Grade 9 ELA – 2013/2014

Horton High School

Overview
Grade 9 English Language Arts focuses on three areas or strands:
  • Speaking and Listening
  • Reading and Viewing
  • Writing and Other Ways of Representing
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Outcomes and Focus
Speaking and Listening Reading and Viewing Writing / other ways of Representing
  • Participates effectively in group discussion
  • Asks and answers questions of clarification
  • Listens actively for main ideas and details
  • Shows respect for the opinions of others
  • Understands how language is used to influence and manipulate
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  • Reads a variety of texts
  • Reads with understanding and fluency
  • Responds personally to text, giving evidence to support opinions
  • Recognizes that texts can be biased
  • Questions the relevance and reliability of a text
  • Recognizes the tools that author’s use
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  • Uses a variety of note making strategies
  • Uses interesting effects in writing
  • Crafts text to suit audience and purpose
  • Creates a variety of representations
  • Seeks feedback and applies it to writing
  • Uses standard conventions
  • Engages in a variety of writing processes
  • Shows commitment to writing

During the year the above outcomes will be addressed as part of different units of instruction: (Below are our first three units)
Personal Narrative and Memoir: What Kind of Stories are Worth Keeping and How do we Record Them? / Poetry – Reading and writing for better understanding of the genre
of poetry / Author Study/Genre Study
Of Things Not Seen –Don Acker
Teaching Methodologies and Strategies
ELA is about thinking, analyzing, responding, and communicating with others. During the first term, students will work both on their own and in whole and small groups. Students will read and analyze a variety of texts and discuss their observations, opinions, and beliefs. Each week I will provide direction for discussions, model a variety of reading and writing skills, and support students in developing and applying these skills to their own learning.
Each week students will also create written pieces of their own. Some writing will be experimental and will not be revisited while other pieces will be revised, reworked, and edited until it is ready for final publication. To help students with their writing, a number of mentor texts (samples of writing) will be used. Each of these will help students recognize a variety of techniques that authors use, hopefully encouraging them to use some of these techniques in their own work.
Assessment Strategies
Students will be assessed through ongoing, informal and formal assessment on their achievement of the ELA outcomes as well as their behaviors and effort as a learner.
During each unit students will have a number of smaller assessment tasks to complete. The majority of these will be done in class. Specific feedback will be provided to students about these tasks but a mark will not necessarily be assigned. The emphasis is on giving students the information they need to meet expectations. Each of the smaller tasks is designed to provide students with the necessary skills to complete the larger or summative tasks for the unit.

In addition to using work samples for assessment, -regular in-class observations as well as conferences and conversations with the student about his/her learning will be used to help determine the achievement level.

Reporting and Grades

Achievement of expected learning outcomes will be reported at the end of the term using the following rubric:
(Approximate)
Grade / Description

90-100%

/ The student demonstrates excellent or outstanding performance in relation to the expected learning outcomes for this course.
80-89% / The student demonstrates very good performance in relation to the expected learning outcomes for this course.
70-79% / The student demonstrates good performance in relation to the expected learning outcomes for this course.
60-69% / The student demonstrates satisfactory performance in relation to the expected learning outcomes for this course.
50-59% / The student demonstrates minimally acceptable performance in relation to the expected learning outcomes for this course.
Below 50% / The student has not met minimum requirements in relation to the expected learning outcomes for this course.
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Assignments & Homework

Students are expected to read at home for the equivalent of 20 minutes 5 times a week.
All work is expected to be the student’s original work and submitted on the date due. Work that does not meet expectations will need to be redone. This may require additional homework.
A larger amount of time will be required at home to complete the larger summative tasks.

Communication

Please contact me should you have and questions or concerns.

  • Phone messages can be left for me at the school office at 542 -6060.
  • I can be reached by email
  • .

I will be contacting you as well.

  • Twice per term I will send home a list of assignments completed and/or missing to date
  • As needed I will make additional contact. Please let me know your preferred method of communication.
Please complete and sign the bottom and return to your child’s ELA binder
Evaluation:
Assignments – 45%
Test/Quiz -15%
Projects -10%
Journals -20%
Exam -10%
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