboration between grade levels and subject areas to improve student writing.  Future collaborations with our arts classes will also provide more opportunities for students to showcase their skills through performance and artistic expressions.

The Wood Middle School ELA department offers tutoring at lunch and after school each Thursday afternoon from 3pm to 4pm.  Reading support classes are also offered.

Our goal as a department is to: nurture students’ growth, both academically and personally, to become lifelong readers, writers and learners; to continue to create a seamless transition from 6^th through 8^th grades and to high school readiness; to lessen the achievement gap; and to deepen our collaboration with the art departments.  English courses contribute to numerous aspects of general education at Wood Middle School.  It is our responsibility to provide opportunities in our classrooms for students to build the skills needed to understand the meaning of difficult texts from any source.  The literary works in our curriculum explore diverse works that mirror the cultural, social, economic, and artistic diversity of our community.

The English department works together to create a place for rigorous and effective lessons to engage students and meet the needs of all our learners!