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Pre-AP English I Syllabus2017-2018 Academic YearBellaire High SchoolTeacher: Elizabeth Chapman (room 316; echapman@)Course Outcomes:Students will develop a love of reading and writing. Students will be able to critically analyze texts of all kinds, including both literature and rhetoric.Students will become empowered as writers for all kinds of purposes.Students will be prepared for the STAAR English I exam.Students will be prepared for Pre-AP English II and on track to perform well on the AP English Language and Literature exams.Students will have built upon their skills of scholarship (that is, being a good student).Supplies:your school-issued laptopheadphones, earbuds, or some other form of technology that allows you to privately listen to medianotebook paper (note – if you’re using a notebook for paper, it must be the kind that allows you to neatly tear off the sheets along a perforated edge – don’t give me fringy paper!)27495507112000blue or black penspencils highlightersone folder with brads for grammar handoutsa binder or a section in your binder for work that I have returnedOne classroom community itemPeriods 3 and 4: Clorox (or similar brand) wipesPeriods 6 and 7: tissuesIf finding supplies is difficult for you for any reason, please let me know.Major Works:Fall Semester: The Odyssey (abridged, electronic copy provided), by HomerThe Joy Luck Club, by Amy TanThe Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas (we read a special edition: ISBN: 0553213504)Spring Semester:Dracula, by Bram StokerThe Hot Zone, by Richard PrestonThe Glass Castle, by Jeannette WallsRomeo and Juliet (abridged in textbook), by ShakespeareThis reading schedule is subject to revision. We’ll also read many shorter works to supplement these texts. We have books to lend to students, but I recommend getting copies of Dracula, The Hot Zone, The Joy Luck Club, The Count of Monte Cristo, and The Glass Castle. Having your own copy will allow you to annotate (make notes as you read – we’ll talk about how to do this in class), which is an important skill for AP English. You can probably find copies of these books in many of Houston’s used book stores – I might also organize book ordering for students, if there are enough who are interested.GradingGrade Break Down:Assignments will be weighted to count for one, two, or three grades, depending on value. Most daily assignments will count once; quizzes will count twice; exams and projects will count three times.Grading Scale:A=90-100B=80-89C=79-75D=74-70F=69 and belowFor many daily work assignments, I will grade on a check-plus (100), check (80), check-minus (60) scale. Reasons for a low score on this kind of assignment might include: incompletion, lack of depth and substance, issues with mechanics, etc. I am always happy to talk with you about what you could do to improve your work.Most major projects and essays will be graded using a rubric or scale. Projects and essays for Pre-AP English 1 may not be retaken.Late WorkIt is the policy of Pre-AP English 1 at Bellaire that we do not accept daily and homework assignments after they are due. Students may submit one major assignment one day late per cycle.TestingTest and quiz days for English are on Monday (unless school is cancelled for that day, in which case the assessment will be on Tuesday). If you are absent for a quiz or a test, you must come make it up with my on the Friday of that week – this session will be your only opportunity to make it up, and students who do not show up will receive a zero for their grade.I will set time limits for tests taken in class. (If you have counselor-approved accommodations, talk with me one-on-one.) There are time limits in life. Only in extremely rare instances will I allow you to come to lunch to finish a quiz or exam that you were not able to complete during class time.Academic IntegrityThe Short VersionStudents who turn in work that is not completely original will receive a zero for the assignment (without the possibility of making it up) and may receive an office referral. Turning in the same answers as your friend counts as cheating. For this reason, please be very careful about letting your friends see your homework. In the case that I receive two identical or very similar assignments, both receive zeros.Cheating on an assignment in this class will impact my recommendation of you to National Honor Society and universities to which you apply. The Long VersionWhy is this such a big deal?Academic dishonesty is such a big deal because when you cheat, you are essentially stealing something from your peers and your community. Bellaire is a highly competitive high school, where your GPA (calculated, in part, based on your performance in my class) will determine where you are accepted to college and whether you will be awarded enough money to attend. If you edge someone out of the top 10% because you received a grade that you didn’t earn, 450620757540800you are taking away someone else’s opportunity to get into a good school or win a scholarship.What constitutes “cheating?”Unauthorized aid on a test or quiz. “Working together” on daily or homework assignments – all assignments for my class must be completed individually, unless I explicitly give you permission to work with a partner or in a group. If you have trouble understanding the material, you can ask me for help instead of copying your friends’ answers. If you copy from another student and change a couple of words in an attempt to disguise it, I will be even more disappointed than if you had just copied word-for-word.Copying anything from another source (often the Internet) without putting it in quotations and giving a citation. Copying from the Internet is not “research.” Research is the process of generating an authentic question, consulting a variety of sources that deal with that subject, and synthesizing that information into an original answer.If a section of your work that’s roughly 100 words long matches, verbatim, something I can find on the Internet, you copied it. It’s not a one-in-a-billion coincidence. The person from Wikipedia did not plagiarize your work. You’re not telepathic and accidentally thought exactly the same thing in the same way that someone else did. There is a 0% chance I will buy any of those excuses, and a 100% chance that I will be