Welcome to English 9!

Our goal this year is to read both fictional novels and short stories as well as non-fiction articles, listen to podcasts, radio shows, and speeches and write opinions, reviews, and argumentative essays. We will learn to read and understand the writer's craft with a critical eye so that we can understand author purpose, connotation, and bias. By the end of the year, you will be writing clear essays and paragraphs that explain both the big ideas the author was conveying or an argumentative essay of your opinion supported with evidence.

It is my goal to keep the information and reading interesting, creative, and engaging through different modes of delivery. Assessments and expectations will be clearly outlined in a quarterly syllabus and weekly agenda. Parents and students will receive a paper syllabus at the beginning of each quarter. The agenda and weekly notes will be posted in Google Classroom each Monday, and each Friday I will post a Weekly Wrap up in Google classroom.

Students will check Google Classroom each day. There may be an introductory video to the day's lesson, a quick survey to gauge understanding, or a short reading passage which will begin the class. An average class will have 5-15 minutes introduction (work on Chromebook), 15-35 minutes classwork (lecture, project based, slideshow) and a short exit ticket (5 minutes) to measure understanding. Each week, Baldwin County Board of Education requires two grades to be recorded: a classwork assessment measuring daily growth, and a summative assessment measuring cumulative growth. These assessments will be clearly outlined on the weekly agenda.

Remember that communication is key! Students will be encouraged to collaborate with one another, ask questions throughout the lesson, or email me. My email address is emcgriff@ibaldwin.org I ask that if you email, you use proper grammar and punctuation and put your last name in the subject line.

Instructional Recording: Instruction in this class might be recorded or streamed live. Any recordings will be available to students enrolled in this class. This is intended to supplement the classroom experience. Students are expected to follow appropriate school system and campus-wide policies and maintain the security of passwords used to access classroom recordings. Live streaming and recordings may not be captured or reproduced, shared with those not in the class, or uploaded to other online environments. Doing so would be a breach of the Baldwin County Public School System’s Acceptable Use Policy. If I, or an administrator plan to use any recordings, beyond the classroom environment, students identifiable in the recordings will either be de-identified or will be notified prior to in order to obtain proper consent prior to such use.

A link to English 9 Standards for Reading, Writing is provided here. Students will cover standards for Reading Literature, Informational texts, Foundational Skills, Writing and Speaking and Listening for 9th grade English Language Arts. I strive to align every classroom discussion and assessment to these standards.