Language and Literature

At D.M. Therrell High School, the Language & Literature Curriculum focuses upon four (4) main academic objectives:  Analyzing, Organizing, Producing Text, & Using Language.  Analyzing  Through the study of language and literature students are enabled to deconstruct texts to identify their essential elements and their meaning. Analyzing involves demonstrating an understanding of the creator’s choices, the relationships between the various components of a text and between texts and making inferences about how an audience responds to a text, as well as the creator’s purpose for producing text. Students should be able to use the text to support their personal responses and ideas. Literacy and critical literacy are essential lifelong skills; engaging with texts requires students to think critically and show awareness of, and an ability to reflect on, different perspectives through their interpretations of the text. To reach the aims of studying language and literature, students should be able to: analyze the content, context, language, structure, technique and style of text(s) and the relationships among texts, analyze the effects of the creator’s choices on an audience ,justify opinions and ideas, using examples, explanations and terminology evaluate similarities and differences by connecting features across and within genres and texts. Organizing  Students should understand and be able to organize their ideas and opinions using a range of appropriate conventions for different forms and purposes of communication. Students should also recognize the importance of maintaining academic honesty by respecting intellectual property rights and referencing all sources accurately. To reach the aims of studying language and literature, students should be able to: employ organizational structures that serve the context and intention, organize opinions and ideas in a sustained, coherent and logical manner, use referencing and formatting tools to create a presentation style suitable to the context and intention. Producing Text Students will produce written and spoken text, focusing on the creative process itself and on the understanding of the connection between the creator and his or her audience. In exploring and appreciating new and changing perspectives and ideas, students will develop the ability to make choices aimed at producing texts that affect both the creator and the audience. To reach the aims of studying language and literature, students should be able to: produce texts that demonstrate insight, imagination and sensitivity while exploring and reflecting critically on new perspectives and ideas arising from personal engagement with the creative process, make stylistic choices in terms of linguistic, literary and visual devices, demonstrating awareness of impact on an audience, select relevant details and examples to develop ideas. Using Language  Students have opportunities to develop, organize and express themselves and communicate thoughts, ideas, and information. They are required to use accurate and varied language that is appropriate to the context and intention. This objective applies to, and must include, written, oral and visual text, as appropriate. In order to reach the aims of studying language and literature, students should be able to: use appropriate and varied vocabulary, sentence structures and forms of expression, write and speak in a register and style that serve the context and intention, use correct grammar, syntax and punctuation spell, write (character languages) and pronounce with accuracy, use appropriate nonverbal communication techniques. Language & Literature Course Offerings 9th Grade Literature & Composition 9th Grade Literature & Composition (Honors) 10th Grade Literature & Composition AP English Literature & Composition American Literature IB English YR 1 British Literature IB English YR 2 Writer’s Workshop Advanced Composition Reading & Writing Support Language & Literature Student Resources GA DOE ELA Course Resources & Standards  https://www.georgiastandards.org/Georgia-Standards/Pages/ELA-9-12.aspx American Literature EOC Study Guide (GA Milestones)  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jPT0aa3wIKrxRWwbBw4zoWV9SltVO3vC/view?usp=sharin g MY AP (College Board)  https://myap.collegeboard.org/login Purdue OWL Writing Lab https://owl.purdue.edu/ Read Theory (Reading Comprehension Practice)  https://readtheory.org/ Kami (Text Annotations)  https://www.kamiapp.com/ CommonLit (Reading Comprehension Practice) https://www.commonlit.org/en/library?initiatedFrom=library NEWSELA (Reading Comprehension Practice)  https://newsela.com/home/