extremely annoyed that you are compounding your cheating with dishonesty.Reading Guides:We will often having reading guides (sets of analytic questions) to help students with their independent reading and to structure classroom discussion.This is covered in the Academic Integrity portion of this syllabus, but it bears repeating: there is no “working together” on reading guides. You are expected to complete your reading guides independently; if the work that you turn in is suspiciously similar to another student’s assignment (and yes, I can tell when you just substitute some synonyms to make yours look original), you will both lose credit, in addition to other possible repercussions. VocabularyIn Pre-AP English 1, we cover 30 vocabulary words per week (some upper grades cover more) and quiz over them on Mondays. At first, many students find this learning objective to be challenging. Here are some tips I would offer to be successful in your quizzes:Do not wait until the night before the quiz to start studying. Try learning a few words every day so that you don’t feel overwhelmed.Use – I will help you to set up an account in class. It is a fantastic resource for practicing words, and many students tell me that it’s fun. Make sure that you “master” all of the words if you want to be ready for the quiz.Actively participate when we discuss the words in class. Take notes on your vocabulary sheet.Try writing sentences using the words as a method of studying – most of our quizzes will be sentence completion.Do the practice quiz that goes along with your vocabulary list.Class Policies and Procedures4827072381000Cell PhonesIf your cell phone is out during class, I will swoop down upon you like a majestic hawk, take it away before you even realize what has happened, and turn it in to an assistant principal. Your parent will have to pay $15 to retrieve it. You may not listen to music during class time.Chewing GumI do not allow chewing gum in my classroom. If you want to know why, we can talk about it some time.DesksDo not draw on the desks. This is one of those things that I will be very upset about if I see you doing it. I spend a lot of effort trying to maintain a nice, clean classroom for you, and drawing on the desks shows an enormous lack of respect for that.Fan FictionPlease do not write about me in your class assignments. I don’t want to read your story about “Ms. Nampahc” or some other teacher who bears a strong resemblance to me, or an essay about my class, or a list of vocabulary sentences about me. I appreciate the gesture, but I can’t objectively grade something so personal. Branch out! Write about something a little less familiar.TutorialsFriday is the English department’s reserved day for tutorials. What this means is that if I want you to come see me during this time (to make up a test, review something you are having trouble with, etc.), my class takes precedence over all others for that day.I will frequently offer tutorials and have my room open during lunch on other days of the week. It’s always best to let me know if you are planning to drop by – sometimes I have meetings during this time that require me to be out of the classroom.Start and End of ClassEach day when you come in to class, please initial next to your name for my attendance records. Pick up any papers I have set out for you next to the sign-in sheet, take a seat in your assigned desk.At the end of class, please wait for me to dismiss you before putting up your materials.Restroom BreaksBellaire permits teachers to manage restroom breaks during class by giving students two passes per six-weeks-cycle. I would strongly prefer not to deal with a system of counting the number of times you need to relieve yourself and instead treat you like mature young adult capable of dealing with your bodily functions. With that said, if it appears as though you are missing class frequently due to bathroom breaks and it’s interfering with learning, I reserve the right to limit or stop your restroom breaks.You will not always be able to go to the bathroom at any moment of the class period. Part of the excitement of becoming an adult is accepting full responsibility for your excretory system. Here is a handy guide to knowing when it’s appropriate to ask to be excused in class:41433750no0no13716001270yes0yes39052502260600084772423558500209550064135Is it an explosive situation?0Is it an explosive situation?407670027940Wait.0Wait.018415Let me know immediately. Explosive situations should be very infrequent. If you’re having them on a regular basis, I need a doctor’s note.0Let me know immediately. Explosive situations should be very infrequent. If you’re having them on a regular basis, I need a doctor’s note.297180064770001171575228600no0no4191000200025yes0yes20955000Is it at the beginning of class?0Is it at the beginning of class?0525145Am I in the middle of a lecture/whole-class discussion/lesson?0Am I in the middle of a lecture/whole-class discussion/lesson?847090190500003905250180975004076700246380Wait. The start of class is when we go over lots of important information – due dates, instructions, etc. Since it’s close to the bell, you should have also had a chance to visit the restroom recently.00Wait. The start of class is when we go over lots of important information – due dates, instructions, etc. Since it’s close to the bell, you should have also had a chance to visit the restroom recently.2400300228600no0no17811761993900051435018415yes0yes8477258890left170815Wait. There is nothing more crushing to a teacher’s soul that to see a raised hand and believe that a student has a comment or a question about the material, only to discover that what you really want is to leave the room. Also, it makes everyone stop thinking about the lesson and start thinking about you in the bathroom.00Wait. There is nothing more crushing to a teacher’s soul that to see a raised hand and believe that a student has a comment or a question about the material, only to discover that what you really want is to leave the room. Also, it makes everyone stop thinking about the lesson and start thinking about you in the bathroom.3829050170815Is the class doing semi-independent work where you can be out of the room for a few minutes and easily catch up what you have missed?0Is the class doing semi-independent work where you can be out of the room for a few minutes and