Eighth Grade Pre Advanced Placement/Honors Language Arts Syllabus- 2015-2016

Course Description
Students in this course will practice a full range of reading and writing skills that challenge the student to demonstrate basic techniques of word identification, fact and detail, and summarization. Students will furthermore perform higher-level thought processes of inference, generalization, and identification of the author's purpose. The Pre-AP curriculum surpasses standard grade-level requirements by expecting students to develop skills in literary technique analysis and advanced character study.
 
In addition to strengthening their reading skills, students will also integrate a growing knowledge of writing skills. Writing is a life skill. As students move from grade to grade, writing skills are critical for academic progress. Therefore, students will be required to write several essays in the form of responses to reading and responding to open-ended prompts in narrative, persuasive, classificatory, problem-solving, and analytical formats while adhering to standards of spelling, capitalization, punctuation, English usage, and sentence structure. Students are expected to develop and utilize an extensive and precise vocabulary. Students will often have to complete essays and exams with a limited amount of time.
 
To demonstrate mastery of these skills outlined in the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) document, students will read materials and make connections between varieties of literary genre including, but not limited to whole texts or excerpts of: short stories, poetry, expository text, novels, advertisement, and plays.
 
Group work comprises a central aspect of this course. It is therefore essential that all work is completed on time and with the level of quality expected for a Pre AP class. Failure to comply with the quality and timeline of class work/projects could result in being exited from the Pre AP class, regardless of grades.
 
In addition to the texts covered in class, each student is expected to read one book per marking period outside of class.
 
 
Required Summer Project
A summer reading project will be assigned during the last week of the regular school year. Students wishing to participate in the Pre AP class for the approaching school year will need to complete the summer project. The purpose of the summer project is twofold: a) demonstrates the students’ dedication to challenge and promote his/her personal educational achievement, and b) provides information for the teacher to better meet the needs of the incoming class. Failure to complete the summer project and/or submission of mediocre work may result in immediate dismissal from the Pre AP class.
 
Required Materials
There are several items that are required for the Pre-AP class each day:

• Composition Book labeled Reader’s Response Log/Journal
• Notebook paper
• Blue/Black pen (no pink, purple, turquoise, etc.)
• Pencils
• Red or green pen for grading
• Book to read (either personal or from the library)

 
Leave the following items with your ELA teacher:

• Index cards
• Scotch or clear tape

Students will read a variety of novels and are expected to purchase their own novels. Students will be given at least one week’s notice prior to having to purchase a novel.  Each student will need a dictionary and a thesaurus for use at home.
 
 
 
 
 
 
Student Expectations
Students are expected to complete their own work. On a regular basis, teachers will provide students with feedback regarding performance on minor and major grade assignments and overall course average as determined by district grading policy. Students will be expected to use this information to keep their parents informed and make wise decisions to attend morning or afternoon tutorials offered by the teacher. Students must maintain an overall course average of 70 to remain enrolled in Pre AP Language Arts. Teachers will hold students accountable for keeping track of assignments, completing the assignments, and submitting the assignments on time. Late work is unacceptable.
Students will adhere to the Student Code of Conduct.
 
Grading Procedures
Grading will be according to TMISD Grading Policy.      
 
Note: ANY assignment that has been given a due date of more than one week in advance will not be accepted late, even due to absences or illness. When this is the case, students must make arrangements to have the work turned in to the office/teacher or emailed (as an attachment) to the teacher by the end of the school day of the date it is due. Work turned in before the due date is always appreciated.
                       
Academic Honesty and Plagiarism
It is expected that you will be honest and always submit written work that is your own. Submitting some else’s work as if it were your own whether by cutting and pasting from an online source or simply using a part or an entire piece of someone else’s writing is dishonest and it is called plagiarism.
 
Plagiarism is a serious academic offense that will result in disciplinary measures. When an assignment requires you to incorporate outside source material, be sure to cite your sources properly according to Modern Language Association (MLA) style. You will learn how to cite outside sources according to MLA style in this course before you are required to do so for an assignment.
 
Monitoring grades
It is imperative that both parents and students check student grades on –line through our district’s website on a weekly basis. In order to foster independence in our students, if a question arises regarding a particular grade, communication between the parent and student should be the first step rather than bypassing the student and initially contacting the teacher.
 
Absences/Make-up Work
When students are absent, it is their responsibility to ask for missing assignments. Work that was assigned, prior to the student’s absence is due upon return to school.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Updated April, 2015