Course Objectives

Success in school and in life is determined in large part by competence in language. As a significant means for developing students' abilities to use their minds well, language is a central factor in learning for all students and in all disciplines. In Junior High Language Arts, we focus on strengthening the students in the following disciplines:

1. Speaking and Listening - Students will speak and listen effectively in a variety of situations including, but not limited to, reading, speaking, and responses to reading and writing.
2. Reading with Understanding and Comprehension – Students will be exposed to multi-genre works for a variety of purposes including, but not limited to, understanding, comprehension, and exposure to the world around them, both past and present.
3. Critical Thinking Skills – Students will apply critical thinking skills to literature and writing.
4. Spelling & Vocabulary - Students will expand spelling abilities and their working vocabularies to effectively communicate, read, speak, write, and understand texts.
5. Language – Students will apply knowledge of grammar, punctuation, and rhetorical style to reading and writing.
6. Research - Students will engage in inquiry to acquire, refine, and share knowledge.
7. Multimodal Literacies – Students will acquire, refine, and share knowledge through a variety of written, oral, visual, digital, non-verbal, and interactive texts.
8. Writing - Students will write for a variety of purposes including, but not limited to, academic, personal, and publishing.
9. Responsibility - Students will learn to take responsibility for their assignments and develop a sense of pride in their work.

Minimum Writing Requirements

• Students must follow the requirements below for all writing assignments. If these requirements are not met, the paper will be returned to you for correction before it is graded.
• Follow all my directions for each writing assignment.
• HAND WRITTEN PAPERS - Follow the margins on the paper and skip a line between paragraphs.
• TYPEWRITTEN PAPERS - Set all margins to one inch, use size twelve Arial font, and double space the entire paper.
• The length must be according to my specifications at the time the assignment is given.
• Indent the first line of every paragraph.
• Capitalize the first word of every sentence and all proper nouns.
• Write in complete sentences.
• Use proper punctuation.
• Spell correctly - If you don't know the spelling of a word, look it up.
• All written work must be legible.

Late or Make-up Work

MOST assignments will be completed in class. I give ample time per assignment, and expect all work to be handed in on time. If a student is unable to complete the assigned work within the allotted time, it is the student's responsibility to come to me to discuss completion options. These options may consist of the student coming to my classroom during a scheduled time OR completing the assignment as homework. Late assignments will be penalized 20 points per day and will not be accepted after 3 class days, resulting in a zero for the assignment.

If a student is absent, he or she is responsible for contacting me to obtain missed assignments, weekly spelling & vocabulary lists, etc. Please obtain assignments prior to planned absences. For unplanned absences, students are responsible for getting new word lists and other assignments from me so they will be prepared for the upcoming test and projects. Students will have 3 days to make up missed work; including tests, projects, and papers. After that, it will not be accepted, except in cases of extenuating circumstances. If this is the case, come see me privately.

In the case where an assignment was made prior to an absence, with a due date after the student returns, he or she will be expected to turn in the assignment and/or take the test with the rest of the class. I will, however, work with students who are out due to an emergency situation. Again, it is the student’s responsibility to come to me to make arrangements.