Brody Middle School

8th Grade Math Syllabus

Course Description:
This eighth math course focuses on transformations, dilations, linear relationships, linear equations and systems
of equations, functions, association and data, exponents and the Pythagorean theorem.

Course Content:

Semester One UNIT Overview:

Topic
Topic 1: Rigid In this unit, students learn to understand and use the terms
Transformations “reflection,” “rotation,” “translation,” recognizing what
and Congruence determines each type of transformation, e.g., two points
determine a translation. They learn to understand and use the
terms “transformation” and “rigid transformation.” They identify
and describe translations, rotations, and reflections, and
sequences of these, using the terms “corresponding sides” and
“corresponding angles,” and recognizing that lengths and angle
measures are preserved. They draw images of figures under
rigid transformations on and off square grids and the coordinate
plane. They use rigid transformations to generate shapes and to
reason about measurements of figures. They learn to
understand congruence of plane figures in terms of rigid
transformations. They recognize when one plane figure is
congruent or not congruent to another. Students use the
definition of “congruent” and properties of congruent figures to
justify claims of congruence or non-congruence.

Topic 2: Dilations In this unit, students learn to understand and use the term
and Similarity “dilation,” and to recognize that a dilation is determined by a
point called the “center” and a number called the “scale factor.”
They learn that under a dilation, the image of a circle is a circle
and the image of a line is a line parallel to the original. They
draw images of figures under dilations on and off the coordinate
plane. They use the terms “corresponding sides” and
“corresponding angles” to describe correspondences between a
figure and its dilated image, and recognizing that angle
measures are preserved, but lengths are multiplied by the scale
factor. They learn to understand similarity of plane figures in
terms of rigid transformations and dilations. They learn to
recognize when one plane figure is similar or not similar to
another. They use the definition of “similar” and properties of
similar figures to justify claims of similarity or non-similarity.
Students learn the terms “slope” and “slope triangle,” and use
the similarity of slope triangles on the same line to understand
that any two distinct points on a line determine the same slope.

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Topic 3: Linear In this unit, students learn to understand and use the terms
Relationships “rate of change,” “linear relationship,” and “vertical intercept.”
They deepen their understanding of slope, and they learn to
recognize connections among rate of change, slope, and
constant of proportionality, and between linear and proportional
relationships. They learn to understand that lines with the same
slope are translations of each other. They represent linear
relationships with tables, equations, and graphs that include
lines with negative slopes or vertical intercepts, and horizontal
and vertical lines. They learn to use the term “solution of an
equation” when working with one or two linear equations in two
variables, and learn to understand the graph of a linear equation
as the set of its solutions. Students use these terms and
representations in reasoning about situations involving one or
two constant rates.

Topic 4: Linear In this unit, students write and solve linear equations in one
Equations and variable. These include equations in which the variable occurs
Systems on both sides of the equal sign, and equations with no solutions,
exactly one solution, and infinitely many solutions. They learn
that any one such equation is false, true for one value of the
variable, or true for all values of the variable. They interpret
solutions in the contexts from which the equations arose.
Students write and solve systems of linear equations in two
variables and interpret the solutions in the contexts from which
the equations arose. They learn what is meant by a solution for a
system of equations, namely that a solution of the system is a
solution for each equation in the system. Students use the
understanding that each pair of values that make an equation
true are coordinates of a point on the graph of the equation and
conversely that the coordinates of each point on the graph of an
equation make the equation true. Thus, a pair of values that
satisfies a system of equations are coordinates of a point that
lies on the graphs of all the equations in the system, and,
conversely, a point that lies on the graphs of all the equations in
the system has coordinates that satisfy all the equations in the
system. Students learn to understand and use the terms
“system of equations,” “solution for the system of equations,”
“zero solutions,” “no solution,” “one solution,” and “infinitely
many solutions.”

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Semester Two UNIT Overview:

Topics
Topic 5: Functions In this unit, students are introduced to the concept of a
of Volume function. They learn to understand and use the terms “input,”
“output,” and “function,” e.g., “temperature is a function of
time.” They describe functions as increasing or decreasing
between specific numerical inputs, and they consider the inputs
of a function to be values of its independent variable and its
outputs to be values of its dependent variable. (The terms
“Independent variable” and “dependent variable” were
introduced in grade 6.) They use tables, equations, and graphs
to represent functions, and describe information presented in
tables, equations, or graphs in terms of functions. In working
with linear functions, students coordinate and synthesize their
understanding of “constant of proportionality” (which was
introduced in grade 7), “rate of change” and “slope” (which
were introduced earlier in grade 8), and increasing and
decreasing. Students perceive similarities in structure between
pairs of known and new volume formulas: for a rectangular
prism and a cylinder; and for a cylinder and a cone. Students
rearrange these formulas to show functional relationships and
use them to reason about how the volume of a figure changes as
another measurement changes, e.g., the height of a cylinder is
proportional to its volume; if the radius of a cylinder triples, its
volume becomes nine times larger.

Topic 6: In this unit, students generate and work with bivariate data sets
Associations in that has more variability than in previous units. They learn to
Data understand and use the terms “scatter plot” and “association,”
and describe associations as “positive” or “negative” and
“linear” or “non-linear.” Students describe scatter plots, using a

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term previously used to describe univariate data “cluster,” and

the new term “outlier.” They fit lines to scatter plots and
informally assess their goodness of fit by judging the closeness
of the data points to the lines, and compare predicted and actual
values. Students learn to understand and use the terms “two-
way table,” “bar graph,” and “segmented bar graph,” using two-
way tables to investigate categorical data.

