2015-2016 8th Grade English Pre-AP and TAG Syllabus
Course Description: In English 8 Pre-AP, students are expected to read and critically analyze both classical
and contemporary literature. This is a writing, reading, and thinking intensive course, full of opportunities to
interact with peers, participate in open dialogue, and challenge your personal beliefs. You must be willing to
put forth great effort so as to ensure your intellectual growth and classroom success. While grades are key to
your success in English 8 Pre-AP, intrinsic motivation and initiative also play vital roles in your achievement.
Course Philosophy: Effective written and oral communication is the springboard for all learning.
Course Objectives: Upon completing this course, you should be able to:
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read and understand a wide variety of literary and informational texts;
compose a variety of written texts with a clear controlling idea, coherent organization, and
sufficient detail;
know how to locate a range of relevant sources and evaluate, synthesize, and present ideas and
information;
listen and respond to the ideas of others while contributing your own ideas in conversations
and in groups;
use the oral and written conventions of the English language in speaking and writing effectively;
engage in activities that build on your prior knowledge and skills in order to strengthen your
reading, writing, and oral language skills;(from Texas Education Agency)
Behavioral Expectations (Class Rules)
As respectful young men and women, you are expected to behave in a manner that is appropriate for a school
environment. Success in the classroom is more than earning an ‘A’, as your behavior plays a major role in your
level of achievement. The following are the basic guidelines for ensuring your behavioral success this year:
RULES – The PRIDE
Be…
Be…
Demonstrate…
Make good…
Show…
Prompt, Prepared, Productive.
Respectful
Integrity
Decisions
Excellence
CONSEQUENCES
Infraction #1- Verbal Warning
Infraction #2- Phone call home and student conference
Infraction #3- Parent-teacher-student conference
Infraction #4- Office referral
Curriculum: SpringBoard
Skill Focuses—a brief overview of the year’s content focus
 Literary Elements: figurative language, poetry elements, plot elements, characterization and
motivations (archetypes), irony, diction, point of view, allusion, anaphora, polysyndeton, asyndeton,
tone, mood, foreshadowing, flashback, conflict, dialogue, drama, author’s purpose, author’s style,
apostrophe, paradox, and others
 Close reading strategies: annotation, dialectical journals, reader response journals, SOAPSTone,
TPCASTT, FRACTIONS, text structures
 Grammar: parts of speech, clauses, phrases, punctuation, spelling, capitalization, embedding
quotations, punctuating dialogue
 Composition: The Writing Process, personal narrative, rhetoric analysis, letters, poetry, argumentative
paper, creative writing, open-ended responses, analysis paragraphs, timed writing, literary analysis
 Media literacy: analysis of visual aids, magazine articles, creating multimedia presentations
 Speaking and Listening: Socratic seminar, group presentations, individual presentation, group
assignments
 Vocabulary development: vocabulary in context, Greek/Latin affixes and root words, academic
language, analogies, SAT words
 Research: narrowing a topic, gathering resources, synthesizing, identifying source credibility,
presentation styles, academic integrity
Talented and Gifted Students
You will meet your TAG components through your independent reading assignment. Your independent
reading assignmentmust include an in-depth analysis of any aspect relating to your novel using between four
and six of the Depth and Complexity icons. For example, you may choose to research the historical context of
Uncle Tom’s Cabin using theRelate over Time, Unanswered Questions, Across Disciplines, and Multiple
Perspectives icons.
Supply List
(2) Composition Book
(2 packs) College-ruled Notebook paper
(2 pack) Black or Blue Pens
Grading Policy
40% Tests and Major Projects
50% Quizzes/Daily Assignments
10% Homework
Grades will be updated weekly. Students are expected to make up assignments and tests after absences.
