Honors and Standard 08-29-2013

We all checked out books today--except for the individuals with fines--and have something to read going into the long weekend.  It'll be good to bring the book to class tomorrow since we have Acuity testing.  It's just the pretest; however, we still need to take it seriously.  Based on the results, the curriculum for the rest of the first quarter could be modified.  Let's all do our best so that we can move forward.  I'll sign the Archer card of anyone who tells me the conjunctive adverb I used in today's entry.

Short but sweet today.

See you soon.

Standard 08-28-2013

Period four really rocked out on the symbolism discussion today.  Several great examples from them and a clear knowledge on the symbolic meanings.  We'll be looking at some different ideas tomorrow that I come up with tonight.  Can't wait to share!

We started a discussion of "The Pedestrian.  We'll get further into it tomorrow.  Be ready to discuss the symbolism of the police car, the sidewalk, the house, and a few other surprises.

We are going to the library tomorrow.  Everyone should plan on checking out a book.  If you need some suggestions, just ask me or Mrs. Burnette.

Just found out today:  Acuity testing will be on Friday.  Be ready!

See you soon.

Honors 08-28-2013

Just wrapped up a good evening of meeting a lot of your parents.  It went by quickly but it was effective.  Now get them all to send me that email so that I can contact them easily.

It's after 8:30 so let's make this quick.  Tomorrow, we are in the IMC.  Each one of you will be checking out at least one book.  If you need a recommendation, juts let Me or Mrs. Burnette know.  We'd both be thrilled to help you.

We'll return to class and collect the Writer's Autobiographies.  Remember to include all the drafts, type it, double space, have the proper heading, offer a creative title, introduce the paper, focus on one idea, develop that idea fully, have a point/purpose for choosing that idea, close the paper, and have the rubric I passed out to you on the back of the instruction sheet.  Sounds like a lot, but I'm confident you can do it.  It'll be worth 25 points--not a lot,but, hey, it's your first submission.

We'll then transition to our discussion of the utopia article.  Remember to read it actively (highlight and annotate).  It's your ticket into class tomorrow.  No assignment.  No entry.  You'll also need your two comments and two questions.  I'll be looking for them at the door before you enter.  Once inside we'll be breaking the article up into segments to analyze it.  Which segment will you be focusing on?  You don't know, so you better know them all.

Just found out today: Acuity testing is on Friday!

See you soon.

Honors 08-27-2013

Sorry this is so late tonight, classes.  Busy evening.  I'll make this a quick one.

So far the quizzes are a bit of a mixed bag.  Most of the semi-colon usage is okay; however, several people did add a capital letter after the semi-colon.  That is not necessary.  There were some very clever  allusions used today.  An initial shout-out goes to Kaylee Smarella for her allusion creativity.

Good talks on utopia today, especially periods two and six.  Let's get going period one!  Time to shed the opening day nerves and participate.  Remember, your goal should be to make a positive verbal contribution to the class at least once every day.

Anyway, back to utopia.  We seem to have a strong working definition in each class.  We discussed a couple claims about it and will start reading about a book written by Thomas Moor tomorrow.  Speaking of Moor, we also had a good discussion on his quote "All evil stems from man's ambition to accumulate personal wealth and property".  Most of you seemed to disagree with this idea, but you conceded that others in class had good reasons to support him.

We have a few more utopian claims, the article on Moor's writing, a poem called Utopia, and a few more items to tackle tomorrow.  See what I mean about block scheduling?  It'd be great to have it back.

Parents night tomorrow night.  Hope to meet a lot of parents!

See you soon.

Standard 08-27-2013

We are reading our first story today.  It's called "The Pedestrian" by Ray Bradbury.  Here's a link to the story if you've lost your copy.  Be sure to read it carefully.  You'll need to highlight it and annotate it like we were doing in class.  As you read it think about the prompts we will be discussing tomorrow.  I've listed them below.

1) What is a pedestrian?

2) Be able to describe the city.

3) Pay close attention to everything about the police car. What does it symbolize?

