The Language Arts team at Wellington Middle School believes that reading, writing, and communicating is an essential skill that every student can master. We embrace the workshop model that gives students a choice in what they read and write. We strongly believe that in giving students choice in what they read and write, we help to instill a passion for reading that grows as they grow.
Our Beliefs on Writing and Reading-
Writing needs to be taught like any other basic skill, with explicit instruction and ample opportunity for practice.
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Students deserve to write for real, to write the kinds of texts that they see in the world--nonfiction, chapter books, persuasive letters, stories, lab reports, reviews, poems--and to write for an audience of readers, not just for the teacher's red pen.
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Writers write to put meaning onto the page. Young people will especially invest themselves in their writing if they write about subjects that are important to them.
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Children deserve to be explicitly taught how to write. Instruction matters, and this includes instruction in spelling and conventions, as well as in the qualities and strategies of good writing.
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Students deserve the opportunity and instruction necessary for them to cycle through the writing process as they write: rehearsing, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing their writing.
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Writers read. For children to write well, they need opportunities to read and hear texts read, and to read as insiders, studying what other authors have done that they, too, could try.
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Students deserve clear goals and frequent feedback. They need to hear ways their writing is getting better and to know what their next steps might be.
-Units of Study, Essentials of Writing Instruction
Courses-
All students will take English 6, 7, and 8. Each level has a PreAP option. PreAP is embedded at the 6th and 7th grade levels and is a separate class in 8th grade.
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Many elective options that include:
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Drama
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Creative Writing
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TV Production/Mass Media
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Yearbook
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Reading Intervention
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English Language Development
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| Teacher | Favorite Book(s) in Middle School |
|---|---|
| Mr. Todd Genson | Watership Down |
| Ms. Sasha Gore | Harry Potter Series |
| Mr. Luke Hughes | Pendragon Series |
| Ms. Molly Walker | Diary of Anne Frank & To Kill a Mockingbird |
| Ms. Nicole Orswell | Island of Blue Dolphins, Where the Red Fern Grows, anything by Judy Blume, Little House on the Prairie Series, and The Outsiders |
| Ms. Wendy White | Any and all Choose Your Own Adventure Books |
| Ms. Kate Zittergruen | Where the Red Fern Grows |