COURSE GUIDE– Pre Ap.I/Eng I

Mrs. Emily Sowell

The following policies are in place to create a student-centered classroom that promotes learning and success. Students are expected to become familiar with all classroom procedures before the second day of class. Parents are encouraged to discuss these procedures with their child. Any questions or concerns regarding these guidelines should be brought to the teacher. To schedule an appointment, contact the high school secretary.

CLASSROOM SUPPLIES

Students are expected to bring the following materials to class each day. Students who arrive to class without the appropriate items will be asked to leave the classroom and acquire the items, resulting in an unexcused tardy.

  • Three Ring Binder (1 ½”)
  • Notebook Paper
  • 6 Dividers
  • Black or Blue Pens
  • Pencils
  • 3 x 5 Note cards
  • Assigned Work
  • Reading Materials (Textbook or otherwise)
  • Composition Notebooks
  • flash drive (recommended)
  • Student Planner (recommended)
  • Earbuds (recommended)

ORGANIZATIONAL REQUIREMENTS

Organization proves to be an essential skill in all aspects of life. Students will need to keep portfolios that track their grades, due dates, and work in a notebook. These portfolios will be randomly checked and graded.

GRADING SYSTEM

Grades will be calculated using the following:

Daily Work/Homework/Quizzes25%

Test/Exams25%

Notebook/Participation/Bell Ringers25%

Projects/ Oral Recitation25%

EXTRA-CREDIT WORK

Extra-Credit is available to students throughout the school year. The focus of these extra-credit assignments is to reward students who put forth extra effort and not to move a failing grade to passing standards. Students who have completed ALL daily assignments and wish to supplement their average may earn extra credit each six weeks. Extra Credit assignments must be completed at last one week prior to the end of the grading period. Extra credit is at the discretion of Mrs. Sowell based on attendance, discipline, and work ethic.

CLASSROOM RULES

In general, students should be self-disciplined and refrain from any behavior that disrupts or distracts from the learning process, specifically:

  • Be prepared to work when the bell rings,
  • Turn in all work on time,
  • Be respectful of the classroom,
  • Listen quietly while others are speaking, and
  • Participate actively in all classroom activities.

MAKE-UP WORK

When a student misses class for an excused reason, the student is responsible for obtaining and completing missed work. Work due on the day of absence is due on the first day the student returns. Due dates for detailed assignments may only be extended with special permission. Students who are absent because of an anticipated or extra-curricular absence must turn in all required work before leaving. Work missed due to an unexcused absence counts as work not attempted.

LATE WORK

Completing work within an outlined timeframe is a vital work skill. Assignments, therefore, receive no credit after the due date unless a student is absent from class with a valid excuse. Assignments are due immediately after the tardy bell rings. If a student wishes to turn in late work, at the discretion of the instructor, the student may complete a double spaced typed report (12 pt. times new roman) over the importance of meeting deadlines. The length of the report will be determined using the following scale: one class period is equivalent to one page.

COMPUTER RULES

  • Only use a computer with the teacher present.
  • Always login and logout of a computer appropriately.
  • Do not change any setting or configurations on a computer.
  • No external storage medium should be used in a school computer without the teacher first scanning for viruses and giving permission.

TARDIES

Students are to arrive on time and be prepared to work when the tardy bell rings. All tardies are unexcused unless the campus principal or school nurse documents otherwise. When a student is tardy they are responsible for obtaining a tardy slip from the office before returning to class. The teacher is not responsible for student instruction missed because of an unexcused tardy.

CONSEQUENCES

Should a student choose to not comply with a classroom rule or other classroom expectations, the following consequences apply:

  1. Verbal warning/reprimand indicating that the behavior is inappropriate.
  2. Copying sentences by hand100 times to be completed prior to next scheduled class period with completion of action plan.
  3. Disciplinary report to be completed prior to the next scheduled class period.
  4. Parent/ teacher/ principal conference with likelihood of in-school-suspension resulting in loss of exemptions.

Should any behavior, in the judgment of the teacher, be judged as severe, endangering the health and safety of other students, or which clearly exhibit non-compliant behavior, any or all steps may be waived.

STUDENT FAILURE

Students will pass this course if they give each assignment a “solid effort.” The most frequent causes for failing a six weeks grading period is failure to turn in work or to complete assignments. Students may not always know exactly what to do or how to do it this is a normal, but it is not an excuse for not attempting the work. Students should review homework assignments before the end of class and seek clarification when necessary. In all cases, the student should make a “solid” effort and submit their attempt.

