English/Language Arts

The ELA curriculum at AUS follows the model established by the Common Core Initiative. Though the standards are divided into reading, writing, speaking and listening, and language, these processes are closely connected providing an integrated model of literacy. In AUS Middle School, teachers guide students as they transition from learning to read and write to reading and writing to learn as they preparing for college and career readiness. AUS students study literary and informational text, written composition and response, vocabulary, and grammar. The goal is to produce students who are careful and inferential readers, critical thinkers, and thoughtful, expressive writers.

Important components of the AUS Middle School program include helping students build strong content knowledge through the study of a wide range of subject matter and authors of quality and substance. Our students continue the work begun at AUS Elementary in terms of understanding the varying demands of audience, task and purpose of their writing. AUS Middle School students are expected to comprehend as well as critique, to be open-minded yet confident. Our teachers lead students in sharpening their 21st century competencies through the use of technology to enhance their reading, writing, and inquiry skills. Through all of this, our students develop an understanding of their place as global citizens.

“Through reading great classic and contemporary works of literature representative of a variety of periods, cultures, and worldviews, students can vicariously inhabit worlds and have experiences much different than their own.” –Common Core Standards Initiative