1. Welcome Parents!
Bigelow Middle School
Newton Public Schools

2. English Program - Cluster 7C
Rebecca Robles, M.A.T. Bigelow Middle School Newton, Massachusetts

3. Major Themes Diversity Personal Responsibility Social Responsibility
Coming of Age/Loss of Innocence
Identity

4. Major Units of Study Young Adult Novel
Personal Narrative/ Autobiography/Biography
Poetry
The Essay-Part I
Essay Structure
Personal Essay
Literary Critique/Analysis

5. Year-long Essential Questions
I. How do individuals respond to challenge and struggle?
II. How do individuals confront prejudice?
III. What is identity?
“How do I define myself?”

6. Daily Oral Language Daily Warm-up/Do Now
For five to ten minutes several days a week, students review and reinforce basic skills in the areas of spelling, capitalization, punctuation, grammar and usage.
redbank.injersey.com/kids.html

7. Young Adult Novel Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry Historical Fiction
by Mildred D. Taylor
Puffin, 1996

8. Opportunity for Challenge Work
Historical Fiction
The Land
by Mildred D. Taylor
Dial, September 2001

9. Biography Langston Hughes An Interdisciplinary Biography
by Fredric Lown
J Weston Walch, 1997

10. Exploration of reading, analyzing, and writing poetry
Exploration of reading, analyzing, and writing poetry. A protocol will be established for learning a poem and experiment with writing and revising in different styles Students will end the unit with a culminating poet study project.

11. Book Groups
Student centered groups that provide them opportunities to use critical thinking skills, make decisions, and collaborate with their peers.
Some titles include Drums, Girls & Dangerous Pie/Sonnenblcik, Call of the Wild/London, and Breadwinners/Ellis.

12. Independent Reading Fiction Biography Non-fiction
Book projects/reviews will cover the following genre/themes:
Fiction
Biography
Non-fiction
Multi-cultural (Windows & Mirrors)

13. Writing Proper composition (multi-paragraph/essay)
There are three major writing workshops/units throughout the year:
Proper composition (multi-paragraph/essay)
Open response (CER – Claim, Evidence, & Reasoning)
Critique/Analytical writing

14. Assessment Major/minor writing assignments
Rubrics are aligned with the ELA frameworks and Core Standards.
Homework completion (quality vs. quantity)
Daily Oral Language/class work
Tests, quizzes, and projects
Effort is always taken into consideration.

15. Final Message
“I look forward to our year of learning together, and thank you for your support.”
~ Rebecca Robles