Mr. Velasco’s ClassEnglish 11 MAD

Santa Barbara High School

Common Core ELA Standards

The standards devote as much attention on what students read, in terms of complexity, quality, and range, as they do on how students read. As students progress through the grades, they must both develop their comprehension skills and apply them to increasingly complex texts.

The progression of the standards is based on evidence and anchored in the college and career readiness (CCR) standards. The CCR standards define broad competencies and reading, writing, speaking, listening, and language while the K-12 standards lend further specificity by defining a developmentally appropriate progression of skills and understandings.

In order to prepare students for the challenges of college and career texts, the standards require a rich reading of literature as well as extensive reading in science, history/social studies, and other disciplines.

Common Core Content

Students are required to learn certain critical content, including classic myths and stories from around the world, America’s Founding Documents, and foundational American literature.

Novels will be read in conjunction with historical documents, current news articles, and documentary films to add to the historical, social, and political contexts of the works

The standards also require that students systematically develop knowledge of literature as well as knowledge in other disciplines through reading, writing, speaking, and listening in history/social studies and science

Theme: “The American Dream?”

Question for the Year - What is the American Dream and how has it been manifested by various sub-cultures in American history?

Quarter 1 - Foundational Documents and Native-American texts

Quarter 2 - The New Americans (by choice or otherwise)

Quarter 3 - Struggles, Destinies, Promises

Quarter 4 - Where we are headed?

Overview of my class

Integrated curriculum with U.S. History and MAD classes (Digital Photography and Film Editing)

Propaganda unit (Semantics, Ethos, Pathos, Logos)

Rhetorical Precis/Summary

Essays (Argumentative, Persuasive, Narrative)

Photo exhibit project (Fall semester)

Screenwriting unit (Spring semester)

Class Activities

5-7 minutes of writing everyday via “Do Now” or Quickwrites

Reading Journals

Note-taking skills (Cornell Notes)

Learning Logs

Socratic Seminars

Vocabulary Building

Writing as a tool for analysis

Contact Info

EDU 2.0

Email – jvelasco@sbsdk12.org

Phone – (805) 966-9101 x. 281

Mr. Velasco websiteGoogle “Mr. Velasco”

Wish List

Notebook paper

Printer paper

Pencils

Electric Pencil sharpener

Stapler

Mouse pads

Whiteboard erasers and cleaner

Gift cards for Staples, Office Max

Gift card to Aaron Brothers, Art Essentials (frames)