Contemporary Literature Honors   (#1020840)

Version Description

The purpose of this course is to enable students, using texts of high complexity, to develop knowledge of contemporary literature through advanced integrated educational experiences of reading, writing, speaking and listening, and language. Emphasis will be on representative contemporary literature, with its varied cultural influences, highlighting the major genres, themes, issues, and influences associated throughout the literary period.

General Notes

English Language Arts is not a discrete set of skills, but a rich discipline with meaningful, significant content, the knowledge of which helps all students actively and fully participate in our society. Standards should not stand alone as a separate focus for instruction, but should be combined purposefully.

The content should include, but not be limited to, the following:

• active reading of texts of high literary merit for what they say explicitly, as well as the logical inferences that can be drawn
• analysis of varied contemporary literature and informational texts to examine
• elements of literature
• arguments, themes, and claims supported by textual evidence
• power and impact of language
• influence of history, culture, and setting on language
• personal critical and aesthetic response
• writing for varied purposes
  
  • developing and supporting argumentative claims
  • crafting coherent, supported expository texts
  • responding to literature for personal and analytical purposes
  • writing narratives to develop real or imagined events
  • writing to sources (short and longer research) using text based claims and evidence

• effective listening, speaking, and viewing strategies with emphasis on the use of evidence to support or refute a claim in multimedia presentations, class discussions, and extended text discussions
• collaboration amongst peers

Honors and Advanced Level Course Note: Advanced courses require a greater demand on students through increased academic rigor.  Academic rigor is obtained through the application, analysis, evaluation, and creation of complex ideas that are often abstract and multi-faceted.  Students are challenged to think and collaborate critically on the content they are learning. Honors level rigor will be achieved by increasing text complexity through text selection, focus on high-level qualitative measures, and complexity of task. Instruction will be structured to give students a deeper understanding of conceptual themes and organization within and across disciplines. Academic rigor is more than simply assigning to students a greater quantity of work.

English Language Development ELD Standards Special Notes Section:
Teachers are required to provide listening, speaking, reading and writing instruction that allows English language learners (ELL) to communicate information, ideas and concepts for academic success in the content area of Language Arts. For the given level of English language proficiency and with visual, graphic, or interactive support, students will interact with grade level words, expressions, sentences and discourse to process or produce language necessary for academic success. The ELD standard should specify a relevant content area concept or topic of study chosen by curriculum developers and teachers which maximizes an ELL’s need for communication and social skills. To access an ELL supporting document which delineates performance definitions and descriptors, please click on the following link: https://cpalmsmediaprod.blob.core.windows.net/uploads/docs/standards/eld/la.pdf

Version Requirements

One-third of the ELA Book List and Civics Sample Book List should be used in instruction.