Students will receive a zero for any assignment or test not made up within the allotted time. Students will be
given one day to make up work for each day they are absent (excused or unexcused). For failing assignments,
students will have 10 school days from the date the failing grade for any assignment is entered in the
electronic grade book, or the end of the six weeks, whichever is sooner. Major writing assessments should be
completed no later than five days prior to the end of the six weeks. Late assignments will be graded with a
10% deduction. Late assignments will be accepted two weeks (10 school days) after the assignment due date
or the end of the six weeks, whichever is sooner. In case of extenuating circumstances, it is the
parent/guardian and/or student’s responsibility to inform the teacher and/or appropriate administrator so
that an exception to the rule may be considered. The teacher and/or appropriate administrator will have the
final authority to grant any exceptions.
Unit One: Challenge of Heroism
Essential Questions:
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What defines a hero?
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How do visual images enhance of create meaning?
Unit Overview:
This unit introduces the Challenge theme by examining heroes in our personal lives, in literary work, and in the
world at large. After exploring heroism, you will then examine the challenges of society as you encounter texts
in which individuals take great risks as they struggle to do what they think is right.
Major Works:
Novel:The Giver by Lois Lowry or Unwind by Neal Shusterman
Poetry: A Man by Nina Cassian;Moco Limping by David Nava Monreal; O Captain! My Captain! by Walt
Whitman; Douglass by Robert Hayden
Articles:Love Triumphs by Ellen Barry, Woman Warrior by Corie Brown and Laura Shapiro
Film Clips: From October Sky directed by Joe Johnston; Batman Begins directed by Christopher Nolan,
Mulan directed by Tony Bancroft and Barry Cook
Written Assessment: Write a multi-paragraph essay that defines your concept of heroism. You will use
various strategies of definition to explain your unique opinion.
Unit 2: Real-Life Challenges
Essential Questions:
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How does commercialism impact daily life?
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How does research enhance the ability to persuade?
Unit Overview:As life continues to grow more complex and challenging, students will need to continue to
develop critical thinking skills. By focusing on nonfiction texts, this unit will teach students to ask insightful
questions, to develop clear and logical arguments, and to express those arguments in both written and oral
texts. Also, it will equip students with the tools to unlock other people’s arguments, to evaluate their
positions clearly, and to support or oppose other views in an appropriate manner. In addition, the unit will
guide students to become a more critical consumer of media messages as they examine their effects on your
life.
Major Works:
Online Articles: Just the Facts About Advertising and Marketing to Childrenby Betsy Taylor; The Price of
Happiness: Advertising and Image from The Center for the Study of Commercialism
Non-Fiction:From Branded: They Buying and Selling of Teenagers by Alissa Quart
Informational Text:How Advertisers Persuade; How do tweens feel about brands? by Patricia Seybold
from Brandchild, by Martin Lindstrom
Written Assessments: You will write a reflective analysis about your relationship with the media by identifying
a particular problem that you find in the media. You will explain your personal feelings about or experiences
with the problem, and offer some type of solution or action that you or others could take to address the
problem. The second essay will persuade an audience to support your opinion about a particular issue. You
will conduct research, use the information you find to craft a convincing essay, and cite your sources properly
in an annotated bibliography.
Unit 3: Reflecting on Challenges
Essential Questions:
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What is the relationship between challenges, multiple intelligences, and strategies?
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How can a writer achieve coherence in writing?
Unit Overview:
Every year brings challenges. You and your classmates have faced challenges: personal, social, and academic.
Midway through the year is a good time to pause and reflect on the work you have done during the past
months and a great time to revisit and revise some of your earlier work. You will investigate further the many
kinds of “intelligences” people possess, which will help you determine how you can accomplish challenging
tasks more successfully.
Written Assessment: You will deeply revise an essay to improve its coherence. Then, thoughtfully reflect
upon the changes you make. You will choose a previously score essay from your Portfolio Folder or Writing
Folder, read teacher commentary, review the scoring guide, note ways to improve your introduction, body
paragraphs, and conclusion. You will consult the scoring guide for this assessment in order to ensure that you
are meeting specific criteria.
