This is a new course that Ulrich will be offering next year for GT Students. 

What is an ELA/Humanities Course?

This course will offer students a rigorous curriculum, designed by Michael Clay Thompson of Royal Fireworks Press, meant to challenge and empower our most advanced learners. They will be exposed to a wide range of demanding texts both in and outside of class, with a focus on classic literature. Students will explore authors such as Edgar Allen Poe, Charles Dickens, and Arthur Conan Doyle as they learn to critically analyze higher level texts. This course is not “worksheet-based”, but rather “Socratic and creative” in nature. It focuses on grammar, vocabulary, writing, poetry and literary analysis. Discussion and discourse will be the norm for this course. All parts of the curriculum are connected, so that nothing is taught in isolation. For example, students learn grammar from the style and writing craft of the authors they read. Writing prompts are developed from the literature, and students learn how to compose academic MLA papers similar to those they will be asked to write in high school and college. Vocabulary studies are designed from a list of the most frequently used words in classic literature, and are also found in the novels that are being read. As a whole, this course is designed to meet the needs of gifted and advanced learners, in order to prepare them for Advanced Placement courses in high school that will allow them to be better prepared for college.

How will students benefit from this course?

A goal of this course is to build the foundation needed to be successful in future ELA courses and to expose students to high level literature in 6th, 7th, 8th grade. Another goal of this program is to prepare our students for college readiness as evidenced on tests like the PSAT, SAT, ACT and AP tests they will encounter as they progress through school. Your student’s teacher will be planning with the Klein ISD Advanced Academics Department, and we will continue to support them throughout the year. Our goal is to meet the unique needs of GT and advanced learners by offering a curriculum that will challenge their intellect in order to increase growth.

Students identified as gifted in ELA/SS are automatically placed in this course.

*If student is not identified as gifted in ELA, she must meet a minimum of 3 out of the 5 following requirements:

• Identified Math/Science Gifted Learner

• NWEA Spring MAP Reading score in the 93rd percentile or higher

• Master’s Grade Level on previous grade reading STAAR test

• Teacher recommendation

• Superior performance in ELA/Social Studies (“A”-90 and higher) on End of Year report card in previous grade level