Writing
9th and 10th
Course Description
The more effective communicator someone is, the more likely they will have the confidence and skills to lead, and the world needs the students of Bronx International HS to be powerful change makers in society today and in the future. This course seeks to empower our students through a writers workshop model to write with self-selected writing purposes and audiences, and to learn the elements that make different genres powerful through genre practice.
Writing Class will be:
Experiential through constant writing cycles and practicing writing strategies that help students to develop skills and self-awareness to problem-solve challenges in their writing process
Collaborative through writing teams and shares
Individualized through choice and 1:1 conferring.
Empowering through a Project-Based approach where students will publish, perform, produce or present for real-world audiences.
Year-Long Essential Questions:
How do I develop a writing habit that will last my whole life?
How can I know if my writing is accomplishing what I need or want it to?
How can I express my ideas through different genres?
Enduring Understandings: Writing requires having a clear sense of purpose, audience and genre, and this is especially powerful when we get to write about what matters to us and others. Writing strengths are discovered through daily practice within an interpretive community and by consistently applying a variety of strategies. Writers learn how to support themselves and each other to tackle challenges we encounter through constructive, thoughtful feedback.
11th Grade
Course Description
The more effective communicator someone is, the more likely they will have the confidence and skills to lead, and the world needs the students of Bronx International HS to be powerful change makers in society today and in the future. This course seeks to empower our students through a writers workshop model to write with self-selected writing purposes and audiences, and to learn the elements that make different genres powerful through genre practice.
Writing Class will be:
Experiential through constant writing cycles and practicing writing strategies that help students to develop skills and self-awareness to problem-solve challenges in their writing process
Collaborative through writing teams and shares
Individualized through choice and 1:1 conferring.
Empowering through a Project-Based approach where students will publish, perform, produce or present for real-world audiences.
Year-Long Essential Questions:
How do I develop a writing habit that will last my whole life?
How can I know if my writing is accomplishing what I need or want it to?
How can I express my ideas through different genres?
Enduring Understandings: Writing requires having a clear sense of purpose, audience and genre, and this is especially powerful when we get to write about what matters to us and others. Writing strengths are discovered through daily practice within an interpretive community and by consistently applying a variety of strategies. Writers learn how to support themselves and each other to tackle challenges we encounter through constructive, thoughtful feedback.
12th Grade WRITING WITH POWER
Built upon research and a theory of action that emphasizing student agency leads to greater academic achievement and specifically greater gains in literacy, skills, and self-expression, the Reading & Discourse and Writers Workshop Courses are student-centered in both instructional practices and in much of the curriculum. The Alignment vertically and horizontally is through the collaborative structures and routines, the standards addressed, student choice and individual goal-setting, and the curricular focus on strategies which develop skills within a variety of genres.
Unit genres or themes of student writing are not chosen by the teacher. Using a Project-Based approach to writing, the “curriculum” is developed through a process of getting to know students, conferring with students as they develop purposes for writing, and then as they select or discover forms. Students might be grouped by the purposes they chose, the genres or skill. This is where the community will cohere and evolve. Through weekly shares, students will learn how to pitch their story ideas to their audience of peers, as they work through their individual writing process.
In this class, you will:
Annotate mentor texts together to learn about techniques and genres.
Write “quick writes” to develop ideas & your writing techniques
Practice strategies to find your inspiration and “voice” as a writer.
Share your writing to give & get feedback to grow as a community of writers
Design your own writing & publish them for real audiences.