Secondary Book & Resource Lists, Grades 6-12

Statement of Purpose

The purpose of our booklists are to provide teachers, students, and families with clear information about texts that will be taught within a course as well as additional texts that may be studied.  Students deepen reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills through learning experiences that are rooted in complex texts with literary and cultural value.  With equity at the foundation of SCASD’s vision and mission, we work to provide a range of texts that will allow all students to access material that is appropriately challenging in terms of skill and is both affirming and informing in terms of perspectives.  In most courses, a balance of classic and contemporary texts are selected to address the focus standards for each unit and extend the ideas that focus them.

Terms:

“Core” Commitment texts: texts that will be taught as a foundation for the unit’s instruction.  

Optional additional texts: may be used in addition to the core texts as choices of the teacher and/or choices of the students within the unit. 

The inclusion of specific titles and resources for instruction on each of the course book/resource lists reflects consensus reached by grade-level teachers during the annual review of the course's literature offerings.

Independent Reading

We strongly encourage students to read texts that interest them and to expand their reading experiences to multiple genres and perspectives.  We do not keep a list of independent reading texts, but we offer rich texts through our school libraries and classroom collections.  Many of our secondary English courses make choice reading a regular and valued practice in the classroom.