9th Grade English 2007/08 Scott Carneal

Literature: (Introduction to different genre and emphasis on "coming of age/transformations" themes.)

I. September to early October (and throughout the year)

Short Stories: "A & P", by John Updike: "The Stone Boy" by Gina Berrauilt: "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez: "The Use of Force" by William Carlos Williams: "Harrison Bergeron" by Kurt Vonnegut.

Essays: "Living Like a Weasel" by Dillard: "Growing up Game" by Brenda Peterson: "A Victim" by Bruno Bettleheim: "Why Anti-Gringo Winds Often Blow South of the Border" by Hunter Thompson: "Beer Can" by John Updike: "Runaway" by Lillian Hellman: "Beauty When the Dancer is the Self" by Alice Walker; "Graduation" by Maya Angelou and readings from the Facing History and Ourselves collection.

II. October to early November (Transformations)

Fiction: The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver

III. November through December

Public Speaking and Research Writing Units

IV. Early January

Study Skills & Exam Preparation

V. Late January and February

Shakespeare: Macbeth (Note: This unit will culminate with a 9^th grade performance of the play and a class trip to see The Folger Shakespeare Library production.)

Note: Ninth Grade Play performance will be Friday, March 7 at 7:15 p.m.

Folger Production Field Trip: Wednesday, March 12 at 11:30 a.m.

VI. March & April (Cultural Geography Unit/The Power of the Young Voice)

World Literature/Africa:

Don’t Let’s Go to the Dog’s Tonight by Alexandra Fuller

Miriam’s Song By Mark Mathabane & Miriam Mathabane

A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah

VII. May

Contemporary/Humorous Play

Writing Program

--students will write approximately 20 short works (2-4 paragraphs) and 10 longer essays (2-4 pages)

--there will be a mixture of personal narrative, literary criticism and response, formal research paper skills, and poetry

--each work will be drafted two or more times and may be edited through peer feedback, classroom workshop, and teacher comments

--Sections from the Everyday Writer will be uses in correcting common punctuation, grammar, and spelling errors

--two to three times a week there will be in-class free writing

December: a formal research paper workshop will be conducted to help with other subject-area papers

May: a 2-3 page research paper will be written

Grammar Program

--students will be studying grammar issues throughout the year

--they will study sentence types, parts of speech, phrases, clauses, & punctuation

--the emphasis is to push each student along to an appropriate level

--furthermore, students will study the Christianson grammar method which emphasizes sentence variety and the overall rhythm of an essay

--students will be assigned to use these grammar concepts in personal narrative essays

Vocabulary Program

--students will study 8 words a week in the Phoenix Learning Resources Vocabulary Book (Level IV). Some words will be taken from literature

--there will be 200+ words for the whole year with the addition of 50+ literary terms

--difficult words from the literature will be discussed in class

--a developed meaning, spelling, and part of speech of each word will be studied; most importantly, students will use the words in their own writing

Drama & Public Speaking

--there will be informal rehearsing and performing of scenes from Macbeth.

--students will be practicing public speaking and debate techniques

--original speeches and debate arguments will be utilized in the creation of argumentative essays

--In early March, all 9^th grade students will perform in the 9^th Grade Play Project.

Evaluation of Students

Term grades will be averaged with essay and short paragraph writing counting 25%, vocabulary and grammar quizzes 15%, daily homework preparation (including journal responses and literature questions) 20%, literature tests 20%, and classroom participation 20%.