Unit 4: Voices and Challenges
Essential Questions:
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How can one person make a difference when encountering a social challenge?
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How do people communicate effectively?
Unit Overview:The world has dark pages in its history, and at times the challenge of righting such
immeasurable wrongs is impossible. A study of narratives about the Holocaust, whether nonfiction accounts
or fictionalized accounts based on true events, will reveal the worst in human behavior. And yet, as Anne
Frank, the most famous young victim of the Holocaust, wrote in her diary, “How wonderful it is that nobody
need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” In this unit, you will apply the lessons of the
Holocaust and take action about a challenging issue in your school, in your community, or perhaps in the
world.
Major Works:
Children’s Books: Books relating to the Holocaust; Terrible Things: An Allegory of the Holocaust by Eve
Bunting
Film: Clips from The Diary of Anne Frank, directed by George Stevens; Life is Beautiful directed by
Roberto Benigni
Poetry: First They Came for the Communists by Martin Niemöller
Press Release: More than 850 Students from 46 States Urge Congress to End Genocide in Darfur, Sudan
Assessment:Your assignment is to conduct a coherent book club discussion in front of your peers. Assignment
two is to create an informational/persuasive campaign about an issue of community, state, national, or world
significance that will convince your audience that the issue you have chosen is significant and that they have
the power to take action and make a difference.
Unit 5: The Challenge of Comedy
Essential Questions:
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How is humor created?
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How do people respond to humor and why do responses vary?
Unit Overview: If laughter is truly the best medicine, then a study of challenges would not be complete
without a close examination of the unique elements of comedy. Overcoming challenges is often easier when
we are able to look at the humorous side of life. However, finding humor is not always easy; it can be a
challenge in itself. This unit explores the common elements found in humorous writing as well as the
difficulties encountered when attempting to write or perform comedy. This unit defines common features of
humorous texts through short stories, play excerpts, anecdotes, essays, poems, comic strips, and film clips.
You will use a variety of learning strategies to focus on the characteristics and specific challenges of comedy as
you read, write, view, analyze, and perform humorous texts.
Major Works:
Essay: Made You Laugh by Marc Tyler Nobleman; From Brothers by Jon Scieszka; A Couple of Really
Neat Guys by Dave Barry
Stand-Up Comedy: From Jerry Seinfeld“I’m Telling You for the Last Time”
TV Show: Opening Clip from The Simpsons
Film: Clips from Pleasantville, directed by Gary Ross; Clips from Monsters, Inc., directed by Pete Docter,
David Silverman
Poetry: Is Traffic Jam Delectable? By Jack Prelutsky; A Trip to Morrow, Author Unknown
Short Story:Priscilla and the Wimps by Richard Peck
Written Assessment:Using a copy of a humorous short story, you will write a critical analysis of the assigned
text by explaining how the author uses humor to communicate a universal truth and then evaluate the
author’s effectiveness. Your second assignment will be to perform an assigned scene from William
Shakespeare’s comedy A Midsummer Night’s Dream by emphasizing at least two of the following: caricatures,
situations, wordplay, or hyperbole.
--Please sign, detach, and return to your teacher, NO LATER THAN Friday, August 28, 2015.
By signing this, I have read and understand the 2015-2016
8th Grade English Pre-AP Syllabus and Expectations.
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Movie Permission Slip
At times throughout the school year we may be using movie segments in class to enhance lessons. These
movies will have a rating of G (general audience) or PG (parental guidance). By signing this permission slip you are
allowing your child to watch a G- or PG-rated movie segment in class. If you have any questions, please feel free to
contact your child’s 8th Grade English teacher.
Please check one:
___ I give my child, _________________________, permission to watch G- or PG-rated movie segments in class.
(PRINT CHILD’S NAME)
___ I do NOT give my child, _______________________, permission to watch G- or PG-rated movie segments in class.
(PRINT CHILD’S NAME)
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Parent/Guardian (Print Name)
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