CHEATING/PLAGIARISM

Cheating is obtaining assistance when the teacher does not authorize such assistance. Plagiarism is the borrowing of someone else’s words, thoughts, sentences, or arrangements without giving that person proper credit. If a student has any questions about what constitutes cheating or plagiarism, they should seek the teacher’s clarification. Students caught cheating or plagiarizing will not receive credit for the work and will be subject to additional disciplinary measures as dictated by the teacher and the campus principal.

STUDENT PUBLICATIONS

Students retain basic copyright for all work completed; however, by submitting work for course credit, a student authorizes the school district to publish the work on the Internet and/or in local publications. In such cases, the school district cannot be held liable for unauthorized duplication or copying of such material. Work containing information of an intimate or personal nature will not be published for public viewing. Questions or concerns about publishing student work should be addressed to the teacher prior to the completion of the assignment.

USE OF COMPUTERS and INTERNET

Students enrolled in this course will make extensive use of Internet resources to complete and publish written work. A copy of the district policy on use of electronic networking resources is sent home with each student the first day of school, is available in each campus office, and may be obtained from the district Internet web site. Students and parents are strongly encouraged to read this policy at the beginning of the school term. Parents who do not wish for their student to have access to the Internet should discuss alternative assignments with the teacher at the beginning of the school term.

PROPER HEADING

Last Name, First Name

Class Period

Date

Title

Failure to place proper heading on a paper will result in failure for the paper to be graded and thus will be given a grade of zero.

ORAL RECITATIONS

Students are required to recite an assigned literature selection every six weeks. The grade is determined using the following scale.

1st week of Six weeks – 100

2nd week of six weeks – 90

3rd week of Six weeks – 80

4th week of six weeks – 70

5th week of six weeks – 60

The extra credit poem will add ten points to the required poem grade. The extra credit poem must be completed before the extra credit deadline and after the required selection.

For example:

The required selection is completed the third week of a six weeks – student receives a 70. The following week the student recites the extra credit poem – the grade is now an 80.

Oral Interpretation (Pre A.P. Students only)

Students will be given the opportunity to explore written text through verbal, physical, and emotional delivery. Students will commit to memory and analyze rhetorical devices within the excerpt, assign verbal and physical interpretations to each element. Oral Interpretations will be due at the time of the oral recitation and will be graded separate for content, accuracy, and required elements. If the oral interpretation is considered unsatisfactory the students will be required to redo it. An oral interpretation is not required for the extra credit recitation.

Sample Oral Interpretation:

Student Last Name, First

Pre A.P

Date

Oral Interpretation: Title

Author: Name of author and brief biographical sketch.

Genre: Poetry, Drama, narrative fiction, non fiction, letter, speech, diary, etc.

Subject: What topic or issues are discussed?

Tone: Serious humor, melodramatic, melancholic, satire, dark, cheerful, uplifting, etc.

Message: Theme, purpose, or message. Why did the author write this piece?

Summary: A brief narrative describing what takes place or is described in the selection.

Rhetorical Devices:

  1. Name of Device: What does it communicate? What effect does it have on the selection?
  2. Name of Device: What does it communicate? What effect does it have on the selection?
  3. Name of Device: What does it communicate? What effect does it have on the selection?
  4. Name of Device: What does it communicate? What effect does it have on the selection?
  5. Name of Device: What does it communicate? What effect does it have on the selection?

Verbal Interpretation: Describe what voice inflections, tone, levels, etc. are required to portray the selection.

Physical Interpretation: Describe what gestures, facial expressions, movement, etc. needed to portray the selection.

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ORAL RECITATIONS

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1st six weeks

Required:

The Star Spangled Banner, Key

Extra Credit:

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Oh, say, can you see, Shelbyville School Song

by the dawn's early light,Hail Shelbyville High School,

What so proudly we hail'd hats off to you.

at the twilight's last gleaming?Ever you’ll find us,

Whose broad stripes and bright stars, Loyal and true.

thro' the perilous fight,Firm and undaunted,

O'er the ramparts we watch'd, Ever you’ll be.

were so gallantly streaming?Hail to the school we love.

And the rockets' red glare,Here’s a toast to you.

the bombs bursting in air,

Gave proof thro' the night

that our flag was still there.

