Online Language Arts Classes

Language Arts 9

A year-long course designed as a comprehensive 9th grade English Language Arts program, ELA 2064 provides rigorous training in the foundations of English Language Arts skills and strategies. In addition, it expands on and applies traditional concepts to modern, 21st century demands. In each themed unit, students will learn and immediately apply skills to classic and contemporary literature, expository text, drama, and poetry. Reading strategy lessons provide students with guidance and practice in techniques such as visualizing, making inferences and predictions, and recognizing organizational patterns in online and offline texts. Students will also receive hands-on training in applying the writing process, evaluating essays using the Six Traits of Effective Writing, and using MLA style and documentation. By the end of the course, students will have composed and evaluated literary, persuasive, narrative, and informative essays. Paramount to their writing skills are the grammar lessons and practice provided in every unit. Dedicated to creating effective and adaptable readers, writers, and consumers of media, e2020 has also infused the unit structure with lessons in 21st century skills, media literacy, and communication.

Language Arts 10

This two-semester course focuses on preparing students for success on state exit exams. Each unit contains core lessons including skills, informational, communication, grammar, and writing lessons. The skills lessons equip students with the literary devices and terminology they will need to excel on high stakes tests. Informational lessons connect literary text to other content areas or real-life fields. In the communication lessons, students practice debate, analysis of formal speech, visual media analysis, and mass media analysis. Grammar lessons reinforce and expand on the foundations of the English language. In writing lessons, students will use the writing process to produce persuasive, descriptive, and expository essays. In addition, students will write an autobiographical narrative and compose a letter to the editor. This course features many unit topics, including literary analysis of poetry; evaluation of expository text; world literature (with a social responsibility theme); legends, epics, and myths; drama; and reading comprehension of informational text. Among other classic and contemporary texts, students will analyze Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Julius Caesar.

Language Arts 11

The focus of this two-semester course is American Literature. The course is structured chronologically by time period and literary era. Each unit contains introductory lessons that set the stage for the student to understand the background and historical events that have impacted American literary and expository texts. The topics covered include American origins (2000 BCE-1620 AD), slave narratives, Puritan style and sermons, Romanticism and Transcendentalism, Realism, the Harlem Renaissance, Modernism, and contemporary literature. Authors represented include Benjamin Franklin, Patrick Henry, Frederick Douglass, Chief Joseph, Edgar Allan Poe, Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman, Henry David Thoreau, Nathanial Hawthorne, Kate Chopin, Willa Cather, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Martin Luther King, Jr., Amy Tan, and Judith Ortiz Cofer. To add dimension to the American literary experience, this course also contains a world literature unit featuring stories from the Middle East, India, Japan, and Argentina. Informational, communication, grammar, and writing lessons are integrated throughout the course.

Language Arts 12

This two-semester British Literature course is organized by chronological time period, including the Anglo-Saxon and Old English Period: 449 – 1066; The Medieval Period: 1066 – 1485; The Renaissance 1485 – 1660; 17th and 18th Centuries (Restoration & Enlightenment): 1660 – 1798; The Romantic Period 1798 – 1832; The Victorian Period: 1832 – 1901; and The Modern Period: 1901 – 1950. Each unit contains an introduction to the time period using a timeline and background lecture that discusses the philosophical, political, religious, ethical, and social influences of each time period. Authors represented include Homer, Chaucer, Boccaccio, William Shakespeare, Francesco Petrarch, Mary Wollstonecraft, Queen Elizabeth I, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Robert Browning, and Virginia Woolf. To add dimension to the British literary experience, this course also contains a world literature unit with stories from India, Europe, China, and Spain. Informational, communication, grammar, and writing lessons are integrated throughout the course.

Introduction to Communications and Speech

This one-semester high school course covers communications in the first quarter of the course and speech in the second quarter. The course begins with an introduction that builds student understanding of the elements, principles, and characteristics of human communication and then progresses into an exploration of self-awareness and perception in communication. Verbal and nonverbal messages are thoroughly examined, and cultural and gender differences in the areas of listening and responding are also addressed. The communications part of the course concludes with units on interpersonal, group, and organizational communication. The speech section of the course starts with an introduction to public speaking and then goes on to take the student step-by-step through speech writing, covering a variety of topics: choosing a topic, purpose, and thesis; researching and supporting materials; and methods for writing and delivering a speech. The course concludes with units on informative and persuasive speeches, and students are given the opportunity to critique and analyze speeches in the course.

