Language Arts 9 Syllabus
Course Description from DODEA
Major Concepts/Content: The Language Arts 9 course is designed to strengthen students’ skills in listening, speaking,
writing, literature, and language. The content includes, but is not limited to, preparing oral reports in various content areas; using appropriate pitch, stress, juncture and rate in formal and informal speech; using the dictionary
and the thesaurus to develop an increasingly comprehensive and precise vocabulary in both speaking and writing; locating resources (magazines, reference sources, films, and microfiche) by using indexes, catalogs, and the
Reader’s Guide; practicing the process of composition, including prewriting, drafting, revising, proofreading, and publishing; writing correspondence using appropriate forms (business, friendly); identifying with literary characters of
the student’s own age, and under-standing how the characters’ actions and emotions reflect the student’s own actions and emotions; under-standing that literature is written at different levels for different purposes and for different audiences; and reading self-selected books to help students learn to view reading as a useful and pleasurable activity.
Major Instructional Activities: Instructional activities will be provided in a general classroom setting, in the media center, and in the school and community environment. Student activities will include, but will not be limited to, writing journals or learning logs; writing expository, persuasive, and descriptive paragraphs and essays; writing short stories; writing and mailing business letters; learning to respond to each other’s writing with helpful suggestions for revision; taking several pieces of group and/or individual writing through a process that includes prewriting activities, drafting, peer response, revision, proofreading for spelling, punctuation, capitalization, grammar and usage, and publishing; practicing writing from different points of view for different purposes and audiences; developing speaking and listening skills by responding to literature and to each other’s writing, and by participating in small and large group discussions
and in oral presentations, individual recitations, and dramatizations; studying appropriate major works of literature intensively in class; reading, viewing, and listening independently to examples of the various genres of literature and responding to the literature; presenting interpretations of literature orally; reading self-selected books and responding to them in journal entries, letters, group discussions, or oral or written book reports; and increasing vocabulary through the study of words encountered in reading and through work with the dictionary and the thesaurus.
Major Evaluative Techniques: Students will be evaluated for class participation; completion of reading assignments and book reporting requirements; comprehension of literature as measured by objective, essay, and/or oral examinations.’ and improvement in written compositions and oral presentations, with major emphasis on critical reasoning, content, organization, specificity and relevance of detail, evidence, and argument, and with secondary emphasis on skill growth in spelling, punctuation, capitalization, grammar and usage.
Essential Objectives: Upon completion of the Language Arts 9, students should be able to:
Display an increasingly comprehensive and precise vocabulary in both writing and speaking, by using the dictionary and thesaurus.
Point out actions and emotions of literary characters in the student’s own age group or socioeconomic class that reflect the student’s own actions and emotions.
Point out examples of literature written at different levels for different purposes or audiences.
Locate resources (magazines, reference sources, films, etc.) by using indexes and catalogs.
Write examples of correspondence using appropriate forms (business, friendly).
Write using the composing process.
Use appropriate pitch, stress, juncture, and rate in speech.
Prepare oral reports in various content areas.
This course is designed to facilitate student mastery of the DoDEA Common Core standards and essential objectives of the parallel general education course. Accommodations and modifications in content, instructional activities, evaluative techniques and essential objectives are implemented as appropriate for students with disabilities in support of their Individualized Education Programs (IEP).
Teacher Policies:
Textbooks, Materials and Other Resources: Students are expected to have necessary materials for every class. In addition, students should have a memory stick—this is essential for organizing a portfolio both at school and for your own use at home of the materials, Power Points, study tools. Students are expected to use on-line webpage for access to additional materials and textbook links.
Grading:
Reading Comprehension and Class Discussion Activities: 25%
M/C, Prompts, Quizzes: 25%
Tests and Applied Assessment Prompts: 25%
Projects and Papers: 25%
Homework:
While late homework assignments are accepted, students should not make this a regular practice. Late homework is accepted up to one week from due date. All projects and papers should be submitted on the due date, unless arrangements are made with the teacher. Late projects and papers will receive a 10% penalty of the total points for the assignment. DoDEA guidelines for planned absences and extracurricular events should be followed.
