Viltz, Shantel
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Course Description: English I consist of literature in a variety of genres, such as poetry, drama, short stories, personal essays, and novels. The reading will vary from the traditional classics to more modern pieces of literature. Connections are made through thematic elements of different multi-cultural conflicts and various historical periods. Through reader response, students connect literature with their own experiences.
Course Objectives:
- Compare, contrast, analyze, and evaluate connections between text ideas and the world by analyzing and evaluating the relationship between literature and its historical period and culture.
- Analyze the development of themes across genres.
- Write complete research related assignments that develop a thesis, contain information from multiple sources, and conform to a style manual (MLA) for citing evidence.
Major Instructional Goals: Students will have opportunities to develop skills and knowledge to
- Compose effectively and purposely for diverse audiences through a variety of written models and media edited for organization, coherence, support, and standard English (including grammar, usage, punctuation, spelling, and capitalization).
- Analyze literature for content and interpretation and support a personal response by building a connection
- Gather, analyze, and organize information and literature to support a thesis or interpretation for oral, media, and written presentations and/or exhibitions.
Required Materials – To Be Bought and Brought: Grading Scale
- District issued laptop
- Required workbooks (provided by school) 100-91 A
- Personal Pair of Headphones 92-85 B
- Disinfectant wipes for personal use 84-75 C
- Ink Pens & White Out 74-67 D
- Post-it notes & Index cards 66-0 F
Personal Devices: Students are responsible for the upkeep of their own devices (laptop, tablet, cell phone, etc.); it is not the responsibility of LaGrange High School or CPSB if the device is lost, damaged, or stolen.
Assignments: Most assignments can be completed before the end of class and will be completed online. All assignments and dates will be posted on the white board in the classroom as well as the calendar in TEAMS. Anything turned in at a later date and/or time is considered late. Be sure to complete and turn in all assignments.
Late Work: Deadlines are important; therefore, all work must be submitted on time. Please respect this expectation. Late work will be penalized by points being deducted per day each day the assignment is late. If work is not turned in on time, points will be immediately deducted, resulting in a lowered letter grade. It is each student's responsibility to ask for any missing assignments or makeup work due to absences from the class. Be sure to check the calendar for missing work in the classroom/TEAMS. Students will be given one day for each day's absence to complete the missing work. Late work will be accepted up to 5 days after the due date. The points below are tentative, but they will loosely follow this pattern:
- Homework/class work/participation = 10 to 50 points
- Quizzes and writing assignments = 20 to 100 points
- Tests, essays, and projects = 50 to 200 points
Tardiness: Students are expected to be in their assigned seats when class begins. A student is tardy to school/class when he/she/they arrives while and after the tardy bell is ringing. The discipline action administered is based upon the number of tardies received.
Classroom Needs (donations GRACIOUSLY accepted for BONUS points): Boxes of tissues/Kleenex and paper towels. You are allowed 25 points per grading period by bringing any of the listed items only after all assignments have been completed and turned in.
Classroom Rules: All students will succeed. All students are expected to complete all assignments on time. You will determine the type of classroom we will have. Hopefully, by following these few basic expectations we will have a classroom that will be stimulating and productive for all.
- Respect yourself, the teacher, classroom, and other students.
- Keep all personal electronics put away unless in use for class purposes.
- Be responsible for your own learning.
- Clean up after yourself.
- Be on time, on task, and prepared every day.
Rm 301 Cell Phone Policy:
- All cellphones will be turned in at the beginning of class.
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- As you walk in you may place your phone in the bucket.
- You may also choose to charge your phone using the provided surge protector up front.
- All phones must be on silent and will be returned 5 minutes prior to the end of class bell.
- If you are caught with your phone during instruction times:
- 1st time-call home
- 2nd time-ISI recommendation
- 3rd time-recommend suspension
- All headphones, earbuds, and smart watches must be removed prior to entering the classroom.
- There will be time for leisure where you will be able to listen to music while you work (Starbucks Mode).
- If students are not actively working during this time, the privilege will be taken away.
Behavioral Expectations:
- HAVE A POSITIVE ATTITUDE: Demonstrate a cooperative willingness to participate, work, and learn.
- BE POLITE: Unless directed otherwise, raise your hand, and wait to be called on in order to speak. Listen attentively and without interruption to whoever is speaking, whether that is the teacher or another student. Use appropriate and polite language.
- BE RESPONSIBLE: As high school students I expect you to require very little redirection with regard to behavior. If your behavior is keeping others from learning, you will be removed from the classroom. Your parents will be notified of significant behavior issues. I sincerely hope I can focus all parental communication on positive achievements rather than behavior issues.
- AVOID DISTRACTIONS & DISRUPTIONS: Do not bring anything to class that is distracting to yourself, other students, or me. Avoid any actions or behaviors that are distracting or are in any way disruptive to the learning process in class.
Instructor’s Expectations: This is a high school course. As such, I expect that you will take the course seriously and behave in a mature manner. This means you are expected to:
- BE PREPARED. You must complete the readings and assignments. If you are unprepared to participate
your grade will be negatively impacted.
- PARTICIPATE. You must ask questions, participate in activities, and practice to be successful.
- BE RESPECTFUL. At times, our discussions may find people disagreeing over views. This is a healthy
part of the discourse. Please make sure to maintain a respectful tone. It is disrespectful and rude. Also, refrain from swearing. This will result in disciplinary action.
- USE PROPER ENGLISH. Different environments call for different forms of language. The way you speak in class should be more formal than the way you speak when hanging out with your friends. This is good practice when you are in the workforce.
PLAGIARISM: In the Internet age we live in it has become very easy to copy and paste work and claim it as our own. This is plagiarism in its worst form. However, plagiarism includes anytime you take information from someone else and include it in your work without giving credit, even if you put it into your own words. Throughout this class I will teach you more about how to properly credit your sources to avoid plagiarizing. Blatant plagiarism (the copy and paste type) will result in an automatic zero on the assignment. I will also follow any policies the school has in place regarding academic dishonesty/cheating. Other forms of plagiarism will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis; however, they all will have a negative impact on your grade. I may not catch every single case of plagiarism, but I do catch many of them. Remember, I know how to use Google too!
Final Thoughts: You will notice there is an emphasis on personal responsibility in this course. As you are getting older your responsibilities will increase. You must pay attention to due dates and make sure you are consistently attending class to be successful. My hope is that, in addition to learning the content, you will learn and master valuable life skills that will serve you forever. My goal for this class is for everyone to be successful. Please do not hesitate to ask for help if you need it.
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