Sixth-grade English focuses on empowering student voices and developing independent and confident readers, writers, and public speakers. Throughout the year, 6th-grade English explores the theme of “diverse perspectives.” Assignments ask students to read and analyze a diverse collection of novels, plays, memoirs, short stories, and poems. Through class discussions, written responses, and presentations to the class, students consider the ways that literature can act as a window into the perspectives of others, and as a mirror to better explore our own identities. Class texts include poetry by Nikki Giovanni, N. Scott Momaday, Langston Hughes, Mekeel Mcbride, and Warsan Shire; The Crossover by Kwame Alexander; The Friends Series, a graphic memoir series written by our 2022 visiting authors, Shannon Hale and LeUyen Pham; Refugee by Alan Gratz; selections from We Are Displaced by Malala Yousafzai; The Giver by Lois Lowry; Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson; Almost American Girl, a graphic memoir by our 2023 visiting author Robin Ha; The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton; and A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare. To foster a community of readers, students are also asked to complete independent reading throughout the year and periodically present book talks to recommend books to their classmates. Writing projects complement each text and require students to practice various forms of writing: analytical, expository, editorial, persuasive, autobiographical, narrative, and poetic. Vocabulary lessons and grammar mini-units enhance reading comprehension and writing skills.

Welcome to Seventh Grade English! This class is, foremost, designed to help you become a stronger reader and writer. You will explore the way that authors use language, learn to ask questions about the ideas that they present in their books, and hone your skills as natural observers of the social world. We will study classic and contemporary fiction as well as literary nonfiction, including works by Jason Reynolds, Douglas Adams, and Art Spiegelman. You will read stories that speak to your lived experience and ones that, hopefully, change the way you see the world. You will write stories that only you can write.  And maybe, just maybe, if we do this right, this class will inspire in you a love for the English language.

In 8th grade, students explore a timeless question: Are human beings fundamentally good or evil? Through a study of canonical and contemporary texts, students will consider how access to power influences human behavior, and how people respond in the face of unjust leadership and oppression. A common theme of revolution runs through all of the texts. Students examine these patterns in history and in literature and contemplate their power to make change for a better world. English texts include: The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas, Animal Farm by George Orwell, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, Night by Elie Wiesel, Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare, and Internment by Samira Ahmed, among others. English classes are a mix of discussion and debates, group activities, writing activities, and mini-lessons. Writing assignments demand abstract thinking, inferential reasoning, and the incorporation of textual evidence. Vocabulary work derives from the study of Greek and Latin roots. Students continue to hone grammar and punctuation skills through exercises and frequent writing activities.