4) Towards the end of the story, Bradbury describes a house that is “brightly lit”. What does that house symbolize?

5) Is the reader left with a positive or negative feeling? Explain and defend your response.

6) What is Bradbury's purpose?

7) How does the story “The Pedestrian” fit into our utopia discussion?

You don't need to write out lengthy response or type your answers.  You can just write some quick responses on the copy of the story itself.  Be prepared to discuss them tomorrow in class.

Symbolism is another concept which we broached today.  We'll be doing a lot more with it in the coming weeks, so if you don't understand it, be sure to let me know.  We'll spend a piece of Tool Time tomorrow on it just to drive home the meaning.

We looked at commas with introductory clauses (a type of dependent clause) today.  That's two more words you should be familiar with and another piece of punctuation you should try to use all the time.  A quiz sometime this week.

See you soon.

Standard 08-26-2013

Ah, the perfect car...the perfect home...the perfect vacation.  We all think we have an idea about what those would be, but imagine if you had to make your idea of the perfect something conform to someone else's idea of the perfect something.  Would that be easy?  Probably not.  That's why utopian communities are not so perfect and ideal after all.  Are they really examples of paradise?  We'll read a story called "The Pedestrian" by Ray Bradbury tomorrow in class and see what happens when someone wants to break out from the normal routine.

You know two ways to use a semi-colon.  I want to start seeing them in your writing.  I'll be asking you   to demonstrate your knowledge soon (that means a quiz is coming) so I'd be reviewing my notes often, if I were you.

Here are a list of words you should be familiar with after four days of class:

independent clause
conjunctive adverb
parts of speech
coordinating conjunction
semi-colon

There's more to come so be ready.

See you soon.

Honors 8-26-2013

Okay, so we didn't get into the utopia discussion like I hoped we would, but tomorrow we'll be hitting it pretty heavy.  Use tonight wisely and come up with a good definition of utopia.  You'll impress your group tomorrow.  You'll also need to come up with two examples of the definition you agree upon.  These examples can come from film, books, real life, your imagination, etc.  We'll look at some general accepted utopian claims and analyze their veracity before learning a little about Thomas Moor and the role he played in developing the utopian ideal.  You'll be receiving a book this week too.  I'm excited.  I hope you are!

By the way, thanks for reading this tonight.  Since you're here I'll let you in on a little secret: quiz tomorrow over some of the Tool Time material.  I'm going to ask you to come up with two original sentences that show the two different ways we discussed using a semi-colon.  Here's the kicker: you must include a truly unique allusion in each one as well.  You'll have less than five minutes to come up with the two sentences, make sure they are correctly punctuated, and make sure they each include a unique allusion.

Here are a list of words you should know well after four days of class:

independent clause
conjunctive adverb
coordinating conjunction
amplification
allusion
semi-colon

See you soon.

Enriched 08-25-2013

Three days on and then two days off.  I could get used to that.  But this week we'll be going five days in a row.  Hope you got your rest this weekend.

By the end of the day tomorrow, your amplification papers will be hanging around the room.  I enjoyed reading them all this weekend.  While many stood out, I want to shine some extra light on Eric Roberts, Sami Anglin, Sara Leffel, and Meghan Corwin.  Each one did a super job of amplifying his or her idea.  Remember there are a few of you who decided to take an extra day to enhance your amplifications.  I'll be expecting them tomorrow.     

I saw lots of semi-colons in the amplification papers too.  That thrilled me!  If you want to learn something, you don't just study it in class.  You take what you learn and apply it right away.  The students who went the extra mile and utilized the semi-colons in their writings are much more likely to remember how to use them later down the road.  That's what I want each of you to try and do.  It's Tool Time and I want you to use the tools we are going over.  It will help each of you become a better writer.

Writer's Autobiography papers are coming in tomorrow.  Don't worry, don't worry...it's only a draft; however, it better be a complete draft.  You won't help yourself if all you bring in is a paragraph.  AND you'll have even more work to do tomorrow night.  I hope to see some honest attempts at finding a meaningful time in your life (or a meaningful experience, a meaningful individual, a meaningful paper) that you can develop well and explain how it made you the writer you are today.  You need to think longer than three minutes (I'm looking at you Luke Norris) and find an idea worthy of development.  Tomorrow is just for drafts.  We'll look at what you have and then make a decision for a final due date. I'm thinking Tuesday or Wednesday.

