In Middle School English Language Arts, students are taught to be critical and thoughtful readers as well as organized and expressive writers. Teachers follow the Prince George’s County Public School ELA standards. As in all classes at Chelsea School, the IEP drives instruction. In the ELA classroom, this means a focus on writing mechanics and written expression.
Meeting students where they are, teachers support them in constructing mechanically sound sentences, paragraphs, and multi-paragraph essays. Using graphic organizers and semantic maps, students learn to organize their ideas before writing. Students are also exposed to a number of different types of writing formats: descriptive, narrative, persuasive, and formal.
Students engage in reading classic and innovative literature during their English Language Arts Class. Dependent upon their reading level, students are provided the use of compensatory strategies such as text-to-speech software to ensure they have access to grade level reading material. In addition, students are also encouraged to utilize a speech-to-text tool if they experience difficulty putting their thoughts onto paper.