Welcome!
If you are a parent-guardian or student wondering about how you'll be assessed in English 8 or 9, hopefully the following information will be useful.
General information about the course:
English Language Arts is a skill-building course designed to provide students learning opportunities to improve literacy skills. Students will continue to build a similar set of skills each year through a variety of units. In grade 8, my focus is on building a variety of sentences, structured paragraphs, and organised essays. To do this, I do have students learn aspects of grammar and teach editing skills so that students can rely on their own practised skills to correct and improve their work.
Assessment:
English 8 and 9 are junior courses and conclude the semester with a letter grade. We use the proficiency scale on rubrics to mark, as you may be familiar with similar ones that you saw in elementary school.
Below is part of a writing rubric where students can see their progress in various areas and includes areas of improvement so that students can see what to work on. Please note how these rubrics are designed for student success. 4 = extending, 3 = proficient, 2 = developing, 1 = emerging
If you are a parent-guardian or student wondering about how you'll be assessed in English 8 or 9, hopefully the following information will be useful.
General information about the course:
English Language Arts is a skill-building course designed to provide students learning opportunities to improve literacy skills. Students will continue to build a similar set of skills each year through a variety of units. In grade 8, my focus is on building a variety of sentences, structured paragraphs, and organised essays. To do this, I do have students learn aspects of grammar and teach editing skills so that students can rely on their own practised skills to correct and improve their work.
Assessment:
English 8 and 9 are junior courses and conclude the semester with a letter grade. We use the proficiency scale on rubrics to mark, as you may be familiar with similar ones that you saw in elementary school.
Below is part of a writing rubric where students can see their progress in various areas and includes areas of improvement so that students can see what to work on. Please note how these rubrics are designed for student success. 4 = extending, 3 = proficient, 2 = developing, 1 = emerging
Students will receive no number marks but letter grades. In my courses, grades translate roughly this way:
Extending: student consistently demonstrates a sophisticated understanding of the material through the use of concise vocabulary, shows organized multitude of well-constructed sentences, and grasps concepts at a creative and interpretive level.
Proficient: student consistently demonstrates a strong understanding of the material; may require more concise or complicated vocabulary, shows organization when expressing understanding, and grasps concepts with some depth.
Developing: student consistently demonstrates an adequate understanding of the material; requires more concise and complicated vocabulary, sometimes shows organization when expressing understanding but may misread or misinterpret some key points at times, and grasps concepts simplistically at times.
Emerging: student consistently demonstrates a weak or unclear understanding of the material; requires correct and standard use of vocabulary, shows issues with organization when expressing understanding and misreads and misunderstands multiple key points, and shows difficulty grasping concepts.
Extending: student consistently demonstrates a sophisticated understanding of the material through the use of concise vocabulary, shows organized multitude of well-constructed sentences, and grasps concepts at a creative and interpretive level.
Proficient: student consistently demonstrates a strong understanding of the material; may require more concise or complicated vocabulary, shows organization when expressing understanding, and grasps concepts with some depth.
Developing: student consistently demonstrates an adequate understanding of the material; requires more concise and complicated vocabulary, sometimes shows organization when expressing understanding but may misread or misinterpret some key points at times, and grasps concepts simplistically at times.
Emerging: student consistently demonstrates a weak or unclear understanding of the material; requires correct and standard use of vocabulary, shows issues with organization when expressing understanding and misreads and misunderstands multiple key points, and shows difficulty grasping concepts.