About our Class

Ralph Andolina
6th, 7th and 8th Grade ELA
Email: randolina@ourladyofthesacredheart.com

Welcome to Mr. Andolina’s sixth, seventh and eighth grade English Language Arts class! The study of English Language Arts necessitates students to become fully engaged in and challenged by well-chosen pieces of literature, pertinent writing assignments, and oral presentation experiences. Students in each section study various elements of fiction, vocabulary, grammar and mechanics, as well as writing conventions and forms. Moreover, an amalgamation of literature and reading skills, writing, speaking, and listening is also required, as these are all imperative constituents critical to the study of English Language Arts. Too, it is critical that students be able to generate ideas and think clearly and critically in all content areas. Consequently, expository writing is practiced and developed at all grade levels and in all three sections of English Language Arts.

Given that sixth, seventh and eighth grade students write the New York State English Language Arts assessment, New York State curriculum, guidelines, and standards are adhered to in all three ELA sections at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart. Moreover, students are treated in a Christian-like fashion and are required to demonstrate Christian-like behavior toward themselves and others as well.

Sixth grade spends much time learning essential literary elements and devices, as well as how to read and analyze various genres of literature. As well, equipping students with a plentiful vocabulary and the skills to utilize those words are essential tools needed to be successful in school and in life. For that reason, sixth grade students make the transition from weekly spelling words to bi-weekly vocabulary units. In the spring, students begin reading Holes, by Louis Sachar.

Seventh grade students sharpen their reading and analytical skills by reading a myriad of short stories and poems. Seventh grade students also continue to build upon their vocabulary skills. Too, seventh grade students practice a great deal of sentence mapping in order to obtain a visual representation of how sentences work. Furthermore, sentence mapping shows the relationship between the many parts of a sentence and can often help a writer to identify a grammatical error in a sentence. During the spring semester, seventh grade begins reading And Then There Were None, by Agatha Christie. A short story unit on Edgar Allan Poe subsequently follows.

Eighth grade students begin the year by reading either Romeo and Juliet (usually taught in ninth grade) or Julius Caesar (usually taught in ninth or tenth grade). In the spring, eighth grade students read To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee (usually taught in tenth grade). As in the sixth and seventh grade ELA sections, there is also a focus on vocabulary development.

About Mr. Andolina:
Mr. Andolina is in his sixth year of teaching at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart. In 2002, he graduated from Buffalo State College with a Bachelor’s Degree in Secondary English Education, a Bachelor’s Degree in Humanities, and two Bachelor Degrees in Philosophy. In 2008, Mr. Andolina earned his Master’s Degree in Literacy and Learning in the Content Areas, 6-12, from Walden University.

“Words - so innocent and powerless as they are, as standing in a dictionary, how potent for good and evil they become in the hands of one who knows how to combine them.”

--Nathaniel Hawthorne

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