Topic 7: In grade 6, students studied whole-number exponents. In this

Exponents and unit, they extend the definition of exponents to include all
Scientific Notation integers, and in the process codify the properties of exponents.
They apply these concepts to the base-ten system, and learn
about orders of magnitude and scientific notation in order to
represent and compute with very large and very small
quantities.

Topic 8:
Pythagorean In this unit, students work with geometric and symbolic
Theorem and representations of square and cube roots. They understand and
Irrational use notation such as √ 2 and √3 5for square and cube roots. They
Numbers understand the terms “rational number” and “irrational
number,” using long division to express fractions as decimals.
They use their understanding of fractions to plot rational
numbers on the number line and their understanding of
approximation of irrationals by rationals to approximate the
number-line location of a given irrational. Students learn
(without proof) that √ 2 is irrational. They understand two proofs
of the Pythagorean Theorem—an algebraic proof that involves
manipulation of two expressions for the same area and a
geometric proof that involves decomposing and rearranging two
squares. They use the Pythagorean Theorem in two and three
dimensions, e.g., to determine lengths of diagonals of rectangles
and right rectangular prisms, and to estimate distances between
points in the coordinate plane.

Class Materials/Textbooks:
All students will need the following every class period:
Computer
Internet Access
Ability to log onto:
 Canvas
 Microsoft Teams
 Student E-Mail
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 Infinite Campus
Illustrative Mathematics Workbook

Course Policies:
Class Activities: Students will be required to participate in variety of class activities. Some of these will be
assessed for basic student understanding in order to direct instruction and will not have a direct impact on report
card grades. Other activities will be used as an artifact in a body of evidence to determine student proficiency
on a specific learning goal.
Assessments: Student performance will be assessed formatively throughout the year in various ways including
quizzes and exit passes and other tasks. Students will also have at least three assessments and/or assignments
for every topic taught this year. These will be the main pieces of evidence used to determine if students have
mastered topics. Assessments will be graded using SRG and IB criteria.
Absences/Tardies: Students are expected to participate through: entry and exit passes, participating with the
microphone, chat, and having the camera on as much as possible. Simply showing with the camera off and
microphone disengaged does NOT qualify for attendance.

Class Rules:

 “Be Respectful.” The student is always expected to treat the teacher and other students with respect.
Offensive language and hatefulness are not acceptable in this class. Basically, treat others how we
would like to be treated.
 “Be Responsible.” Students are expected to be online and prepared for class at the start of class.
 “Be Ready.” Being prepared for class means having all materials, books, pencils, etc. out and ready.

Grading Plan:
1. Grades are based on a consistent four-point system.

Scale Score Academic Descriptor

4 Exceeding
3 Proficient
2 Developing
1 Beginning
0 No evidence of student understanding in submitted work.
M Missing- Student has not submitted evidence.

2. Letter grades, derived from the 4-point scale, will be based solely on achievement of 8 th grade science standards.
Student participation, work completion, and ability to work with others will be reported separately using the
‘DMPS Citizenship and Employability Skills Rubric.’

3. Scores will be based on a body of evidence.

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4. Achievement will be organized by standard/learning topic and reported as a scale score. Cross topic
scale scores will be converted to a letter grade for the course.

5. Students will have multiple opportunities to demonstrate proficiency.

6. Incomplete or late work will remain a zero in the grade book until it is completed

7. Accommodations and modifications will be provided to students with special needs.

8. Grading Scale:
A 3.00-4.00
B 2.50-2.99
C 2.00-2.49
D 1.50-1.99
F Below 1.49

IB Grading:
MYP assigns four (4) criteria to each subject. Each teacher must assess each criterion two times per semester.
Criteria based assessments are assessed using an MYP 8-point rubric. When more than one criterion is assessed
in a task, there will be multiple grades. For example if an essay is assessed using Criteria A: Analyzing, B:
Organizing C: Producing Text, and D: Using Language, then the teacher will input a separate score for each
criterion, thus there will be four (4) grades for the essay.
The Assessment Criteria for all eight subject areas are listed below.

Subject Area A B C D
Language and Analyzing Organizing Producing Text Using
Literature Language
(formerly known
as English
Language Arts)
Language Comprehending Comprehending Communicating Using
Acquisition Spoken and Written and Language
(formerly known Visual Text Visual Text
as World
Language)
Individuals and Knowing and Investigating Communicating Thinking
Societies Understanding Critically
(formerly known
as history and/or
social science)
Sciences Knowing and Inquiring and Processing and Reflecting on
Understanding Designing Evaluating the Impacts of
Science
Mathematics Knowing and Investigating Communicating Applying
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Understanding Patterns Mathematics in

Real-World
Contexts
Arts Knowing and Developing Thinking Responding
(visual and Understanding Skills Creatively
performing)
Physical and Knowing and Planning for Applying and Reflecting and
Health Education Understanding Performance Performing Improving
Performance
Design Inquiring and Developing Ideas Creating the Evaluating
(technology & Analyzing Solution
culinary courses)

Extra Help:

I will be available via Microsoft Teams for students who need extra help. Please use the chat or e-mail to set up
an appointment.,
Consequences:
Students who are unable to follow class rules may have one or more of the following consequences.
 Warning: Everyone needs to be reminded of expectations. I will always give students 1-2 warnings
and redirections before I use another consequence.
 Parent Contact: I will contact home as I feel necessary.

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