10th Grade English

65 core topics + 88 prerequisite topics taught as needed · approximately 47 hours of instruction including spaced review

How the course runs

An adaptive diagnostic (up to 40 questions) places the student on the course's knowledge graph - topics already known are credited, and instruction begins exactly at the learning frontier. Every topic is taught with a worked-example lesson and auto-graded practice; a topic is mastered at 75%+ and then maintained through spaced reviews on an expanding schedule. Mixed checks follow every 6 lessons; each unit ends with a 12-item quiz, and course-wide assessments appear at 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% mastery. Prerequisite gaps below the course are detected and taught rather than skipped, so completion certifies the whole tower, not just the top.

Core curriculum

Close Reading & Annotation · 9 topics

Say It Straight First [H]	Restate a difficult passage accurately before you interpret it.
The Weight of One Word [H]	Ask why the writer chose this word and not the nearest alternative.
What the Sentence Shape Does [H]	Read the structure of a sentence as part of what it means.
The Image That Carries It [H]	Read a concrete detail or comparison for the abstract work it is doing.
Where the Tone Turns [H]	Name a text's attitude toward its subject, and find where it changes.
What the Text Will Not Say [H]	Draw a conclusion the words on the page require but never state.
The Line That Actually Proves It [H]	Choose the quotation that supports your claim, not the one nearest it.
Reading With a Pencil [H]	Mark a text so the second pass starts where the first one ended.
Where the Reading Stops [H]	Tell a reading the text supports from one you have supplied yourself.

Characterization & Complexity · 8 topics

What a Character Does Instead of Saying [H]	Read a character from conduct, from how other people behave around them, and from what nobody says out loud.
The Reason a Character Will Not Give [H]	Work out what a character actually wants when the reason they offer is not the reason they have.
The Distance Between the Telling and the Told [H]	Measure the distance between what a narrator claims and what the same text shows.
The Object That Does the Work [H]	Read the object, gesture or image that carries what the sentence refuses to state.
Voice as Evidence [H]	Use word choice, sentence shape and sentence length as evidence about the person speaking.
Set Against Each Other [H]	Use one character to see another, without letting the contrast turn into a verdict.
Characters Who Do Not Add Up [H]	Hold two true and incompatible things about one character at the same time instead of choosing between them.
What Changes, and What It Costs [H]	Locate the turn in a character, and say what the change leaves untouched and what it costs.

Theme, Motif & Central Argument · 8 topics

Stating a Theme as a Claim [H]	Write a theme as a sentence somebody could argue with, not a noun.
The Evidence a Theme Rests On [H]	Support a claim about theme with the detail that would break it if removed.
Motif: What Keeps Coming Back [H]	Track a repeating image or word, then say what changes between its first appearance and its last.
When an Object Starts Carrying the Meaning [H]	Read a symbol by the gap between what an object does and what the text keeps it for.
The Central Argument of a Nonfiction Text [H]	Name the one thing a writer wants conceded, as distinct from the subject.
Concession, Rebuttal, and What They Cost [H]	Tell a granted point from a denied one, and say what the writer bought with it.
Two Readings, One Text [H]	Say what a text settles, what it declines to settle, and which reading the evidence rules out.
How a Theme Gets Built [H]	Follow an idea from its first appearance through the place it is complicated to its last.

Narrative Structure, Pacing & Frame · 8 topics

The Shape of the Whole [H]	Name how a narrative is arranged, separately from what happens in it.
Story Time and Telling Time [H]	Separate the order events happened in from the order the text reveals them.
Where the Story Turns [H]	Find the hinge - the point after which the same events mean something else.
Scene, Summary, and the Skipped Year [H]	Read the ratio between page time and story time as a statement of emphasis.
What the Structure Withholds [H]	Treat a missing piece as a shaped choice rather than an accident.
The Story Inside the Story [H]	Read the outer situation that contains a telling, not only the telling.
Strands Set Against Each Other [H]	Read the seam between two strands, where the writer has left the connection out.
How an Ending Works [H]	Judge an ending by what it does to the text behind it, not by what it settles.

