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    Welcome to 8th Grade English Language Arts and Advanced Literacy (2020-21)! 

     
    My name is Mr. Ramsey and I teach 8th Grade Language Arts and Advanced Literacy here at Barker Middle School. This is my seventh year at Barker. I also coach the Michigan City High School Lady Wolves girls' soccer team and the combined (Barker and Krueger) middle school girls soccer team. I have a lifelong love of reading that I try to convey in my teaching. 
     
    What do we do in English Language Arts class?  

    The purpose of English Language Arts is to develop students' comprehension and capacity for use of written and oral language. We use various resources to accomplish this goal. This year we are introducing the EL Education curriculum, which is an awesome curriculum based on reading great texts (novels, short stories, non-fiction), talking about the texts, and writing about them. Nothing boring here! I've used this curriculum in the past with my Advanced Literacy class and I'm a big fan. 

    Special Challenges this Year 

     
    This year is obviously challenging due to the coronavirus pandemic. We are conducting at least the first quarter of the year via remote learning. While this will create some issues, I also think we'll have fun in ways we don't even know about yet. I am very positive about this year, and I hope you are as well. Students will be virtually attending all their classes on a daily basis through Zoom, and so we will have the kind of interaction that was missing as we all scrambled at the end of last year. Please try to make sure your student is actively attending the Zoom sessions and participating in the activities. We know this is hard on you as parents. 
     
    Google Classroom 
     
    Everything will be run through my Google Classrooms - each block has a separate Google Classroom. I have already sent out links to all my students. Each day I will post all work and links in Google Classroom. If you can, please have your student show you the Google Classroom and how it works. Daily Zoom links will also be posted on Google Classroom. 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
  • Contact me at:
     
    Phone and extension: (219) 873-2057, ext. 7323