Utopia.  It was on the board but we never managed to get to it.  Don't worry.  It'll be on the agenda tomorrow as well.  Do you know what it is?  Will you blow us all away with your knowledge.  Can't wait to see.  I'll be giving you something to read, we'll do a little writing, and, of course, there will be some discussion.

See you soon.

Standard 08-25-2013

If I say parts of speech, what comes to mind?  Hopefully it's the words noun, verb, adjective,adverb, pronoun, preposition, conjunction, and interjection.  Could you list them all by yourself?  I hope so.  There will be a quiz on that this week sometime.  And if we are having a quiz, we might as well include the semi-colon.  I gave you one way how to use it.  This week you'll be getting another.  Be prepared for the conjunctive adverb!  The conjunctive what?  Don't worry, I'll explain it all sometime this week.    

I'm half way through your I Am...poems right now and am enjoying finding out a little about each one of you.  Did you know Katie Latimer was a good cook?  Luchie Rulli plays piano?  Gagandeep Randhawa hates the Bears?  Or how about Kate Fuerst being a crazy drawer?  Collette Stitsworth never dances?  Drew Montague has an affection for chocolate milk?  I love chocolate milk too!  As a matter of fact I'm drinking it right now as I type this blog.  Crazy!  These poems will be hung around the room in the next day or two.  Be on the lookout for yours!

Ah...utopia.  Period three did a great job working through their lack of understanding and coming to an educated agreement on what it means.  They now have a working definition and are on their way to being able to discuss it well.  Period four was a little short on time.  They didn't come to grasp the concept yet.  We'll have to catch you up, but you'll have a firm understanding soon enough.  After that we'll be able to work with the concept a little better.  You'll write and create something with your group, read a little story, and discuss what you come up with.  Can't wait.

See you soon.

Standard 8-22-2013

Good work today with the semi-colons.  Be able to tell me tomorrow what goes on both sides of the semi-colon.  Okay, I'll remind you here: an independent clause.  I'd love for you to have the seven main parts of speech down as well.  Do you remember the coordinating conjunctions?  Whew!  That's a lot for the first week.  Hopefully most of it is just a refresher.

You are writing and putting the finishing touches on your I Am...poems tonight.  Remember the form you want to follow (see yesterday's blog entry for my example).  You want to end each line with a verb.  We agreed upon a bare minimum of ten lines.  I challenge each and every one of you to surpass that minimum.  Heck, surpass my total too.  I know you can do it.  Hopefully the Bingo activity we did in class today will make it a little bit easier for you.  Can't wait to see and share the results tomorrow.

Be sure to type the final copy and use the proper heading as listed below:

Name
Date
Period
Type of paper (in this case: I Am... Poem)

See you then.

Enriched (New and Improved! Now to be called Honors!) 08-22-2013

That's right.  You are no longer in the Enriched Language Arts class.  It has now officially been changed to the Honors Language Arts class.  Congratulations on what I can only imagine is a serious promotion.  You earned it.

It was probably due to all of that hard work you did in the first two days of class this year.  I need to give a shout out to period six, especially.   You really nailed the group AMPLIFICATION assignment in class today.  While several others produced some memorable examples, period six students were consistently knocking it out of the park.  I can't wait to see everyone's example of AMPLIFICATION tomorrow in class.  Remember to type up a solid paragraph of AMPLIFICATION.  Focus on an idea and develop it using hyperbole, similes, metaphors, symbolism, analogies, etc.  Be sure to include the proper heading too:

Name
Date
Period
Type of paper (in this case: AMPLIFICATION)

Only period two had the opportunity to enjoy the full reading of "Stand Back," Said the Elephant, "I'm Going to Sneeze!"  Hopefully, I'll have the chance to share it with period one tomorrow.  It's another great example of AMPLIFICATION.  I want all three classes to be able to tell me why AMPLIFICATION is a successful technique to utilize in children's books.

