Honors Courses and Requirements

Honors Requirements

Honors selection is based on ability demonstrated by scores on qualifying placement tests. Students who scored advanced or accelerated on the 5th-grade state assessment in the subject area or 90% or higher on the 5^th grade Iowa Test in the subject area, are recommended to take the placement test. Students previously identified as gifted in either the subject area or cognitively, are recommended to test for Honors courses as well.
If you are currently in an Honors Course indicate you would like to continue on your google form and you will automatically be placed in Honors for 8th grade UNLESS you have received a D or lower during the first 3 quarters and then you will need to retest.
Qualifying placement tests will take place in May.
Students will be notified of placement results in June.

Honors Language Arts 7

The goal of the AWJH Honors Language Arts program is to further introduce students to rigorous content-driven material while further enhancing their superior writing and speaking skills. Students who succeed in demonstrating the acquired knowledge in this program may afford the opportunity to test for further Honors Language Arts programs.

The honors student will be asked to complete similar assignments as the traditional language arts student, however, the honor assignments will be completed at the higher levels of thinking: analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluating. The honors seventh-grade language arts student will demonstrate proficiency in grammar rules, specific vocabulary, literary terms, and literary techniques. Formal writing assignments will emphasize the use of complex sentence structures and self-expression. An additional focus of the honors class will be on public speaking and special projects.

The seventh-grade students taking Honors Language Arts should demonstrate leadership skills with a willingness to help others. Honors students should work well independently as well as in groups, should have strong reading/writing skills, should have a strong work ethic, should be motivated to turn work in on time, and should be willing to work beyond the requirements established for traditional seventh-grade language arts and reading.

Honors classes will: Explore various genres of writing, authors, time periods, and grammar. Expand upon prior knowledge of literature, vocabulary, informational text, literary elements. Express via various forms of writing, poetry, speeches, media literacy.

Expectations: Faster pace, higher-level thinking skills, more depth with content/material, stronger rigor, passion for learning--for language/reading, student-initiated, student embraces the challenge.

Workload/Assignments: Expectations of written work and discussions are held to a higher standard, sometimes work self-paced.

Honors Language Arts 8

The honors student will be asked to complete similar assignments as the traditional language arts student, however, the honor assignments will be completed at the higher levels of thinking: analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluating. More complex writing assignments are produced and more challenging novels are studied. Therefore, the honors student should work well independently as well as in groups; should have strong reading/writing skills; should have a strong work ethic; should be motivated to turn work in on time, and should be willing to work beyond the requirements established for traditional eighth-grade language arts and reading.

Honors classes will: Explore various genres of writing, authors, time periods and grammar. Expand upon prior knowledge of literature, vocabulary, informational text, literary elements. Express via various forms of writing, poetry, speeches, media literacy.

Expectations:

8th grade: faster pace, higher-level thinking skills, subject matter more “mature,” stronger rigor, more motivated in Language Arts, like to read/write, student-driven, willing to be challenged.

Workload/Assignments:

8th grade: read more, expectations of written work held to a higher standard, sometimes work is graded/discussed in class rather than collected, sometimes self-paced, no late work is accepted and no extra credit allowed.

Honors Math 7

For students in 7th grade who meet the required score on the placement exam given at the end of 6th grade. Students in honors 7th-grade math will be learning content in correlation to the 7th and 8th grade Ohio Learning Standards. Students will learn material including Rational Numbers and Exponents, Proportional Relationships, Creating, Comparing, & Analyzing Geometric Figures, Sampling and Inferencing, and an Intro to Algebra 1 concepts.

Honors Algebra 1

Prerequisite: Honors 7th Grade Math OR qualifying placement requirements. This course will cover the remaining topics from Math 8 that are not covered in the Honors 7th Grade Math course. Algebra focuses on developing reasoning, analytical skills, writing, interpreting, translating, (specifically in relation to expressions and equations), functions, linear relationships, function notation, domain and range, exponential functions, quadratic functions, radical expressions, rational expressions, as well as an introductory study of simple statistics. Students taking this course earn high school credit. Grades earned will appear on high school transcripts and count toward high school GPA.

Honors Geometry 1

Prerequisite: Honors 8th Grade Math OR qualifying placement requirements. Honors Geometry is a course, which includes an in-depth analysis of plane, solid, and coordinate geometry as they relate to both abstract mathematical concepts as well as real-world problem situations. Topics include logic and proof, parallel lines and polygons, area, volume, similarity and congruence, trigonometry, and circles. Emphasis will be placed on developing critical thinking skills as they relate to logical reasoning and argument. Students will be required to use different technological tools and manipulatives to discover and explain much of the course content. A scientific calculator is required for this course. Students taking this course earn high school credit. Grades earned will appear on high school transcripts and count toward high school GPA.

Honors Social Studies 8

The eighth-grade honors curriculum takes an in-depth look at the origins of the United States. The course takes students through the arrival of the first Europeans to the Reconstruction period that followed the American Civil War. Honors coursework requires a greater depth of knowledge based on inferencing primary and secondary sources. Students will form and draw conclusions from those same documents and take argumentative positions. Students will strengthen their writing skills by working in conjunction with the honors language arts program. Similarly, students will complete a reasonable number of community service hours during the school year as part of their course requirements. If you love history, love to research and debate, and want to challenge yourself, honors history might be right for you!