Course Syllabus

Syllabus English 9B

Welcome

We are pleased that you selected this course to fulfill your unique educational needs. You are now a member of the Mizzou  Academy's global student body.  

Every lesson is designed to help you grow as a thinker, problem solver, and global learner. As a Mizzou Academy global student, you will complete lessons and assignments on your own schedule, interacting with course content, participating in interactives, and completing practice activities, as well as drafting and revising assignments, preparing for quizzes and assessments, and taking exams.

To stay on track, we recommend using a pacing guide. You can find more information about pacing in the Course Resources section, along with helpful tools, technology support, and tips for online learning success.

As you begin, remember that online learning requires both independence and communication. Be curious, stay organized, and don’t hesitate to reach out to your teacher if you need support.

We’re excited to learn with you, and we’re happy you’re part of our Mizzou Academy community!

Pacing

This course can be completed in as few as six weeks or take up to 6 months (180 calendar days). The six weeks are counted from the date of the first lesson submission and not the date of enrollment.

This course is asynchronous, meaning you can complete lessons and assignments at your own pace.

Most students spend approximately 10 hours per lesson interacting with course content, participating in interactive activities, and completing practice exercises, as well as drafting and revising assignments, preparing for quizzes and assessments, and taking exams. Your time may vary depending on your goals and learning style. 

We encourage you to work at a consistent pace, allowing time to absorb new ideas, build skills, and reflect on what you’ve learned. Use a pacing guide to plan ahead, stay organized, and finish strong. 

Course Description

Welcome to English 9B! This 9th grade English course introduces students to core literature skills, readying them for college and career. This course is rich in feedback, allowing you multiple opportunities to develop mastery. 

The course is first and foremost founded on the readings which range from short stories and poetry to informational articles and essays. You are guided through these readings through activities that allow you to practice by sharing your initial thoughts and ideas on reading, receive immediate feedback to confirm what you know, and learn from mistakes, preparing you as well as possible for quizzes and exams. There will be regular work on vocabulary and grammar as well as writing assignments or presentations for each lesson. 

Our hope is that you find the work enjoyable, easy to manage, that you feel supported, and that you are able to learn and grow! 

Here are the main course objectives:

  • be able to read, interpret, and analyze a variety of texts
  • be able to recognize, understand, and interpret the meaning of literary devices such as figurative language, story and poem structure, author's purpose, and structures of different types of writing
  • be able to respond to literature in writing that is well organized with an introduction, body with supporting details, and conclusion

Course Essential Questions

List two essential questions students will explore in your course–one for each half of the course.


How does literature explore and express Theme?

How does literature reflect culture, community, and family?

Course Overview

Lesson

Objectives

Quiz

Assignment

1: Supporting an Opinion
  • RL.1 - Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
  • RL.2 - Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text.
  • RL.4 - Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the cumulative impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone (e.g., how the language evokes a sense of time and place; how it sets a formal or informal tone).
  • RL.5 - Analyze how an author's choices concerning how to structure a text, order events within it (e.g., parallel plots), and manipulate time (e.g., pacing, flashbacks) create such effects as mystery, tension, or surprise.
  • RL.6 - Analyze a particular point of view or cultural experience reflected in a work of literature from outside the United States, drawing on a wide reading of world literature.

Lesson 1 Quiz (15 MC Questions, 1 Point Each)

Lesson 1 Assignment - Supporting Your Opinion (75 Points)

2: Fate or Free Will
  • RL.1 - Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
  • RL.2 - Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text.
  • RL.4 - Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the cumulative impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone (e.g., how the language evokes a sense of time and place; how it sets a formal or informal tone).

Lesson 2 Quiz (15 MC Questions, 1 Point Each)

No Assignment

3: Figurative Language
  • RL.1 - Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
  • RL.2 - Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text.
  • RL.3 - Analyze how complex characters (e.g., those with multiple or conflicting motivations) develop over the course of a text, interact with other characters, and advance the plot or develop the theme.
  • RL.4 - Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the cumulative impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone (e.g., how the language evokes a sense of time and place; how it sets a formal or informal tone).
  • RL.5 - Analyze how an author's choices concerning how to structure a text, order events within it (e.g., parallel plots), and manipulate time (e.g., pacing, flashbacks) create such effects as mystery, tension, or surprise.

Lesson 3 Quiz (15 MC Questions, 1 Point Each)

Lesson 3 Assignment - Contrasting Definitions of Love (75 Points)

4: Word Choice in Poetry
  • RL.1 - Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
  • RL.3 - Analyze how complex characters (e.g., those with multiple or conflicting motivations) develop over the course of a text, interact with other characters, and advance the plot or develop the theme.
  • RL.4 - Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the cumulative impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone (e.g., how the language evokes a sense of time and place; how it sets a formal or informal tone).
  • RL.5 - Analyze how an author's choices concerning how to structure a text, order events within it (e.g., parallel plots), and manipulate time (e.g., pacing, flashbacks) create such effects as mystery, tension, or surprise.
  • RL.6 - Analyze a particular point of view or cultural experience reflected in a work of literature from outside the United States, drawing on a wide reading of world literature.

Lesson 4 Quiz (15 MC Questions, 1 Point Each)

No Assignment

5: Inferences
  • RL.1 - Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
  • RL.2 - Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text.
  • RL.3 - Analyze how complex characters (e.g., those with multiple or conflicting motivations) develop over the course of a text, interact with other characters, and advance the plot or develop the theme.
  • RL.4 - Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the cumulative impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone (e.g., how the language evokes a sense of time and place; how it sets a formal or informal tone).
  • RL.5 - Analyze how an author's choices concerning how to structure a text, order events within it (e.g., parallel plots), and manipulate time (e.g., pacing, flashbacks) create such effects as mystery, tension, or surprise.

