Mrs. Mosher’s Grading Policy
8th Grade Language Arts
2009-2010
The principals of O.W. Best have established a school-wide grading policy that they believe gives each student his or her best chance at success in middle school. That grading scale will be used as I calculate progress & report card grades for my class.
Since grades are just one way of showing student achievement & progress, I want you to understand what my expectations are in regards to classroom performance in each of the following areas.[i]
iBasic Concepts of Language Arts: In order to pass this class, you must demonstrate that you have learned the major concepts of this course. These concepts have been set down by the Michigan Department of Education as Grade Level Content Expectations, and our 8th grade curriculum is built around these mandates. Student proficiency will be demonstrated by a variety of instruments, such as successful test completion, a genre-related writing assignment, or project.
iCompletion of Daily Work: Daily classwork is where we practice the skills needed for learning long-term skills. You will be reading short stories, taking tests, & writing papers throughout your high school & college years. This is the place where you will begin learning these skills in a lower-stakes environment. Failure to complete daily work may warrant a phone call home to parents/guardians, working lunch, an after-school study hall, and in extreme cases, an office referral.
iClass Participation: This class demands that you participate not only by completing the work, but by contributing to class discussions. You can contribute by listening while others speak, giving positive feedback, speaking on-topic, learning how to take turns, taking notes on ideas you might use later, and/or disagreeing with ideas instead of people. We learn best in an atmosphere of respect & tolerance where people can feel safe to take risks. Some of the topics we will discuss have very personal applications. Everyone should feel safe to share.
iHomework: Homework is an extension of the work in class. If you are assigned some reading & you do not complete it, you will not be able to effectively participate in or understand the class discussion or activity related to that reading. If the completion of a rough draft is assigned & you do not complete it, you will not be able to participate in the revising & editing activity related to that assignment, which are designed to help you improve & grow as a writer. In regards to long-term papers & projects, only you know what you need to work on as homework! In the event that you are having difficulties with the homework & you have exhausted all available resources to overcome these difficulties, you are welcome to come in early or work with me after school. I do not mark assignments late until I leave the building on the day it is due.
My primary concern is that you learn the skills necessary to begin your high school career successfully. With that in mind, there will be times when I will ask you to re-do an assignment that does not meet the necessary criteria. It will always serve your interests best to keep up with what we are doing in class and do your very best work on every assignment. By doing that, I can spot problem areas early and we can address them together. I do not expect you to be a world-class author, but I do expect that you will enthusiastically engage in the process of learning to make sense of what you read and communicate your thoughts and ideas in writing.
I think that the 8th grade language arts curriculum is interesting, engaging, and challenging. I hope you will find that to be true, also. When you leave the halls of O.W. Best next June, I want you to feel like you’ve learned, grown as a person, and are ready for your high school experience!
[i] Grading policy based on work by Linda Christensen, Rethinking Schools Magazine, Winter 2004-05.