I should start by explaining that I am the type of person who rarely does the same thing twice. I'm constantly evolving, creating, and trying new things, so my syllabus is more of a course overview, as well as some of my basic philosophies that I have developed over the years.
Language Arts- My overall plan for LA is to make sure we're doing something with spelling, vocabulary, grammar, reading, and writing every week. All of these components lead to one ultimate goal - to learn to love writing. For me, the goal of writing is to communicate one's ideas clearly.
We will start everyday with a journal write. This is informal writing goal is to simply get used to getting a student's ideas into written form. We will also work on formal one-paragraph and multi-paragraph essays this year. The focus is expository, narrative, and argumentative writing.
The reading we do in class will be literature and information based. All of the reading will lead to some kind of comprehension, writing, enrichment, and/or art project. Some of the reading will also serve as enrichment for our history class. I also expect students to participate orally in class, give presentations, and read aloud in both LA and history classes.
AR Reading - The Accelerated Reading Program is a school-wide program that is 10% of a student's overall LA grade. It is a fantastic program that really does help students become better readers. At the beginning of the year, students take a test to find out their personal reading level and read books in that level. All of our books in the library have a label with the levels I'm referring to.
When a student is finished with a book, they take a quiz. They each have a goal they are working towards and keep track of their progress on the computer. The quizzes are how they get credit towards their personal reading goal. If they aren't passing the quizzes, they aren't getting credit for reading. This may be because the book they read is out of their "zone of proximity" (one grade above or below their personal reading level). They need to know what their reading level is and pick books accordingly. If they want to read a book that's not in our library, they can look on the AR site to see if it's in the system.
The only drawback to this entire program is that we expect the students to do this program independently. Students are expected to read their AR book if they are finished early in any and all of their classes. They are also expected to read in their homeroom class. Lastly, they are expected to do most of the reading as homework (we suggest 20 to 30 minutes every night until they have completed their goal for the quarter).
As a teacher who works hard to help students maintain a good grade, it is disappointing to find out that a student isn't participating in the AR program. As a result, their grades fall from an A to a B, or a B to a C at the end of the grading period. What is more disappointing is the reality that the students who aren't doing the program are the students who need it the most. Most students who don't do the program are below grade level readers, and by continuing to not read, their peers are pulling further away from them in this crucial academic area.
Thanks for checking in with your student occasionally to make sure that it's getting done. You can simply ask them if they are reading and taking quizzes.
World History - WH in 7th grade is mostly European History in the Middle Ages 500-1500 AD. We cover the Roman Empire, Islam, Japan, China, Africa, the Aztecs/Maya/Inca, the Renaissance, and the Reformation. My overall goal is to help my students connect with history. My students quickly find out that the reason I love history is for the stories. Being an artist(right-brained), I've never been a name and date person.
After reading each section and taking notes, students will write their version of the story of that section using their notes. My test are also formatted as a story with blanks to fill in to complete the story. I've found that most students enjoy this approach to learning history and hope they not only learn to love history, but also remember some of the stories, not just names and dates!