Our students don’t just learn to write academic essays—they master the art of persuasive storytelling across a range of formats that matter in the real world. From essays and short stories to business proposals, marketing campaigns, newspaper articles, blogs, scripts, and speeches, we prepare our students to communicate powerfully in any setting throughout their lives. Students also learn how to use professional tools to create these pieces, for example, collaboratively editing in Google Docs and creating and editing interviews and stories in tools like Audacity, FinalCut Pro, and Riverside.

Starting in 5th grade, students practice & gain fluency in the start-to-finish process of writing, including brainstorming and outlining, working through multiple drafts, and editing based on feedback. We believe writing is enriched by collaboration, and so in middle school, students do most of their drafting and iterating in class. For the same reason, our writing assignments include a mix of individual and collaborative asssignments–just as is the case in the real world. We also build grammar skills in tandem with writing, emphasizing how language conventions shape meaning and reception.

Our goal is for our graduates to build a reading habit that they sustain long into their futures. From 5th-12th grade, we require students to read 100+ books within and beyond the canon. Why? So that students have opportunities to find and pursue their individual interests through reading; to cultivate their empathy as they explore experiences and emotions that might, at least on the surface, differ radically from their own; and to explore the ways reading has mattered to the human story more broadly. Rock Creek graduates will have read:

• At least 25 works considered canon,

• At least 10 works from a chosen genre,

• At least one book from each populated continent,

• At least 15 nonfiction books, and

• At least 20 books not assigned by school.

Powerful communication—whether extemporaneous or rehearsed—never goes out of style. English class is the perfect place to teach and practice these skills. We teach students how to ask powerful questions, how to impactfully participate in discussions, and how to resonantly connect with an audience. Over the course of middle school, all students will perform scenes from Shakespeare, memorize and recite poems each year, and write and deliver a persuasive speech to parents and classmates.