This course is designed as an English elective. Its purpose is:to make student writers more comfortable with a variety of writing genres,to give student writers familiarity with the entire writinfg process (from inception to final polish),to create work that's publishable,and to give student writers a beginning look at the publishing world. This is a class of risk and experimentation where you get to try new things in writing without fear. This is not a reading class where we read and then imitate what's been read. Instead,you are given complete control of your own stories,poetry,essays,and other genres. Here,your work will be created,recited,read,or performed,and then analyzed by your peers and myself. You will have the opportunity to revise your work and submit multiple revisions. You will complete a portfolio demostrating the work you've accomplished this year. Creative writing is a clss that does require weekly writings and reviews,requiring quite a bit of work. But it's a class that we will all enjoy together,and see our projects develop.

Course Description: Students develop writing skills through a variety of writing activities including expository, creative, persuasive, and analytical papers. Students read and evaluate both fiction and nonfiction in a variety of formats. The focus is on American Literature and developing higher order thinking skills to deal with complex themes, ideas and vocabulary. Research and oral presentations are required. Students use technology to access information and produce required assignments.
State Standards and Assessments addressed by this course: This course is structured so as to comply with Colorado Standards for Language Arts Standards. Reading, writing, speaking and listening, information on literacy, and literature as it pertains to the media are all standards that will be addressed.
Resources/Textbook: Required resources and textbooks include: Elements of Literature (fifth edition) as well as, Grammar and Usage. Other resources to be included in the course are The Crucible, The Great Gatsby, and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
Unit overview: Each novel will be a separate unit. Vocabulary, Grammar and Usage books will be used every week. There will also be a short story unit, a poetry unit, and a research unit

This course is designed as a combination of surveying various aspects of Literature ,as well as bringing structure into our writing. Its purpose is:to become more familiar with aspects of famous works and their contexts,to become more active readers and be able to become more familiar with various literary terms and devices,to have an opinion about what you read (positive or negative) and feel comfortable sharing that opinion with others,to express your opinions through discussion,creative writing,artistic expression,and dramatic prompting,to gain more control of your writing prompts,and to provide a grammatical and vocabulary context. As previously stated,this is a class of opinion:where your opinions and interpretations of literature are as every bit important as any literary critic or "expert." You will complere a portfolio demonstrating these interpretations and opinions cumulative to all the work throughout the year. This is a class that does necessitate weekly writings and reviews,requiring quite a bit of work. But it's a class that we will all enjoy together,and see our projects develop.

Pinnacle High School
Adrian Blumenthal