Poetry: Form, Meter & Sound · 8 topics

Where the Line Stops [H]	Read a line break as a decision, and say what the break is doing.
The Shape the Poem Agreed To [H]	Identify a poem's form and say what obeying it costs and buys.
Counting the Beat, and What Breaks It [H]	Hear a poem's metrical pattern and read the places where it departs.
Rhyme, Near Rhyme and What They Yoke [H]	Read a rhyme scheme, hear a near rhyme, and say what the pairing does.
What the Sound Is Doing [H]	Name a sound pattern in a line and say what it does to the reading.
The Line That Comes Back [H]	Read a repeated line for what has changed around it.
The Image That Carries the Argument [H]	Read a concrete detail for the claim it is making without stating it.
The Voice and What It Will Not Say [H]	Identify a poem's speaker and read the gap between what is said and known.

Shakespeare & Dramatic Language · 8 topics

Verse, Prose, and the Moment of the Switch [H]	Read the register a character is speaking in, and read what a change of register means.
Soliloquy and Aside [H]	Read a character thinking alone, and treat that thinking as an argument rather than a confession.
The Stage Directions Inside the Dialogue [H]	Reconstruct what happens physically on stage from the lines themselves.
Quibbles: One Word Doing Two Jobs [H]	Read a pun as an argument being made, not as a joke interrupting one.
Image Patterns and What They Argue [H]	Follow an image across a scene and say what claim it is quietly making.
What the Line Does Not Say [H]	Read the meaning a character conveys by refusing to state it.
What the Audience Knows [H]	Track the gap between what the audience knows and what a character knows, and say what the gap does to a line.
Persuasion in Front of an Audience [H]	Analyze a stage speech as a set of moves aimed at the people standing there.

Irony, Satire & Ambiguity · 8 topics

Verbal Irony: Words Against Meaning [H]	Detect a speaker who means something other than what the words say, and name what the gap is doing.
Situational Irony: Aim Against Outcome [H]	Tell an ironic outcome from a merely unfortunate one by testing it against the aim that produced it.
Dramatic Irony: What the Audience Carries [H]	Track what a reader knows that a character does not, and say what the gap does to the lines that follow.
The Gap Between a Speaker and the Text [H]	Measure the distance between what a speaker claims about himself and what the text puts on the page - including when the distance is zero.
Satire: Finding the Target [H]	Separate what a satire pretends to be from what it wants you to think worse of.
How Satire Works on a Reader [H]	Name the technique a satire is using and say what it buys that a plain complaint could not.
Is It Irony at All? [H]	Decide whether a text is ironic by naming the gap, rather than by how the text makes you feel.
Ambiguity: What a Text Refuses to Settle [H]	Say what a text settles, what it deliberately leaves open, and which readings its evidence rules out.

The Rhetorical Situation · 8 topics

Exigence: What Made This Necessary [H]	Identify the pressure that called a text into being, and separate it from the occasion.
The Audience Under the Audience [H]	Tell apart who a text is addressed to, who it is written for, and who is meant to overhear it.
The Speaker Is a Construction [H]	Describe the version of a writer that a text builds, and why that version fits the situation.
Stated Purpose and Working Purpose [H]	Separate what a text says it is doing from the job it is actually built to do.
What the Writer Was Not Free to Say [H]	Find the limits a situation places on a text, and read what those limits shaped.
Kairos: Why Now [H]	Judge how a text's timing changes what it can accomplish.
The Shape the Medium Demands [H]	Explain how the form a text is delivered in changes what it can and cannot do.
When a Text Changes Situations [H]	Track what happens to a text's meaning when it is carried out of the situation it was written for.

