Welcome to English with Mrs. Lagan!
Please use a card on your desk and complete the
following:
1. Your child’s name
2. Strengths you’d like me to note
3. Areas you’d like your child to improve
4. Any questions you may have
5. Best e-mail address to reach you.
Overview
• This course essentially aims to encourage
students to become effective
communicators in the areas of listening,
speaking, reading, and writing. Additionally,
students are challenged to use critical
thinking.
Assessment:
• Grades are calculated as a percentage of
total points for the term, with larger
assignments being worth more points.
• So, if there are 1,000 points available and a
student earns 900, then the student will have
90% average.
Grading Policies:
Homework
• Starts at 100%
• Drops 5% for each missed assignment
• No make-ups because we review it in
class, and the student needs to be
learning to be responsible for themselves.
Major Assessments
• Tests, essays and large projects
• Typically = ~100pts
Minor Assessments
• Quizzes: vocabulary, grammar, and reading
• Graded classwork
• Typically = 10-50 pts.
• Absent= next day
Late work
• - points each day. There will be a final cut-off date.
• Detention possible if it is imperative that the
assignment be completed.
Plagiarism
• No tolerance policy
• All or part= zero
• No graded re-do
Class Reading/Novels
(On-level)
• Short Stories
• Chernowitz!
• The Outsiders
• Old Yeller
• Poetry
Class reading/Novels
(Above Level)
• Short Stories
• Non-fiction stories
• Tom Sawyer
• The Outsiders
• Poetry
Independent (“silent”)
Reading
• Marking Period 1: Realistic and historical fiction
• Marking Period 2: Autobiographies and biographies
• Marking Period 3: Science fiction, adventure,
fantasy, or mystery
• Marking Period 4: Free Choice
Writing
• Open Ended Responses
• Explanatory Essay
• Expository Essay
• Narrative/Speculative Essay
• Persuasive/Argumentative Essay
• Poetry
Literary Elements
• Elements of Plot
• Imagery
• Personification
• Conflict
• Foreshadowing
• Flashbacks
• Moral and theme
Grammar Through
Reading/Writing
• Writing
descriptively/Showing
not telling
o adjectives, adverbs, verbs
o prepositional phrases
• Sentence Parts
o nouns and verbs
• Sound Sentences
o nouns and verbs
o prepositional phrases
• Varying Sentences
o Punctuation
o Complex and compound
• Word Choice
o vocabulary building
Contact
• llagan@veronaschools.org
• (973) 571-6751
• Website:
http://www.veronaschools.org//Domain/244