Welcome to 8th grade Com. Arts. I hope you're as excited about
what's to come as I am! I look forward to a challenging, yet
rewarding school year full of hard work, self-discipline, and
creative learning.
Please check
this page frequently for assignments, key dates, and a run down of
current classroom events.
Sincerely,
Mr. Harris
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Overview:
Communication Arts covers several
topics such as grammar, punctuation, spelling, and
vocabulary. We will explore various types of writing
including: narrative/imaginative, informative/persuasive,
expository, poetry and essays among others. We will be reading
American Folklore, non-fiction, short stories as well as a novels
and play-write. I am pleased to announce that the WASL scores
are back and after reviewing the performance of my students, I am
very pleased with the progress we made throughout last year and am
very proud of the high marks each of my classes received. I
had implemented a new writing program last year (a culmination of
Step Up to Writing and the Multiple Paragraph Essay Format).
This was proven to be a success and therefore, each of my eighth
grade classes will be converting to this style of writing this
year.
Students will be responsible for all work assigned.
If a student is absent, they will be accountable for finding out
what they missed and will need to complete any exercise at a
C quality or better in order for it to count toward their
grade.
Please note,
you can find a copy of my syllabus under the:
*SYLLABUS UNDER DOCUMENTS TAB
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Assignments
All
assignments, tests and projects will be given a specific point
value. The grades for progress reports, mid-term and semester will
be given according to the grading system as follows:
A - 90-100%
B - 89.99-80%
C - 79.99-70%
INCOMPLETE-69%-0%I
Students will
be responsible for all work assigned.
If a student is absent, they will be accountable for finding out
what they missed and will need to create a plan for completion.
We will be completing several large projects throughout the year
and students will be required to stay on top of their
work.
EXTRA
CREDIT OPTION:
Students always have the
option of earning extra credit! There are three ways students
can earn extra credit in my class:
1) Winter Season Visit-A
student can visit an Assisted Living Home and share 60 minutes of
their time with a complete stranger in need of company. Write
a one page response describing the experience, collect confirmation
via a parent or employee of the establishment and earn 100 extra
credit points!
2) Every week students can
earn 20 extra credit points by maintaining a journal. Each
journal entry must be at least one paragraph in length and must
have five entries per week in order to earn credit. At the
end of the school week, students can turn in their journal for
points.
3) At any time throughout the year students can participate in a
Random Act of Kindness. Any time a student chooses to
participate in an act for the betterment of society, he or she can
write one paragraph describing the act and the benefits of the
act. Once he or she gets the signature of a witness to the
Act of Kindness and turns in the paragraph, the student will earn
10 extra credit points!
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We will be watching Freedom
Writers and Mr. Holland's Opus during WASL testing. We will
be watching these films and completing a poetry curriculum that
coincides with each film. This is an exciting time as I have
never done anything like this and the curriculum I've developed
addresses the various forms of writing we have been studying in
class.
Should parents or guardians have any questions or concerns, I
encourage you to give me a call at 253-683-8431 or email me at
pharris@bethelsd.org
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