AMSA English Department 2011-2012

We Work to Develop:

  Reading, writing, language, speaking & listening skills required for college & career success

  Critical & creative thinkers who are capable of college level analysis

  Independent thinkers who value & can develop evidence

  Thinkers & writers who can adapt to a variety of rhetorical tasks, purposes, & audiences

  Individuals able to work with texts in non-traditional formats

  Individuals who are engaged with & open to the world around them

How We Do It

  High expectations for all

  Study of classical literature

  Understanding the world through literature

  Alignment with the history curriculum

  Writing to develop thinking about a variety of texts

  Sequential scaffolding of writing, grammar & vocabulary skills

  Support for struggling students

  Electives & extra-curricular activities

Support For Struggling Students

  After school help program for MCAS

  Soaring Eagles program for lower school students

  After school help from individual teachers

  Smaller college prep classes

Extracurricular Activities

  Drama production   Poetry Out Loud & Lower School Speech Contest   Speech & Debate Team   Field trips   SAT Prep course   Improv Club   Hanover Theatre Student Critic   Shakespeare Now production

  Opportunities to Publish:   Quill   The AMSA Voice   Writers of the Month   Scholastic Writing Awards & writing contests   After school writing & poetry club

English Language Arts: Grades 6-8 Goals

• Increased achievement on MCAS tests

• Clear, concise writing free of mechanical & usage errors

• Rich vocabulary development aided by incorporation of Greek and Latin roots

• Development of appropriate voice and diction

• Paragraph organization & essay structure

• Creating & supporting an arguable thesis

• Correctly citing sources

Topics

  Writing process   1st person

narrative   Compare/contrast   Narrative fiction   Persuasion   Description   Research   Writing for

Assessment   Media Analysis   Public speaking

Teachers: Mark Vital & Danielle Luongo

LITERATURE

  Foundational Literature   The Epic of Gilgamesh   Selections from the Book

of Genesis   Writing and oral tradition   Greek Epics

  Homer’s Iliad & Odyssey   Contemporary Drama &

short fiction   Scrooge & Marley

CONCEPTS:

  Relationship between speaking, writing, and reading

  Myth and archetype   Epic Conventions   Drama Conventions   Plot development   Characterization   Theme   Tone & mood   Figurative Language   Literary Analysis

Grade 6

Grade 7

LITERATURE

  Roman Literature   Virgil, Aeneid   Poetry of Ovid & Horace

  Ancient Drama   Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex   Plautus, Menaechmus

Twins

CONCEPTS:

  Drama History & Conventions

  Comedy Conventions   Dramatic irony   Allegory   Allusion

Teachers: Caitlyn Sheehan, Sarah Ranieri, Mark Vital

Grade 8

LITERATURE European Literature to the

Middle Ages

  St. Augustine, Confessions   Beowulf   Sir Gawain & Arthurian

legend   Chaucer, Canterbury Tales   Dante, Inferno

CONCEPTS:   Legend   Rhyme & meter as

rhetorical device   Medieval Romance   Satire   Frame Story   Autobiography (history &

mode)   Philosophical Writing

Teachers: Adrienne Masiello, Reina Rago, Jessica Northwood

Honors Program College Prep Program

  Pre-AP skills development

  Broader coverage of literature

  Emphasis on developing sophisticated writing style and voice

  Continued skills development in vocabulary & grammar (SAT prep)

  Focus on literary analysis & criticism, academic research, & argumentation

  Individualized skills development

  Narrower coverage of literature

  Greater support and scaffolding of writing skills & development

  Continued skills development in vocabulary & grammar (SAT prep)

  Step-by-step development of skills in various modes of writing.

Grades 9-12

English Electives Grades 9-12

Theatre Introduces students to the origins of theatre and the array of disciplines that make up theatrical production.

Intro to Shakespeare

Introduces students to Shakespearean plays and themes through dramatic readings and multimedia presentations.

Media Analysis

Introduces students to in-depth analysis as well as creation of texts in a variety of media.

Creative Writing

Exposes students to various styles of writing to cultivate writing skills and ideas beyond the typical academic essay.

Philosophy Students explore, analyze, and develop ideas about all aspects of life.

Grade 9

European Renaissance & World Literature

  Don Quixote   Tartuffe   A Midsummer Night’s

Dream   Macbeth   Paradise Lost   Gulliver’s Travels   Things Fall Apart   The Good Earth

CONCEPTS:

  Interaction between content, mode & rhetorical device

  Tragic Hero

  Parody

  Motif

  Guided use of literary criticism

Teachers: Sarah Sweeney & Patrick Horgan

Grade 10

European literature and poetry:

Romantic period to post-WWII

  Frankenstein   A Tale of Two Cities   Heart of Darkness   The Importance of Being

Earnest   All Quiet on the Western

Front   Night   Animal Farm   Lord of the Flies

CONCEPTS:

  Analysis of a variety of rhetorical devices

  Application of literary and rhetorical concepts to critical analysis

  Deep analysis/criticism

Teachers: Michael Lubawski, Patrick Horgan, Marty Richardson

Grade 11

American Literature & Poetry:

Colonial to Contemporary

  Native American myth   Politics as literature   The Scarlet Letter   The Crucible   Huckleberry Finn   Excerpts from Thoreau and

Emerson   Great Gatsby   Grapes of Wrath   Raisin in the Sun   Catcher in the Rye

Continuing Concept Development

  Analysis of nonfiction writing

  Mastery of literary terminology

  Application of critical analysis techniques

  Independent use of literary criticism

  Original use of a “critical lens”

Teacher: Steven Smyth

Grade 12 Options

Gothic Literature Honors

Students examine the repressed fears, anxieties, and desires of Americans beginning with their transformation of the popular British Romantic-Gothic and ending with contemporary dystopian novels.

