Mastering Language Arts – Middle School – Ms. Lara (Trial Class)

Description

Course Description

Mastering Language Arts is a high school preparatory course designed to hone Language Arts skills, deepen critical thinking skills, and improve writing strategies, so that students will be able to master their upcoming high school courses. Students will interact with literature and non-fiction, examining styles, genres, points of view, and themes. Through vocabulary games, close reading, discussion, analysis, creative works, and writing practice, students will learn how to read more fluently and formulate their ideas more articulately. We will also engage in an investigation of vocabulary, using prefixes, suffixes, and roots as our clues! Each student will be prepared for high school, increase their reading, writing, critical thinking, and discussion skills vital to a  literate and engaged life in the modern world.

What you’ll learn?

• Short Story, Science Fiction, Plot & Setting
  • Ray Bradbury & selected Illustrated Man stories 
  • “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut
  • “A Sound Of Thunder” by Ray Bradbury
    • Plot, Setting, Character, Theme
  • Write your own creative Science Fiction Story

  Poetry & Figurative Language:

  • Write an“I am” Poem
  • Poetry Styles & Stations
  • Read Poetry and Analyze
  • Figurative vs. Literal Language
  • Descriptive Writing & Mandala Project 

  Learning Styles & Modes 

  • Read and Analyze Flowers for Algernon
  • Analyze Character Development, Mood, Tone & Theme
  • Briggs Meyer Personality Test & My Special Skill Set

  Theater:

  • Analyzing Plays & Scenes
  • Acting Games
  • Public Speaking & Performance 
  • Characterization & Character Creation

  Synthesizing Sources:

  • Credible Sources and sorting through the wide-wide web
  • Bias, Connotations
    • Make your own advertisement
  • Compare/Contrast News Sources on the same issue

  The Impact of Language on History & The Personal Essay

  • Analyze Famous Speeches & Impact on History
  • What Matters? Critically Examining Issues
  • “This I Believe” Personal Essay

  The Novel & Analyzing Literature

   

• The Pearl by John Steinbeck
• The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
• The Giver by Lois Lowry 
• • • • Identify and understand the effects of literary devices
      • Identify themes and how they develop throughout the plot

   

• Write analysis paragraphs and essays, developing your voice and style as a writer, with a strong thesis, explicit justification and overarching analytical connections 
• 
  Lesson Format: 
  • Engage: Show some sort of video or do a hands on activity that hooks the students into the lesson.
  • Warm-up: Speaking & Vocabulary Investigation
  • Journal: Write about a Topic from the Lesson; Brainstorm & Writing Practice
  •  Lesson: Literary Topic Dissected  
    • Group Reading & Analysis 
    • Discussion
  • Independent Reading & Writing Assignment (to complete at home)
  • Enrichment Activities – connect literature to modern day & your own life!

Target Students:

Middle School students who want to hone their Language Arts Skills, deepen their critical thinking skills, and improve their writing over the summer to ace aloof their tests, essays, and projects next year!

About the teacher

Lara Rankin has taught English for fifteen years in different countries around the world. After getting her BA in Sociology and Photography at the University of California, San Diego, she worked with students with special needs for several years, trying to understand every kind of learner and diverse modalities of helping students to utilize their strengths and access learning from their own points of view. She has taught in Honduras and Hungary, as well as many kinds of schools around the US. After teaching English, Science, Art, and Music to 2nd, 6th, 10th and 11th grade students in the Caribbean, she came back to the US, and got her teaching credential at California State Monterey Bay. Following this, she taught at a small high school in Santa Cruz, CA for twelve years, where she instructed 9-12th grade English, Art, Digital Photography, and History as well as Advanced Placement classes for 5 years. In 2012, she took a hiatus to complete a year as a Fulbright exchange teacher in Budapest, where she taught ESL and was an ambassador for the US. She was nominated for Teacher of the Year in 2015, and received a commendation for her work in 2018. She now tutors students in many subjects, while being a student herself, pursuing another degree. She enjoys working with students and learning from them, and finding new ways to communicate and understand the world around us.