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English Language Arts

Guiding Principles for English Language Arts and Literacy Programs

Guiding Principle 1: Students should receive explicit instruction in skills, including phonics and decoding. Explicit skill instruction is especially important in narrowing opportunity gaps.

Guiding Principle 2:  To become successful readers, students need to develop a rich academic vocabulary and broad background knowledge.

Guiding Principle 3:  Educators should help students develop a love of reading by:

• Selecting high-quality works of literature and nonfiction.

• Reading aloud in class.

• Providing students with ample opportunity and encouragement for sustained   independent reading, both for school and on their own.

Guiding Principle 4: Students should be exposed to complex and challenging texts at their grade level and above, with extra support and scaffolding as needed, reflecting high expectations for all students.

Guiding Principle 5:  Students should read a diverse set of authentic texts balanced across genres, cultures, and time periods. Authentic texts are intact and unadapted texts in their original complexity; they are texts composed for purposes other than being studied in school.

Guiding Principle 6:  Students should have frequent opportunities for discussing and writing about their readings in order to develop critical thinking skills and to demonstrate understanding.

Guiding Principle 7:  Reading well-crafted texts is an essential foundation for developing effective writing skills.

Guiding Principle 8:  Developing the ability to write well demands regular practice across multiple forms and genres of writing and opportunities to write for a variety of audiences, including expository, analytical, persuasive, narrative, and creative writing, as well as explicit instruction in vocabulary and standard English conventions.

Guiding Principle 9:  Educators and families should view each other as resources who are both invested in supporting students’ skills in reading, writing, speaking and listening.

Guiding Principle 10: Social and emotional learning can increase academic achievement, improve attitudes and behaviors, and reduce emotional distress. Students should practice recognizing aspects of themselves in texts (self-awareness), struggling productively with challenging texts (self-management), tailoring language to audience and purpose (social awareness), grappling vicariously with choices faced by others (responsible decision making), and collaborating respectfully with diverse peers (relationship skills).

Guiding Principle 11:  Educators should select works of fiction and nonfiction that instill in students a deep appreciation for art, beauty, and truth, while broadening their understanding of the human condition from differing points of view. Reading, discussing, and writing about high-quality prose and poetry should also help students develop empathy for one another and a sense of their shared values and literary heritage, while learning about who they are as individuals and developing the capacity for independent, rigorous thinking.

Contact Us

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Deborah Moriarty

Titles: Director of ELA
Locations: Central Administration
Email:

Stephanie Snyder

Titles: Teacher Grade 8, MS English CTL
Locations: Hopkinton Middle School
Email:

Sarah Ellam

Titles: English Teacher, English Department SML
Locations: Hopkinton High School
Email:

Rebecca Abate

Titles: Teacher Grade 8
Locations: Hopkinton Middle School
Email:

Patricia Allen

Titles: Media Literacy Teacher
Locations: Hopkinton Middle School
Email:

Donna Belliveau

Titles: Teacher Grade 6
Locations: Hopkinton Middle School
Email:

Samantha Breen

Titles: English Teacher
Locations: Hopkinton High School
Email:

Victoria Cady

Titles: English/Language Arts Teacher
Locations: Hopkinton Middle School
Email:

Danielle Caron

Titles: Teacher Grade 7
Locations: Hopkinton Middle School
Email:

Karen Ford

Titles: Teacher Grade 7
Locations: Hopkinton Middle School
Email:
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