Syllabus My goal is to provide all students with many opportunities to grow as perceptive readers, critical thinkers, and competent writers in order to compete in a global society. We are going to learn

The power of language through the four units of study: Narrative, Research/Exposition, Response to Literature, and Persuasion. You will explore text from each unit and produce your own writing.

Prentice Hall Textbook (silver level)/Grammar Text The Power of Language Vol 1&2

Literature of the Expanding Frontier The Slave Dancer by Paula Fox

Environmental Science articles Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by F. Douglass

Class work 30%

Quiz/Tests 15% Supplies:

Homework 10%

Accelerated Reader 10% - pens (black/blue & red) for daily work

Group Projects 10% - 5-spiral (subject) notebook

Participation 10% - correction tape (sharing causes a disruption)

Culminating Assign. 10% - lined paper (all homework)

(after every unit)

Organization/Planner 5%

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Student Parent/Guardian

Independent Reading: Accelerated Reader
Students are required to read independently during the course of the year. Due dates, a suggested reading list (attached), and an explanation of student accountability are included in the information given during the first unit. Some class time (Tue.) will be given for this required part of the course. Remember, this is 10% of your grade. Always carry your AR book in your backpack.

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  Grade 8 students are expected to earn 12 "AR" points each 10-week grading period.
  
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  Students who do not participate effectively in the AR program will not receive "A’s" in English and will not receive "S's" or "E's" in Work Habits.
  
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  AR points cannot be earned by reading books that have been made into movies.
  
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  AR tests must be taken in Room B-31 or the library, and under my supervision.
  
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  Students who do not collaborate on AR tests will receive "F's" for the Accelerated Reader portion of their grades and "U's" in Work Habits and Cooperation.
  
  Grading and Assessment
  Students will be graded on all daily assignments, quizzes, tests, essays, and major projects. In addition, student effort and participation will be assessed. Effort is measured by my observation of a student's willingness to do his / her very best work. Participation is measured by my observation of a student's enthusiasm toward and meaningful contribution to classroom discussion and activities.

  All final writings and projects will be assessed as follows:

  
  

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  Content and Style
  
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  Organization and Clarity
  
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  Grammar and Writing Mechanics
  

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  Assignments must be turned in at the beginning of class.
  
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  I do not accept late assignments.
  
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  Assignments due or assigned during an absence must be turned in at the next class after the student returns to school.
  
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  Students should check Ms. Q’s page on the ESMS website or Remind 101 for assignments.
  
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  Students will receive a zero if a long-term project or research paper is not turned in on time. The project/paper must be emailed as an attachment or dropped off at the school by a parent or an emissary if the student is absent.
  
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  Published papers must be typed following strict MLA/APA format.
  

•1621: A New Look at Thanksgiving (I Am American) (Catherine O"Neill Grace)

•Cast Two Shadows: The American Revolution in the South (Great Episodes) (Ann Rinaldi)

•33 Things Every Girl Should Know About Women's History: From Suffragettes to Skirt Lengths to the E.R.A. (Tonya Bolden)

•Good Women of a Well-Blessed Land: Women's Lives in Colonial America (Brandon Marie Mailler)

•Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years (Sarah L. Delaney and A. Elizabeth Delany)

•We Were There, Too!: Young People in U.S. History (Phillip M. Hoose)

•The Boys’ War: Confederate and Union Soldiers Talk About the Civil War (Jim Murphy) (EA)

•Girls: A History of Growing Up Female in America (Penny Colman)

•Johnny Tremain (Esther Forbes) (easier to read)

•America’s Paul Revere (Esther Forbes and Lynd Ward) (easier to read)

•Code Talker: A Novel about the Navajo Marines of World War Two (Joseph Bruchac) (easier to read)

•The Year of the Hangman (Gary Blackwood) (easier to read)
Informational Text

•"Letter on Thomas Jefferson" (John Adams) (E)

•Preamble to the United States Constitution (1787) (E)

•First Amendment to the United States Constitution (1791) (E)

•The Words We Live By: Your Annotated Guide to the Constitution (Linda R. Monk) (E)

•Freedom Walkers: The Story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott (Russell Freedman) (E)

•The Real Revolution: The Global Story of American Independence (Marc Aronson)

•The American Revolutionaries: A History in Their Own Words 1750-1800 (Milton Meltzer)

•Lincoln: A Photo biography (Russell Freedman)

•We Shall Not Be Moved: The Women's Factory Strike of 1909 (Joan Dash)

•Day of Infamy, 60th Anniversary: The Classic Account of the Bombing of Pearl Harbor (Walter Lord) (EA)

•The Making of America (Robert D. Johnston)

•George Washington, Spymaster: How the Americans Out spied the British and Won the Revolutionary War (Thomas B. Allen)