Mrs. Bolton -- English

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About The Teacher Label:


About The Teacher
I have been teaching for twelve years: four in middle school and eight in high school. I completed both my undergraduate and graduate work at Eastern Michigan University. I am passionate about the English language and reading and writing literacy. In addition to teaching social activism in this course, I am an activist myself. I am fully involved with suicide awareness and prevention. I have volunteered much of my personal time to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention through local awareness, fund raising, and community and national walks. I live in Livonia, have been married for 15 years and have three fabulous children: Jack, 9, Evan, 5, Paige, 1.

Mission Label:


Mission
English Honors 9 is yearlong English class utilizing a variety of instructional strategies and techniques (i.e. Reading Apprenticeship, Project-Based Learning, active participation, cooperative learning, positive reinforcement). Students will learn reading and writing strategies to prepare them for success in their educational endeavors. The overall focus of this course is reading. In order to be a precise, fluent and creative writer, you must read well and often. Throughout the duration of this course, you will become more engaged, fluent, and competent readers of a variety of texts that you will have to understand in your personal, academic, and professional lives. Students will use Sustained Silent Reading (SSR) time to increase fluency and help them learn how to choose books they will enjoy. They will also keep SSR logs to become more aware of their reading strengths and weaknesses. They will practice using different thinking strategies to help them understand different kinds of reading materials. Students will learn how to focus their attention, deal with distractions, and organize their time in order to become a more effective learner. The skills, habits, and understandings they gain from this course will help them in all your other classes! Students will explore this content through the nature of “essential questions” as dictated by the Michigan Merit Curriculum (MMC), i.e. students will ask: • Who am I and how do I find my place in this world? • How do my skills and talents help define me? • What evidence do I have that I am committed to learning? • How do I demonstrate that I am open-minded enough to learn from my experiences? • Which decisions will I make today will affect me for my future? • How do I relate to my family and my community? • How am I a reflection of my relationships? • How do my relationships within and across groups affect others? • What influence do class, religion, language, and culture have on my my decisions? • What can I contribute as an individual? • What is my responsibility to society? • What does it mean to be a hero? English 12/English Honors 12 students will explore a variety of English concepts within the context of preparing for college. This class will serve as a transition to college freshman composition. Students will continue to develop their writing skills, understanding of classic and contemporary literature, public speaking skills, reading comprehension and various other English related concepts. Students will explore this content through the nature of “essential questions” as dictated by the Michigan Merit Curriculum (MMC), i.e. students will ask: • How do I know if I am developing the academic skills that I will need in my future life? • What rules or principles do I use for how I treat others? • What responsibility do I have to society? • How do I resolve my responsibilities to myself with those to my family members, my school, community, and world? • How can I effectively articulate my opinions and perspectives? • Who is in a position to help me affect change? • What can I do to avoid repeating mistakes made in history? • What leadership skills have I developed? • What leadership qualities will I need to take with me from high school? • What qualities define a good world citizen? • How can I create the world I want to live in? • How can I use my talents to create new opportunities for myself and for others? This class is designed to improve the quality of written and oral communication skills while also working on independent, analytical reading. Critically reading various forms of literature, both historical and contemporary will aid students in appreciation of various genres. Classroom discussions will be focused on the analysis of the literature and the authors’ choices in character, plot, and grammatical structure. Additionally, students will work to improve their grammar, word choice and organization of information in writing and speaking. English 12/English Honors 12 students will explore college scholarships, applications and FAFSA and will engage in genre writing, expository and persuasive writing, a comprehensive social activism-based Senior Project and symposium, and various other activities. Titles and authors vary, but will concentrate on the literature found within their textbook: Adventures in English Literature.