Cavitt Junior High School

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Our grade level is incorporating more non-fiction literature into the language arts curriculum and looking at topics with more depth and complexity across disciplines. Our students will also learn how to effectively analyze classical pieces in both poetry and prose. Listed below are the three main shifts in education presented by implementing Common Core Standards. Next to each is how I will be bringing CCSS into the classroom.

Build knowledge through content rich non-fiction:
Holt Language Arts and Literature text has a non-fiction piece that accompanies each literary selection.
Interactive Reader is a supplemental text with high interest selections that go with the main textbook.

Video and audio from primary sources help the student connect to the readings.

Analysis of photos, paintings, and other art forms help students access sensory details.

Reading, writing, and speaking grounded in evidence from text, both literary and informational:

Response journals will continue to analyze literature to meet ninth-grade entry level requirements.
All students are required to have an independent novel (fiction or non-fiction) to use as a basis for journal writing.

Speaking skills will be honed by learning how to effectively address and inform different types of audiences.

Regular practice with complex text and its academic language.
Greek and Latin roots will be studied and tested during the year.
Academic and domain-specific vocabulary will be taught throughout the year using various resources.
Text structures will be taught in order to help the student see patterns.

*** My classes will be piloting materials for future adoption. The programs that we will be previewing have a very rich fiction and non-fiction base. Technology is also a very important component to the new series that we will be using.