We learned a few things about the semi-colon today too.  Be able to identify the two ways to use the semi-colon.  In addition, you should be able to tell me what the following terms mean/are:

independent clause
conjunctive adverb
coordinating conjunctions

There will be a bit of review tomorrow and maybe, I don't know, a quiz over semi-colons????  We'll share some AMPLIFICATION examples during class tomorrow.  You'll receive your first paper assignment.  YEAH!  And we might even have an opportunity to start a story.

Can't wait to see you!

Standard 08-21-2013

Good to see you here.  Thanks for checking out the blog and catching up on what we did and where we're going.

Couple basics first: remember to bring your agenda, something to write with, and your language arts notebook to class everyday.  When you enter class you should read our classroom agenda and then be sure to write down the learning goals and the homework.

Today we began I Am...poems.  Okay, well, at least we read mine.  I left it at school, but it went something like this:

I am
a passion driven
morning running
mountain biking
book loving
no excuse making
expectation challenging
language arts teaching
Hacienda chip gobbling
Breaking Bad bingeing
Snapchatting
family man
who can't sit still.

Look how I ended all the middle lines with verbs. (By the way, do you remember the seven main parts of speech?  We mentioned them all today.  I'll be asking you for them tomorrow again.)

Tomorrow you will be doing the same; that is, you will be writing your own I Am...poem.  We'll share them, take them home, type them up, and hang them up around the class so others can see who you are.
Be thinking tonight of those special lines that make you you.  Those lines that makes you special/unique/one-of-a-kind.  Then you will have an I Am...poem that really stands out.

We'll possibly start a story tomorrow as well.  Can't wait!  See you soon.



 

Enriched 8-21-2013

Okay, so I got a little ahead of myself last night.  First of all, you don't have any "homework" tonight.  You don't have to worry about typing up an amplification example because we didn't get far enough.  However, you do want to be sure you read the syllabus, show it to your parents, and have both of you sign the sheet of paper I distributed today.  Make sure Mom and Dad send me an email too.  Remember, when you come to class tomorrow have your agenda, something to write with, and your language arts notebook.  In addition, period one should be bringing me the signed sheet from the front of the agenda.

Another thing I was wrong on was on how great it was to meet you all.  Yesterday I insinuated that it might not go so well; however, I have come to consider meeting you all one of the main joys of my life.  It was pure joy.  A joy that knows no bounds.  A joy that one feels when seeing not only a rainbow after a storm, but the pot of gold at the end of that rainbow.  Dare I say, that the joy I felt today upon meeting you all was similar to the joy you'll feel in nine months when you head off into your summer before high school.  Ah! Amplification is a wonderful thing!

See you soon.

Enriched 08-20-2013

I'm writing this today which will be yesterday by the time you read it so you could say I'm writing this for you for tomorrow.  Follow me?

Good meeting you all today...wait a minute...since I wrote this today, which by now is yesterday and at least twelve hours prior to making your acquaintances, how do I know that it was good meeting you all?  How do I know that meeting you wasn't rather unpleasant?  A bit icky.  It very well might have been akin to fingernails slowly screeching down an old blackboard.  Perhaps it was as enjoyable as ravenously biting into a chicken sandwich only to realize that the slimy, chewy texture that is rolling around the inside of your mouth is actually a raw piece of animal flesh.  Meeting you might also have filled me with the same amount of pleasure that would be derived from three minutes in the Octagon with Anderson Silva.  Ouch!

Okay, you see what I did there?  That's right...AMPLIFICATION!  I took one idea and expanded and enriched the explanation.  That's what we did in class today...uh...I mean tomorrow...uh...you get the idea.  Anyway, through amplification you allow an idea to really take hold in a reader's mind.  It's great fun and effective writing.  Don't believe me?  Just listen to what author Richard Lanham (A Handlist of Rhetorical Terms) has to say: "Amplification provides a redundancy of information...for a memorable syntax and diction."  We all want our writing to be memorable.  Why not try some amplification?  Of course, you don't want to overuse it, but keep it in your notebook of writing ideas and bring it out at an opportune time.

