The Fourteen-Year-Old: School Subjects

Curriculum
What does your 14-year-old study at school? Find out what your kids' teachers have in store for them this year in:

Reading

Many genres are represented – song lyrics, poetry, drama, short story, as well as novels

Themes of literature serve as a wonderful vehicle for development of perspective on self and others as quest for identity intensifies

Begin to understand the interweaving of literary elements – how characterization can forward the plot of a story, for example

Difference between fact and opinion is explored as textual references are emphasized in writing and discussion

Understanding the use of language as tool for different purposes (for example a study of advertising language)

Class read-alouds continue to appeal and serve as springboard for discussion

Vocabulary study continues and becomes more sophisticated; some are ready to enjoy the logic of analogies

Writing

Writing – Students choose appropriate genre (poem, play, story) in which to represent their ideas; students also "try out" different voices, often tied in with literature being studied; writing from different points of view is a useful exercise; students more deliberately use grammatical constructions for stylistic reasons; use of conventional footnotes, endnotes, and bibliographic entries introduced

Spelling – Functional for most; those still having difficulty must use spell checkers and word processors as a tool

Writing Themes – Writing to prepare for debates and "mock trial" sorts of activities are a great motivator as students continue to develop the ability to structure and defend their thinking; the universal themes of literature provide a springboard for writing assignments and for creative writing; journals with adults are important places for students to reflect as they struggle to define themselves and to sort out issues in their own lives and in the larger world; longer research papers related to thematic studies are appropriate

Handwriting – Fluency with word processor becomes even more critical

Thematic Units
Social Studies, Science, Current Events

Physical and human geography; current world conflicts with emphasis upon causality and resolution; the intersection of natural resource use and current lifestyles (water – its structure, characteristics, and use; weather and the impact of the greenhouse effect; oil, the rainforest, and indigenous lifestyles); basic physical and biological principles (power of the crowbar, dynamics of flight, osmosis and transport of water in trees)

Review all operations with special emphasis on ratio and proportion

Reading and utilizing graphs, particularly circle and bar graphs

Exploration of different bases – binary number system

Solving equations with a single unknown

Study of functions – interaction of two variables

Instruction in formal algebra begins for many

From Yardsticks: Children in the Classroom Ages 4-14 by Chip Wood, © 1997 by Northeast Foundation for Children (800) 360-6332. All rights reserved as permitted under the US copyright Act of 1976. No part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or stored in a database or retrieval system without the prior written permission of the publisher.

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