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Scope and sequence · English

Grade 9 Composition & Creative Writing: Thesis I and the Full Essay

The first high school year of classical writing: learn the five canons of rhetoric and the six-part oration, argue a thesis on a general question with the heads of lawful, just, expedient, possible and honorable, grow past the five-paragraph essay with counterargument and rebuttal, write a parable, scan and write meter, write for work, and give a testimony of God’s providence aloud.

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What to cover

32 of 32 lessons are MUST COVER. They are tested on the unit tests and exams, or are skills the SAT/ACT relies on. OPTIONAL lessons are enrichment. Do them if time allows. The course is complete when the MUST COVER lessons are done.

Unit 1: The Canons of Rhetoric

  • MUST COVER 1.1 Aristotle's Rhetoric: Ethos, Pathos, Logos ★ · unit test
  • MUST COVER 1.2 Invention: Finding Arguments with Topics and Questions · unit test
  • MUST COVER 1.3 Arrangement: The Six-Part Oration · unit test
  • MUST COVER 1.4 Style, Memory, Delivery · unit test

Unit 2: Thesis (General Question)

  • MUST COVER 2.1 What Is a Thesis? The General Question ★ · SAT/ACT
  • MUST COVER 2.2 The Heads: Lawful, Just, Expedient, Possible, Honorable · unit test
  • MUST COVER 2.3 “Is It Better to Work with the Hands or the Head?” · unit test
  • MUST COVER 2.4 Writing a Thesis · SAT/ACT

Unit 3: The Full Essay

  • MUST COVER 3.1 Beyond Five Paragraphs: Planning by Divisions ★ · SAT/ACT
  • MUST COVER 3.2 Counterargument and Rebuttal · unit test
  • MUST COVER 3.3 Transitions and Coherence · unit test
  • MUST COVER 3.4 Voice of Democracy Script: What a Veteran Taught Me ★ 🏆 · unit test

Unit 4: ✎ Story: Fable and Parable for Older Readers

  • MUST COVER 4.1 The Parables of Christ as Literature ✎ ★ · unit test
  • MUST COVER 4.2 Tolstoy’s Short Parables: “How Much Land Does a Man Need?” ✎ · unit test
  • MUST COVER 4.3 Lewis’s The Great Divorce: The Parable as Dream-Vision ✎ · unit test
  • MUST COVER 4.4 Write a Modern Parable ✎ ★ · unit test

Unit 5: ✎ Poetry: Meter in Depth

  • MUST COVER 5.1 Iamb, Trochee, Anapest, Dactyl ✎ ★ · unit test
  • MUST COVER 5.2 Scansion of Longfellow and Poe ✎ · unit test
  • MUST COVER 5.3 Gerard Manley Hopkins, “God’s Grandeur” ✎ · unit test
  • MUST COVER 5.4 Write in Two Meters ✎ · unit test

Unit 6: Writing for Work I

  • MUST COVER 6.1 The Business Letter and Email ★ · unit test
  • MUST COVER 6.2 The Short Report: Findings Before Opinions · unit test
  • MUST COVER 6.3 Instructions and Procedures · unit test
  • MUST COVER 6.4 Writing a Job Application for a First Job · unit test

Unit 7: ✎ Personal Narrative: Testimony

  • MUST COVER 7.1 Augustine’s Confessions, Book 8: The Turning Point ✎ ★ · unit test
  • MUST COVER 7.2 Bunyan’s Grace Abounding: The Plain Style and the Long Road ✎ · unit test
  • MUST COVER 7.3 The Structure of a Testimony: Paul Before Agrippa ✎ · unit test
  • MUST COVER 7.4 Give a Three-Minute Testimony or Speech of Thanks ✎ · unit test

Unit 8: Review

  • MUST COVER 8.1 Looking Back and Revising: The Year in Review · unit test
  • MUST COVER 8.2 Delivery: Giving One Piece Aloud · unit test
  • MUST COVER 8.3 The Portfolio and the Oral Exam · unit test
  • MUST COVER 8.4 The Timed Essay: Thesis in Forty Minutes ★ · SAT/ACT

36-week pacing calendar

From the course’s own 32-week pacing guide, with catch-up and review weeks added to fill a 36-week (180-day) year.

WeekPlanDoneNotes
Wk 1Lesson 1.1 Aristotle's Rhetoric: Ethos, Pathos, Logos ★
Wk 2Lesson 1.2 Invention: Finding Arguments with Topics and Questions
Wk 3Lesson 1.3 Arrangement: The Six-Part Oration
Wk 4Lesson 1.4 Style, Memory, Delivery
Wk 5Lesson 2.1 What Is a Thesis? The General Question ★
Wk 6Lesson 2.2 The Heads: Lawful, Just, Expedient, Possible, Honorable
Wk 7Lesson 2.3 “Is It Better to Work with the Hands or the Head?”
Wk 8Lesson 2.4 Writing a Thesis
Wk 9Lesson 3.1 Beyond Five Paragraphs: Planning by Divisions ★
Wk 10Lesson 3.2 Counterargument and Rebuttal
Wk 11Lesson 3.3 Transitions and Coherence
Wk 12Lesson 3.4 Voice of Democracy Script: What a Veteran Taught Me ★ 🏆
Wk 13Lesson 4.1 The Parables of Christ as Literature ✎ ★
Wk 14Lesson 4.2 Tolstoy’s Short Parables: “How Much Land Does a Man Need?” ✎
Wk 15Lesson 4.3 Lewis’s The Great Divorce: The Parable as Dream-Vision ✎
Wk 16Lesson 4.4 Write a Modern Parable ✎ ★
Wk 17Catch-up and review week (no new lessons)
Wk 18Lesson 5.1 Iamb, Trochee, Anapest, Dactyl ✎ ★
Wk 19Lesson 5.2 Scansion of Longfellow and Poe ✎
Wk 20Lesson 5.3 Gerard Manley Hopkins, “God’s Grandeur” ✎
Wk 21Lesson 5.4 Write in Two Meters ✎
Wk 22Lesson 6.1 The Business Letter and Email ★
Wk 23Lesson 6.2 The Short Report: Findings Before Opinions
Wk 24Lesson 6.3 Instructions and Procedures
Wk 25Lesson 6.4 Writing a Job Application for a First Job
Wk 26Lesson 7.1 Augustine’s Confessions, Book 8: The Turning Point ✎ ★
Wk 27Lesson 7.2 Bunyan’s Grace Abounding: The Plain Style and the Long Road ✎
Wk 28Lesson 7.3 The Structure of a Testimony: Paul Before Agrippa ✎
Wk 29Lesson 7.4 Give a Three-Minute Testimony or Speech of Thanks ✎
Wk 30Lesson 8.1 Looking Back and Revising: The Year in Review
Wk 31Lesson 8.2 Delivery: Giving One Piece Aloud
Wk 32Lesson 8.3 The Portfolio and the Oral Exam
Wk 33Lesson 8.4 The Timed Essay: Thesis in Forty Minutes ★
Wk 34Catch-up week: finish any MUST COVER lesson not yet done
Wk 35Catch-up week: finish any MUST COVER lesson not yet done
Wk 36Year-end review, portfolio and records

Grading: Writing projects 50%, Writing notebook and Style Clinics 15%, Unit reviews 15%, Unit portfolio pieces and oral work 20%. Scale: A 90–100, B 80–89, C 70–79. Below 70: revise with help and resubmit.