Talented and Gifted Magnet High School TeacherWeb资优高中teaherweb磁铁.docVIP

School for the Talented and Gifted at the Yvonne A. Ewell Townview Magnet Center Syllabus for English I Pre-AP 2009-2010 First Semester Instructor Mrs. Joan F. Bexley - Room 310 Textbooks Prentice-Hall Literature: Timeless Voices, Timeless Themes – Gold Level (Prentice-Hall, 2000) Writer’s Choice: Grammar and Composition (Glencoe McGraw-Hill, 2001) Course Description The English I Pre-AP course is designed to be a stepping stone to Advanced Placement coursework in the junior- and senior-level English courses. Students will study universal themes presented through a variety of literary genres, including the novel, the short story, poetry, drama, and non-fiction. While the literature textbook named above is the foundational resource, additional resources such as articles, stories, and poems provided in handouts may be used as well. Students will continue their study of grammar, usage, and mechanics with particular emphasis on verb and pronoun usage. A variety of writing assignments will allow students to expand their thinking through composition, exploring the ideas of writers and their reactions to those ideas, as well as through exploration and development of their own ideas. Expectations for writing improvement will increase as the year progresses. Vocabulary development is stressed through a study of Latin and Greek roots and their English derivatives as well as through focused PSAT/SAT vocabulary study. All ninth-grade students take the PSAT in October, District Benchmark tests in October and November, the District ACP end-of-semester tests in the fall and spring, and the TAKS test in February 2010. Academic Goals To improve writing skills To eliminate errors in spelling, grammar, usage, and mechanics (capitalization and punctuation) To eliminate run-ons and fragments in compositions To use higher-level thinking skills in the writing process, understanding that writing is a visual representation of one’s thinking To write for a variety of