8Th Grade English Language Arts Syllabus 2016-2017

8th Grade English Language Arts Syllabus 2016-2017

Terri WarnerApril Shoutls

Northwest Middle SchoolNorthwest Middle School

Beth HillBrianna Smith

Northwest Middle SchoolNorthwest Middle School

Course Outcome:

Course Description:

ELA and Reading Grade 8

SDE Course Code: 00801

KCS Course Code: 0801040

In grade eight, students will read major works of fiction and nonfiction from all over the world and from different time periods. They will continue to learn how to understand what they read and evaluate an author’s assumptions and claims. They will also conduct research that will require the analysis of resources and accurate interpretation of literary and informational text. Language standards are foundational and integrated throughout the curriculum design. In developing the local curriculum, KCS followed the TDOE Curriculum Standards.

Curriculum (State and County):

Instruction:

1st 9 Weeks:

The focus of the first nine weeks will be basic sentence types and structure, composition of an evidence based paragraph and how to analyze text. Students will explore narrative writing techniques as well. Students will be utilizing short stories and informational texts of similar themes in order to gain a deeper and broader understanding of response to and purpose of a text.

Short Stories and Articles used in the first nine weeks:

1. The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell
2. “What is the Value of Human Life?” by Kenneth Feinberg
3. The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allen Poe
4. “The Story Behind the Cask of Amontillado”
5. Thank You Ma’am by Langston Hughes
6. “Sharing in the American Dream”

2nd 9 Weeks:

The focus of the second nine weeks will have an emphasis on verb usage for grammar, mood, tone, irony, figurative language and how it adds to a story, rhetoric and composing comparative paragraphs. We will once again utilize short stories and informational texts of similar themes to accomplish these tasks.

Short Stories and Articles used in the second nine weeks:

1. The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin
2. “On Women’s Right to Suffrage” by Susan B. Anthony
3. “Ain’t I a Woman” by Sojourner Truth
4. Lamb to the Slaughter by Roald Dahl
5. Mock Trial
6. The Night the Ghost Got In by James Thurber
7. “10 Ways to Improve Your Writing While Thinking Like a Comedy Writer” by Leigh Anne Jasheway
8. Luck by Mark Twain

3rd 9 Weeks:

The focus of the third nine weeks: verbals and phrases will be the grammar focus, expanding writing to full essays and complete papers. Students will focus on the structure of what they read and write. A novel study where students will be asked to read in completion a full novel rather than excerpts. Writing is the main focus for this quarter. Students will complete timed writing tasks as well as individual papers with multiple edits.

4th 9 Weeks:

During the last quarter, students will be reviewing and refining skills learned in 8th grade Language Arts in order to prepare them for high school readiness. The final unit for the year will be poetry analysis. Multiple poems will be utilized.

Materials Needed:

For this course students will need the following supplies:

1. 1 inch binder
2. 5 tab dividers
3. Colored Pencils
4. Blue or Black ink pens
5. College ruled notebook paper (Wide ruled is fine if that is what you already)
6. Highlighter
7. 2 spiral notebooks

These are the supplies that students will need individually, there is no need for students to bring any supplies to turn in unless they would like to bring a box of Kleenex and a bottle of hand sanitizer as these will not be provided otherwise.

Resources:

1. *Reality Central: Readings in the Real WorldPearson
2. *Literature: Common Core EditionPearson
3. *Writer’s Choice Grammar and Composition Glencoe
4. *The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne
5. *Night by Elie Wiesel
6. Beastly by Alex Flinn
7. Beastly– CBS films rated PG-13
8. The Most Dangerous Game - Movie
9. Various Articles from NewsELA, TeenTribune, Smithsonian, and Scholastic.
10. Various educational videos from Discovery Education, TeacherTube, and YouTube streamed through Canvas.

(* - indicates materials are from the District-Wide Approved List)

***Throughout the year if further resources are used we will send out a letter to all students as well as update the Syllabus on our class page.

