In Grade 7 English, students explore a wide range of literary genres, concentrating on the short story, poetry, drama and the novel. Students learn to recognize the structure of the story, to make inferences and to formulate simple statements of theme, based on the resolution of conflict. In addition, students develop their independent reading skills, creating projects based on novels. Vocabulary study stresses proper usage of words in all their variant forms and the effective utilization of context clues both to convey and to interpret meaning. Writing instruction targets the development of tighter focus, more specific language and more sophisticated sentence structure.
Students gain experience with the computer in the writing process.
More extensive reading and more in-depth writing are required of students in the honors class. In addition, students will learn specific research strategies and methods, and receive exposure to a wide variety of research tools and materials in order to conduct research independently and write informative research essays. Students also will learn the finer points of sentence and paragraph construction and the organizational parameters of an essay. In their own work, students will be writing personal as well as formal informative, explanatory, and research essays. Students will also have opportunities to debate current issues.