Remember, you'll want to type what we did in class today--proper heading:

NAME
DATE
PERIOD
TYPE OF PAPER

--and bring it to class tomorrow.

See you then.

Standard Language Arts 08-18-2013

Standard Language Arts Syllabus 2013-2014

Mr. O’Malley                                                                                          674-6010 (x41110)

Grade 8                                                                                                          pomalley@phm.k12.in.us

If you want to be a better writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot.  There’s no way around these two things.

-Stephen King

Wise man, that Stephen King.  You know he wrote plenty of books himself: Under the Dome, Carrie, It, The Green Mile, Cujo, The Mist, and Pet Semetary just to name a few.  Who am I to argue with someone as prolific and successful as he is?  Which brings us to why we are all here.  Welcome to language arts where we will be reading and writing...wait for it...a lot.  Along the way we’ll also be speaking and thinking, connecting and analyzing, and studying and learning about literature, verbal and written expression, language mechanics and vocabulary while reinforcing our skills in these areas based on the state accepted standards.  Here’s a bit more detail.

Reading:  Hey, guess what.  We will spend a significant amount of time reading over the next nine months.  We will draw our readings from the 8th grade literature text book, the Interactive Reader and plenty of other outside sources including The Giver by Lois Lowry.  There will be a pretty even mix between fiction and nonfiction material.  In addition, poetry will be used throughout the year to aid our understanding of what we read and extend our analytical abilities.   

Writing:  We will be taking time to review and strengthen our understanding and use of the writing process: prewriting, composing, conferencing, revising, editing and publishing. Our writings will be assessed on the traits stressed in topic specific rubrics as well as more standard rubrics for less formal pieces.  We’ll be writing poetry, we’ll be writing on the stories and articles we’ll be reading, and we’ll be writing on the ideas we bring up in class.  That makes for a lot of writing.

Speaking:  Do you love talking in front of the class?  You’ll have your chance this year!  We’ll all be getting up in front of the class and making presentations.  It might be an oral response to literature, a group presentation, an impromptu speech, a memorized poem or a formal speaking activity.  

Vocabulary: There are always new words to learn, and hopefully we’ll be doing a lot of learning.  We’ll study words from what we read, words that are domain specific (can anyone tell me what irony is?), and words we’ll learn about through their suffixes, prefixes and roots.  Don’t worry, it’ll be some work but we’ll try to have fun with it.    

Language Mechanics:  I’m sure this isn’t high on your list of things you love about school, so I’ll try to make it as painless as possible.  The focus areas will include punctuation, grammar, usage, spelling and verb tense.  

Participation: Look, this is important.  I won’t undersell it.  We all need to be actively participating in the class.  I’m sure we have some shy people in here who would just prefer to go 180 days without speaking.   But, honestly, you’ll get so much more out of the class--and have a lot more fun too--if you get involved.  Make it a point to participate in some way at least once each class.  

Late Work:    Homework, drafts, reading assignments, writing assignments...they’re all due on the assigned date.  Sure, I’ll take it if it’s late, but points will be lost.  Major writing assignments will take a ten percent hit each day late.  

I utilize a total point system.  Thus larger assignments (papers, projects, tests) will be worth many more points than daily homework or quizzes.  Grades will be available on the Home Access Grade System.  I will adhere to the school wide grade scale which is as follows:

A+ 100-98 C 77.9-72

A 97.9-92 C- 72-70

A- 91.9-90 D+ 69.9-68

B+ 89.9-88 D 67.9-62

B 87.9-82 D- 61.9-60

B- 81.9-80 F 59.9-below

C+ 79.9-78

I have four simple expectations:

1) Be prepared.

2) Be respectful.

3) Participate.

4) Give your personal best.

There are four simple consequences too:

One-on-one discussion   2) Phone call home   3) Parent meeting   4) Disciplinary write-up

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I have read the syllabus and understand what is expected of me.