Knox County Board of Education Policy - Religion in the Curriculum :

The Board affirms that it is essential that the teaching about religion—and not of a religion be conducted in a factual, objective and respectful manner in accordance with the following:

• 1. Music, art, literature, or drama with a religious theme or basis are permitted as part of the curriculum for school-sponsored activities and programs provided it is essential to the learning experience in the various fields of study and is presented objectively;
• 2. The emphasis on religious themes in the arts, literature and history shall be only as extensive as necessary for a balanced and comprehensive study of these areas. Such studies shall never foster any particular religious tenets or demean any religious beliefs; and
• 3. Student-initiated expressions to questions or assignments which reflect their beliefs or non-beliefs about a religious theme shall be accommodated. For example, students are free to express religious belief or non-belief in compositions, art forms, music, speech and debate.

Compliance with Instructional Materials Policy & Procedure IFAB:

Teachers, school administrators, and instructional supervisors/specialists will work together to select appropriate high quality instructional materials. Such materials could include (but are not limited to) books, magazines, newspapers, journals, and video, audio, digital, and web resources.

Selection of instructional materials will be based on the criteria listed below and should be continuously re-evaluated in relation to changing curriculum content, pedagogical research, and the needs of students, teachers, and administrators.

All resources used during a course of study or in conjunction with school-wide activities will be openly disclosed to parents/guardians and other stakeholders sufficiently in advance of their use with students for parents to request an alternate assignment should they have a concern about the selected materials. Alternate assignments will receive the same level of instructional and assessment rigor as the primary assignment. Instructional materials prescribed within the established curricula for Advanced Placement, dual enrollment, dual credit and International Baccalaureate Programme courses are on a post-secondary level and are considered appropriate for this level of academic endeavor. Enrollment in these courses constitutes acceptance of the instructional program. Alternate assignments will not generally be available for this level of coursework.

The Director of Schools will establish an administrative procedure for review and selection of materials subject to this policy. Particular attention will be paid to addressing the suitability of instructional materials that include content which might be considered sensitive by parents or students (for example, materials that contain coarse language, graphic violence, explicit sexual content, illegal use of drugs or alcohol). The Director of Schools will also establish a procedure for the reconsideration of approved materials as may be requested by parents or staff members.

CRITERIA FOR SELECTION

• Educational purpose (as defined by state standards)

• Contribution the subject matter makes to the curriculum and to the interests of the students

• Appropriateness to social, emotional, and intellectual level of intended audience

• Favorable reviews found in standard selection sources

• Favorable recommendations based on preview and examination of materials by professional personnel

• Reputation and significance of the author, producer, and publisher

• Validity, currency, and appropriateness of the material

• Contribution the materials makes to the breadth of representative viewpoints on controversial issues

• High degree of potential user appeal

• High artistic quality and/or literary style

• Quality and variety of format

• Value commensurate with cost and/or need

• Timeliness or permanence

Assessment:

Competencies:

Students will take a benchmark exam at the end of the first, second and third nine weeks. There will be a vocabulary test every two weeks throughout the year. Students will have multiple unit exams over grammar, reading skills and writing skills. Writing is essential to this course and all writing samples will be treated as a test grade.

Expectations:

Students are expected to do all work, on time, and to the best of their ability. Students are expected to be to class on time and prepared. Students are expected to treat others the way that they want to be treated at all times. Students are expected to actively participate in discussions and engage one another intellectually.All students are expected to be honest as cheating on ANY assignment will result in a zero for that grade.

Grading Policy:

Students will earn a minimum of two grades per week. All summative grades (exams, papers, projects and some quizzes) will count 60% toward a student’s final grade. All other grades will be formative (classwork, homework, some quizzes) and will count 40% toward a student’s final grade.

During the second semester, summative grades will count 51% of student’s final grade and formative will count 34% of a student’s final grade. The final 15% will come from the TN Ready writing and reading test (Writing test = 33%, Reading/Vocabulary test = 67%) for Reading and Language Arts.

Knox County Grading Scale:

93%-100% = A

85%-92% = B

75%-84% = C

70%-74% = D

69% and lower is not passing

Make-Up Work Policy/Late Work Policy:

Make-Up Work Policy for Absent Students

Knox County Board of Education Policy states and Northwest Middle School will follow:

“If a student must be absent from school for any reason, excused or unexcused, up to ten (10) days upon returning to school, he/she shall be given the opportunity to make up any and all assignments that were missed during the student’s absence. The student must request make-up assignments within three (3) days after returning from the absence. Failure of a student to initiate a request for make-up work within three (3) days will result in lost opportunity for credit for that assignment.”

