COURSE OVERVIEW Students will be introduced to critical thinking across genres, cultures, and time in order to analyze and interpret complex, grade appropriate texts, resources, and ideas. Using analytical skills, students will create precise, cohesive, and mechanically sound work that is expressive, argumentative, critical, and informative. We will focus on reading, writing, and understanding a variety of texts and novels, literary devices, and writing and grammar skills. Students will demonstrate their understanding of the concepts that are covered in class, through formal and informal assessments.
ACADEMIC EXPECTATIONS
HOMEWORK Students may/may not have a specific homework assignment every night, but there will always be something that they can be working on (reading, studying vocabulary, or reviewing what was covered in class that day). If homework is late, students will be given partial credit depending on how late the assignment is and how much has been completed. Please check your student's agenda for homework assignments. It is the student's responsibility to write down his/her assignments in the agenda and to make sure that they leave class with a clear understanding of how to complete it. Students are given time during class to write down their assignments and ask questions. I will also give the students detailed instructions on how to complete an assignment.
READING *** It is expected that all students carry a grade appropriate novel of their personal choice with them throughout the school day. ***
Classroom reading: There will be SSR (Silent Sustained Reading) every day in class for a minimum of 10 minutes. During this time, students are to read a novel of their choice, that is grade-level appropriate.
Nightly reading: Students will be required to read 10 of 14 nights for at least 30 minutes each night. Students must record their reading in their agendas (book title, author, and page numbers read). Nightly reading will count as an informal grade.
Article of the Week: Every Monday, students will have an article of the week that they must read. There will be a prompt/question(s) that students must answer, and turn in by that Thursday. This will count as an informal grade.
LATE WORK It is very important for students to get work in on time. If homework is late, it will receive partial credit. Students will lose 10% for each day that the work is late. If the student is absent, they have 5 school days to make-up any missing assignments.
RETESTS and MASTERY Students who do not score at least 79% on formal assessments (tests) will be given a chance to retake another test. Students may have to attend tutoring prior to retesting. Retests tend to be more challenging, so it is important for students to study hard for the original test. The maximum score for the retest is a 79%. (per CMS policy)
GRADING SCALE: (per CMS) A 90-100 B 80-89 C 70-79 D 60-69 F < 59
* If you would like to donate any of the items below to your child's homeroom teacher, that would be greatly appreciated. * Tissues Clorox wipes Colored pencils/Markers Glue sticks