7th Grade Advanced Language Arts Syllabus

Ms. Erinn Brennan /
Ms. Rachel Place /
Rigorous, above-grade level texts and non-print items from Great Books, the county’s e-Text Platform (Collections), and uncopyrighted resources available for student use will be used to meet the Maryland College and Career Readiness Standards. Students will be involved in various instructional formats to include collaboration with peers, direct instruction from the teacher, class discussions (e.g. Socratic Seminars and Shared Inquiry), independent study, analytical/argument/evaluative/narrative writing, critical reading tasks, and self-directed projects. Pace will be accelerated, therefore self-direction, responsibility, and organization are key. One-to-one devices and technology will be incorporated regularly to enhance learning.

Advanced ELA Success Plan

To ensure that students meet with success, additional individualized support is given to those students who receive a C or below on their progress report or marking period grade. If a student in Advanced ELA receives a C or below on their progress report, the teacher will meet informally with that student to discuss ways to improve performance. The discussion will be documented and the parent will be notified. If a student receives a C or below on their marking period grade, the teacher will arrange a conference with the student, parent, and counselor to create a success plan, which will involve specific tasks for the parent, student, and teacher.

New Countywide Grading Policy

Progress Assessments / Classwork to include written responses to reading, vocabulary, writing process, quizzes, journal entries, and reading logs. / 55%
Mastery Assessments / Tests, final copies of writing assignments, projects and presentations. / 45%
Grading Scale:
A 90 – 100
B 80 – 89
C 70 – 79
D 60 – 69
E 59 and below / Grading expectations/rubrics are provided to the students in order to explain how their grades are derived. Parental questions about grades should be initially directed to the students when further clarification is needed. Parents are urged to regularly utilize Parent Portal to access Power School, which is the electronic grade sheet for students.
Missing Assignments Policy
All missing assignments will be recorded as NTI. Missing work will be accepted with the following condition:
  • Progress Assessments will be accepted up until the end of that grading quarter. For example, work assigned during the first quarter will not be accepted during the second quarter.
Mastery Assessments will have due dates.
Retakes/Revisions
Students will be allowed to retake or revise mastery assessments only, if they have not mastered that skill. Students who wish to retake/revise must take the initiative to ask the teacher for the opportunity to do so, and the retake/revision must be completed within the time window determined by the teacher.

Request for work for principal-approved vacations/known absences:

Due to the nature of instruction in the Language Arts classroom (e.g. discussions, note-taking), work is generally not given to students prior to leaving for vacation. The student should see the teacher upon return from absence to receive the make-up work.

Supplies needed:

  • PENCILS
  • 3 ring binder,1-1½ inch (can be shared with another subject)
  • 1 package of loose leaf paper
  • 5 dividers
  • Highlighters
  • Glue stick
  • Post-it Flags
/
  • Scissors
  • Composition or spiral notebook
  • Flash drive
  • Headphones (ear buds are acceptable)
  • Tissues
  • Hand sanitizer
Please check periodically with your child to see if his/her supplies need to be replenished.

E-mail is the recommended way to contact us. If you need to phone us, our planning time is 1:05 – 2:13. Call the school office at 410-758-0883.