easily catch up what you have missed?342900047625yes0yes178117560325004676775238125477202512700yes, we’re taking a quiz or test00yes, we’re taking a quiz or test4086225161290Wait. Students are never permitted to go to the bathroom while they are taking a quiz or a test.0Wait. Students are never permitted to go to the bathroom while they are taking a quiz or a test.0104775Congratulations! You may be eligible for a trip to the bathroom!0Congratulations! You may be eligible for a trip to the bathroom!TardiesClass starts as soon as the bell rings. If you are tardy, you must go get a pass from the closest assistant principal before you can join class. Always. Three tardies equals an unexcused absence in the school’s system of accounting.If you come into class, put your belongings down, leave the room and the bell rings, you are tardy.AbsencesComing to class is essential for students who want to do well in Pre-AP English 1.You are never allowed to miss my class (or come late) to make up other work or finish tests or quizzes for other classes – I, of course, would never pull you from your other classes to make up work for me. If you have an extracurricular activity that will cause you to be out of my class, please discuss that with me prior to missing class. If the activity is in any way optional (e.g. practice for a performance), my response will be that you are not allowed to miss. English I is a core academic course. We have a challenging end-of-course exam that is required for you to graduate from high school, and you need to be in class to be prepared to perform well on it.If You Are AbsentReally try to arrive back at school with as much of your work completed as possible – I post everything I can electronically on the class website so that you are able to catch up. I understand that there are some days when you are so ill that literally nothing can get done, but I think often when we need stay home it’s because we’re contagious and we need a bit of a rest. Of course, I’ll allow you additional time to make up your work, but I think it’s very much in your interest to take care of whatever you can on schedule.When you return to school, do not come ask me if you missed anything while you were out. Of course you missed something while you were out – I spend great quantities of time planning that something to fill those 53 minutes of your day. Instead, check the class website (if at all possible, prior to your return) – it will have a much more thorough summary of what we did than I could possibly give you. After checking the website, please ask me if you have any further questions about the work that you need to make up.If you know that you are going to be absent ahead of time, feel free to ask if there is work that you can get in advance, but most of the time I’m revising lessons and schedules on a daily basis and your best bet will be to keep up with the class website while you are out.If you miss a quiz or test due to an absence, the only make-up session that will be offered for that assessment will be on the Friday of that week. Friday is the English department’s dedicated tutorials/make-up day, and work for this class takes precedence over all others on that day of the week – if another teacher tells you that you must come in to his or her class on that day and it conflicts with something that you need to do for English, let me know and I will email that teacher. (Please make sure that it’s not a situation where your other teacher told you that you could come to their tutorials any day of the week, and you waited until Friday.)It’s your responsibility to remember that you need to make up assessments that you have missed due to absence, and if you miss the make-up session your grade will be a zero.TechnologyYou are required to bring your laptop with you to English class every day, charged and ready to go.You must have a professional, reliable email address. It must be registered to your real first and last name. If you call yourself “Pony Princess” and send me an email, I will not know who you are.Electronic CorrespondencePlease, from the bottom of my English teacher’s heart, adhere to the basic rules of grammar and mechanics when you send me emails. I don’t expect you to compose a sonnet asking for help with your homework, but when I see an email you have sent with zero capital letters, a little part of my soul withers.I do not accept emailed homework assignments (I would not be able to keep on top of my email if I did).I will also expect you to have and use several different kinds of accounts related to learning technology. Some of these include:GradespeedGoogle (HISD has arranged for your to have an account)GoodreadsThe Houston ISD HUBMy class website is – I update it almost every day with a summary of the day’s lesson and activities. I expect you to check it once a day (preferably in the evening – I usually don’t have a chance to post until the day is over). There are lots of great resources on here to help you succeed in this class.PrintingThe library has facilities for students to print.Work LoadI work hard in this class, and I expect you to work hard in this class. With that said, I also place a high premium on making that work fun and interesting (because I don’t want to grade dull assignments any more than you want to write them), and connecting that work to my ultimate goal of helping you to emerge from your freshman year as a stronger reader and writer. Here are some things to keep in mind regarding how work will work in this class:This is a writing-intensive course. You can expect to do some writing every day during class and every night for homework. At first, it may feel like your wrist is going to fall off. It won’t. What will happen is that you will gradually become a more confident, competent, and faster writer. This is important preparation for your later years in high school and in college.You can expect to have homework most nights in class.Contact InformationYou may email me at echapman@. If you have a question or concern about the class or your grade, I think it is usually best for you, the student, to initiate contact with me rather than asking your parent to do it. (Parents are always welcome to contact me, but learning to talk with your teachers is an important life skill.)Our class website is . ................
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