English 8 Syllabus
2014-2015
Instructor Information:
Teacher:
Room:
Contact:
Website:
Required Text:
Additional Resources:
Mrs. Carol Aten Frow
Belle Vernon Area Middle School, Room 120
Phone: 724-808-2500; ext. 3120
Email: Carol.AtenFrow@bellevernonarea.net
http://www.bellevernonarea.net/bvams
Elements of Language, Second Course;
Vocabulary Workshop, Level C
Notebook, Writing Utensils, DLP/Grammar Folder
Flash drive (Optional but a good idea especially when doing
research)
Course Description:
English 8 focuses on grammar, writing, usage, and vocabulary.
Course Objectives:
By the end of this course, the successful student will be able to:
1. Use the parts of speech accurately.
2. Integrate new vocabulary into speech and writing.
3. Recognize and apply correct word usage to improve speaking and writing.
4. Develop a writing topic through various techniques of pre-writing.
5. Create rough drafts.
6. Apply revision techniques to a piece of writing to improve upon sentence structure, word
usage, content, and organization.
7. Apply a series of editing techniques to a piece of writing to improve upon capitalization,
punctuation, spelling, and sentence structure.
8. Produce polished pieces of writing.
9. Create interesting introductory paragraphs and conclusions.
10. Develop five paragraph responses in the modes of narrative, informational, and
persuasive essays.
11. Conduct research.
12. Speak clearly while following an organized outline in a presentation.
13. Create poetry.
14. Read and respond to literature.
Academic Honesty:
Any work submitted by the student shall be his/her own. Work taken from others shall be
deemed as unacceptable. Any doubts will initiate the completion of an alternative assignment
or a zero on the required effort, depending on the severity of the infraction.
Class Policies and Expectations:
1.
Students are expected to arrive on time to class with the proper materials. Failure to
bring materials will be treated like incomplete homework assignments.
Students are expected to complete homework assignments. All students will begin
with a homework grade of fifty points. Each missed assignment will cause that 50 to
be lowered by five points. Homework is not checked for accuracy but for completion
since its purpose is to practice skills.
Students who need additional help or support are expected to seek the teacher’s
assistance prior to a test. The teacher can assist students during homeroom,
ketchup, or after school by appointment. Review materials are posted on both the
Seventh and Eighth Grade Pages on Schoolwires. These materials include
vocabulary lists, DLP pages, review games, instructional Power Points, and video
links.
Students are expected to acquire their assignments if they are absent and to make
up work in a timely fashion.
Students are expected to conduct themselves as ladies and gentlemen in the
classroom and to be respectful to everyone around them.
Students are not permitted to use cell phones, ipods, or other electronic media
during class.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Course Grading Criteria:
All quizzes, tests, and projects will be graded according to the Belle Vernon Area School District
grading policy. Total points will be accumulated for all evaluated efforts in this class rather than
having letter grades per each effort. The grading scale is as follows:
A
B
C
D
F
-
90-100
80-89
70-79
60-69
0-59
Emphasis will be on formal assessments. Therefore grades will be weighted in this course.
Formal Assessments will account for 90% of a student’s grade (quizzes, tests, projects,
performance-based rubrics, essays, graded homework, etc.)
Informal Assessments will account for 10% of a student’s grade (homework for completion,
class participation, exit tickets, etc.)
Assignments per Quarter:
Students will have a homework grade. It will be the first score on Edline and will be updated
biweekly. This is an informal assessment.
Students will have formal assessment grades on grammar tests, DLP tests, vocabulary tests,
projects, and writings. Check the teacher website to see the dates for these formal
assignments. Students will be creating at least one piece of writing per quarter.
Bonus points will be offered quarterly in the form of poetry writing.
Academic Standards:
Students will be reacquainted with the Pennsylvania Academic Standards that have been
adopted by the Department of Education, along with the Common Core Standards that are in
the process of being implemented nationwide. Students will be made aware of the importance
of the standards and the efforts to meet them.
Edline:
If
Grades will be updated weekly on Edline. If you lost or cannot remember log in information,
please contact our Child Accounting Department at 724-808-2500 ext. 1108.
Schoolwires (Website):
My website will be updated every Friday. Course Topics, Assignments, and Quizzes and Tests
are also posted weekly. Go to www.bellevernonarea.net. Choose the middle school and
teachers. Once my name has been selected, click on the tab for Assignments and Tests to
keep informed about these items. In addition, I have a page dedicated to materials to be used
in the class. There, vocabulary words, DLP, grammar reviews, and writing helpers can be
found.
Course Outline:
1st Quarter
DLP
WOD
Grammar
Informational
Essay-Definition
Informational
Essay-Compare and
Contrast
2nd Quarter
DLP
WOD
Grammar
IV. Persuasive
Essay
3rd Quarter
DLP
WOD
Grammar
Creative Narrative
Essay
4th Quarter
DLP
WOD
Grammar
Research Paper
Informational Essay
- Definition
The following signatures state that all parties are aware of the preceding syllabus.
Student Signature____________________Date_______________
Parent Signature_____________________Date_______________
Method the parent prefers to be contacted:
E-mail address-_________________________________________
Phone number-_________________________________________