Welcome, ECFS families
Department Chair
Sharan Gill | sgill@ecfs.org
The Middle School English program develops passionate readers, writers, and scholars who use the power inherent in communication to transform the world. Through reading literature, students learn to understand themselves, their communities, and the diverse world around them. They become writers who can produce clear and coherent writing appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
We are committed to developing students who are independently able to:
- Read closely in order to offer insightful interpretations of texts that goes beyond the literal level
- Assess how point of view, purpose, and audience shape the content and style of a text
- Support claims with specific evidence
- Maintain rich and rewarding independent reading lives
- Organize, develop, and refine writing to communicate clearly
- Analyze the patterns and structure of language
- Use writing as a means of striving for social justice
Because our school is committed to academic excellence, progressive education, and ethical learning, our instructional methods include:
- Exposing students to a wide range of literature, chosen for its balance of genres and authorial voices in both contemporary and classic texts
- Guiding students in making reading choices through access to robust classroom libraries, as well as the Tate Library
- Using literary texts as models for students’ own writing
- Using writing to discover and deepen thinking
- Embedding grammar and vocabulary instruction in the context of writing and reading
- Using technology to facilitate revision and collaboration
Descriptions by Grade Level
In English 6, students reflect on essential questions such as: How can we explore and understand diverse perspectives? How do individuals navigate, question, or challenge the values of their society? How can we all take responsibility for creating a more ethical community? What are the challenges and joys of our unique identities?
Texts read in 6th Grade English include "Look Both Ways: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks" by Jason Reynolds, "The 7th Most Important Thing" by Shelley Pearsall, "The Giver" by Lois Lowry, "Yellow Star" by Jennifer Roy, and "Animal Farm" by George Orwell. While actively reading each of these novels, students learn and practice their annotation skills. As a bridge between the study of prose and poetry, we devote a mid-year unit to the study of poems, poetic forms, and imaginative techniques.
All of our work is powered by generative freewriting, which encourages students to think on the page to spark deeper discussions. Formal writing projects include descriptive storytelling, analytical essays, personal essays, and creating original poetry. Grammar instruction, embedded in our writing curriculum, includes formatting dialogue, organizing paragraphs, and using transitional phrases. 6th Grade English supports students’ independent reading, which is a daily expectation in and out of class.
7th Graders explore essential questions such as: How can decisions in literature help us think about our own lives and choices? How do symbols deepen our understanding of a text? How can I practice taking both a “believing” and a “doubting” stance in response to ideas? How can I write a personal, persuasive essay based on a poem? How can we use poetic techniques for effect?
Texts read in 7th Grade English include the poetry anthology “Poetry Speaks Who I Am” edited by Elise Paschen, “The House on Mango Street” by Sandra Cisneros, “The Machine Stops” by E. M. Forster, “The Moon Is Down” by John Steinbeck, and “World of Wonders” by Aimee Nezhukumatathil.
In class, student writing includes vignettes, personal essays, literary essays, as well as writing in other genres. Students freewrite almost daily, practicing thinking onto the page. Grammar instruction, embedded in our writing curriculum, includes skills like comma usage, blending quotations with proper text citation, and understanding sentence structure. Seventh-grade English supports students’ independent reading, which is a daily expectation in and out of class. In addition, the Capstone Project for the seventh-grade year is contained within the English curriculum. For this project, students will focus on aspects of Fieldston that seem underappreciated as well as aspects of Fieldston that they would like to change.
8th Graders explore essential questions such as: How can literature help us examine ourselves, others, and the world? How do we read and write to build empathy? How do writers build a strong argument using evidence to justify a position? How do we listen to one another to understand others’ perspectives? How do writers use language to persuade?
Texts read in this course include “The Outsiders” by S.E. Hinton, “Binti” by Nnedi Okorafor, “Twelve Angry Men” by Reginald Rose, and “Julius Caesar” by William Shakespeare. As they read, students will strengthen their annotation skills to help them read more closely and recognize themes within the texts that remind them of the real world. In class, students engage in discussion to exchange and build upon ideas.
In 8th Grade English, student writing includes personal essays, literary essays, and creative nonfiction. Students also free-write almost daily, practicing thinking on the page. Instruction in grammar and mechanics, embedded in our writing curriculum, builds upon earlier work to improve students’ command of punctuation, phrases, correctly cited quotations, and varied sentence structure. Eighth-grade English supports students’ independent reading, a daily expectation in and out of class.
Frequently Asked Questions: English Department
What are the most important things for student-writers to learn about writing?
- Writers write because they have something to say.
- Writers write for an audience.
- Writing is a process.
- Writing is also a way of thinking. Free writing is the process of thinking onto the page. With practice, writers can get more fluent at writing to figure out what they think, rather than first having a complete thought and then recording it.
How do you teach grammar?
- We teach grammar as an important aspect of writing. Conventions, such as writing and spelling, help the reader follow and understand the writer’s ideas. We teach and review conventions like capitalization and comma usage as students are working on their writing so that they can immediately practice the skills on pieces in which they are invested.
- We also teach grammar as a series of choices writers get to make. Grammatical choices — like which punctuation mark to use and whether to use a series of short sentences or one long sentence — affect the mood and tone of the piece. Writing is an art, and just as a painter chooses which colors and brushstrokes to use, writers choose which words to use as well as how to structure and punctuate sentences.
What kinds of feedback do teachers give student-writers?
- Teachers give students Reader Feedback, which tells the student how we, as readers, heard and responded to the piece: what moved us, what surprised us, what pulled us in, what made us think.
- Teachers also give students Writing Coach Feedback: advice on what to keep on doing and what to work on or try doing differently.
- Finally, teachers give students Evaluator Feedback: concrete evaluative feedback on where the writing is or is not effective. This feedback generally takes the form of a rubric chart that coincides with the assignment checklist.
- All of this feedback can be found in the student’s individual “Feedback Doc,” so be sure to ask your child about it.
When do teachers give feedback and guidance to student-writers?
- At the beginning of an assignment, teachers provide students with assignment guidelines and checklists, as well as model texts so they know what a finished product might look like.
- As students are working on an assignment, teachers provides feedback through writing conferences and/or through comments on student papers and Google docs. Teachers also teach writing skills through mini-lessons and individual conferences as students are working on long term writing projects.
- At the conclusion of an assignment (when it is “due”), the teacher provides formal feedback, usually in the form of “reader,” “writing coach,” and “evaluator” feedback.