___________________________ ______________________________

Student name printed Student signature

I have the read the syllabus and understand what is expected of my child.

___________________________ ______________________________

Parent name printed Parent signature

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PARENTS!!

At your earliest convenience, please send me an email with your child’s name referenced so that I may add it to my address book should I need to contact you for any reason. Thank you.

My email is pomalley@phm.k12.in.us 

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Enriched 08-18-13

Enriched Language Arts Syllabus 2013-2014

Mr. O’Malley                                                                    674-6010 (x41110)

Grade 8                                                                                    pomalley@phm.k12.in.us

Be sure to check out my blog at <pomalleyla.blogspot.com> to keep up to date on the latest happenings in the enriched language arts class.  

Available Conference Times:  I will be available to meet with students by appointment prior to school from 8:00-8:45, during lunch, and after school once cross country season ends (middle of October) until track season begins (middle of March).  

Course Overview

If you want to be a better writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot. There’s no way around these two things.  -Stephen King

That sounds like sage advice from the man who has given us The Green Mile, It, The Mist, Pet Semetary, Under the Dome, The Shawshank Redemption, Children of the Corn...I could go on, but you see he practices what he preaches.  The man writes a lot.  And I guess that’s why we are all here--to read and write a lot.  Actually, the enriched language arts class is founded on the same basic curriculum and objectives as the accelerated and regular sections; however, it emphasizes a deeper and broader understanding of the material following the program established by the Center for Gifted Education at the College of William and Mary.  Through intense literary study, students will move beyond comprehension and focus on insightful analysis and in-depth discussion of the material.  Writing assignments will assess mastery of structure and the student’s ability to show depth and demonstrate understanding of the material.  Simply put, we will prepare the students by following The Literacy Triangle: reading and writing and speaking and listening everyday.

              Reading

                                                                                 

Writing Speaking/Listening

Our focus on the Literacy Triangle will be aided by our Pre-Acuity tests.  From these we will discover areas in need of remediation.  We will strengthen those areas while digging ever deeper into our curriculum so we will be prepared for our quarterly Performance Tasks which will allow students to demonstrate what they have learned over the previous nine weeks.  Throughout each quarter a variety of texts, both literary and informational,  will be used in conjunction with our educational standards to ensure the students are progressing and learning.        

Enduring Understandings/Course Objectives

As stated above, we will stress the importance of the literacy triangle by reading, writing, speaking and listening in every class, every day.  Emphasizing these strategies in our lessons will allow us to focus on four key enduring understandings:

1) Reading to infer/interpret/draw conclusions

2) Supporting arguments with evidence

Resolving conflicting views encountered in source documents

Solving complex problems with no obvious answer

The enduring understandings of the enriched curriculum reflect an emphasis on critical thinking skills, analyzing, and problem solving. Here’s a closer look at how we will use The Literacy Triangle to achieve the enduring understandings.  

Literary Analysis

Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary.

--Winston Churchill

And we will be doing a lot of analysis as we critique what we read and write.  Four key questions we will be constantly returning to are:

What is the author’s credibility?

What is the author’s purpose?  (is the author biased?)

What are the arguments offered for support?

Are the information and the sources credible?

--Students will develop a literary vocabulary that will enable them to articulate their ideas about literature with increasing confidence and proficiency.

--Students will understand that writers make conscious choices about how to use words, phrases and sentences to communicate meaning and effect.

Close Reading

You want to know where the blues come from?  The blues come from behind the mule.

--Booker White; blues singer

A quick read will make you say, “Huh?”  A close reading will offer clarity.  That’s why...

--Students will become reflective readers who experience an interaction between themselves and what they read.

--Students will engage in reading as a dynamic process in which they apply active reading strategies to question, react and respond to what they read.

Rhetoric

Rhetoric is the art of ruling men’s minds. --Plato; philosopher

Ah...the power to control the way others think?  That’s cool...so...

--Students will make oral arguments that demonstrate their ability to effectively analyze and write arguments.

