By Sammi Harton and Destinee Aspenwall
The 8th grade English program at Darlington teaches students many important skills like writing, grammar, and how to interpret literature into real-life situations. Through such classics as “To Kill a Mocking Bird” and “Romeo and Juliet,” we learn many life lessons that will be beneficial to us in the future.
“We use literature as a lens to see ourselves and the world more clearly,” said Michelle Major, 8th grade English teacher.
Eighth-graders are required to do weekly writing workshops. These workshops might be essays, paragraphs or any other form of writing. The writing often relates to literature we read in class and life lessons we have learned through this literature.
One unique thing about English at Darlington is that it is cross-curricular. Our English lessons often tie in with what we are learning in other classes, such as history. The 8th grade classes read a book called “All But My Life,” which is about a Jewish girl who lived during World War II. It tied in with what we were studying in history at the same time. A cross-curricular course is beneficial because it shows how certain subjects are interconnected, and it helps us relate what we are learning to our own lives.
The literature we read in English teaches us many lessons, morals and themes of life that will be important for the future. We have learned to write with good grammar and ideas, and we’ve studied many different styles of writing, including Southern gothic and Old English. These styles may be challenging, but they teach us to think deeper and read between the lines.
