My English 3 course, or 11th grade English class focused on American Literature and stressed vocabulary and writing development. In fact, my class studied some great texts, such as Of Mice and Men, The Crucible, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and more. With each novel studied, students discussed and wrote about how these novels applied to themselves. In turn, these conversations, journal entries, and formal thesis-based essays revealed the students’ unique thoughts, opinions, and ideas. Students were encouraged to verbally share with a host of incentives, primarily through group praise, prizes, and the possibility of a class pa’ina.

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With each novel, students were introduced to, practiced, and quizzed on vocabulary from each text. Each day they practiced their vocabulary using a variety of techniques I learned from former WHS literacy coach, Asa Yamashita. These techniques included: providing definitions of words and asking students to come up with their own, vocabulary charts that asked students to create graphic representations of new words, having students write meaningful sentences using the new words, recognizing and/or creating word associations of new words, vocabulary games, and weekly quizzes. 

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Juniors at WHS were also required to create a Professional Transition Plan (PTP) (a graduation requirement). The PTP is a professional portfolio that has gotten students to start thinking about post-graduation plans including college, the classes and tests (SATs) they need to take in high school to get into their college of choice, financial aide, and so on. To learn more about the PTP, click the button below.

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For links to most assignments per unit/subject, scroll down and click the links. All links are Google Docs or Google Slides, made available through Google Drive. I encourage you to take these documents, amend them, and use them with your students.