“Plagiarism Statement: Using someone else's ideas or phrasing and representing those ideas or phrasing as our own, either on purpose or through carelessness, is a serious offense known as plagiarism. "Ideas or phrasing" includes written or spoken material, of course — from whole papers and paragraphs to sentences, and, indeed, phrases — but it also includes statistics, lab results, art work, etc. "Someone else" can mean a professional source, such as a published writer or critic in a book, magazine, encyclopedia, or journal; an electronic resource such as material we discover on the World Wide Web; another student at our school or anywhere else; a paper-writing "service" (online or otherwise) which offers to sell written papers for a fee” (http://www.ccc.commnet.edu/mla/plagiarism.shtml). Copying another student’s homework is also plagiarism.
Semester One
Throughout Semester One, students will read Great Expectations and be responsible for chapter organizers and connect themes in the novel to class readings.
Quarter 1:
Collection 1: Analyzing Plot and Setting
“The Most Dangerous Game”
“A Christmas Memory”
Informational Text: “Can Animals Think”
Assessment:
Writing: Autobiographical Narrative; Body Paragraphs
Speaking: Present an oral narrative
Collection 2: Analyzing Character
“Thank You, Ma’am”
“Marigolds”
Informational Text: “Teaching Chess, and Life,” “Community Services & You,” "Feeding Frenzy”
Assessment:
Writing: Write a Short Story; Body Paragraphs
Collection 3: Analyzing Narrator and Voice
“The Interlopers”
“The Cask of Amontillado”
Informational Texts: Different Views of Poe’s Death
Novel: Great Expectations
Assessment:
Writing: Expository Essay analyzing a biography; Literary Analysis on Great Expectations
Speaking and Listening: Chapter Presentations for Great Expectations
Quarter 2
Collection 4: Comparing Themes
“The Sniper”
“Cranes”
Informational Texts: Different Views on Northern Ireland
Comparing Themes: “Liberty,” “Exile” and “An American Story”
Novel: Fallen Angels
Assessments:
Writing: Comparing/Contrasting Media Coverage; Comparing/Contrasting Theme Across Genres
Collection 5: Analyzing Irony, Contradictions and Ambiguity
“The Gift of the Magi”
“The Lady, or the Tiger?”
Informational: “A Defense of the Jury System”
“The Road Not Taken” and“Crossing Paths”
Assessments:
Writing: Persuasive Essay
Speaking: Debate an Issue
Semester Two
Quarter 3
Collection 7: Analyzing Poetry
“A Blessing”
“Woman Work”
“Once by the Pacific” and“Country Scene”
“Tiberon”
“Folding Won Tons In”
“Hope is a thing with feathers” and “Internment”
“Fog” and “Fire and Ice”
“The Seven Ages of Man”
“I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” and “The Courage My Mother Had”
“Ballad of Birmingham” and“The history Behind the Ballad”
“Legal Alien/Extranjera legal”
Assessment:
Writing: Analysis of a poem; Original Poem and Performance
Speaking: Present an oral interpretation of a poem
Collection 6: Analyzing Symbolism and Allegory
“The Scarlet Ibis”
“The Grandfather”
Informational Texts: Weapons and War
Assessments:
Writing: Describing a Place; Literary Analysis Essay on Wish You Well
Speaking: Present a Description
Collection 8: Literary Criticism—Evaluating Style
“A Sound of Thunder” and“Jurassic Park”
Informational: Global Warming
“How to Eat a Guava”
Assessment:
Writing: Analyzing a Short Story
Collection 11: Analyzing Drama
Play: Romeo and Juliet
Informational: On Romeo and Juliet
Assessments:
Writing: Who's to Blame Essay
Speaking: Analyzing and Evaluating Speeches; Scene Performance
Quarter 4
Collection 9: Literary Criticism: Using Biographical and Historical Approaches
“American History” and“Volar”
Informational Text: JFK assassination
Assessment:
Writing: Research Paper
Speaking: Present a research report
Collection 10: Heroes and Monsters
The Odyssey
Assessments:
Writing: Persuasive cause-and-effect essay
Speaking: Giving a Persuasive Speech
Fiction Writing: Creating your own Hero's story
Novel: To Kill a Mockingbird
Assessment: Multiple Level End of Unit Activities and Essay Writing
Collection 12: Workplace Documents
Informational: Reading Consumer Documents and Following Technical Directions
Assessments:
Writing: Business Letters and the minutes of meeting
Course Description from DODEA
Major Concepts/Content: The Language Arts 9 course is designed to strengthen students’ skills in listening, speaking,
writing, literature, and language. The content includes, but is not limited to, preparing oral reports in various content areas; using appropriate pitch, stress, juncture and rate in formal and informal speech; using the dictionary
and the thesaurus to develop an increasingly comprehensive and precise vocabulary in both speaking and writing; locating resources (magazines, reference sources, films, and microfiche) by using indexes, catalogs, and the
Reader’s Guide; practicing the process of composition, including prewriting, drafting, revising, proofreading, and publishing; writing correspondence using appropriate forms (business, friendly); identifying with literary characters of
the student’s own age, and under-standing how the characters’ actions and emotions reflect the student’s own actions and emotions; under-standing that literature is written at different levels for different purposes and for different audiences; and reading self-selected books to help students learn to view reading as a useful and pleasurable activity.
