The Middle School Language Arts course focuses on interpreting various texts and learning to express thoughts, opinions and feelings with clarity and conviction. By searching for meaning, students evaluate information, draw upon background knowledge, ask questions and make connections to their life.

With this as the foundation, Middle School Language Arts students develop their English language skills in the areas of reading, writing, listening, and speaking. Students become more strategic readers in their search to understand human interactions and the world around us through the study of short stories, novels, poetry, and non-fiction sources. As writers, they are exposed to a variety of forms-narrative, descriptive, expository and persuasive and use the process of writing, including prewriting, revising and peer-editing to develop their own writing skills. Written pieces are carefully crafted and assessed for mechanics, organization, the writer’s style (voice and vocabulary), and content. Listening and speaking skills are further developed through interactive presentations, both individual and in groups, such as monologues, drama pieces and poetry recitals.