Hello Wildcat parents/guardians and students!

My name is Lesley Cornett and I will be your childs English teacher this semester. I am so excited for the upcoming school year, and look forward to building a positive relationship with both you and your freshman. I have included my email address and website address below, and I encourage you to contact me at any time throughout the semester if you have any questions or concerns. Email: lcornett@halek12.org Website: http://englishwithcornett.weebly.com

I have an extremely flexible tutoring schedule and am available by appointment both before and after school on a daily basis. My teaching schedule is as follows:

1st Honors English 9 2nd Prep 3rd Advanced English 9 4th X-Block (Mass Media) 5th Journalism

The following supplies will be needed for my class. Several blue or black pens and pencils

A composition notebook (the standard sort with the black, marbled cover, preferably college rule if you can find itthis will stay in the classroom)

The following, less traditional items are also welcome in my classroom, but, of course, not by any means required: work An MP3 player (or cell phone) with headphones for listening to music while writing or doing solo

 A school-appropriate mix CD for the rest of us to appreciate while doing group work (I can store these.)

The novels that we will be reading this year as a class are available to us through the library, so there is no need to purchase them at this time. (In fact, I prefer that you do not purchase them! It is nice for novel (particularly Honors and Advanced students) but I will give significant notice beforehand if this is the case. There is no definitive book list for English 9, as it will potentially vary by teacher, but the following novels are some of the options: A Day No Pigs Would Die, Enders Game, Frankenstein, The Illustrated Man, Life of Pi, The House on Mango Street, The Princess Bride, Romeo and Juliet, Black Boy, Bean Trees, As You Like It, Anthem, Animal Farm, A Separate Peace, Lord of the Flies.

Below is a general overview of our semester:

Unit 1: Reader-Writer Workshop: Literary Unit 2: Drama and Myth Unit 3: Analyzing Arguments Unit 4: Informational/Expository Unit 5: Literary Nonfiction and Integration of Multiple Genres Unit 6: Using Research to Persuade

Throughout the year, we will be focusing on:

Increasing reading, writing, listening and speaking skills Perfecting written and grammatical conventions Increasing vocabulary Developing literary analysis skills

Increasing skills for writing for various purposes Developing problem solving and critical thinking skills Developing media literacy and research skills Expanding and showcasing creativity

Additionally, Honors and Advanced students will focus on beginning to develop the skills necessary to preform well in future Honors classes. Honors and Advanced parents and students should be aware that my course is a challenging but rewarding one, intended to prepare freshmen for the rigor of future AP courses. This means that Honor and Advanced students should expect advanced coursework, and homework on a daily basisparticularly independent reading. Students are expected to be exceptionally responsible in regards to completing this work as assigned. In choosing to take Honors and Advanced, you are committing to upholding these expectations.

A note about technology: It is extremely important that your child take advantage of computers in my classroom, especially if they do not have a personal laptop at home. The majority of the work we do this year in English will be completed using these computers.

Looking forward to an awesome year! Sincerely, Ms. Cornett