Major Instructional Activities: Instructional activities will be provided in a general classroom setting, in the media center, and in the school and community environment. Student activities will include, but will not be limited to, writing journals or learning logs; writing expository, persuasive, and descriptive paragraphs and essays; writing short stories; writing and mailing business letters; learning to respond to each other’s writing with helpful suggestions for revision; taking several pieces of group and/or individual writing through a process that includes prewriting activities, drafting, peer response, revision, proofreading for spelling, punctuation, capitalization, grammar and usage, and publishing; practicing writing from different points of view for different purposes and audiences; developing speaking and listening skills by responding to literature and to each other’s writing, and by participating in small and large group discussions
and in oral presentations, individual recitations, and dramatizations; studying appropriate major works of literature intensively in class; reading, viewing, and listening independently to examples of the various genres of literature and responding to the literature; presenting interpretations of literature orally; reading self-selected books and responding to them in journal entries, letters, group discussions, or oral or written book reports; and increasing vocabulary through the study of words encountered in reading and through work with the dictionary and the thesaurus.
Major Evaluative Techniques: Students will be evaluated for class participation; completion of reading assignments and book reporting requirements; comprehension of literature as measured by objective, essay, and/or oral examinations.’ and improvement in written compositions and oral presentations, with major emphasis on critical reasoning, content, organization, specificity and relevance of detail, evidence, and argument, and with secondary emphasis on skill growth in spelling, punctuation, capitalization, grammar and usage.
Essential Objectives: Upon completion of the Language Arts 9, students should be able to:
Display an increasingly comprehensive and precise vocabulary in both writing and speaking, by using the dictionary and thesaurus.
Point out actions and emotions of literary characters in the student’s own age group or socioeconomic class that reflect the student’s own actions and emotions.
Point out examples of literature written at different levels for different purposes or audiences.
Locate resources (magazines, reference sources, films, etc.) by using indexes and catalogs.
Write examples of correspondence using appropriate forms (business, friendly).
Write using the composing process.
Use appropriate pitch, stress, juncture, and rate in speech.
Prepare oral reports in various content areas.
This course is designed to facilitate student mastery of the DoDEA Common Core standards and essential objectives of the parallel general education course. Accommodations and modifications in content, instructional activities, evaluative techniques and essential objectives are implemented as appropriate for students with disabilities in support of their Individualized Education Programs (IEP).
Teacher Policies:
Textbooks, Materials and Other Resources: Students are expected to have necessary materials for every class. In addition, students should have a memory stick—this is essential for organizing a portfolio both at school and for your own use at home of the materials, Power Points, study tools. Students are expected to use on-line webpage for access to additional materials and textbook links.
Grading:
Reading Comprehension and Class Discussion Activities: 25%
M/C, Prompts, Quizzes: 25%
Tests and Applied Assessment Prompts: 25%
Projects and Papers: 25%
Homework:
While late homework assignments are accepted, students should not make this a regular practice. Late homework is accepted up to one week from due date. All projects and papers should be submitted on the due date, unless arrangements are made with the teacher. Late projects and papers will receive a 10% penalty of the total points for the assignment. DoDEA guidelines for planned absences and extracurricular events should be followed.
