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As a volunteer with the second grade writing project, I get to spend time with some of the brightest and most imaginative students I’ve ever met.
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English
Our daily English program is first and foremost a study of good literature. In each grade, novels are grouped thematically and accompany the history curriculum. In English class, students have ample opportunity to practice creative and analytical writing while developing their skills as writers through weekly lessons. A clear and specific rubric is used to evaluate students’ writing. The rubric emphasizes the importance of mechanics, content, and expression—skills taught in the context of the literature and explicitly in lessons throughout the year.
Harlem Academy’s teaching team values a shared approach to writing instruction. Although writing primarily occurs in English, history, and reason and rhetoric, the rubric is also used to evaluate significant writing projects in other subjects. This reinforces student learning because effective writing is explicitly defined regardless of the teacher or the discipline.
Independent reading skills are strengthened and assessed with the Accelerated Reader program and through book reviews, letter essays, and book talks throughout the year. Teachers use the school’s resources and the New York Library system to help students develop their own criteria for selecting books to read independently.
An English Anthology celebrates selections of students’ work from the previous year. Anthology entries take many different forms, such as creative writing, persuasive essays, poetry, and reflective writing. The annual English Anthology helps students to track their progress over time and serves as a tangible record of the students’ creativity and literary prowess.
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