English
Department Mission Statement:
The
English Department will communicate student progress clearly and
consistently to students and parents through a variety of means,
choosing from progress reports, conferences, Blackboard, Back-to-School
Night phone and email lists, detailed rubrics, and feedback on
student work. All English Department course syllabi, to be distributed
via classes and posted on the B-CC website, will reflect specific
grading procedures and outline ways for students, parents, and
teachers to communicate about student progress and assignments.
Course
Purpose
The voice of
America will endure: the facts of history are preserved in museums,
documents, and other resources; however, the voice of America
also resonates in American literature and art. As students expand
their knowledge of U.S. history from the late 19th Century to
the present, they will have an opportunity through the study of
literature in English 9A and 9B to broaden their understanding
of significant historical events, people, and developments. Literature
provides a window through which to view a changing America. The
interdisciplinary approach to 9th grade English, social studies
and the visual arts will give students an opportunity to see how
the history of the United States is not only a series of events
but also a blend of ideas and beliefs that continue to shape an
evolving American society.
The International
Baccalaureate Middle Years Program
"Learning
how to learn and how to evaluate information is as important as
the content of the disciplines themselves." (IBO)
The Middle Years
Program (MYP) follows the MCPS curriculum placing emphasis on
developing students as critical thinkers who come to see knowledge
as an interrelated whole and who have an appreciation and understanding
of internationalism. Students in the MYP are encouraged to explore
relationships between subjects and to connect what happens in
the classroom to the realities of the world. The program's 'areas
of interaction' provide the focus for developing such links between
disciplines so that students see knowledge as a unified whole.
The 9th grade English program is based on the following beliefs:
Enduring
Understandings
•
Literature reflects the history of a people and enriches its culture
• Particular conventions and characteristics
define literary genres
• Effective readers, writers, and
speakers engage actively with text to create meaning
• Effective readers, writers, and
speakers master the subtleties of text and language
We
will consider the following “essential” questions
throughout the year:
Essential
Questions
•
How do authors reflect the dynamics of a society?
• How do the characteristics of
a genre affect the expression of ideas?
• How does subtext deepen understanding
of a text?
• How do culture, gender, and social
factors affect communication?
Materials
You are
expected to bring the following items to class everyday:
•
Three ring binder with divider pages
• Black or blue ink
pens
• Completed homework
• An open mind
• School agenda book
to record assignments and act as a hall pass
• A notebook to jot
down notes and your ideas
• #2 pencils
• Assigned reading material
• Composition notebook
• One floppy disc formatted
for PCs
• Writer’s,
INC.
• Pocket dictionary/thesaurus
Absence
policy
As the student
handbook notes, "you are responsible for finding out what work
was missed and making arrangements with the teacher for its completion."
I have a day for day make-up policy. Thus, if you missed school
on Monday but return on Tuesday, the work you missed will be due
on Wednesday. However, assignments, tests, or quizzes known in
advance of the absence will be taken or passed in upon the day
you return. Please see me before school, during lunch, or after
school to discuss when tests or quizzes will be made up.
Blackboard:
I post daily
assignments and course documents on Blackboard (http://blackboard.mcps.k12.md.us).
Students are encouraged to enroll in my course and utilize Blackboard.
A loss of credit
warning will be issued to a student’s parents after three
unexcused absences. The student will lose credit after
five unexcused absences. Three tardies equal one unexcused
absence.
Grading
Tests/Projects
35%
Essays 35%
Quizzes 20%
Homework Completion 10%
Grade
Scale:
A+
A
A-
B+
B
B-
|
(97-100)
(93-96)
(90-92)
(87-89)
(83-86)
(80-82)
|
|
C+
C
C-
D+
D
D-
|
(77-79)
(73-76)
(70-72)
(67-69)
(63-67)
(60-62)
|
Students who
achieve a minimum standard of work will receive a 50 for that
particular assignment. However, students who fail to complete
an assignment will receive a zero.
Reassessment:
Please refer to handout distributed in AU’s.
Late
Papers and Deadlines
An assignment
will be penalized one letter grade if it is overdue. For example,
if a paper earns a B but is passed in two days late, the final
grade for the paper will be a C. A paper is considered late if
I do not receive it by 2:40 pm.
Eventually, a
student who fails to turn in an assignment will receive a deadline
for when the assignment must be turned in. A student will receive
a zero for an assignment not turned in after the deadline.
Academic
Dishonesty
This applies to both written work and oral presentations. Examples
of academic dishonesty include, but are not limited to, the following:
the willful giving or receiving of an unauthorized text, unfair,
dishonest, or unscrupulous advantage in academic work over other
students using fraud, duress, deception, theft, trickery, talking,
signs, gestures, copying, or any other methodology.
Plagiarism:
- Submitting
or presenting another person's work as your own without proper
documentation, including downloaded information from the Internet
and lab data.
- Using another
student's material without prior approval.
Cheating:
- Giving or
receiving information during a test, quiz, and/or class work
assignment without teacher authorization.
- Using hand
signals, gestures, and the like during tests or quizzes to obtain/give
information.
- Using unauthorized
materials during a test or quiz.
Honors English
9A provides rigorous and challenging studies for highly able and
potentially high-achieving students who are capable or motivated
to pursue rigorous and challenging instruction.
Grade 9
Interdisciplinary Course of Study
2005-2006 |
Instructors:
Ms.
