A+ Summer High School challenges rising 9th and 10th-grade students with high-level academic activities that develop the skills needed for high school success and achievement. Over the course of seven days, students will attend classes in advanced argumentative writing, critical reading, and media studies. For summer 2020 all courses will center around the theme of "The American Dream" and the many different perspectives and ways it is portrayed in literature, non-fiction texts, news media, and even art and music. Students will learn how to read, think and write in ways that will help them to excel in the classroom and beyond.
The program is designed to give students who are already doing well in school an experience that is both challenging and fun. Participants will gain new academic tools that will help them excel even further academically. Our unique classes give students the one-on-one attention that is often missing in school, allowing them to explore their potential as writers, thinkers, and doers.
When students leave the program, they will have:
- Read and analyzed thematic texts in a variety of genres in a college-like seminar
- Written and developed a well-argued essay addressing a thematic topic
- Attended courses in Advanced Writing, - Critical Reading, and Media Studies.
Skill Development
Advanced Writing
Argument writing is a cornerstone of high school and college coursework. The writing classes at A+ Summer High School focus on guiding and supporting students through the writing process. Our instructors provide constant, individualized support throughout a comprehensive draft and revision process. A+ Summer writing classes focus on advanced writing skills needed in high school and beyond: revising for content, creating effective syntax and style, identifying claims that are thoughtfully supported using facts and text evidence from multiple, reliable
sources.
Critical Reading
- Critical reading skills are essential for success in high school, college, and career. The Critical Reading classes in A+ Summer High School engage students in a college-level seminar format to help students move beyond surface understanding and literal interpretation. Students will read and analyze several texts revolving around a literary theme, and participate in discussions that push boundaries and inspire analysis. Students will be challenged to not just understand what they read, but to also engage in forming claims on author intent and citing text evidence. Students will engage in multiple college-level "hands down" discussions in each class, pushing each other's thinking and culminating a full Socratic Seminars.
Media Studies
- In our modern, media-saturated world, it becomes increasingly important for students to become critical consumers of the media they see and hear each day. Media Studies classes at A+ Summer allow students to use many of the skills they have learned in their Critical Reading classes to uncover points of view and hidden agendas in art, advertisements, music and more.
Deliverables
At the end of A+ Summer, your student will leave challenged and inspired by a week of critical thinking with like-minded peers. Students will have challenged themselves to analyze themes in media, critically read a variety of thematic texts in a college-like seminar, and written a well-argued and supported essay.