Writing Tactics

Every worthwhile writer I know has trouble writing. --Joseph Heller; writer

Read that quote closely and try to explain in your own words why it is significant.

--Students will be able to support their opinions with cited, relevant, specific information.

--Students will learn to focus their attention on the fundamentals of composition--a strong central idea; pertinent evidence; clear, cohesive order--in any writing scenario.

Essential Course Requirements

*Come to each class prepared to work with the proper materials

*Focus each class period on the task at hand

*Participate in a positive way at least once each class

*Carefully study and complete reading materials and assignments

*Respect yourself and the others in the classroom

*Study grammar and usage

*Read in depth a large variety of short stories, articles and non-fiction works in and out of class

*Write several argumentative papers of varying breadth and depth

*Make presentations based on readings from the class

Writings

*There are a variety of writings which the enriched student will be composing this year.  The majority will involve presenting arguments.  An enduring understanding is a student’s ability to write a paper that expresses a well-documented, supported opinion.  Thus each student will be engaged in writing myriad argumentative pieces that demonstrate his or her control of persuasive writing.

*Multiple timed writings will be composed to generate a baseline competency level as well as to gauge progress throughout the school year.

*Poetry will be read throughout the year and to help them comprehend what they read students will try their hands at writing several types of poems including, but not limited to, a sonnet, ode, elegy, narrative and free verse.

*Students will receive an assessment rubric for each major essay; in addition, a standard rubric  will be used to assess less formal writings.

*Students may have the opportunity to rewrite assessed papers that have been taken through the complete writing process BUT ONLY after a conference with the teacher.  The original copy must accompany any rewrite.  All rewrites must be submitted no later than one week before the end of the quarter.  Late work cannot be rewritten.

*All major essays will move through the writing process--brainstorming, organizing, drafting, self/peer/teacher reviewing, revising and editing.

Literary/Resource Texts

McDougal/Littell Literature and McDougal/Littell Critical Analysis 

Utopia (Center for Gifted Education; The College of William and Mary)

Sentence Composing for Middle School

The Chortling Bard...and an unbelievable amount of fiction and nonfiction texts and articles

Grading Scale

The enriched class will follow the PHM grade scale as noted below:

A+ 98.0-100 C+ 78.0-79.9

A 92.0-97.9 C 72.0-77.9

A- 90.0-91.9 C- 70.0-71.9

B+ 88.0-89.9 D+ 68.0-69.9

B 82.0-87.9 D 62.0-67.9

B- 80.0-81.9 D- 60.0-61.9 F 59.9 and below

A note on classroom participation.  I won’t undersell it; this is important.  We all need to be actively participating in the class.  We will be discussing our writings as we look for ways we can improve.  We will be discussing our readings as we search for the meaning in the texts and the writer’s purpose.  We will be having discussions and debates over topics that will have us supporting why we think and feel the ways we do. In order to garner the most out of our time together, active, positive participation from every class member is a necessity.  Make it a point to participate in some way at least once each class.  Finally, absorb the words of John Dewey:

Such happiness as life is capable of comes from our full participation.

Classroom Expectations

Be prepared. Be respectful. Participate. Give your personal best.

Consequences

One-on-one discussion   2) Phone call home   3) Parent meeting   4) Disciplinary write-up

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I have read the syllabus and understand what is expected of me.

______________________________ _________________________________

printed student name student signature

I have read the syllabus and understand what is expected of my child.  

______________________________ _________________________________

printed parent name parent signature

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PARENTS!!

At your earliest convenience, please send me an email with your child’s name referenced so that I may add it to my address book should I need to contact you for any reason. Thank you.

My email is pomalley@phm.k12.in.us 

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Language Arts 8-17-2013

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Language Arts 8-17-2013

It's almost time.  School is in a mere four days.  I know you are as excited as I am.  Just imagine all the writing and reading you are about ready to engage in!  I know you've probably been doing a lot of reading over the summer already.  Well, great.  Then you will be in perfect shape for the next 180 school days.  I'm off to read a book right now.  See you soon.