“Plagiarism Statement: Using someone else's ideas or phrasing and representing those ideas or phrasing as our own, either on purpose or through carelessness, is a serious offense known as plagiarism. "Ideas or phrasing" includes written or spoken material, of course — from whole papers and paragraphs to sentences, and, indeed, phrases — but it also includes statistics, lab results, art work, etc. "Someone else" can mean a professional source, such as a published writer or critic in a book, magazine, encyclopedia, or journal; an electronic resource such as material we discover on the World Wide Web; another student at our school or anywhere else; a paper-writing "service" (online or otherwise) which offers to sell written papers for a fee” (http://www.ccc.commnet.edu/mla/plagiarism.shtml). Copying another student’s homework is also plagiarism.
Semester One
Throughout Semester One, students will read Great Expectations and be responsible for chapter organizers and connect themes in the novel to class readings.
Quarter 1:
Collection 1: Analyzing Plot and Setting
“The Most Dangerous Game”
“A Christmas Memory”
Informational Text: “Can Animals Think”
Assessment:
Writing: Autobiographical Narrative; Body Paragraphs
Speaking: Present an oral narrative
Collection 2: Analyzing Character
“Thank You, Ma’am”
“Marigolds”
Informational Text: “Teaching Chess, and Life,” “Community Services & You,” "Feeding Frenzy”
Assessment:
Writing: Write a Short Story; Body Paragraphs
Collection 3: Analyzing Narrator and Voice
“The Interlopers”
“The Cask of Amontillado”
Informational Texts: Different Views of Poe’s Death
Novel: Great Expectations
Assessment:
Writing: Expository Essay analyzing a biography; Literary Analysis on Great Expectations
Speaking and Listening: Chapter Presentations for Great Expectations
Quarter 2
Collection 4: Comparing Themes
“The Sniper”
“Cranes”
Informational Texts: Different Views on Northern Ireland
Comparing Themes: “Liberty,” “Exile” and “An American Story”
Novel: Fallen Angels
Assessments:
Writing: Comparing/Contrasting Media Coverage; Comparing/Contrasting Theme Across Genres
Collection 5: Analyzing Irony, Contradictions and Ambiguity
“The Gift of the Magi”
“The Lady, or the Tiger?”
Informational: “A Defense of the Jury System”
“The Road Not Taken” and“Crossing Paths”
Assessments:
Writing: Persuasive Essay
Speaking: Debate an Issue
Semester Two
Quarter 3
Collection 7: Analyzing Poetry
“A Blessing”
“Woman Work”
“Once by the Pacific” and“Country Scene”
“Tiberon”
“Folding Won Tons In”
“Hope is a thing with feathers” and “Internment”
“Fog” and “Fire and Ice”
“The Seven Ages of Man”
“I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” and “The Courage My Mother Had”
“Ballad of Birmingham” and“The history Behind the Ballad”
“Legal Alien/Extranjera legal”
Assessment:
Writing: Analysis of a poem; Original Poem and Performance
Speaking: Present an oral interpretation of a poem
Collection 6: Analyzing Symbolism and Allegory
“The Scarlet Ibis”
“The Grandfather”
Informational Texts: Weapons and War
Assessments:
Writing: Describing a Place; Literary Analysis Essay on Wish You Well
Speaking: Present a Description
Collection 8: Literary Criticism—Evaluating Style
“A Sound of Thunder” and“Jurassic Park”
Informational: Global Warming
“How to Eat a Guava”
Assessment:
Writing: Analyzing a Short Story
Collection 11: Analyzing Drama
Play: Romeo and Juliet
Informational: On Romeo and Juliet
Assessments:
Writing: Who's to Blame Essay
Speaking: Analyzing and Evaluating Speeches; Scene Performance
Quarter 4
Collection 9: Literary Criticism: Using Biographical and Historical Approaches
“American History” and“Volar”
Informational Text: JFK assassination
Assessment:
Writing: Research Paper
Speaking: Present a research report
Collection 10: Heroes and Monsters
The Odyssey
Assessments:
Writing: Persuasive cause-and-effect essay
Speaking: Giving a Persuasive Speech
Fiction Writing: Creating your own Hero's story
Novel: To Kill a Mockingbird
Assessment: Multiple Level End of Unit Activities and Essay Writing
Collection 12: Workplace Documents
Informational: Reading Consumer Documents and Following Technical Directions
Assessments:
Writing: Business Letters and the minutes of meeting