Course Information
Welcome to an exciting and challenging year at Springville!
Class Expectations
The work of a language arts classroom involves taking risks – asking questions, formulating opinions, articulating beliefs and emotions, presenting information, offering constructive criticism, rewriting/rethinking, cultivating an open mind. Students are expected to come to class ready to put into practice the Springville character traits of responsibility, perseverance, collaboration, integrity, and compassion.
Learning Targets
Students will develop and extend their reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills through the work of our expedition as well as through language arts specific work. Over the course of the year, students will:
· Develop and practice strategies and structures for generating and organizing ideas for writing
· Read and write about a variety of long and short fiction, nonfiction, and poetry
· Work in a variety of written forms, including: expository essay, literary analysis, memoir, short fiction, and poetry
· Provide and receive specific peer feedback
· Gather, evaluate, and incorporate research into their writing
· Develop and practice strategies and structures for effective note taking
· Present to and perform for classmates and other audiences
Homework
Reading: Students are expected to read a book of their own choosing a total of 100 minutes at home each week.
Writing: The majority of our writing work will be done in class. That said, writing is a unique process for each person and each project. Students may want or need time at home to work on writing projects.
Grading
Students will receive proficiency scores for the 7th/8th grade language arts and middle school behavior learning targets. Students will have multiple opportunities to demonstrate their learning around each target. Please see the Beaverton School District website for more specific information on proficiency grading: http://www.beaverton.k12.or.us/home/departments/instruction/proficiency/
Late Work
I expect that students turn in work on time. We will often be working with specific assignments in class; a missing assignment could mean a missed opportunity for peer editing or rehearsal of a speech, for example. However, I do understand that life is complicated and sometimes other commitments take precedence, and/or sometimes a student might want to run with an assignment in a way that takes more time. For these reasons, I do not penalize student proficiency scores for late work (behavior scores may be impacted by late work). Due to time constraints, I cannot accept late assignments less than one week before the end of a grading period.
Classroom Website
Course information, assignments, due dates, and other groovy language arts stuff can be found on my website: http://langartsmanuel.weebly.com
My website is also accessible through the Springville website.
Teacher Contact
Please feel free to contact me with any questions, concerns, or ideas. The best way to reach me is through email: [email protected]
I am thrilled to be part of the Springville community, and I am looking forward to a fabulous year!
Sincerely,
Sarah Manuel
The Beaverton School District recognizes the diversity and worth of all individuals and groups. It is the policy of the Beaverton School District that there will be no discrimination or harassment of individuals or groups based on race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, marital status, age, veterans' status, genetic information or disability in any educational programs, activities or employment.