Grade 10 AP Vertical Post

Ok my thoughts:
1. Literature for Grade 10. I think a few classics like To Kill A Mockingbird or A Tale of Two Cities and a Shakespearan play (Caesar or something else) along with a historical piece like Night should be mainstays for sophomores. I have found success covering longer pieces of literature by listening to some of the lit with audio and discussing it as a class as we move through it.
2. Literary Elements/Techniques. I think all the basics (setting, theme, plot, conflict, point of view, symbolism, characterization, personification, simile, metaphor,etc...) plus connotation, dennotation, allusion, structure.
3. Types of written works. I think there should be some kind of research based (AP citations) paper (maybe research literary critiques with like the Masterplots series or something critiquing a short story/literary work including annotations),Regents based essays including AP driven tasks (literary analysis), creative writing including memoirs, possibly poetry, narratives. I am also a big advocate of journal writing. My students write a 5 minute journal response for me every other class day on various topics. It is good to keep them writing.
4. Essay skills. I think students should be able to construct a solid thesis statement with topic sentences to write a cohesive 4 paragraph essay. 10th graders need constant practice developing thesis statements along with supporting details.
Ok that is all for now. I did my homework!