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Status

Open

Estimated Completion Time

2 segments/36 weeks.

Overview

This offering can be completed as a course or through the projects or experience pathway. Select the buttons above for more information.

Course Description: In this course, students will acquire the language, reading, writing, and speaking/listening skills necessary for success in college, career, and beyond. Students will become critical readers and thinkers as they dive deeply into the texts presented throughout this course. Students will learn how to effectively research and integrate their findings, as well as cite their sources.

Note: Content varies depending on the course version. For currently enrolled students, please refer to the syllabus located in the course information area for curriculum specifics.

Course Requirements

To achieve success, students are expected to submit work in each course weekly. Students can learn at their own pace, however, “any pace” still means that students must make progress in the course every week. To measure learning, students complete self-checks, practice lessons, multiple choice questions, projects, discussion-based assessments, and discussions. Students are expected to maintain regular contact with teachers; the minimum requirement is monthly. When teachers, students, and parents work together, students are successful.

Major Topics and Concepts

Please review the COMPETENCIES listed on the right side of the page as these statements describe the major topics and concepts covered in this offering.

Segment 1

  • Reading Comprehension/Informational & Explanatory Writing/Narrative Writing
  • Interpretations with American Drama· Interpretation with Shakespearean Drama
  • Using Context Clues to Make Meaning
  • Denotations and Connotations
  • 19th Century Foundations of American Literature
  • Citing Textual Evidence
  • Sequence of Events and Central Ideas
  • Analyzing Effectiveness
  • Integrating and Evaluating Sources
  • Thesis Statements
  • Creating an Outline
  • Developing Body Paragraphs
  • Writing an Effective Conclusion
  • Making Inferences
  • Determining Themes
  • Analyzing Author’s Choice
  • Establishing Narration
  • Writing Narrative Introductions
  • Writing Narrative Body Paragraphs
  • Revising the Narrative Essay
  • The Narrative Essay Final Draft

Segment 1 (Honors)

  • Novel Study
  • Choose Your Novel
  • Identify Theme
  • Developing Theme
  • Writing About Theme

Segment 2

  • Reading Information Text/Speaking & Listening Skills/Argument Writing
  • Hyphenation and Syntax
  • Reading Poetry
  • The Art of Language
  • Understanding 20th-Century Poetry
  • Analyzing 20th-Century Poetry
  • Analyzing Language
  • Evaluating a Speech
  • Evaluate Reasoning
  • Analyzing Purpose
  • Evaluating Rhetoric
  • Gathering Information
  • Integrating Information
  • Evaluating a Speaker
  • Establishing Argument Writing
  • Developing a Claim
  • Introductions to Argument Writing
  • Writing an Argument
  • Conclusions in Argument Writing
  • Revising Arguments
  • Presenting an Argument

 

Segment 2 (Honors)

  • Shakespeare Study
  • Analyzing Author’s Language
  • Analyzing Plot
  • Analyzing Personal Style
  • Writing About Relevance

 

 

 

Career

Each competency will be addressed through a project that is based on a real-life career task. Here are the careers you will explore: Director, Museum Tour Guide, Conservation Scientist, Content Writer, Librarian, Campaign Manager, and Neuroscientist.

Status

Open

Estimated Completion Time

Approximately 4 weeks per project

Competency

Please review the competency statements on the right to learn the major topics and concepts covered in this offering.

 

 

Project

Overview: Projects allow students to demonstrate their understanding of concepts and skills by completing a job-related task. The assignment might be to create a mural, a package design, a speech, a film review, or a movie set – you name it! These creative projects are about applying your learning acquired through in-depth research to real-world career tasks.

Status

Open

Experiences allow you to explore a career field you’re curious about while mastering competencies for school credit. Through experiential learning, you will learn skills and apply these skills to tasks you would complete as part of a career, rather than completing traditional assessments like essays or tests. During your experience, you’ll work with a professional in the field to support your learning. You’ll earn a badge for your accomplishments, which you can share on social media and higher education platforms, or with colleges, potential employers, peers, and/or colleagues to display your qualifications.

Here’s how experiences work:

  1. Each competency you work on is addressed through a separate deliverable predetermined by you and your instructor.
  2. Guided learning for each module consists of research and/or work with a professional in the field. Your instructor will coach you through this process.
  3. Each module culminates in a final demonstration of understanding, which includes a deliverable and a discussion-based assessment with your instructor.

Here’s an example:

Let’s say you’re curious about a career in healthcare. You decide you’d like to learn about this career area, make a professional connection, earn a badge, and earn competencies for your 9th-grade English requirement. While enrolled in English 1 Experiences, you conduct research to better understand language and structure in writing. Then, you work with an Occupational Therapist who helps you apply this understanding to the creation of an informational video. The video aims to advise the family members of patients regarding adaptive equipment and accommodations to help them support their family members as they go about their daily tasks. You’ve earned the Language and Structure in Writing competency! (This is just one example of the many ways experiences can bridge competencies to careers.)

*A parent/guardian permission form and background check of the outside expert are required for students to work with outside experts without parental supervision.

*Please have an idea for an outside expert in mind prior to enrollment or consult with our counseling department by emailing [email protected] prior to enrollment for support identifying one.

 

Credits 1

Meets English graduation requirement. Only English 3 Experience earns a badge.

Competencies

  • Literary Interpretation
    Students will demonstrate an understanding of literary interpretation by explaining interpretation strategies, comparing interpretations of Shakespearean drama, and describing representations of nineteenth-century American culture in literature.
  • Informative Texts
    Students will demonstrate an understanding of informative texts by summarizing an informative text using textual evidence, formulating a response using multiple sources of information in different media or formats, and creating a structured informative text following an outline.
  • Narrative Writing
    Students will demonstrate an understanding of narrative writing by analyzing an author’s craft and structure within a story, and creating a story using narrative techniques.
  • Poetry
    Students will demonstrate an understanding of poetry by comparing the treatment of similar themes or topics within contemporary American poems, explaining historical and cultural influences on early-twentieth-century poetry, and creating a multimedia presentation on poetry analysis.
  • Rhetoric and Research
    Students will demonstrate an understanding of rhetoric and research by analyzing a speaker’s use of persuasive appeals, explaining the themes and purpose of a presidential address, evaluating source credibility, and documenting research.
  • The Argumentative Writing Process
    Competency Statement: Students will demonstrate an understanding of the argumentative writing process by formulating the elements of an argument, creating a structured argumentative essay following an outline, explaining the process of revision, and creating a multimedia presentation to deliver an argument.

Pre-Requisites

None

Honors

Course: To complete the honors version of this offering, you must discuss this with your instructor during your welcome call.

Project/Experience: Honors is awarded by earning "Exceeds" on all rubric assessments.

Attend a virtual open house

We offer regular online open house webinars where VLACS staff members provide parents and students with an overview of our programs and answer questions about online learning.