English Language Arts

Every day, in every MS ELA classroom, every learner will experience opportunities to develop lifelong literacy and critical thinking skills in an engaging environment that fosters respect, choice, and collaboration.

Middle School English Language Arts is aligned with the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS). Strategies for listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts are integrated daily to create a literacy-rich classroom which promotes engaging, student-centered learning. Through the communication of ideas, orally and in writing, students continue to develop the knowledge and skills necessary to become independent readers, writers, and thinkers. The primary goals of this course are to cultivate independent learning, encourage in-depth inquiry and exploration of the content, and develop the habits necessary for academic success.

These middle school courses are designed to prepare and motivate students for Advanced and Advanced Placement (AP) courses in high school. This is in addition to the grade-level expectations of the Middle School English Language Arts classroom. Students have multiple opportunities to develop communication and analytical skills in an academically challenging course of study. As a preparation for Advanced Placement English courses in high school, this course adds a focus on literary analysis in reading, writing, and speaking. 

There is a Summer Reading requirement for Advanced ELA; however, all students are encouraged to engage in free choice summer reading. With guidance from their MS ELA teachers, students in grades 6-8 explore their interests and self-select books for summer reading.

Advanced ELA 6-8 Summer Reading Guidelines

The suggested pacing for all grades can be found on the: All-Level MS ELA Pacing Calendar.

This district calendar outlines the suggested pacing for the units in middle school ELA.

The district grading policy for middle school ELA is as follows:

40% Formative

60% Summative

Formative assessments include minor daily quizzes, class work, homework, and other in-class and district-administered assessments. Summative assessments include unit exams, major pieces of writing, and projects.

Middle school ELA students use the myPerspectives textbook published by Pearson (Savvas).

Students are also able to access an online version of the textbook, which includes options to have the book read aloud to the student. The online platform, known as Pearson Savvas Realize, also has digital lessons and interactive lessons and can be accessed through the student’s NISD portal.

Middle school students prepare all year focusing on the mastery of the TEKS and then participate in a cumulative Reading STAAR test at the end of their 6th, 7th, and 8th grade year. Writing at 7th grade will no longer be administered as of 2021-2022. For more information regarding STAAR, please access this link for general resources: Texas Education Agency - STAAR Resources.

Parents and students can access the Texas Assessment Family Portal at  texasassessment.gov to view and print released STAAR tests as well as login to access the online practice tests.