Reading Comprehension and Literary Analysis

Reading Comprehension Grades 3-6

This class was designed around parents’ concerns about the Common Core standards as well as standardized testing questions which result in Reading Comprehension skill sets.

• We use professional material from Houghton Mifflin Publishing Co, which only sells to schools.
• The Reading Comprehension classes focus on test-taking strategies.
• Each student takes a Pre-Test and concludes the course with a Post-Test.
• Included in the class are the following: identifying the main idea, scanning for details, decoding vocabulary, interpreting graphics, reading actively, and understanding fiction and nonfiction selections, taking notes, making rough outlines, and using graphing organizers and charts.
• This course provides students with the necessary techniques and practices to help strengthen reading comprehension skills.

Reading Comprehension Grades 7-9

Reading comprehension is an essential tool in all academic subject areas.

• In this class, students improve their reading comprehension proficiency by learning reading strategies for both informational and literary texts.
• Students learn how to make inferences, recognize context clues, compare information between sources, connect main ideas, and answer essential questions.
• Students also practice their comprehension skills through the study of a literature text that the instructor navigates the students through in order to strengthen their understanding. There are pre- and post-reading tests.

Literary Analysis Grades 6-8

Middle school students study poetry, short stories, and novels. They are often asked to write the analysis of such literary genre in their English classes. Students need to learn how to respond to the deeper meaning of literary works in order to better succeed in their English classes.

• Students read and analyze poetry and short stories.
• The course navigates students through different literary terms and devices in order to uncover the analytical meaning and depth of the text.
• This class is also an oral participation course, as confidence in sharing literary observations is a prized value in the classroom.
• Discussion-based classes facilitate the learning of the literature pieces.
• This class is not an essay-writing class although students will be asked to ultimately identify the author’s intention using the techniques taught in class.
• Students follow a 5- step method in order to strengthen their literary skills.

Literary Analysis Grades 9-12

• This class helps students “go deeper” into the literature they are exposed to in high school by providing usable tools and methods to do so.
• We help them go beyond the surface of literature by teaching them to ask the right questions before they search for the “right answer.”
• Through a method of questioning, we teach the students how to come up with their own workable thesis statements and support those statements.
• Students learn how to be prepared to use such theses and support them with the essay skills they have already acquired.
• This is a great continuation of our MCA 9th and 10th grade composition courses. Many of those students understand the structure of an essay but lack the analysis and critical thinking to produce impressive content in their essays.
• Students analyze poetry and short stories during the course.
• During many years of  parent conferences, instructors have observed that the majority of the “B+” students are the ones who lack deeper insight about the literature. This class assists students in developing that insight.
• As an aside, the instructor has been known to have great fun and humor while having serious literary conversation.