Dover-Sherborn High School Teaching & Learning 

Guiding Principles for English Language Arts and Literacy Programs

Guiding Principle 1

Students should receive explicit instruction in skills, including phonics and decoding. Explicit skill instruction is especially important in narrowing opportunity gaps.

Guiding Principle 2

To become successful readers, students need to develop a rich academic vocabulary and broad background knowledge.

Guiding Principle 3

Educators should help students develop a love of reading by:

• Selecting high-quality works of literature and nonfiction.

• Reading aloud in class. 

• Providing students with ample opportunity and encouragement for sustained independent reading, both for school and on their own.

Guiding Principle 4

Students should be exposed to complex and challenging texts at their grade level and above, with extra support and scaffolding as needed, reflecting high expectations for all students.

Guiding Principle 5

Students should read a diverse set of authentic texts balanced across genres, cultures, and time periods. Authentic texts are intact and unadapted texts in their original complexity; they are texts composed for purposes other than being studied in school.

Guiding Principle 6

Students should have frequent opportunities for discussing and writing about their readings in order to develop critical thinking skills and to demonstrate understanding.

Guiding Principle 7

Reading well-crafted texts is an essential foundation for developing effective writing skills.

Guiding Principle 8

Developing the ability to write well demands regular practice across multiple forms and genres of writing and opportunities to write for a variety of audiences, including expository, analytical, persuasive, narrative, and creative writing, as well as explicit instruction in vocabulary and standard English conventions.

Guiding Principle 9

Educators and families should view each other as resources who are both invested in supporting students’ skills in reading, writing, speaking and listening.

Guiding Principle 10

Social and emotional learning can increase academic achievement, improve attitudes and behaviors, and reduce emotional distress. Students should practice recognizing aspects of themselves in texts (self-awareness), struggling productively with challenging texts (self-management), tailoring language to audience and purpose (social awareness), grappling vicariously with choices faced by others (responsible decision making), and collaborating respectfully with diverse peers (relationship skills).

Guiding Principle 11

Educators should select works of fiction and nonfiction that instill in students a deep appreciation for art, beauty, and truth, while broadening their understanding of the human condition from differing points of view. Reading, discussing, and writing about high-quality prose and poetry should also help students develop empathy for one another and a sense of their shared values and literary heritage, while learning about who they are as individuals and developing the capacity for independent, rigorous thinking.

The Math Department's mission is to 

Eight Standards for Mathematical Practice

1. Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.
2. Reason abstractly and quantitatively.
3. Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others.
4. Model with mathematics.
5. Use appropriate tools strategically.
6. Attend to precision.
7. Look for and make use of structure.
8. Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning.

The courses in Science are designed to provide a strong foundation for the future scientist or engineer as well as a basic understanding and appreciation of science for the future citizen in our highly technological society. All courses are highly laboratory-oriented. While three years (18 credits) of science are required for graduation, students planning careers in science, medicine, or technology should take a course each year. The recommended sequence is Biology, Chemistry, and Physics with electives typically taken during junior and/or senior year.

The Social Studies Department provides course offerings in both history and the social sciences. The goal of the social studies curriculum is to facilitate the development of critical thinking skills and to support students in becoming responsible, productive adults. The Social Studies program seeks to provide students with a greater understanding of important political, economic, and social issues facing the United States and the world. Students are challenged to communicate effectively in groups as they work to understand important societal and individual issues. Critical thinking skills are taught through debating, problem solving, group decision making, and the writing of position and research papers. In addition, cooperative learning experiences teach students to work successfully with others. The Social Studies Department is committed to helping students understand their rights and responsibilities as citizens and respect and appreciate the diversity of the world’s people.

The goal of STE education is to develop scientifically and technologically literate citizens who can solve complex, multidisciplinary problems and apply analytical reasoning and innovative thinking to real-world applications needed for civic participation, college preparation, and career readiness.

The skills and background that students learn through their STE education serve as the foundation for solving problems and understanding issues they will encounter in their careers and will provide the intellectual tools needed to develop strategies for dealing with these issues. The use of various forms of modeling and problem solving, both learned through STE practices, applies to an infinite number of career paths, including those that not typically characterized as STE.

In Grade 9, students will engage in a semester of Health Education and a semester of Outdoor Education/Fitness Development. Sophomores, Juniors, and Seniors participate in quarterly elected modules. T

The World Language Department offers courses that are aligned with the National Standards in World Language Education and the Massachusetts World Language Curriculum Framework. Course names reflect the ACTFL (American Council of Teaching of World Languages) Performance Guidelines. These standards measure a student’s comprehensibility, comprehension, language control, vocabulary usage, communication strategies and cultural awareness. In a grade 6-12 program, as language students’ level of proficiency increases, they move from the Novice to Intermediate stages of language proficiency. The World Language Department offers sequential programs in Chinese, French, Latin, and Spanish.