DMPS Secondary English/Language Arts
Revised August 2, 2021
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The Des Moines Public Schools provides comprehensive literacy instruction to all students, K-12. To better serve our stakeholders, the literacy curriculum team is divided into two components: an Elementary component governing K-5 and a Secondary component which encompasses 6-12. This page is dedicated to the curricular offerings and assessment initiatives relevant to secondary literacy.

Course information is divided into four categories in the menu bar, above. Middle school courses are all collected in the Middle School courses menu, while high school courses appear in one of three places: the traditional progression for students (English I-IV) is located under the High School Core Courses menu, while other courses that live in the ELA world are presented under the HS Electives menu. Not all elective courses confer English credit.



Novel Requests

In preparation for the curriculum adoption, no new purchases will be made with district funds. Requests for transfer of existing novels from Central Stores can be initiated by completing the form above. No teacher should initiate a Transfer of Materials Form (in IC) to request novels personally. Those requests must be processed through the office of Teaching & Learning only after completing the request form above. 

The spreadsheet is updated quarterly and may not reflect recent requests or transfers. Novels are moved on a first come, first serve basis with all attempts made to maximize and share resources equitably. 

Requests needed for Unit 1 should be placed by 8/24. Deliveries are made on a weekly rotation from Central Stores. Check with your Office Manager about when deliveries are expected for your building. When novels arrive in your building, be sure they have been scanned in by your textbook manager or library associated.
Current Inventory
Novel Request Form
Links to 2019-2020 Newsletters
January Curriculum Chronicle
November/December Curriculum Chronicle
September/October Curriculum Chronicle

Back to School Bonus Curriculum Chronicle (8/20)
August 2019 Curriculum Chronicle 


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Links to 2018-2019 Newsletters
March 2019 Curriculum Chronicle
January 2019 Curriculum Chronicle
December 2018 Curriculum Chronicle
November 2018 Curriculum Chronicle
October 2018 Curriculum Chronicle
September 2018 Curriculum Chronicle
August 2018 Curriculum Chronicle
Bonus Back to School 2018 Curriculum Chronicle
Strategy Snapshots 2019-2020
Quarterly blog posts on topics that support quality ELA instruction
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Lexile... And Beyond

Examining text complexity through multiple lenses


Strategy Snapshots 2018-2019
Quarterly blog posts on topics that support quality ELA instruction

Get 'em Talking
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Strategies to encourage student collaboration
Aim for the Target
Authentic Assessment and Student Products
Beyond the Page
Media Literacy and using non-traditional texts for analysis
To Read or not to Read... out loud
Fostering independent readers and student ownership of text

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