We are implementing our new Amplify ELA curriculum, an engaging multimedia platform. As noted in Amplify’s pedagogical approach, “Educating middle schoolers is a critical endeavor with unique challenges and opportunities.” 

The following is an overview of the units that will guide our learning each quarter: 

Perspectives & Narrative

This unit aims to teach students to read like writers. They practice paying attention to the craft of writing: to the moves a good writer makes to shape the way we see a scene or feel about a character—to stir us up, or surprise us, or leave us wondering what will happen next. Students closely read examples of rich, layered narrative nonfiction, analyze the techniques each author uses to make their writing resonate, and practice applying these techniques to their own narrative writing.

Liberty & Equality

We look at the words of a range of creators—from poet Walt Whitman to abolitionist Frederick Douglass to President Abraham Lincoln—to see how their writing contributed to extreme shifts in social organization: a whole new concept of what it means for people to be considered “equal.”

Science & Science Fiction

Students read Gris Grimly’s Frankenstein, a graphic novel that adds captivating illustrations to an abridgment of the 1818 edition of Mary Shelley’s book. Paired with Shelley’s text, Grimly’s haunting and—at times horrific—representations of Frankenstein’s creature push students to wrestle with some of the text’s central themes: the source of humanity and the root of evil. Then they write an essay in which, after arguing both sides of the question, students determine whether or not Frankenstein’s creature should ultimately be considered human.

Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet

Romeo and Juliet combines romance with action, offering a wide range of themes and scenes for students to read about and act out. Your middle schoolers are at the right age to identify with the lovers’ strong feelings—and also old enough to think critically about the choices Romeo and Juliet make.

Holocaust: Memory & Meaning

This unit uses a range of primary source articles, images, and videos, as well as literary nonfiction and graphic nonfiction, to study what made possible the atrocities of the Holocaust. Students will investigate how propaganda was generated and employed to create a political environment that ultimately corrupted a society. The Olympics are seen through the lens of an international propaganda campaign, providing cover for Nazis to begin eliminating non-Aryans from their culture. The final sub-unit examines the outcomes of Nazi doctrine and the impact on Jewish victims and survivors.

The Space Race Collection

Students use the internet as they put their research and close-reading skills to the test, distinguishing between reliable sources and unreliable ones.

NOTE: Amplify ELA is an engaging digital program, and as such, it is crucial that students arrive each day with their fully charged Chromebook. We will be implementing a blended model that will use both the digital program and the comprehensive print materials; however, depending on the pacing of each lesson students must be prepared to move back and forth between the digital program and print materials as necessary. The print materials, with the exception of any worksheets, will remain in the classroom. The blended model will allow me to make choices about when the students use devices without compromising learning or full standards coverage. This model allows for flexibility when devices or internet access are unavailable for short or extended periods of time.

Check here for weekly updates about English III course information.

8th Grade (Periods 2 and 6) Syllabus:

8th Grade Syllabus 

The Google Classroom sites are as follows: 

8th Grade (Period 2): 

https://classroom.google.com/c/Nzk4Nzg0NTUzMDgz?cjc=4c4cuvf7

8th Grade (Period 6): 

https://classroom.google.com/c/Nzk4Nzg0NzM2MTQ1?cjc=rknrpawa

hdye@sfccs.org