English Syllabus
Outside Reading: This English course is built around the outside reading project. Throughout the year, students will be asked to read consistently from a text of their choice. Many projects that can be submitted for English credit this year will be connected to outside reading texts. Students will be able to choose any book; however, every other book read should be from a non-fiction genre. The only homework assignment for 8th Grade English from 9/1-6/1 will be an "electronic Lit. Log". This nightly log will weigh significantly on each quarter report.
Interdisciplinary Writing: Students will spend the entire school year writing across content areas. While students will spend time composing writing to explore ideas in literature and non-fiction, they will also spend significant time developing writing assignments for other courses throughout their academic day. Students will have the opportunity to earn English credit for assignments that may also be turned in for other courses.
Google Drive: The vast majority of the work that students complete this year will be done using Google Drive. Students will receive a log-in and password on the first day of school, and they will immediately begin using Google for writing projects, outside reading projects, and group work. We will also be using Google Drive to develop a year-long writing portfolio. Please see the attached link for more information about this assignment.
Social Media Literacy: As we help students to grow in the area of literacy, we will also be asking them to address the ideas of social media and media literacy. We would recommend that each student and parent have access to email this year (gmail is easiest to share student work with family members) so that you can begin to correspond with team teachers when you have questions.
Students will spend the year building a "Website Portfolio" that will showcase their best work across the team, and we will talk throughout the year about the importance of building a positive "digital footprint". Several times throughout each marking period, students will write letters home that will be posted to the "Comments" section of Parent Portal. In these letters, students will link current work that is attached to their individual website. Please consider clicking through these links so that you can see reading and writing progress several times each quarter.
Team Journal and Supply List: The only materials a student will need for English this year is a marble notebook (maybe 2), an assignment notebook, and whatever novel that is currently being read. The marble notebook will serve as the full "Team Journal". This notebook will be used as a "starting point" for writing and ideas. Almost always, these assignments will be developed more fully using other tools, and eventually submitted for course credit.
Online Participation for Parents and Students: Your ability to navigate our website, 8onondaga.org will give you and your parents a quick and easy way to stay “plugged in” to the events and assignments for 8Onondaga. On this website, you will find daily assignments, class handouts, announcements, and the e-mail addresses of each of your team teachers. In addition, each student will develop their own "Website Portfolio" starting in the first week of school. All assignments, as well as a significant amount of teacher feedback and evaluation information, will be housed on this site. Please be sure that the entire family is visiting this student site regularly.
Conferences, Revised Work, Extra-Help: We are always willing to re-evaluate student writing for additional credit. Students can gain credit by meeting with Mr. Adamo to conference about how to improve work by continuing to draft and re-write.
Teachers on 8Onondaga are always available for extra help. If you need help with a concept or assignment, you must get a pass in order to schedule a meeting. Please understand that it is your responsibility to seek out help when you need it. The best time to seek extra help is before or after school or during Access.
Grading Procedure:
Full disclosure... I'm not a huge fan of grades. I find a few things particularly disturbing about them.
The practice has not changed in over 100 years. The phone you're probably viewing this page from was obsolete the minute you took it out of the package, but the process that we use to evaluate students' growth has remained unchanged for generations.
Any grade is a snapshot. It's a look at where a student was at a fixed period of time. I have the opportunity to spend close to 130 hours with students throughout the course of the year, and I have a hard time minimizing 90 hours of reading and 130 hours of class time down to a 4-letter system.
Kids don't stress about work or learning, they stress about grades. I've almost never had a student come to me demonstrating a high level of stress because they "don't know how to use a semi-colon". However, they do come to me and worry deeply that their grade is an 89% vs a 91%, without having any real understanding of the learning gap between the two grades.... often because the gap is so small that it's difficult or impossible to articulate.
Progress Monitoring:
However, it's incredibly important to maintain a system that monitors how students are growing, and also to identify potential next steps that will ensure that they become more literate.
You'll get an email at least every other week about reading growth. This email will be addressed to your child, but you will be copied. In it, I will identify how much reading they've completed over the time period in regard to how much time they've had to read, and there will also be other pertinent information in the email.
Throughout class time, students will work on a vast set of tasks geared toward helping them to communicate effectively with peers and in the world. At times, students will get feedback from me directly on documents they are working on, but throughout the year, students will receive feedback in class on a very regular basis.
At the end of each quarter, and again at the end of the year, students will work to build quarterly pages that will highlight the best work that they have completed as literate students. This work will range from in-class writing assignments, to projects that showcase literacy skills from other courses, to (hopefully) a ton of work that students will decide to work on themselves. This "Quarterly Project Page" will be evaluated, and the work on it will receive specific feedback in the form of comments and a rubric.
Evaluating Growth:
Students' quarterly grades will be evaluated using a combination of their overall "Reading Log" percentage for the quarter and the evaluated "Quarterly Project Page."
It's really hard for a student who has not demonstrated they are a consistent reader throughout the quarter to pass the quarter.
It's really hard for a consistent reader to fail English... it's actually impossible.
Power School:
There will be will two types of updates on PowerSchool.
Lit. Log Points: 1 point per reading log for each day of school throughout the quater. If we have 4 days of school, there will be 4 logs due Friday.
Quarterly Project Page: This will be updated at the end of the quarter when projects are complete.
Individualized Learning Opportunities: Throughout the school year, students will be asked to take on the challenge of making some individual decisions about what projects to work on and how to best present work to showcase their developing skills. By making individual choices about projects and texts, students will be provided with the opportunity to drive some of their own development of English skills.
Please Become Familiar with these Pages:
Please complete the "Welcome Back Survey" by Friday, September 8, 2023.
I have read, reviewed, and understand the following guidelines for English 8Onondaga, I have completed the 8Onondaga "Welcome Back Survey" on the 8Onondaga Website, and I have emailed Mr. Adamo with any questions or concerns.
Please email me with any questions at fadamo@niskyschools.org