Prerequisite material - taught automatically when the diagnostic finds gaps

Phonological & Phonemic Awareness · 3 topics

Hearing Rhymes	Tell when two words end with the same sound.
Hearing the First Sound	Tell which sound a word starts with.
Words That Begin Alike	Group words by their beginning sound.

Phonics: Letters, Sounds & Short Vowels · 1 topics

Capital and Lowercase Letters

Match every capital letter to its lowercase partner.

High-Frequency Words & Sight Vocabulary · 2 topics

Recognizing High-Frequency Words	Know the most common words on sight, instantly.
High-Frequency Words in Sentences	Use common words correctly inside a real sentence.

Print Concepts & Early Comprehension · 3 topics

How Books and Print Work	Know the parts of a book and which way print goes.
Listening Comprehension	Understand a story that is read out loud to you.
What Happened First, Next, Last	Put the events of a story in the order they happened.

Sentence & Capitalization Basics · 4 topics

What Makes a Sentence	Tell a complete sentence from a group of words.
Naming Part and Telling Part	Split a sentence into who it is about and what happens.
Capital Letters and End Marks	Start every sentence with a capital and end it with a mark.
Choosing the Right End Mark	Use a period, question mark, or exclamation point.

Context Clues (Grades 2-3) · 5 topics

When the Sentence Just Tells You	Find a word's meaning written into the sentence itself.
A Nearby Word That Means the Same	Use a synonym elsewhere in the passage to unlock a word.
When a Contrast Points the Other Way	Use a contrast word to work out the opposite meaning.
Working Back From Examples	Use a list of examples to work out the category.
When There Is No Clue Word	Work out a meaning from the whole situation.

Figurative Language & Idioms · 6 topics

Noticing When Words Are Not Literal	Tell when a sentence is not meant exactly as written.
Working Out What It Really Means	Say in plain words what a figure of speech is telling you.
Similes	Read a comparison made with like or as.
Metaphors	Read a comparison that says one thing IS another.
Personification	Spot something not human doing something only people do.
Idioms	Learn set phrases whose meaning the words do not give you.

Story Basics: Character, Setting & Events · 2 topics

Who the Story Is About	Name the characters in a story and say what one of them is like.
How a Character Feels	Name a feeling a story shows through what a character does.

Retelling, Sequence & Summary · 6 topics

Who the Story Is About	Name the character a story follows.
First, Next, and Last	Say what happened first, what came in between, and what came last.
Putting the Whole Story in Order	Arrange all the events of a story from beginning to end.
Finding the Problem	Name what goes wrong in a story.
Finding the Solution	Say how a story's problem gets resolved.
Summarizing a Story	Retell a story keeping only what matters.

Theme, Lesson & Central Message · 4 topics

Topic or Theme?	Tell the subject of a story apart from what the story says about it.
What a Character Learns	Find the theme by watching what a character understands at the end that they did not understand at the start.
The Evidence for a Theme	Point to the detail that actually supports a theme, not just a true detail.
Themes Nobody Writes Down	Work out a theme from an ending, a silence, or a word the writer chose.

Point of View, Narrator & Perspective · 5 topics

Who Is Telling This	Find the teller of a text before deciding what the text means.
How Much the Teller Knows	Work out how far a teller can see, and what is therefore missing.
What the Teller Cannot See	Assemble what a text shows but its teller has not noticed.
What a Person Makes of It	Separate what happened from what a person in the text made of it.
Words That Give a View Away	Notice the single words that carry a teller's attitude.

Poetry & Drama · 7 topics

Lines, Stanzas and Where a Poem Breaks	Read a poem's shape on the page as part of what it means.
Rhyme, Rhyme Scheme and Poems Without Either	Hear rhyme, name the pattern it makes, and read a poem that has none.
Repetition, Alliteration and the Sound of a Line	Notice what a poem's sounds are doing besides rhyming.
The Picture a Poem Puts in Your Head	Read the sensory pictures a poem or a stage sets, and say what they do.
Figures of Speech Inside a Poem	Read similes, metaphors and personification where poems pack them tightest.
Who Is Talking in a Poem	Identify the voice speaking a poem, and what that voice reveals.
How a Play Is Written Down	Read a script: cast list, scene heading, dialogue and stage directions.

