DRAFT of Eighth Grade TAG English Syllabus 2017-2018 (subject to change when the need arises during the school year) Eighth Grade TAG English HPISD 2017-2018: Syllabus for Mrs. Janik s Classes Students in eighth grade TAG English will read both fiction and nonfiction works that show the impact of characters and people who are upstanders and who express empathy for others. Also, students will read poetry, a dramatic work, and many books of their choice. Students will practice analytical thinking, learn literary terms, engage in meaningful discussions, work in cooperative groups, each practice and improve his or her own writing process by writing in several genres, and will further their knowledge of grammar, usage, conventions, mechanics, and vocabulary. This course, like the Standard English/Language Arts 8 course (ELA8), will examine and satisfy the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) required by the Texas Education Agency for all eighth grade students as well as the additional HPISD objectives, and TAG students will have many opportunities to prove their knowledge of the TEKS and HPISD objectives not only by traditional tests and essays but also by having discussions, creating projects, becoming experts about certain ideas or parts of literary works, having choices in assignments/projects, using technology, and employing other methods of study and discussion. TAG extensions for the curriculum are used throughout the year; these extensions vary by teacher. (For a more detailed description of each nine weeks, please view the complete English/Language Arts 8 (ELA8) curriculum document on the HPISD curriculum website). Please note that TAG students do not have a separate curriculum but instead have TAG extensions; TAG students must be accountable for the same TEKS and HPISD objectives as the ELA8 standard students. *Please wait to purchase and read the required texts until Mrs. Janik assigns that novel or book. She has certain editions she wants her students to read, and those editions will be available in the Raider Shop in the HPMS cafeteria once Mrs. Janik assigns that novel or book. First Nine Weeks Second Nine Weeks Third Nine Weeks Fourth Nine Weeks Choice summer reading selections The Old Man and the Sea (Hemingway) The Sea Devil (Gordon) Flowers for Algernon (the original, lengthy short story) (Keyes) The Tell-Tale Heart (Poe) Poetry selections: O Captain! My Captain! (Whitman) Paul Revere s Ride (Longfellow) Identity (Noboa) Mother to Son (Hughes) *The Diary of a Young Girl (excerpts from Anne Frank s actual diary) *Night (Wiesel) Selections about the Holocaust *To Kill a Mockingbird (for close reading of a text and analysis of characters, conflicts, and actions) (Lee) Various clips from the 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird (Lee and Foote) Page 1 of 5
Rules of the Game (Tan) Clean Sweep (Bauer) The Treasure of Lemon Brown (Myers) Short story selections Poetry selections Film clips pertaining to archetypes Safe online forum for writing about and discussing answers to essential questions and other literary discussions * The Diary of Anne Frank (the dramatic adaptation) (Goodrich and Hackett) Propaganda, speeches, and media about propaganda Videos and/or film clips pertaining to Videos, film clips, and various media pertaining to Introduction to Shakespeare and patterns in his plays Short sections of films from Shakespearean plays Page 2 of 5
Draft and then complete the final draft of an extensive outline including sentences and parallel syntactical structure for Targeted Writing Assessment (TWA) #1 Begin the narrative for Targeted Writing Assessment narrative (TWA) #2 Complete the final draft of the narrative for Targeted Writing Assessment narrative (TWA) #2 Draft and then complete the final draft of an original poem and poetry project Safe online forum for writing about and discussing answers to questions Opportunity for all students to participate in novel writing project Persuasive essay for Targeted Writing Assessment persuasive essay (TWA) #3 Creative project for proving knowledge of propaganda Analytic essay about symbolism in Night Holocaust Visual Essay (short or extended project) Analytic writing for Targeted Writing Assessment analytic essay (TWA) #4 Short answer question and essays on tests and/or for formative Analytic essay proving the stated theme of To Kill a Mockingbird Contest writing Short essays on tests and exams Exam essay and other written responses Contest writing Exam essay and other written responses Page 3 of 5
Greek and Latin roots and character vocabulary words from the 8th grade HPISD vocabulary lists and teacher selected words and the online program Membean; literary terms; annotation of literary texts; narrative structure and drafting of narrative; archetypes; pre-writing ; revision strategies; formative for writing; literary and analytical responses character and foreign vocabulary words and prefixes and suffixes from the 8th grade HPISD vocabulary lists and vocabulary words from required texts list and the online program Membean; literary terms; annotation of literary texts; narrative structure and final draft of narrative; nonfiction structure; poetic structure and final draft of original poem or poems; basic dramatic structure; archetypes; prewriting ; revision strategies; formative for writing; literary and analytical responses; special speakers and/or presentations; summative for writing and critical thinking; exam/academic essay writing Greek/Latin roots for vocabulary study from the 8th grade HPISD vocabulary HPISD and teacher selected methods for vocabulary study list and the online program Membean; literary terms; annotating texts; nonfiction/memoir structure; dramatic structure; diary structure; archetypes; pre-writing ; propaganda and persuasion; persuasive essay; revision strategies; literary and analytical responses; special speakers and /or presentations Greek/Latin roots for vocabulary study from the 8th grade HPISD vocabulary lists and vocabulary words from required texts list and the online program Membean; literary terms; annotating texts; archetypes in Shakespearean plays; rewriting a scene from a Shakespearean play into 2016 language/word choices; dramatic structures of the genres of tragedy and comedy; pre-writing ; analytic essay; revision strategies; formative for writing; literary and analytical responses; special speakers and/or presentations; exam essay writing; formative and summative for writing and critical thinking Page 4 of 5
Review of parts of speech and their uses; simple and compound clauses and phrases; punctuation for quotations and/or dialogue; pronoun cases; present perfect verb tense and progressive forms; semicolons; MLA style and format for documentation; specific pronoun uses; specific verb tenses and uses; comma usage Simple, complex, compound clauses and phrases; poetic language and punctuation; specific uses of pronouns and verbs; conjunctive adverbs and punctuation; semicolons, colons, and hyphens; MLA style and format/ documentation; variety of sentence structure and sentence beginnings; types of phrases; use of dependent clauses; verb tenses and academic writing; comma usage Compound/ complex sentence formation; punctuation for clauses and phrases; grammar and mechanics for persuasive writing; conjunctive adverbs and punctuation; colons, hyphens, and dashes; MLA style and format for documentation; varying sentence structure and sentence beginnings including proper uses of phrases; signal phrases; five uses of quotations; use of dependent clauses; grammar and style in academic writing; comma usage Review of simple, complex, compound, and compound/ complex clauses and phrases; conjunctive adverbs and punctuation; MLA style and format for documentation; varying sentence structure and sentence beginnings including proper use of phrases, including verbals; Shakespeare s grammar and punctuation; use of dependent clauses; verb tenses; restrictive and nonrestrictive clauses; parallel structure, brackets, ellipsis, dash, signal phrases for quotations; use of quotation marks; comma usage Page 5 of 5