Christopher Brown
[email protected]
Syllabus for Pre AP English Language Arts Level II
Course Overview
Building off the level one Pre-AP ELA course, this English and Language Arts Course will help students develop the literacy skills, academic habits and critical strategies needed to succeed in rigorous academic courses. Students will read, with a focus on critical analysis, a variety of challenging fiction and nonfiction text. Students will also practice composition strategies, build an understanding of grammar, and develop academic vocabulary. The depth of content covered is designed to prepare students for Advanced Placement courses in high school.
What Learning looks like in Pre-AP ELA II
The most exciting part of this year will be our collective growth as thinkers, communicators and problem solvers. Unfortunately, none of these skills can be mastered by passively memorizing information. Class will typically follow a structure where I introduce and demonstrate a key skill, and then we complete a class activity to practice it while I answer questions, give additional examples, and provide feedback. Success in this course will require students to be meaningfully engaged in activities, to ask the right questions, and to actively monitor their own understandings. I will facilitate this process in every way that I can, but it ultimately begins and ends with the student.
Major Course Objectives
Textbook, Instructional Materials and Resources
Textbook: The College Board. SpringBoard English Language Arts Grade 8. New York: The College Board, 2014.
Ancillary Sources: A broad range of ancillary sources designed to supplement the text book will be provided as in-class handouts or digitally through ebackpack.
Technology
Nearly all student work will be assigned and submitted through ebackpack. Email accounts are to be used for communication between student and teacher. Throughout the schoolyear, students will also need to use a wide variety of iPad applications to complete specific project. These applications will include Flipboard, iMovie, Powerpoint Quizlet, Membean and Socrative.
Grading
All work for the course will belong to one of the following weighted categories:
Vocabulary – 20% of final quarter grade
Daily Classwork and Homework – 35 % of final quarter grade
Essays and Unit Assessments – 45% of final quarter grade
This breakdown is deliberately designed to both ensure feedback and accountability for core curricular skills as measured by unit assessments, and to also provide students the opportunity to boost their grade through diligent completion of daily work and vocabulary.
Student Expectations
Preparedness and Homework
Students should be prepared for class each day with:
Attendance and Absence
Students are expected to attend class each day, but there inevitably circumstances which occasionally prevent attendance. Students who miss class have the number of days they missed plus one to make up missed work. It is the student’s responsibility to collect makeup work. Incomplete work will earn a zero.
Conduct
Students are expected to follow classrooms rules as well as adhere to the code of conduct stipulated in the student handbook. Above all, students should demonstrate integrity, respect, empathy and compassion in all of their behavior, as these shared values are essential to a productive learning community.
Attitude
Students are also expected to maintain a positive attitude. We will try to enjoy our class time as much as we can and the extent to which we are able to do so will be partly contingent on the good attitude of the students. Be open-minded. Be curious. When the occasion calls for it, be playful. Have faith that you can accomplish everything that you’ll need to, and make up your mind that you will persevere when the work is challenging.
[email protected]
Syllabus for Pre AP English Language Arts Level II
Course Overview
Building off the level one Pre-AP ELA course, this English and Language Arts Course will help students develop the literacy skills, academic habits and critical strategies needed to succeed in rigorous academic courses. Students will read, with a focus on critical analysis, a variety of challenging fiction and nonfiction text. Students will also practice composition strategies, build an understanding of grammar, and develop academic vocabulary. The depth of content covered is designed to prepare students for Advanced Placement courses in high school.
What Learning looks like in Pre-AP ELA II
The most exciting part of this year will be our collective growth as thinkers, communicators and problem solvers. Unfortunately, none of these skills can be mastered by passively memorizing information. Class will typically follow a structure where I introduce and demonstrate a key skill, and then we complete a class activity to practice it while I answer questions, give additional examples, and provide feedback. Success in this course will require students to be meaningfully engaged in activities, to ask the right questions, and to actively monitor their own understandings. I will facilitate this process in every way that I can, but it ultimately begins and ends with the student.
Major Course Objectives
- Students will read and analyze works of literature from a variety of genres.
- Students will analyze the use of literary elements associated with each genre.
- Students will analyze the use of literary devices.
- Students will utilize a variety of writing styles using a writing process consisting of prewriting, graphic organizers, rough drafts, editing, and revision.
- Students will complete a 3 – 4 page research paper with a bibliography.
- Students will develop quality writing.
- Students will review basic grammar and usage skills as they apply to written work.
- Students will examine vocabulary as it appears in literature.
Textbook, Instructional Materials and Resources
Textbook: The College Board. SpringBoard English Language Arts Grade 8. New York: The College Board, 2014.
Ancillary Sources: A broad range of ancillary sources designed to supplement the text book will be provided as in-class handouts or digitally through ebackpack.
Technology
Nearly all student work will be assigned and submitted through ebackpack. Email accounts are to be used for communication between student and teacher. Throughout the schoolyear, students will also need to use a wide variety of iPad applications to complete specific project. These applications will include Flipboard, iMovie, Powerpoint Quizlet, Membean and Socrative.
Grading
All work for the course will belong to one of the following weighted categories:
Vocabulary – 20% of final quarter grade
Daily Classwork and Homework – 35 % of final quarter grade
Essays and Unit Assessments – 45% of final quarter grade
This breakdown is deliberately designed to both ensure feedback and accountability for core curricular skills as measured by unit assessments, and to also provide students the opportunity to boost their grade through diligent completion of daily work and vocabulary.
Student Expectations
- Come to class prepared, organized and eager.
- Class begins when the bell rings, so when you hear it, be in your seat and start the bell ringer.
- Follow directions and stay on task.
- Respect the attentiveness of the class. That is, don’t be a distraction, even to yourself.
- Demonstrate integrity, respect, empathy and compassion in all of your behaviors.
Preparedness and Homework
Students should be prepared for class each day with:
- Pencil/ pen, English text, iPad, Assigned homework, Notebook with loose leaf paper
Attendance and Absence
Students are expected to attend class each day, but there inevitably circumstances which occasionally prevent attendance. Students who miss class have the number of days they missed plus one to make up missed work. It is the student’s responsibility to collect makeup work. Incomplete work will earn a zero.
Conduct
Students are expected to follow classrooms rules as well as adhere to the code of conduct stipulated in the student handbook. Above all, students should demonstrate integrity, respect, empathy and compassion in all of their behavior, as these shared values are essential to a productive learning community.
Attitude
Students are also expected to maintain a positive attitude. We will try to enjoy our class time as much as we can and the extent to which we are able to do so will be partly contingent on the good attitude of the students. Be open-minded. Be curious. When the occasion calls for it, be playful. Have faith that you can accomplish everything that you’ll need to, and make up your mind that you will persevere when the work is challenging.