Literacy and Comprehension I & II

These two one-semester reading intervention courses are designed for high school and middle school students who are reading two to three levels below grade level. The course design is based on scientific research (including the Reading Next report by the National Reading Panel (NRP)), reports from The National Institute for Literacy, and briefs from the Alliance for Excellent Education. ESL/ELL strategies are included in every lesson. Both courses include explicit and systematic instruction targeting the following comprehension strategies: summarizing, questioning, previewing and predicting, recognizing text structure, visualizing, making inferences, and monitoring understanding with metacognition. The courses use a thematic and contemporary approach, including high-interest topics to motivate struggling readers and exposing students to effective instructional principles using diverse content-area and real-world texts. Approximately 75% of the reading material is classified as nonfiction. The course also includes instruction aimed at improving fluency and vocabulary. Finally, the course offers structured writing opportunities through our engaging, technology-based interface. The courses have formative and summative assessments, as well as student self-evaluation, through the use of e-Goals and e-Reflections.

IDEA Writing

This one-semester-long intensive writing course, IDEA Writing: Instruction to Develop Expository and Applied Writing, is aimed at students in grades 9 – 12. The course uses the writing process and the Six Traits of effective writing as an overarching framework that encompasses targeted lessons on reputable research, effective communication, solid grammar, and compelling style. By the end of the course, students will have had hands on experience writing personal reflections, definition essays, research essays, persuasive and informative pieces, and literary analyses. They will also be able to use and interpret the Six Traits rubrics to evaluate writing, articulate and apply strategies for research and writing, and summarize a variety of grammar and usage points. This one-semester course aligns to American Diploma Project standards.

Strategies for Academic Success

This one-semester course provides comprehensive study skills and strategies for high school and middle school students. Important study skills topics, including time management, note taking, online learning environment skills, and strategies for remembering key information, are taught using real-world activities.

Middle School Language Arts Classes

Language Arts 6

This two-semester course focuses on a variety of literary, expository, and informational texts. This course introduces the student to literary skills, including plot, setting, characterization, and theme. Course topics include genre studies; world literature; literary analysis of drama; analyzing nonfiction, such as speeches, biographies, and memoirs; and reading comprehension of informational texts. Targeted skills lessons teach students how to analyze and evaluate text for success on standardized tests. The writing process is taught in each essay; expository, narrative, literary analysis, creative, and functional essays are all included in the course.

Language Arts 7

This two-semester course teaches literary and reading comprehension skills. Each unit is constructed around several core types of lessons: skills, informational, communications, and grammar and writing. Skills lessons target the elements of literature and prepare students for high-stakes tests. Informational lessons introduce real-life topics connected to literary text. Communication lessons lead students in an exploration of visual literacy, effective listening skills, censorship, propaganda, and ethical reasoning. Grammar and writing lessons develop writing skills through persuasive essays, expressive writing, expository essays, and the research paper. Rigorous units introduce and reinforce a variety of literary elements, including plot, setting, theme, and style. Additional topics include literary criticism; world literature; tales, legends, and myths; drama; and reading comprehension of informational texts.

Language Arts 8

This two–semester course uses diverse and contemporary texts to prepare students for high school. Authors represented include Ray Bradbury, Toni Cade Bambara, Roald Dahl, Nikki Giovanni, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Gary Soto, and Desmond Tutu. Each unit is constructed around several core types of lessons: skills, literary and expository, informational, communication, and grammar and writing lessons. Skills lessons target the elements of literature and prepare students for high-stakes tests. Literary and expository text lessons explore and analyze a variety of classic and contemporary texts from different genres. Informational lessons introduce real-life topics connected to literary text. Communication lessons explore topics related to public speaking, effective listening, interviews, and media analysis. Grammar and writing lessons enhance student control of English conventions while also developing writing skills through persuasive essays, personal narratives, informative essays, literary analysis, compare-contrast essays, and a research paper. Literary elements targeted in the course include plot, subplot, character, setting, and theme. Focused units guide students in an exploration of poetry and prose, literary criticism, world literature, American folk tales, drama, and informational texts.