English 12R is a New York State standards aligned course that prepares students for the expectations of college, the workplace, and beyond. An emphasis on writing, reading, speaking, and listening skills will challenge students to question, research, connect, and evaluate high interest mentor texts
We will examine these concepts throughout the year in the literature/works we read and discuss:
To what extent is a writer responsible for engaging an audience while telling their own story?
How can the story of an individual also be the story of society?
How does emulating successful narrative structures improve student writing?
How do writers use narrative techniques to create meaning?
How does the drafting/editing process provide writers the opportunity to experiment and play with language?
How do students practice the skills of research to enhance understanding of text analysis?
How do students use complex ideas, concepts, and information to develop analysis of content?
How do students utilize specific details to enhance their evaluation of theme in complex text?
How can writers use patterns of language to unify form and content?
How do writers interact and “enter into conversation” with existing writers and deeply engage with new views?
How can we discern what is real in this era of “fake news”?
How do social media platforms curate “truth”?
How can an individual confidently be their own arbiter of truth?
What is rhetoric, and how is it used to communicate, inform, entertain and manipulate?
Some of the major units may include (but are not limited to):
College Essay / Personal Narratives
Dystopian Fiction (i.e. 1984, Brave New World, The Handmaid's Tale)
Media Literacy & Research
Film study
Social Issue exploration
Study of Myths
Creative Writing
Living Poets
ASSESSMENTS
There will be a variety of graded writing tasks throughout the year depending on which writing mode we are currently studying. We will write narratives, poems, literary analysis pieces (short and long), argument essays.
The goal is exposure.
GRADEBOOK INFORMATION
Please read Your Gradebook Explained in the Class Procedures (pg 4) for more details.
FINAL AVERAGE WEIGHTING
1st Q (23.5%) + 2nd Q (23.5%) + 3rd Q (23.5%) + 4th Q (23.5%) + FEX (6%)
*Note: this course has a final exam exemption available. If a student averages 90% over 4 quarters, he/she may choose to not take the final exam.