This class has been created in correspondence to the California State Standards.  Students will develop an understanding of English literacy concepts through reading, writing, and various types of media.  It is imperative that students come to class as active participants, completing all work that is assigned.  Parent involvement also remains an important aspect to student success in academics so please stay involved! 


The Eighth Grade English curriculum has been broken down into six units:

• Unit 1:  Narrative
• Unit 2: Expository/Persuasive
• Unit 3: Response to Literature
• Unit 4: Technical Documents
• Unit 5: Test preparation
• Unit 6: Researching the Holocaust

 Included within each of these units will be smaller writing components constructed in a comprehensive journal including: reflective journals, summaries, reflections, and personal narratives. Students will be reading shared selections, novels, as well as independently chosen books. 

This class is a support for students who need additional help in the areas of reading comprehension, writing, and/or listening and speaking. The primary intervention for this class is an amazing computer program called achieve3000. Kids can access the student portal during class, after school in the computer lab, or on a computer at home through the website teenbiz3000.com. Students access a variety of current, engaging articles at their own reading level and answer questions to help increase their level of comprehension and analysis of text. Through this program (with frequent meaningful use) students are expected to increase at least two reading levels over the course of one school.  Additionally, students will be using learningupgrade.com to work on the review of literacy skills.

Horace Mann Middle School
Jenelle Taylor