Page 19 - Overbrook Course Selection Guide

CREATIVE WRITING
Level III- Advanced Credits: 05
This course is a writing workshop. Students will write every day, and they will explore different writing
techniques and styles. Writing skills will be developed through pre-writing, editing, re-writing, and critiquing.
Students will also examine various styles of writing by reading well-known and not so well-known writers of
poetry, songs, newspaper columns, short stories, novels, plays, monologues, dialogues, haiku, reviews, montages,
stream-of-consciousness selections. Goals will be met through a variety of reading, writing, and speaking
activities. Additionally, students must be willing to share their work; that is, they must be willing to read aloud
and share their ideas with the group. Students will be asked to critique their own work and the work of others in
a positive and gentle manner. Students will research critically and/or commercially successful authors to find out
their secrets to success. As a community, we will learn a great deal about each other by writing across various
modes of art-in-language and describing how our writing works and what it does through various methods
centering on close examination of language. Prerequisite: Passing scores in previous English courses.

LITERACY LAB
Level: I – Remedial Credits: 2.5 or 5
This course is designed to improve student’s basic skills in writing, reading, and speaking through the
teaching of literature (reading) and grammar (composition). Emphasis is placed on meeting the individual needs
of the students through diagnosis and remediation of skills to raise general competence. Critical thinking is taught
through discussion of literature and composition of essays that emphasize analysis, organization, formation and
evaluation of an idea or opinion. A major focus of this course will be the preparation of students for State and
National Standardized Tests. Students will be assigned to this course based upon student performance on
standardized testing, teacher recommendation, and previous year English course performance. This course is
taken in addition to your regularly scheduled English graduation course requirement. The number of credits and
the method in which this course is deployed will be based on individual student need year to year. A variety of
scheduling options are applied.

LITERACY LAB II
Level: I – Remedial Credits: 2.5 or 5
This course is designed to provide intensive remediation of basic skills in writing, reading, and speaking
through the teaching of reading and grammar skills. Emphasis is placed on meeting the individual needs of the
students through diagnosis and remediation of skills to raise general achievement. Direct, differentiated
instruction strategies are applied through the System 44/Read180 Comprehensive Reading & English Program.
A major focus of this course will be increasing literacy achievement and the preparation of students for State and
National Standardized Tests. Students will be assigned to this course based upon student performance on literacy
assessments; standardized testing, teacher recommendation, and previous year English course performance. This
course is taken in addition to your regularly scheduled English graduation course requirement.

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