HUNTERDON CENTRAL REGIONAL HIGH SCHOOL DISTRICT

ENGLISH
Curricular Highlights
During the 2010-2011 school year, the English Department continued to revise elements of our reading and
writing framework, while furthering our exploration of more student-centered teaching practices. Additionally,
we began the process of revising curriculum units in our core program courses (Freshman English, Sophomore
English, Expository Writing) in order to align with the new Common Core Standards and to create more
authentic instruction and assessment opportunities. Teachers worked in professional learning communities to
review existing units, discuss and identify essential standards to be addressed, design learning sequences, and
share assessments or student work. These conversations with continue through summer articulation and
curriculum revision as the department prepares to have all courses aligned to the new standards by September
2012.
Through ongoing conversations, our use of curriculum revision rubrics, workshop attendance, department
initiatives, professional development, individual teacher’s continuing education and the use of classroom
walkthroughs, observation, and coaching the English Department has continued to deepen its understanding and
use of practices such as understanding by design, formative assessment, writing workshop, trait-based writing,
genre study, reading strategies, independent and silent-sustained reading, literature circles, inquiry based
learning, and project based learning.Teachers continue to conceive and design their instruction utilizing
backward planning and authentic assessments implicit in the understanding by design approach. Curricula and
resources are routinely placed on the departmental shared drive, and access to these materials is extended to
Special Education and ELL teachers as a way to better articulate curriculum revision across all Language Arts
settings. Our focus on critical reading and writing, with an emphasis on student-centered practice and choice,
has positioned the department well for a vigorous revision of teaching and learning in the 21 st Century.
The department has developed an articulated writing and reading program whose workshop approach and
common instructional language and expectations has been developed and shared with our four sending districts.
These departmental and inter-district efforts aspire to produce a varied yet common level of writing instruction
across districts, shared practices and expectations among teachers, and a robust and student-centered writing
experience for students. Guiding this work are the new common core standards for writing; revisions to the
NJASK and HSPA State tests, as well as student performance data on these tests; standards and performance
data on national and international tests such as the SAT, the AP and the NAEP; standards and goals as
articulated by NCTE, the National Writing Project and the New Jersey Writing Alliance; and articulation with
Raritan Valley Community College, Rutgers University and the other regional high schools in Hunterdon
County and throughout New Jersey.
The department utilizes both horizontal and vertical articulation teams to discuss initiatives, share best practices,
and study secondary school revision efforts by the State of New Jersey and the 21 st Century skills initiative. We
explore new and best practices in literacy as promoted by The National Council of Teachers of English and
through our involvement in professional development opportunities, such as the Kean University Literacy
Consortium and The College of New Jersey’s Teachers as Scholars program. Teachers share strategies and
materials, instruct colleagues in new practices learned through workshop attendance, and participate in study
groups and online learning communities centered on reading comprehension, writing practices, and emerging
pedagogy and technology.
37