Course Outline Language Arts 8

I look forward to learning from you, and with you, as we aim to improve our skills as writers. It is hard work, but your writing will improve through regular feedback and revision.

We will be sharing drafts of writing we care about, which requires trust and respect.

Writing and reading are intimately connected. Readers are better writers. Sustained reading of twenty minutes or more is expected Monday through Thursday at home. Choose your books well. Read books you love, but also challenge yourself to read widely in all genres and grow as a reader.

Reading absolutely impacts vocabulary and writing development, so it is an essential element this year.

A reading expert, Nancie Atwell, states that “Top-ranking scientists and mathematicians are people who read a lot. Top-ranking historians and researchers are people who read a lot. It’s like money in the bank in terms of the rest of your life, but it also helps you escape from the rest of your life and live experiences you can only dream of. It also can help you to find out who you are, what you care about and what type of person you want to become.” Give something up for 20 minutes a night - it is worth it.

Read often, write hard and complete your classwork on time. You’ll do well!

Weekly Routine:

You will have 7 ELA blocks and your weekly routine will include the following:

Readers and Writers Workshops:

Every week you will have two 80 minute workshops. These workshops will always follow the same format:

1. Book Talk - 5 minutes
2. Silent sustained reading - 10 minutes
3. Quick Writes relative to one of the following - 10 minutes:
   • Prompts that ask you to dig deep into what you are reading.
   • Experiment with writing and revising.
   • Prompts that relate to current events or the genre of writing that we are working on.
4. Mini-lesson on one of the following - 15 minutes
   • Studying mentor text
   • Organization and process of the genre being studied.
   • Rehearsal, revision, and rereading.
   • Grammar and sentence structure.
   • Vocabulary
5. Independent work time - 30 minute

Vocabulary of the Week:

You will work on vocabulary every week during one of your single ELA blocks.

Year Long Goals:

Writing Units:

• Short Story (Literature study)
• Novel Study (Literature study)
• Narrative writing
• Argumentative essay
• Poetry
• TED Talk (public speaking)

Over the course of the year, I will look for evidence of students :

• Rereading writing as readers, listening to how their words work together to communicate effectively
• Making their writing better through revisions
• Writing in the following discourses:
  1. Narrative
  2. Argument
  3. Poetry
  4. Write script for TED Talk
• Deepened understanding of the intention of conventions
• Development of the ability to compose with digital tools - crafting ideas through images, text slides, voice-over or narration - and choose music or other background effects to create an engaging experience for viewers.

Reading:

• The goal for the year is to read 10-25 books (may vary depending on individual goals and based on 200-page books).
• Article of the Week:In order to improve reading comprehension and background knowledge, every week, students will read a current events article and work on annotation and comprehension.
• Participate in 1-2 book clubs (if we are able to due to covid)
• Short Story Unit
• Novel Unit
• Reading Comprehension quizzes

Over the course of the year, I will look for evidence of :

• Increased volume in reading
• Can read with understanding
• Can deepen understanding by writing about books and the ideas within them
• An identity as a reader, aligning with genres and authors
• Increased stamina in order to read for an hour or more at one sitting
• Increased complexity of reading

Language Arts outcomes that will be assessed on the report card:

Communication

• Uses reading comprehension strategies to understand the material
• Seeks to improve writing quality through the writing process: planning, drafting, revising, editing and publishing
• Seeks to improve writing quality through the organization, ideas, word choice, sentence fluency, conventions, and voice
• Using a variety of modes communicates clearly and effectively for a variety of audiences and purposes

Critical Thinking

Comprehends and responds to oral, print and other media by:

• Examining, identifying
• Predicting, inferring
• Justifying/supporting, analyzing

Manages Information (research, evaluate, and reference sources)

• Evaluates the credibility of information sources and includes references
• Summarizes and/or paraphrase information from the source