Contemporary Poetry Honors

Students examine the evolution of modern poetry in the post-World War II era, shedding formal structure to become more personal and accessible, while maintaining important ties to the past.

Shakespeare Honors Students delve into the world of Shakespeare covering at least eight plays and looking critically at the authorship controversy.

Multi-Cultural

Literature Honors

Students examine a selection of American immigrant literature representing a panorama of ethnicities and cultures.

Survey of Literature

College Prep

Students continue to develop skills in reading comprehension, vocabulary, spelling, composition, and grammar through intensive review.

AP Literature: Grade 11

AP Composition: Grade 12

Advanced Placement Courses

Produces:   Skilled readers of imaginative

literature.   In-depth understanding of the ways

writers use language   Consideration of a work’s structure,

style and themes Sample Texts:   The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald   Hamlet, Shakespeare   Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are

Dead , Tom Stoppard   "The Dead," James Joyce

Produces:   Skilled readers of non-fiction prose   Skilled writers who compose for a

variety of purposes   Interactions among purpose,

audience, subject, genre, and rhetoric

Sample Texts:   Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight,

Alexandra Fuller   The Color of Water, James McBride   Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer   Native Speaker, Chang Rae-Lee

How do we measure success?

  School Assessments (Internal)   Formative Assessments throughout   Summative Midterm and Final Tests

  Independent Assessments (External)   MCAS  PSAT/SAT I & II   Advanced Placement  Publications & extra-curricular competitions

MCAS Grade 6

MCAS Grade 6

MCAS Grade 7

MCAS Grade 7

MCAS Grade 8

MCAS Grade 8

MCAS Grade 10

MCAS Grade 10

Class of 2011: MCAS Improvement Grade 7 to 10

16%

50% 59%

47%

20%

3% 3% 0%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

2006 GR 7 2009 GR 10

Advanced

Proficient

Needs Improvement

Warning

Average Increase: 11.3 points

Greatest Change: 40 points (218 to 258)

56% of students in- creased their score by 10 or more points.

Same cohort: students who left AMSA before Grade 10 are not included.

Class of 2012: MCAS Improvement Grade 6 to 10

26%

50%

63%

47%

8% 3% 3% 0%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

2006 GR 6 2009 GR 10

Advanced

Proficient

Needs Improvement

Warning

Average Increase: 7.6 points

Greatest Change: 28 points (218 to 246)

44% of students in- creased their score by 10 or more points.

Same cohort: students who left AMSA before Grade 10 are not included.

Class of 2013: MCAS Improvement Grade 6 to 10

24%

55%

68%

45%

8% 0% 3% 0%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

2007 G6 2010 G10

Advanced

Proficient

Needs Improvement

Warning

Average Increase: 6.64 points

Greatest Change: 32 points (222 to 254)

36% of students in- creased their score by 10 or more points.

Same cohort: students who left AMSA before Grade 10 are not included.

MCAS Improvement: Advanced and Proficient growth over time

60

70

80

90

100

gr 6 gr 7 gr 8 gr 10

Alpha

Beta

Gamma

PSAT Reading Scores

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

Scor

e 70

-80

Scor

e 60

-69

Scor

e 50

-59

Scor

e 40

-49

Scor

e 30

-39

Scor

e 20

-29

Grade 10

Grade 11

Percentage

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

Scor

e 70

-80

Scor

e 60

-69

Scor

e 50

-59

Scor

e 40

-49

Scor

e 30

-39

Scor

e 20

-29

Grade 10 Grade 11

Class of 2011 Class of 2012

Percentage

PSAT Writing Scores

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

Scor

e 70

-80

Scor

e 60

-69

Scor

e 50

-59

Scor

e 40

-49

Scor

e 30

-39

Scor

e 20

-29

Grade 10

Grade 11

Class of 2011

Percentage

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

Grade 10

Grade 11

Class of 2012

Percentage

SAT Scores: Class of 2011

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

700-800 600-690 500-590 400-490 300-390

Reading Writing

Percentage

SAT Scores: Class of 2012

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

700-800 600-690 500-590 400-490 300-390

Reading Writing

Percentage

SAT I : AMSA Versus Selected Towns

SAT Section!

AMSA Middle

50%!

AMSA 2011 Mean!

State Mean!

Natick 2010!

Acton/ Boxb. 2010!

St. Johns 2011!

Lex-ington High 2010!

Boston Latin 2011!

Critical Reading"

500-680"

590! 501" 536" 615" 584" 622" 632"

Writing" 500-680"

587! 492" 531" 625" 585" 626" 626"

Class of 2011: Lowest Performing Students MCAS vs. PSAT/SAT Growth

225

230

235

240

245

250

Grade 7

Grade 8

Grade 10

MCAS Ave.

320

340

360

380

400

420

440

Reading Ave.

Writing Ave.

Score Score

Class of 2012: Lowest Performing Students MCAS vs. PSAT/SAT Growth

225

230

235

240

245

250

MCAS Ave.

320

340

360

380

400

420

440

Reading Ave.

Writing Ave.

Score Score

SAT II Distribution: 2011

38% 28.5%

28.5%

5%

700-800 600-690 500-590 400-490

Seniors: 21 students

33.3% 66.7%

700-800 600-690

Juniors: 6 students

AP Literature Scores

34.8%

34.8%

21.7%

8.6%

5 Score

4 Score

3 Score

2 Score

2011: 23 Students 2010: 31 Students

Only 8% of students globally who took the AP Lit Exam in 2011 received a score of 5.

35.5%

25.8%

32.3%

6.5%

AP Composition Scores: 2011

33.3%

40%

20%

6.7%

5 Score

4 Score

3 Score

2 Score

15 Students

Globally 11% of students who took the test scored a 5.