This course is designed for students who wish to improve their overall reading skills. Study skills and textbook reading strategies will be emphasized. Students will learn to use graphic organizers for expository material, as well as a variety of vocabulary techniques. Materials are drawn from real classroom experience or are teacher developed. Several books will be read as a way to encourage pleasure reading and to review literary elements.
Groups are small so that individual attention and immediate feedback can be provided.
Through thematically organized selections, students will experience the poet's vision of his role in society, drawing on sources ranging from the classic and formal to the contemporary. Students will practice poetic techniques and will critically analyze a variety of poems. By studying, writing, designing and performing classic and contemporary plays, as well as original dramas of their own, students will become proficient in the dramatic arts. In addition to viewing film highlights and entire movies, students demonstrate their understanding of cinema through written movie critiques, tests and independent projects. Students gain experience in common speaking forms, including persuasive, demonstrative and informative speeches, interview techniques, debate, commercial presentation and oral interpretation.