O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

2nd Six WeeksExtra Credit

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Required

We Wear the Mask by Dunbar

We wear the mask that grins and lies,

It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,-

This debt we pay to human guile;

With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,

And mouth with myriad subtleties.

Why should the world be otherwise,

In counting all our tears and sighs?

Nay, let them only see us, while

We wear the mask.

We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries

To thee from tortured souls arise.

We sing, but oh the clay is vile

Beneath our feet, and long the mile;

But let the world dream otherwise,

We wear the mask!

X______Date:______

Grade: ______

From "The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,

Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore –

While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,

As of some one gently rapping - rapping at my chamber door.

"'Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door –

Only this and nothing more."

Ah, distinctly I remember, it was in the bleak December,

And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.

Eagerly I wished the morrow; - vainly I had sought to borrow

From my books surcease of sorrow - sorrow for the lost Lenore-

For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore-–

Nameless here for evermore.

X______Date:______

Grade: ______

3rd Six Weeks

Required

“Stopping by a Woods” by Robert Frost

Whose woods these are I think I know.

His house is in the village, though;

He will not see me stopping here

To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer

To stop without a farmhouse near

Between the woods and frozen lake

The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake

To ask if there is some mistake.

The only other sound's the sweep

Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,

But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep,

And miles to go before I sleep.

X______Date:______

Grade: ______

4th Six Weeks

Required

“Invictus” by William Ernest Henly

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

X______Date:______

Grade: ______

Extra Credit

"I heard a fly buzz…" by Emily Dickinson

I heard a fly buzz when I died;

The stillness round my form

Was like the stillness in the air

Between the heaves of storm.

The eyes beside had wrung them dry,

And breaths were gathering sure

For that last onset, when the king

Be witnessed in his power.

I willed my keepsakes, signed away

What portion of me I

Could make assignable,--and then

There interposed a fly,

With blue, uncertain, stumbling buzz,

Between the light and me;

And then the windows failed, and then

I could not see to see

X______Date:______

Grade: ______

Extra Credit

From “Caged Bird” by Maya Angelou

A free bird leaps

On the back of the wind

And floats downstream

Till its current ends

And dips his wing

In the orange sun rays

And dares to claim the sky…

The caged bird sings

With a fearful trill

Of things unknown

But longed for still

And his tune is heard

On the distant hill

For the caged bird sings of freedom.

X______Date:______

Grade: ______

5th Six Weeks

Required

from "A Psalm of Life" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Tell me not in mournful numbers,

"Life is but a empty dream!"

For the soul is dead that slumbers,

And things are not what they seem.

Life is real! Life is earnest!

And the grave is not its goal;

"Dust thou art, to dust returnest,"

Was not spoken of the soul.

Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,

Is our destined end or way;

But to act, that each tomorrow

Find us further than today.

Art is long, and Time is fleeting,

And our hearts, though stout and brave,

Still, like muffled drums, are beating

Funeral marches to the grave.

X______Date:______

Grade: ______

6th Six Weeks

Required

From “Hamlet” Shakespeare

To be, or not to be: that is the question:

Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer

The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,

Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,

And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;

No more; and by a sleep to say we end

The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks

That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation

Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;

To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;

For in that sleep of death what dreams may come

When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,

Must give us pause: there's the respect

That makes calamity of so long life;

X______Date:______

Grade: ______

Extra-Credit

American Sign Language Alphabet

(See Attached)

X______Date:______

Grade: ______

Extra Credit

“To Every Thing There Is a Season” King James Bible

To every thing there is a season,

And a time to every purpose under the heaven:

A time to be born, and a time to die

A time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted

A time to kill, and a time to heal;

A time to break down and a time to build up;

A time to weep, and a time to laugh;

A time to mourn, and a time to dance;

A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;

A time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

A time to get, and a time to lose;

A time to keep, and a time to cast away;

At time to rend and a time to sew;

A time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

A time to love, and a time to hate;

A time of war, and a time of peace.

X______Date:______

Grade: ______

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Student Information:

Last Name:______

First Name:______

Address: ______

City, State, Zip:______

Home Phone: ______

Grade level: ______Course: ______Period:____

I hereby acknowledge receipt of the course guide. I have read the information and agree to abide by the standards, policies, and procedures as defined. Should my behavior not follow the rules and regulations described in the course guide, I will be subject to the consequences defined.

______

Student SignatureDate

Parent/Guardian Information

Name(s):______

Cell phone:______

Email: ______

Other important information:______

______

I have read the expectations for my child as outlined by the course guide.