1420 East 68th Street Brooklyn, NY 11234 Phone: (718) 763-4701 Fax: (718) 251-3439
Roy H. Mann
Together We Make A Difference
We, the faculty of Roy H. Mann, are committed to the goal of empowering our students to speak, read, and write with fluency in the English language. We believe that every teacher is a teacher of English. To that end, we uphold our expectation that all students master the language which will prepare them for success in the business world. We believe that students who are proficient in English will enjoy a distinct advantage both academically and financially over those who are not. We are also cognizant that requirements for high-paying jobs demand excellent communication skills, so we strive to ensure that our student possess these skills.
Students at Roy H. Mann are expected to master both the basics and the complexities of skills in the four areas of Language Arts: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Our standards have been promulgated by the State Department of Education and the New York City Department of Education. Performance standards in Language Arts include the following areas:
Listening Skills: Students will recognize the importance of listening skills and will evaluate themselves as listeners. Students will be taught the techniques of good listening and how, in some cases, poor listening skills could actually result in tragic consequences. Students will learn to listen for specific information, which will lead to effective note-taking skills.
Speaking Skills: Students will be taught to demonstrate a command of their voices, to pronounce and enunciate clearly, to project their voices, and to make effective use of the conventions of the English language. Students will be taught the elements of public speaking and will be trained to speak in front of both small and large audiences.
Reading Skills: Since the student population of Roy H. Mann covers the spectrum of readers from those who require remediation to those who tackle the most sophisticated materials, we offer programs which meet the needs of our entire student population. Our students are exposed to non-fiction, fiction, poetry and drama using interpretative and critical processes. We teach children to identify themes and characteristics of a particular genre, analyze writing style and characters, recognize and analyze literacy genres, and identify the potential impact of the writings. We further teach students to be able to read and critically evaluate documents that address current issues: editorials, newspaper articles, public speeches, etc.
In each grade, students are required to read 25 books/equivalents, and to read in depth a particular genre, subject or author. Students must demonstrate comprehension of the material.
Writing Skills: Students will be taught everything from the basic requirements of a sentence to the completion of a college-level research paper. Students will be taught the elements of good writing as they relate to and are incorporated in expository, narrative, descriptive and persuasive writing. Students will be taught to respond to literature in a well-written, focused and supported style. They will learn to write a narrative account that establishes all necessary elements of literature (situation, plot, point of view, etc). They will learn to use a variety of styles and strategies to instruct an audience in a procedure designed to attain some goal, and to effectively take notes. Our gifted and talented students will be required to produce a research paper in the eighth grade. Evidence shows us that students who have mastered the skills of research earn higher grades in high school and college than those who did not. Therefore, all students will be taught the elements of writing reports and research papers.