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Prerequisite

Ninth-Grade English, Part 1 (ENGL-041) or equivalent.

Course Learning Outcomes

Knowledge: English 9, Part 1

In this course, knowledge refers to the subject matter and content students will learn while completing the readings, practices, quizzes, and assignments.

On successful completion of this course, students will be able to

  • describe censorship and dystopian societies;

    1. write essays on-demand;

    2. examine the author's choice, theme, and irony in dystopian literature;

    3. examine literature and freedom; and 

    4. write an argumentative essay using academic writing, language, and tone.

21st Century Skill: Communication: Communicate Using Writing

The 21st-century skill you will be focusing on for this semester is Critical Thinking—Information and Discovery. The four criteria you will learn for this skill include: framing the investigation, asking questions, gathering information, and synthesizing information.

Attribute: Responsibility

The attribute you will focus on in this course is responsibility. There are various examples drawn from literature and things to think about to help students think of ways to act responsibly. This course focuses on our rights as citizens and free speech.

Course Description

Welcome to Ninth-Grade English, Part 2! You will explore the course theme of Freedom of Speech and Censorship. The course is divided into three units, consisting of 5-6 modules in each unit.

  • The first unit is What is Censorship What is Dystopia? which focuses on defining what censorship and dystopia are, choosing a dystopian novel, and using reading strategies to decipher texts as credible or not.

  • The second unit is Exploring Freedom Through the Last Cuentista. The focus of this unit is to read The Last Cuentista and other texts exploring freedom of speech and censorship.

  • The final unit is Argumentation and the Media. You will read with a critical lens, write an argumentative essay, conduct research, and explore the power of the media. 

Course Structure

The structure of each module in the course includes three main sections, referred to as "lessons" so students can monitor their time:

  1. Literacy Skills and Strategies: this is where students will learn how to be expert readers, writers, and thinkers around literature. 

  2. Application and Writing Assignments: Most of the written assignments for submission will be in this section. Sometimes an assignment is out of order, simply because it needs to occur before the next concept is taught.

  3. English Skill Enrichment Focus: These are the English skills that students need to master including grammar, sentence structure, punctuation, vocabulary, fluency, etc. 

Course Materials

The main text for this course is The Last Cuentista by Donna Barba Higuera.

For your second dystopian novel, you may choose one of these novels:

  1. The Giver by Lois Lowry

  2. The Roar by Emma Clayton

  3. The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer

Note: There is more information about each of the options in Module 1.

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Assignments

Tip: The Overview pages of each module outline exactly what is due in each module. Do not skip these overview pages as they are very helpful.

This is an English course so there are a variety of assignments. There is a lot of thinking and processing required by students to personalize this course and get the most out of it. Most of the assignments require students to think through what they are reading or learning and fill in graphic organizers with specific questions about the content. Some graphic organizers may be annotated notes, which means they can be filled out right there on the Canvas page and submitted. But students can choose the best method for them and they may download the graphic organizer to their Google Drive or as a Word document and save it and then submit it when it is due. 

There are some assignments in the form of a short quiz. All of these are open notes, open books. They relate to the material on that page of the module. 

There are several writing assignments where students communicate their knowledge in a variety of formats: visual, pictures, PowerPoint or Loom presentations, written essays, summaries, responses, etc. Students will have the opportunity to submit assignments in a variety of ways. There are always choices to make in the assignments.  

There is also an English Skill Enrichment lesson at the end of each module. These lessons will focus on specific English skills such as vocabulary, reading fluency, writing fluency, grammar, sentence structure, etc. These skill assignments are a fun way to meet the standards for English and students often have choices about what they complete and how. 

NOTE: Several assignments have "turnitin" set for flagging plagiarism and will provide students with feedback AFTER their assignments have been graded. 

Content Guides

The content guides walk you through taking notes on specific questions and processes. Be sure to download, fill out, and save your note pages so you can submit them at the end of each unit (Modules 5, 11, and 15). 

You can use your notes as you complete assignments and take the midcourse quiz but the content guides are not allowed on the final exam. 

Interactives and Self-checks

There are interactives or self-checks on nearly every page. They are great reviews and the final exam questions come from these interactives and self-checks. These are not graded but they should also not be skipped. They're a fun way to interact with the content and remember the concepts taught.

Reading Quizzes

The reading checks for The Last Cuentista, are in the form of a short quiz covering the assigned chapters for a module. All of these quizzes are open notes, open books.

Midcourse Quiz

This computer-graded quiz will cover the material up to the mid-course quiz. The questions on the midcourse quiz will be similar in format to the questions on the final exam.

Exams

Final Exam

Students must pass the final exam to earn credit for the course; they may retake it once, for a fee, upon request.

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Grading

Your grade in this course will be based on these assignments and exams:

* You must pass the final exam with at least a 60% to earn credit for the course.

Assignment or Exam Grading Percent of Total Grade Skill Assignments

Teacher Graded

Complete/Incomplete

20%

Written Assignments  

Teacher Graded  20%

Survey Quizzes

Teacher Graded and computer-graded 10% Reading Quizzes Computer-graded 15% Content Guides (x3) Teacher Graded 20% Midcourse Quiz + Final Exam Computer Graded 15%

Grade Scale

Your letter grade is calculated according to these percentages.

A 93% - 100%
A- 90% - 92%
B+ 87% – 89%
B 83% - 86%
B- 80% - 82%
C+ 77% - 79%
C 73% - 76%
C- 70% - 72%
D+ 67% - 69%
D 63% - 66%
D- 60% - 62%
F (fail) 0% - 59%

Getting Help

Please use the help menu in this course to contact Academy of America or your instructor. You can find information about tutoring available to Academy of America students on the Tutoring website.

The Resources page offers a wide variety of services to support you:

  • Academic success skills coaching such as time management, study skills, test preparation, motivation, and more.

  • Course-specific support that includes live tutoring and on-demand resources.

Come find out how we can help you achieve your goals.

Course Policies

For information about how long you have to complete the course, resubmitting assignments, retaking exams, and other questions, please see Course Policies.

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