Dawn Charles, Ms. Susan
Glick, Ms. Rachel Gold,
Mr. Gregory Greenleaf
|
Essential
Questions for English 9A |
Enduring
Understanding Unit focus for U.S. History A
|
Anchor
Texts selected from the English Curriculum |
Overarching
Outcomes of U.S. History A |
Core
Learning Goals for English |
Interdisciplinary
Common Tasks |
Unit One
9 weeks |
Continuity
and Change
Approx. 15 class periods The
result of conflict can be change or continuity. The
diverse interests of individuals, groups and institutions
determine the degree to which change or continuity
results from conflict.
Complex
Change Transforms American Society
Approx. 25 class periods
Complex
systems consist of multiple structures. When individual
elements of the structure change, new system boundaries
and interactions within the system are established.
|
Of Mice and Men
Our Town
The Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor
Selected
short stories, essays, poems, art, films
|
Students
demonstrate understanding of the Civil War and its effects
on the people of the United States. Students demonstrate
understanding of the successes and failures of Reconstruction
and its enduring impact.
Students
demonstrate understanding of the transformation of
the American economy and the changing social and political
conditions in the United States in response to the
Industrial Revolution up to 1917. |
The
student will construct, examine and extend meaning of
traditional and contemporary works recognized as having
literary merit.
[The student will further develop meaning by explaining
the implications of the text for the reader or contemporary
society.]
[CLG 1.2.5] The
student will compose oral, written, and visual presentations
that inform, persuade, and express personal ideas.
[The student will compose to describe using prose
and/or poetic forms]
[CLG 2.1.2] |
TBA |
Unit
2
9 weeks
In what respect are the characters' conflicts and
experiences particular to their lives? To their cultures?
In what respect are they universal? |
The
United States and a World Identity
Approx. 15 class periods
Culture
in Prosperity and Adversity
Approx. 20 class periods
Cultural
systems, the integrated beliefs and behaviors of a
society, are determined by the interaction of learned
behaviors of people. |
Inherit
the Wind
To Kill a Mockingbird
Selected
short stories, essays, poems, art, films |
Students
demonstrate understanding of the changing role of
the United States in world affairs through World War
I (1867-1920).
Students analyze the major political, social, economic,
technological, and cultural developments of the 1920s
and 30s. |
The
student will locate, retrieve, and use information from
various sources to accomplish a purpose.
[the Student will identify sources of information
on a self-selected and/or assigned topic.]
[The student will use a systematic process for recording,
documenting, and organizing information.]
[CLG 2.3.1 & 2.3..3] |
TBA |
Thematic
Focus for English 9B |
Enduring
Understanding Unit focus for U.S. History B |
Anchor
Texts selected from the English Curriculum |
Overarching
Outcomes of U.S. History B |
Core
Learning Goals for English |
Interdisciplinary
Common Tasks |
Relationships
9 week unit
What
happens to an established relationship when the environment
changes?
What
is the relationship between an individual’s
opinions and the time period, culture, gender, and
personal experiences that shape them? |
The
Common Good
Approx. 20 class periods In
times of crisis, decisions are often made in the name
of the common good.
The
Struggle for Power in Postwar America
Approx. 15 class periods
Power
is the possession of control or authority over others.
In a democracy power is shared among many individuals,
groups, and institutions. |
Romeo
and Juliet A
Raisin in the Sun |
Students
demonstrate understanding of the cause, course, and
consequences of World War II, including the character
of the war at home. Students demonstrate understanding
of the economic boom, social transformation, and technological
development of the post-war United States to the present.
Students demonstrate understanding of domestic policies
and politics from 1945 to 1970 with emphasis on the
struggle for racial and gender equality and the extension
of civil liberties.
Students
demonstrate understanding of how the cold war and
related conflicts influenced domestic politics and
foreign policy from 1945 to the present. |
The
student will compose oral, written, and visual presentations
that inform, persuade, and express ideas.
[The student will compose to describe using prose
and/or poetic forms]
[CLG 2.1.2]
The student will locate, retrieve, and use information
from various sources to accomplish a purpose.
[The student will identify sources of information
on a self-selected and/or assigned topic.]
The student will use a systematic process for recording,
documenting, and organizing information.]
[CLG 2.3.1 & 2.3.3]
|
Students
will prepare a multi-media research project, synthesizing
information from six or more sources about a selected
time period in American history from 1940-1980. Students
will address one the English essential questions to
shape their project. |
CHANGE
9 week unit How
does society change as a result of its members’
beliefs, ideas, and accomplishments?
How
do members of a society affect the social, cultural,
and economic situation of an entire society?
How
does literature reflect changes made in society? |
Balance
in Foreign Policy
Approx. 25 class periods Balance
is necessary in a system as complex and potentially
dangerous as foreign policy. The elements to consider
in maintaining balance include diversity, national
interest, change, history, ideology, power, and morality.
Patterns
of Contemporary America
Approx. 15 class periods
A
pattern is a group of traits, acts, or other observable
features.
|
Literature
Circle texts:
A
Separate Peace
The
Chosen
Farewell
to Manzanar
Poetry: Spoon River Anthology
House
on Mango Street |
Students
demonstrate understanding of the political, economic,
social, and cultural developments in a contemporary
United States. |
The
student will assess the effectiveness of details, organizational
pattern, word choice, syntax, use of figurative language,
and rhetorical devices in the student’s own composing.
The student will assess the effectiveness of diction
that reveals his or her purpose.]
[CLG 4.2.1]
|
Students
will evaluate the relevancy of social, political, economic
and cultural issues, as well as themes and language,
of Romeo and Juliet. Students will select portions
of the play that relate to the present day and portions
that do not, but can be altered. Students will perform
selected scenes. |
|
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