GUIDELINES AND EXPECTATIONS                                                         ENGLISH 8

Mrs. McDonald                                                                                              2009-10                    

 

Dear Ladies,

 

            A hearty welcome to you all!!! I hope your summer vacation was relaxing and fun-filled. I spent a fun-filled week on Santa Maria Island, FL with my sister and then another week traveling Michigan & Door County, WI with my husband, Steve. What fun I had!!!! Spent quite a bit of time at the pool and also attending engagement parties, baby showers and weddings of our friends’ children. Hard to believe you are all growing up.  I hate to see the summer fun end (as I am sure you are) but new beginnings can be enjoyable and rewarding as well.

 

            I have developed the Eighth Grade English program for your maturity and grade level. The program is composed mainly of the study of literature in close conjunction with composition, vocabulary, and grammar. Please understand, however, that composition is a major component in the entire English curriculum at Villa Duchesne and will be incorporated into every aspect of the course. Our first quarter material will concentrate on the structure of compositions, the basic skills necessary to write a well developed essay along with Summer Reading discussion. The second half of the first semester and all of the second semester will consist of the study of all types of literature and writing along with grammar and vocabulary study. (SEE COURSE OVERVIEW) As I mentioned before, writing is a core element of the English program and will be incorporated into the course work routinely.

           

      I ask that all of you have in your possession the following supplies and materials AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.

            Blue/red pens                                    1 folder                                   text in use                              school planner                                   Tablet PC                   2 pencils

 

SUMMER READING I hope you enjoyed the novels I assigned to you for Summer Reading, along with the films A Raisin in the Sun and Jane Eyre. I really enjoyed both The Glory Field and In My Hands, which reinforce the theme of this year’s English course.  Both novels deal with the issue of prejudice and bigotry which is a theme we will discuss in great depth during the school year. We will be discussing these novels during the first quarter.                                                                                                                   

 

CLASSROOM CONDUCT   No seat assignments will be made. If at anytime, however, your behavior warrants it, I might have to assign you a specific seat near me but I am sure this will not be necessary. I do expect all of us to be respectful of one another and responsible to keep our space neat & clean along with following the rules set up for our English course work.

 

COMPOSITION UNIT Expository writing will be emphasized this year in class. We will be doing a great deal of this type of writing in the classroom plus longer assignments which will be done as long term homework assignments.

 

CONFERENCE PROGRAM All major long term composition assignments (there will be one assigned per quarter) will be conferenced one on one with me. Individual conferences will be scheduled either during your gym period or during a specific class This list will also be given to your teachers so that they will be aware of the day each quarter you will not be in class. Most conferencing will be done in my office, Room 235. More on this later in the quarter.

 

LITERATURE UNIT The literature unit will consist of reading and writing about different plays, short stories, & novels taken in class.

 

GRAMMAR UNIT In order to write well, one must possess the basics of good grammar. To this end, we will be studying sentence structure and other basic grammar concepts which will aid you in our final goal of excellence in the writing process.

 

VOCABULARY  A good understanding of and an ability to use words correctly is very important in all areas of communication. It is with this in mind that we will study vocabulary.

 

PRAYER   Loving Lord, guide us, protect us and give us strength. AMEN Prayer is very important to our individual spirituality and our shared community. That being said, we will begin each class with the preceding prayer but with a twist which I will teach you in class. THIS IS FUN!!!!!!!!!!!! ASK ANYONE IN NINTH GRADE.

 

            My main aim this year is to establish, with your help, a safe classroom environment where all of us can learn and achieve while maintaining an atmosphere of mutual respect and responsible behavior. Learning can be fun so let us all try and make our English class the most interesting and enjoyable of them all. I cannot accomplish this on my own. I request your help in this endeavor. If we work together, anything and everything is possible. If at any time you have a suggestion on how as a group we can improve our classroom environment, let me know and we will try to incorporate it into the class.

 

            My office door (Room 235-on the third floor) is always open so please feel free to stop by at any time with questions, suggestions or just to say "Hey".

 

 

WELCOME TO YOU ALL!

 

Mrs. McDee