A diverse selection of short works from accomplished modern authors, including Amy Tan, Maya Angelou, Carson McCullers and William Saroyan. Stories are used to engage students in shared inquiry a process of active reading, discussion and interpretation.

An historical fiction novel set in rural Mississippi in the 1930's. This novel serves as background for student multimedia projects exploring what an author needs to know to write historical fiction and be authentic. This project is presented in detail as a webquest on the webpage address provided above. Click above on Online Projects.

Freshman Jerry Renault is trying to make his way at Trinity High, a boys' prep school. On the unlikely battlefield of the school's annual chocolate sale he must deal with issues of peer pressure, conformity and the abuse of power.

Protagonist Taylor Greer is an outsider in her small hometown in rural Kentucky. On her journey of escape she encounters love and friendship, abandonment and belonging, and discovers resources in apparently empty places.

Murder... ghosts... revenge... this is the background of Shakespeare's most famous tragedy. Students love interpreting the language and are responsible for performing one monologue.

Science fiction allows us to see how Charlie's view of the changes as his I.Q. triples. Students develop a tableau of the characters and video their presentations

Various short stories, nonfiction selections and poems. Some selections will be determined by District E's Pacing Plan with provided seven week assessments.

Reading for information. Various assignments.

After studying various forms of poetry, analyzing figurative language and identifying metaphors, similes, personification etc. students choose a poem that moves them and using imovie create a movie which expresses their interpretation of the poem using sound and images.Click above on Lesson Plan

Contains exercises for grammar, usage and mechanics, essential writing skills and writing workshops.

The California Eighth Grade Language Arts Content Standards require that students read one million words a year independently outside of class. To support students in their reading practice we are using The Accelerated Reader Program; students read books on their own time, and earn points for passing computerized tests.

Online project using internet articles with proposition-support text. Click above on Online Projects.