ELA+11

Welcome to ELA 11, I am looking forward to exploring American Literature with you. Our curriculum contains works of literature that are considered classics as well as some that may not be as well known. The Language Arts Department has worked hard to develop a program of study for you that is rigorous and designed to develop critical skills. Attached you will find the Course Description as found on the DODEA website. Please review the attached standards as learning these skills is your responsibility during this school year. If you have questions I encourage you to ask them either during class or during seminar. Your success is my goal this year and I am happy to help you in your studies.

Students are expected to be respectful while in class not only to the teacher but also to their fellow students. Class discussion is a powerful learning tool that can only be truly effective in a safe learning environment where everyone has the opportunity to participate. Students are expected to be prepared for class this includes having all supplies/materials, assignments completed, well rested, and prepared to participate.

Grading for those students enrolled in ELA 11 will remain in accordance with the grading policy as outlined by DODEA. A: 90-100 % B: 80-89 % C: 70-79 % D: 60-69 % F: 0-59% I: Incomplete

Work is graded based on a points system. For example, if a vocabulary quiz has 20 questions it could be worth 20 points. When your paper is returned it will have a grade of 19/20 on it. When the grades are entered into Gradespeed they will be converted into a traditional percentage grade. (95% for the example above of 19/20)

Late work will **__only__** be accepted up to 2 class periods after it’s assigned due date as long as the work has not been already graded and returned to the rest of the class. Late work will be reduced a letter grade for each calendar day that it is late. This does not refer to excused absences where make up work will be allowed according to school policy.

Materials needed for class:
 * 1” 3 ring binder for English or a larger binder that is shared with multiple classes and has dividers
 * College ruled 3 hole paper
 * 3 different color high lighters
 * 2 rings with pre-cut note cards or 1 package of index cards
 * Black or Blue ink pen

=**Course Title: ** -Language Arts 11 **GRADE LEVEL:** 11**CODE:** LAE501, LAE531 **COURSE LENGTH:** 36 weeks =
 * Major Concepts/Content: ** The Language Arts 11 course is designed to strengthen students’ skills in listening, speaking, writing, literature, and language. The content includes, but is not limited to, developing an increasingly comprehensive vocabulary in conversation and discussion; developing small group and large group discussion skills; inferring conclusions from a series of oral statements; respecting the presence of dialects and regional variations in speech; writing essays responding to social, political, and literary concepts; writing resumes; writing compositions of more than one paragraph using narration, exposition, and/ or description; developing individual criteria for the aesthetic appreciation of literature; recognizing and understanding the use of literary and stylistic devices; dramatizing literature; experiencing a wide range of literary works written in the United States by writers from the major ethnic groups in the U.S. population, including both classic and modern works; using the media center research facilities; and reading self-selected books to help students learn to view reading as a useful and pleasurable activity.
 * Major Instructional Activities: ** Instructional activities will be provided in a general classroom setting, in the media center and in the school and community environment. Student activities will include, but will not be limited to, writing journals or learning logs; writing essays responding to social, political, and literary concepts; writing essays responding to social, political and literary concepts; writing essays using narration, exposition, and/or description; writing resumes and letters of application; responding to each other’s writing with helpful suggestions for revision; taking several pieces of writing through a process that includes prewriting activities, drafting, peer response, revision, proofreading for spelling, punctuation, capitalization, grammar, and usage, and publishing; practicing writing from different points of view for different audiences; developing speaking and listening skills by responding to literature and to each other’s writing, and by participating in small and large group discussions and in oral presentations, individual recitations, and dramatizations; studying appropriate major works of literature of the United States intensively in class; reading, viewing, and listening independently to examples of the various genres of literature and responding to that literature; presenting interpretations of literature orally; reading several self-selected books and responding to them in journal entries, letters, group discussions, or oral or written book reports; and increasing vocabulary through the study of words encountered in reading and through work with the dictionary and the thesaurus.
 * Major Evaluative Techniques: ** Students will be evaluated for class participation; completion of reading assignments and book reporting requirements; comprehension of literature as measured by objective, essay, and/or oral examinations; and improvement in written composition and oral presentations with major emphasis on content, organization, coherence, use of evidence and argument, and with secondary emphasis on skill growth in spelling, punctuation, capitalization, grammar and usage.
 * Essential Objectives: ** Upon completion of the Language Arts 1I course, students should be able to:
 * Infer conclusions from a series of oral statements.
 * Recognize appropriate literary and stylistic devices.
 * Demonstrate small and large group discussion skills.
 * Respect the presence of dialects and regional variations in speech.
 * Dramatize literature.
 * Develop individual criteria for aesthetic appreciation of literature.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Write essays responding to social, political, and literary concepts.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Write resumes.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Write a composition of more than one paragraph using narrative, exposition and/or description.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Use an increasingly comprehensive vocabulary in conversation and discussion.

<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';"> This course is designed to facilitate student mastery of the DoDEA standards and essential objectives of the parallel general education course. Accommodations and modifications in content, instructional activities, evaluative techniques and essential objectives are implemented as appropriate for students with disabilities in support of their Individualized Education Programs (IEP).

=Parents,= It is my goal to have an open line of communication with you. This includes regularly inputting grades so that you can monitor your child’s efforts in language arts and emails updating you on class activities. The emails serve as a way for me to let you know about class activities so that you can support your child and to provide you with information so that you can discuss the class with your child. Please check their planners regularly so that you are aware of class activities. Your support and encouragement is a key component of their success. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact me. Email will be the fastest way to contact me. I do respond as promptly as possible; however, if you do not receive a response in 24 hours please email me again. Although email is great, it is not fool proof. Recently I received an email sent four months prior that I assume has been out in cyber space for that time. I am very excited about the year ahead and am looking forward to teaching your child. If you did not fill out the section on the syllabus please email me your name, email address you would like to receive correspondanc at, and your child's name with their grade if you would like to be included on the class mail distribution list.

Bridget Bradshaw bridget.bradshaw@eu.dodea.edu