English 8
Mr. Parke-Reimer
Goal: to become skillful readers, writers, and speakers of English. We will read and analyze texts together, and we will use the writing process to write our own texts. As we do this, we will review and learn the meanings of words as well as the rules of written and spoken English.
Overview
|
Trimester |
Theme |
Writing Assignments |
Reading Assignments |
|
1 |
What is Power and How Do People Use It? |
· Intro Card
∙ A Brief History of Me as a Reader and Writer
∙ Response to Literature—“Power in A Midsummer Night’s Dream”
· Independent writing pieces |
· “A Retrieved Reformation”, · “Raymond’s Run”
· “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”
· Literature Anthology
(units 1, 2, 5:1), folktales |
|
2 |
How Does Political Power Affect People? |
· Someone Else’s Story
∙ Response to Literature—“Night”
· poetry collection
· Independent writing pieces |
· Maus
· Night
· Lit. Anthology (Units 3:1 & 5:2)
· Poetry from various sources |
|
3 |
What Power Do I Have to Make a Difference in the World? |
∙ Persuasive essay
· Debate / speech
· Independent writing pieces |
· Editorials & persuasive speeches
· Literature Anthology
Units 3:2 & 4
· “A Raisin in the Sun” or “Flowers for Algernon” |
Grading
Assignments and tests will have a point scale as follows:
· A 100-90%:
· B 89-80%:
· C 79-70%:
· D 69-60
· No credit 59-0%
Materials
- A notebook to serve as your Reader’s/Writer’s Notebook. It will need to be separate from other class notebooks as you will need to hand it in from time to time for grading.
- A folder for class handouts
- A pen and pencil
- A book of your choice that you will use for independent reading assignments.
Make-up work
You should see the teacher before or after class to find out what assignments were missed during an absence.
Behavior
I expect you to come to class on time and ready to learn and to help others. If you are disrupting or hindering others in their learning, I will give you the option of either changing the behavior or else receiving a consequence from me.
_______________________________________________________________________
Dear Parents or Guardians,
I want to welcome your son or daughter to my English classroom.
I would like to highlight a few things about this class that you can help with. The first is the expectation that your son or daughter will read at least 30 minutes every day after school and keep track of that reading on the weekly calendar that will be distributed in class. Your son or daughter can choose the kind of reading he or she wants to do for this daily assignment.
Your son or daughter will need a notebook for the Reader’s/Writer’s Notebook and a folder for class handouts and writing in progress.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at 293-8740 ext. 1214 or at tim.parke-reimer@spps.org. You can also find more details about this class at my website: murray.spps.org/pr
Finally, in the space below, please tell me anything that I should know about your son or daughter that would make this a successful year. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Tim Parke-Reimer
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