Lesson 5 Quiz (15 MC Questions, 1 Point Each)

No Assignment

Midterm Exam (50 MC Questions, 3 Points Each & Midterm Project - Defining Love, 150 Points)

6: Characterization and Plot
  • RL.1 - Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
  • RL.2 - Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text.
  • RL.3 - Analyze how complex characters (e.g., those with multiple or conflicting motivations) develop over the course of a text, interact with other characters, and advance the plot or develop the theme.
  • RL.4 - Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the cumulative impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone (e.g., how the language evokes a sense of time and place; how it sets a formal or informal tone).
  • RL.5 - Analyze how an author's choices concerning how to structure a text, order events within it (e.g., parallel plots), and manipulate time (e.g., pacing, flashbacks) create such effects as mystery, tension, or surprise.

 

Lesson 6 Quiz (15 MC Questions, 1 Point Each)

Lesson 6 Assignment - Character Sketch (75 Points)

7: Poetic Devices
  • RL.1 - Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
  • RL.2 - Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text.
  • RL.3 - Analyze how complex characters (e.g., those with multiple or conflicting motivations) develop over the course of a text, interact with other characters, and advance the plot or develop the theme.
  • RL.4 - Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the cumulative impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone (e.g., how the language evokes a sense of time and place; how it sets a formal or informal tone).

Lesson 7 Quiz (15 MC Questions, 1 Point Each)

No Assignment

8: Symbolism
  • RL.1 - Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
  • RL.2 - Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text.
  • RL.3 - Analyze how complex characters (e.g., those with multiple or conflicting motivations) develop over the course of a text, interact with other characters, and advance the plot or develop the theme.
  • RL.4 - Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the cumulative impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone (e.g., how the language evokes a sense of time and place; how it sets a formal or informal tone).
  • RL.5 - Analyze how an author's choices concerning how to structure a text, order events within it (e.g., parallel plots), and manipulate time (e.g., pacing, flashbacks) create such effects as mystery, tension, or surprise.

Lesson 8 Quiz (15 MC Questions, 1 Point Each)

Lesson 8 Assignment - Symbolism in Literature and Life (75 Points)

9: Writing to Convey Emotion
  • RL.1 - Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
  • RL.2 - Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text.
  • RL.3 - Analyze how complex characters (e.g., those with multiple or conflicting motivations) develop over the course of a text, interact with other characters, and advance the plot or develop the theme.
  • RL.4 - Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the cumulative impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone (e.g., how the language evokes a sense of time and place; how it sets a formal or informal tone).

Lesson 9 Quiz (15 MC Questions, 1 Point Each)

No Assignment

10: Theme: Family
  • RI.1 - Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
  • RI.2 - Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text.
  • RI.3 - Analyze how the author unfolds an analysis or series of ideas or events, including the order in which the points are made, how they are introduced and developed, and the connections that are drawn between them.
  • RI.5 - Analyze in detail how an author's ideas or claims are developed and refined by particular sentences, paragraphs, or larger portions of a text (e.g., a section or chapter).

Lesson 10 Quiz (15 MC Questions, 1 Point Each)

No Assignment

Final Exam (50 MC Questions, 3 Points Each & Final Project - Defining Family, 150 Points)

 

Grades

Your final grade will be based on the number of points you earn on submitted work and exams. The available points are distributed as follows:

Source Available Points
Lesson Assignments 300
Lesson Quizzes 150
Midterm Exam 300
Final Exam 300
Total 1050

 

Textbook & Technology Requirements

To fully participate, make sure you have:

  • A computer that meets our Mizzou Academy technology requirements
  • A microphone and webcam for recording audio and video assignments
  • Any other required textbooks or materials for the course

Textbook

No textbook is required for this course. 

Exams

Exams are an important opportunity for you to demonstrate what you have learned and that you can communicate and analyze essential concepts. You will have two types of exams in the courses you take. Your course may use only one of these exam types or a combination.

  • Performance-based exams: These exams give you an opportunity to showcase what you have learned and apply it in authentic ways (e.g. giving a speech, writing an essay, or creating a presentation).

  • Objective-based exams: These exams give you the opportunity to showcase what you have learned and demonstrate it through multiple choice and matching questions.

  • Both types of exams require thoughtful preparation. The best preparation for an exam is to be an active participant, ask questions, take good notes, interact closely with the course content, complete all assignments, review quizzes, and apply assignment feedback.

  • See the "About Exams" in the policies section for additional information on exams at Mizzou Academy, including proctoring instructions.

You are required to take two proctored exams for this course. See the "About Exams" in the policies section for additional information on exams at Mizzou Academy.

Technology

The most up-to-date requirements can be found here: 

Additional requirements for the course are below: 

  • audio and video recording capabilities (e.g., smartphone, camera)

If you ever have trouble accessing course materials or recording tools, reach out to your teacher for support. We are here to help!

Accessibility

If you anticipate barriers related to the format or requirements of this course, please let Mizzou Academy know as soon as possible. If disability-related accommodations are necessary (for example, a scribe, reader, extended time on exams, captioning), please contact Mizzou Academy.

Canvas Technical Support

Canvas will be used as the primary platform for accessing course materials and assignments for this class.