The English Department will have a new curriculum for the 2022-2023 school year.
This past year, the English Department talked with several textbook companies to find a new curriculum for the 2022-2023 school year. The chosen curriculum is called StudySync through McGraw Hill.
As we considered several options, one of our considerations was to have good stories that allow for good discussions and assessments, especially for written responses. Another factor was to have a stronger digital base to work through the iPads, as well as a print/paper option as needed.
In our experimenting and test runs, we found that StudySync had good, interactive questions to accompany each reading, that it broke up stories into sections to establish comprehension, and that feedback from the students was always requested. There are also videos to accompany the units and stories to help differentiate instruction.
Yes, we’ve been doing this to a large degree with what we had; however, where we once had to search for supplemental material, now it is an integrated part. We don’t need to search – it is already there.
The other attractive part was the digital base of utilizing our technology to supplement and enhance the learning experience. This provides for more instant feedback and offers presentations with more options for comprehension.
What I appreciated about this curriculum are the many options of stories, novels, and poems available to the teachers.
The philosophy of StudySync is to encourage students to reread the material. Their program is set up that students read, review a skill, read again, and then discuss. This is called Close Reading.
We’ve always told students to reread to find the deeper meanings and that worked to a certain degree. The process in StudySync has the rereading as integral to the unit where the first read and the reread are monitored more closely.
We’re looking forward to being able to use this curriculum to better meet the needs of the students.