Course Description: Students will encounter many of the aspects of what keeps a language "alive"-reading the words that others have written, listening to the words that others have spoken, and writing words of their own.

Writing is a major tool that people use every day and in practically every way in our modern world. Indeed, we are finding that people now are writing more than they ever have before. Not only are they doing traditional writing--letters of all sorts, business reports, recommendations, summaries, and much, much more, they are also sending e-mail messages and creating web pages, both of which are writing activities. Because writing is such an important part of our world, what students learn in this course will help them throughout their lifetime.

Students will explore several general approaches to presenting ideas in writing and also specific techniques they can use to get their ideas across to readers. By the time students complete this course, they will have applied their skills to a number of writing situations, and will have learned techniques that they can use in nearly every writing situation.

Students will be introduced to different types of writing--short stories, poetry, novels, and nonfiction. They will learn the secrets of successful reading and skills to help them increase their vocabulary. They will read excerpts from a variety of literary works (some famous and others not as well-known), as well as from "everyday" writing.

Course Contents:
Students will learn about:

• Unit 1: Reading Strategies
• Lesson 1: Vocabulary
• Lesson 2: During - Reading
• Lesson 3: After - Reading
• Unit 2: Poetry
• Lesson 1: Introduction to Poetry
• Lesson 2: Reading and Responding to Poetry
• Unit 3: Short Stories
• Lesson 1: Short Story Tools
• Lesson 2: Reading and Responding to Short Stories
• Lesson 3: Writing Short Stories
• Unit 4: Nonfiction
• Lesson 1: Reading and Responding to Nonfiction
• Lesson 2: Writing Nonfiction
• Unit 5: The Novel
• Lesson 1: Science Fiction
• Lesson 2: Realism
• Lesson 3: Fantasy Fiction

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