ELA 11: Writing for College and Career

In Writing for College and Career students will learn the writing skills they will need to explore their post high school life, regardless of their path.  Similar to other courses at Wahtonka, all language arts courses are content driven and standards based. Content driven means that it will incorporate things you learn in your other classes (math, science, social studies) because in life we do not separate subjects, they are all blended together in everything you do! Standards based means it will follow the national common core standards (this means we are following learning goals of our nation). Career ready skills will be practiced during your time in language arts in order to prepare you for life and finding your way along a career path. In 11th grade, students will learn how to do informational writing including creating resumes, cover letters, college application letters, conducting informational interviews and more.  Students will identify fields that they are considering after high school and research the requirements for those fields.

Course FAQs

What are my technology needs?

You will login to Google Classroom and utilize this platform for work submission. You will also need to be proficient in the use of Google Drive and GoogleDocs. Other programs we use in this class include Naviance, and Zoom.

What are the prerequisites I need in order to take this class?

ELA ,9,10: Narrative and Creative Writing, Journalism

Why should I take this course/What are the benefits?

There are 7 specific reasons you should have a class in narrative and creative writing:

1. Writers learn by writing: In this course you will learn to become a writer through practicing the art of writing.  You will eventually learn how to write a resume, cover letter, college application letter and more.  You will learn to identify an audience that you are writing to and structure your writing to meet the audience.  

2. The real world is our classroom:  In this class you will interview professionals that work in your field of choice to get an understanding of what their journey to success has been and what advice they would give you. You will have an opportunity to develop skills in a practical way to begin to establish your post high school path. 

3. We learn from mistakes, both our own and other’s:  You will have an opportunity to learn from people in fields that you are interested in, including what mistakes they made along the way and what they learned from them.

4. Writers engage in feedback: You will learn to engage in the same process that all of our great writers use to grow and improve in their craft.  Through creating, revising, getting feedback, editing, and publishing, your writing will grow at each step of the process and through each published piece.  Feedback will be tailored to where you are in your writing and delivered with care and compassion. 

5. Building resilience: Great writers don’t publish their first drafts. It is only through trying, struggling, trying again, and again that a piece of writing becomes great.  This can and will happen with your writing.  In ELA we will create a safe space for you to go through this process with care and support to guide you along the way. In doing so you will learn to become more resilient in all areas of your life when you face challenges.

6. Encourages Teamwork: Humans learn through experimentation and collaboration. In ELA you will learn how to give supportive and constructive feedback to your peers, how to receive feedback and how to collaborate on ideas together. In every line of work teamwork is what makes us most successful. 

Sharing your work: We all learn through sharing our work.  Sharing your work with others encourages you to define an audience, take in feedback and practice the craft of improvement. It is also a way to celebrate your work and accomplishments within the real world. For that reason, all of our writing is geared to be shared, in writing for college and career that means that we will share our writing with professionals in the field for feedback..  Not all writing will be shared with professionals (though every student will have a piece that is) but each piece will be created as though it were.

What standards does this course cover?

Here is the Common Core Standards that apply to English Language Arts 

http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/CCRA/W/

http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/CCRA/R/

• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.1: Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text.

• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.2: Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details and ideas.

• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.3: Analyze how and why individuals, events, or ideas develop and interact over the course of a text.

• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.4: Interpret words and phrases as they are used in a text, including determining technical, connotative, and figurative meanings, and analyze how specific word choices shape meaning or tone.

• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.5: Analyze the structure of texts, including how specific sentences, paragraphs, and larger portions of the text (e.g., a section, chapter, scene, or stanza) relate to each other and the whole.

• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.6: Assess how point of view or purpose shapes the content and style of a text.

• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.7: Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse media and formats, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words.1

• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.8: Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, including the validity of the reasoning as well as the relevance and sufficiency of the evidence.

• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.9: Analyze how two or more texts address similar themes or topics in order to build knowledge or to compare the approaches the authors take.

• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.10: Read and comprehend complex literary and informational texts independently and proficiently.

• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.W.2: Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content.

• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.W.3: Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, well-chosen details and well-structured event sequences.

• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.W.4: Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.

• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.W.5: Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach.

• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.W.6: Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and to interact and collaborate with others.

• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.W.7: Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects based on focused questions, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.

• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.W.8: Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, assess the credibility and accuracy of each source, and integrate the information while avoiding plagiarism.

• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.W.9: Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.

• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.W.10: Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of tasks, purposes, and audiences.

How do you grade my work in this class?

Wahtonka Community School uses a proficiency based grading system. Your grade is based upon rubrics with specific standards and requirements. In order to gain credit for this class you must meet these standards at the proficient or mastery level. 

Course grades are usually broken down as follows: