Joan A. Malerba-Foran
Even though this is an elective within the English Department, I know that passing the CAPT is imperative; therefore, I address as many of the Content Standard requirements as possible. All content standards will be satisfied by reading a variety of poems and a novel excerpt; also, students will respond in brainstorms, whole class discussions and small group settings, and their critical thinking skills will utilized in essay and journal writing. They will interact with their environment through a neighborhood field trip to map porches. These individual maps will be tallied and transposed onto a class map. They will interview family/staff/community members for “front porch stories.” Students will create a found poem and read/perform the poem for the class. Ultimately, they will produce a play, essay, poem, CD, or short story. (The Hillhouse Drama Club will perform the plays.) The specific Content Standards that will be satisfied are:
For Content Standard I, we will generate anticipatory sets, brainstorm categories, interpret text using prior knowledge (I:2), generate questions (I:5), make predictions (I:6), use the structure of text/visual to extend and interpret meaning (I:8), make inferences from text (I:12), and interact with others in creating, interpreting, and evaluating written, oral, and visual texts (I:2, I:14).
For Content Standard 2, our work in orality and performance will allow us to produce texts that communicate effectively by determining the appropriate text structure on the basis of audience and purpose (2:I), communicate effectively in a variety of literary modes (2:2), gather and organize information from primary and secondary sources (2:3), engage in presenting ideas to an audience ((2:4), and engage in writing, speaking, and developing visual texts through reflection and revision (2:5).
For Content Standard 3, students will speak and write using conventional patterns of syntax and diction (3:1), but also select when to use variations of language appropriate to purpose, audience, and task (3:3), develop fluency and competency in English by building upon the students’ strengths in their language and culture (3:4), and understand that accepted practices in spoken and written language may change over time (3:5).
For Content Standard 4, students will explore and respond to contemporary poetry and literature (4:2), identify unique and shared qualities of the voices and cultures in poetry and literature (4:9), evaluate the merits of the work based on individual preferences with knowledge of standards (10:3), explore and respond to the esthetic elements of literature, including spoken, written, and visual text (10:7, demonstrate and understanding that literature represents, recreates, shapes, and explores human experience through language and imagination (10:6), and use literature as a source to explain ideas and decisions as well as political and social issues (10:8)