It is the student’s responsibility to obtain their missed assignments from an absence. At parent’s request, the office will gather missed work for students who are absent 5 or more days. However, due to meetings taking place during teachers’ plan times, it is reasonable to allow at least 24 hours before picking up the assignments.

Late Work Policy

Individual teachers, teams and other school officials at Northwest Middle School have the authority and responsibility to impose deadlines for the submission of work. One of our goals as a school is to prepare students for the future by teaching students responsibility, and experiencing the natural consequences of failure to meet reasonable deadlines is the primary manner in which we learn this skill. Please do not expect school administration or teachers to extend or ignore a deadline. For students that choose not to complete their assignments on time, the following Late Work Penalties will be assessed:

**End of the Semester Exception**

All students absent, will be given ten (10) days to complete a missing assignment unless the missing assignments are near the end of the semester. At that point, all assignments not completed by the end of the semester grading cut-off date will be recorded as zeroes.

Rubrics:

All timed writings will be scored utilizing the State of Tennessee Writing Assessment Rubrics:

Explanatory:

Argumentative:

Projects and Papers:

Students will be expected to write timed writings in class and textual analysis/research essays. Students will be expected to write an outline, a rough draft, go through editing and revising steps and then produce a final draft for every textual analysis/research paper assigned as well as paragraphs. Students will be given in class time to work on papers and outlines as well as projects, however, quite a bit of writing and work will be done at home as well.

Students are expected to type their papers at this point in their education, due to technology requirements, there are no exceptions for this requirement. No hand written final draft papers will be accepted.

Posting Grades:

We will update grades at least once a week. Our goal is to post grades to the portal every Monday. Students will have three grades every week. There may be more grades than this however; there will always be at least three grades every week.

General Expectations:

Students:

Attendance Policy:

Students need to be at school in order to learn. Attendance is imperative to success in class. We have many group projects and assignments and if students are not in class they will miss out on a wonderful collaboration opportunity as well as the chance to gain priceless feedback from their teachers and classmates. If a student has to be absent for any reason, it is the responsibility of the student to gain their make-up work from the teacher with-in three days of returning from the absence or the assignment will be recorded as a zero. Students will be asked to check the absent work bin to find any assignments they have missed as well as check the daily agenda book and then check with the teacher and classmates as to any notes they may have missed.

Classroom Policy/Procedures:

1. When a student does have to turn in an assignment late, they will need to have their parents signature on it, as well as get the teachers signature and date before turning it into the late bin to be graded. If a student does not have a parent AND teacher signature, the assignment will not be graded.
2. Students are expected to work in groups almost daily. Students do not have the option to avoid group work or “opt out”. Students will receive grades for group work and discussions. If a student misses out on a group discussion that was given a grade, they will be given a writing assignment that they can use to make that grade up.

Teacher:

8th grade teachers plan period is from 8:30am-10:00am each day. If you need to contact us, the best way is through email. @. There are no phones in our classrooms so it is much easier to gain a quick response through email since it IS accessible from the classroom. Our emailsare up all day and I can respond much quicker this way.

Plagiarism:

PLAGARISM

According to Harbrace Handbook, 15th edition:

“Plagiarism is defined as presenting someone else’s ideas, research, or opinion as your own without proper documentation, even if it has been rephrased. It includes, but is not limited to the following:

1. Copying verbatim all or part of another’s written work;

2. Using phrases, figures, or illustrations without citing the source;

3. Paraphrasing ideas, conclusions, or research without citing the source;

4. Using all or part of a literary plot, poem, or film without attributing the work to it’s creator.”

CONSEQUENCES OF PLAGIARISM

Plagiarism is a form of stealing and academic fraud. Students who are found guilty of plagiarism will have the option of either redoing the assignment within a specified time period and accepting a grade letter drop or taking a zero on the assignment. Parents should be involved in making the decision.

______

Please Sign and Return this form by Friday, August 15, 2016

I have read the following syllabus and understand the requirements for this course.

(Student Signature)

(Parent Signature)