Main Idea & Supporting Details · 5 topics

Topic or Main Idea?	Tell what a text is about from what it says about it.
Finding the Main Idea	Say in one sentence what a whole text is telling you.
Main Ideas That Are Not Written Down	Work out the main idea when no sentence states it.
Details That Back It Up	Find the fact in a text that supports a particular idea.
Telling a Detail from the Main Idea	Spot the sentence that is only a detail.

Text Structure in Nonfiction · 2 topics

Words That Give the Shape Away	Spot the words and sentences that tell you how a nonfiction text is organized.
Sequence: Time Order and Steps	Follow a text built on the order things happen or the order they are done.

Author's Purpose & Point of View · 7 topics

Why the Author Wrote It	Name what a text was built to do, not just what it is about.
The Evidence for a Purpose	Point to the move in the text that proves what the writer wanted.
Who It Was Written For	Work out the reader a text was aimed at, and how you can tell.
The Author's Point of View	Say what the writer thinks about the subject, even when no opinion is stated.
Words That Take a Side	Notice how a writer's wording steers what a reader concludes.
Facts, Judgments, and Honest Uncertainty	Sort what can be checked from what is argued, and spot a writer naming their own limits.
Two Writers, One Subject	Compare two texts on one subject and find the exact point where they part.

Inference, Evidence & Summarizing · 6 topics

Stated or Implied?	Tell what a text says outright from what it only lets you conclude.
What One Detail Tells You	Draw the conclusion a single detail supports, and stop there.
The Line That Proves It	Given a claim, find the sentence in the text that actually supports it.
Putting Two Details Together	Reach a conclusion that no single sentence in the text states.
Which Evidence Is Strongest	Choose between two relevant details by asking which one settles it.
Inference or Guess?	Spot the step that goes past what the text can carry.

Reading in Social Studies: American History (2-4) · 3 topics

The Main Idea of a History Text	Find what a history passage is really about.
Evidence in a History Text	Point to the detail that actually proves a claim.
Whose Story Is Being Told	Notice whose point of view a history text takes, and who is missing.

Nouns & Verbs · 4 topics

What a Noun Is	Name the words that stand for a person, place, or thing.
What a Verb Is	Name the words that tell what someone does.
Finding the Verb in a Sentence	Pick out the verb inside a whole sentence.
Finding Both Parts	Pick out the noun and the verb in the same sentence.

Sentence Types, Fragments & Run-Ons · 4 topics

Spotting a Fragment	Tell when a group of words stops before it is a sentence.
Spotting a Run-On	Notice when two sentences have been jammed into one.
Three Ways to Fix a Run-On	Repair a run-on, and choose the repair that fits the meaning.
Joining Two Sentences	Combine short sentences with the joining word the meaning needs.

Conjunctions, Prepositions & Complex Sentences · 6 topics

Clause, or Just a Phrase?	Tell an independent clause, a dependent clause, and a phrase apart.
All Seven Coordinating Conjunctions	Choose among the seven - and, but, or, so, for, nor, and yet - by what each one claims.
The Comma Before a Joining Word	When a joining word holds two halves together, the comma goes in only if a whole sentence follows it.
Subordinating Conjunctions	Use because, although, unless, until, and their kin to say how two ideas relate.
Where the Comma Goes in a Complex Sentence	Comma after a leading dependent clause, none after a trailing one.
Simple, Compound, Complex	Name the structure of any sentence by counting its clauses.

Writing Strong Sentences · 3 topics

Knowing When You Have a Sentence	Tell a finished sentence from a piece of one.
Joining Two Sentences	Put two related sentences together without making a run-on.
Choosing the Right Joining Word	Pick the joining word that states the real relationship.

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