HUNTERDON CENTRAL REGIONAL HIGH SCHOOL DISTRICT

for students. Some incorporations into the curriculum that have occurred this year are the development of
personal narratives and memoirs, historical fiction, research blogs and wikis, video essays, and multi-genre
research papers. This year, we implemented a writing frame-work for our freshman and sophomore English
classes that requires students to have one fully processed writing piece in each of the following genres:
narrative, persuasive, expository, and a mixed/technology genre that highlights writing such as presentations,
video essays, wikis, and blogs. This year, the majority of our teachers also began working with the six traits
approach to writing instruction. This has been supplemented by teachers independently reading the text 6+1
Traits of Writing by Ruth Culham and the departmental purchase of Write Source materials to introduce
students to trait-based writing and reaffirm elements of the writing process. We are striving to incorporate
writing workshop elements into all of our classes, as we move toward a comprehensive electronic student
portfolio.
Research and information literacy are embedded into many units of study, and subsequent projects require a
host of additional skills such as public speaking and group project 21 st Century skills that were historically
lacking in traditional paper-based writing assignments. Teachers are pleased with the results and continue to
collaborate and revise units with new assessments that strive for more authentic and meaningful products.
Similarly, for the first time, students have experienced inquiry and project-based units of study that incorporate
goal setting as well as individualized reading and writing plans as part of our efforts to make instruction more
student-centered.
The department has developed several mechanisms for the routine analysis of student work in order to evaluate
our adherence to the new common core standards, as well as our own high expectations for quality writing and
critical thinking. Teachers meet in professional learning communities in the summer and during the school year
to develop and review curriculum, as well as share and examine student products. Teachers also score the
sophomore diagnostic in March and have joined our sending districts to assess common writing prompts, exam
essays, and course papers. This work is helping to establish a common instructional language and benchmarks
for writing for grades 6-12. These efforts will continue to be developed through the use of writing genre units
of study and writing that taps authentic audiences and publication venues.
Our core and elective courses aim to prepare students for the rigors of career and college-level argumentative
writing. Teachers continue to revise and create inventive and topical units for investigation utilizing the
understanding-by-design approach and to embed more workshop structures and processes for formative
feedback. Similarly, teachers’ use of the school’s Moodle online classroom management system affords
numerous opportunities for using web 2.0 technology to have students receive information and interact in an
online educational format. English teachers continue to expand their use of the tablet and web 2.0 technologies
to facilitate communication and feedback among students and between students and teachers.
Lastly,the department hosted the New Jersey Shakespeare Theater’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream
which was thoroughly enjoyed by over 500 students.
Staff Development
The English Department has enjoyed a third year of participation in the Literacy Consortium at Kean University
and attended workshops on Individualizing students’ writing strengths; Exploring poetry in the classroom;
Comprehension and making meaning; and Raising literate children. After attending, teachers subsequently
shared materials and implemented new ideas and strategies. Attendees included Scott Belsky, Kathryn
DiMarcello, Kathy Dittrich, Nina Leu, AlinVaks, Scott Einhorn, Lori Freeman, Christine Kania, Jeremy Long,
Kelly Reimer, and Erin Drulis. The Special Education English teachers also joined and attended the consortium,
thus expanding to over 20 the number of teachers attending workshops presented by leading authors and
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