Course Introduction Transcript

In this course, you will read and analyze literary and informational texts. These texts come from many genres and sources, including short stories, novels, myths, poems, magazine articles, and autobiographies. Through the presentation of these reading selections, the course demonstrates ways to understand explicit and implicit information, theme, central idea, and figurative language. You will read the novel The Call of the Wild and short stories such as "The Lottery," "A Sound of Thunder," and "The Tell-Tale Heart." You will examine informational texts to better your understanding of the Yukon, the Klondike Gold Rush, dog sledding, and wolves. In addition, you will encounter many infographics and videos that build on the instruction.

As you read the selections in this course, you will practice ways to identify central ideas, make inferences, use supporting evidence, analyze word choice, and identify figurative and connotative language in both literary and informational texts. In addition, you will learn about basics in punctuation, including the use of ellipses, dashes, and commas to create pauses or breaks. You will also focus on context clues to determine word meaning; learn about Greek and Latin prefixes, suffixes, and roots; and learn how to use reference materials such as dictionaries, glossaries, and thesauruses.

In addition, you will learn the elements of a fictional narrative in order to plan, create, write, revise, and edit your own fictional narrative.

Through the lessons provided in this course, you will master techniques that help you achieve a deeper appreciation of literary and informational texts.

Course Objectives

• Interpret and acquire new words, phrases, and figures of speech using context, relationships, reference materials, roots, and affixes.
• Use proper spelling and punctuation, including commas, ellipses, and dashes.
• Support an objective summary or inference about a grade-appropriate text by citing key details that support a central idea or evidence that supports an analysis. 
• Analyze how specific words and phrases, figurative language, analogies, and allusions can be used to give a more precise meaning or create a different tone.
• Analyze and compare how different texts can be structured to create a clear chain of events, draw connections between ideas, generate suspense or humor, or modify themes from famous or traditional stories. 
• Participate appropriately in a collegial discussion, by preparing ahead of time, contributing in a timely manner to support the rest of the group, asking questions that further the discussion by connecting several people's ideas, and adapting appropriately to new ideas and evidence. 
• Write and revise a story using key narrative structures and techniques; introduce characters, use transitions to create a natural flow of events to a logical conclusion, maintain a coherent context and point of view, use descriptive language dialogue, pacing, and reflection to develop key experiences and characters. 
• Produce clear and coherent writing over various time frames, applying organization, development, style, and supporting evidence that are appropriate to the task, purpose, and audience.

Student Course Overview