Guidelines for Mrs. McLaughlin’s English Class
I. Class Participation – Every day is worth three points to your grade. You must come to class prepared and ready to pay attention to receive the points. You may loose points for the following reasons:
A. Skipping class (All points are lost for the day.)
B. Being thrown out of class (All points are lost for the day.)
C. Not coming to class prepared, i.e. forgetting books, notebooks, pencils, pens, or anything else needed for class that day. (One point for each forgotten item.)
D. Misbehavior (One to all points may be lost. It depends upon the behavior.)
E. Note: no more than two bathroom passes per week.
II. Written work
A. All written work and assignments to be handed in must have a heading. (Instructions for this will be gone over in class.) Most of your written work will be handed in to turnitin.com; therefore, it will be computer generated and saved on your school folder.
B. All hand-written work must be legible.
C. Notebook paper or typing paper must be used for all turned in assignments.
D. All assignments must be either written in blue or black ink or computer generated.
E. No paper to be handed in should ever have ragged edges. If it does, it will be returned and considered late. Have pride in your work. Be neat.
III. Late work policy
A. If an assignment is late, it is a 0.
B. If you are absent, it is YOUR responsibility to see me about make-up work. I will NOT track you down. If you do not see me, your work will be considered late and will receive a 0.
C. If you miss a test or quiz, you have one week to make it up. If you fail to make arrangements, you receive a 0.
D. Book evaluations may NOT be turned in late. If they are, the grade is a 0.
IV. Cheating
Cheating will not be tolerated in any form. If a student is caught cheating, the entire assignment, project, or test will be given a 0.
This includes, but is not limited to, plagiarizing, copying homework or any other assignment, and cheating on tests.
V. Grading policy
A. Grades will be done using a strict point system.
B. Class participation, tests, quizzes, homework, book evaluations, assignments, compositions, projects, and notebooks may determine the point totals.
C. There will be NO WRITTEN EXTRA CREDIT outside of class extra credit. On some tests, there may be bonus questions. During poetry and Romeo and Juliet, extra memorization may be a possibility.
VI. Individual or parent conferences
A. If you wish to talk to me about anything, just ask. I will make
time in my schedule to see you.
B. If your parents wish to talk to me, have them call me at the school at extension 3211. I will get back to them as soon as possible to
make arrangements to see them. They may also email me at ; this is probably the easiest way to contact me.
VII. Class content
A. Grammar
1. Sentence Patterns
2. Phrases
3. Clauses
4. Types of sentences (simple, compound, complex, and compound/complex); combining sentences
5. Mechanics (Comma rules and other punctuation)
B. Literature – including literary elements
1. Short Stories (Not all of these may be read)
a. “The Most Dangerous Game”
b. “The Lady or the Tiger”
c. “The Red-Headed League”
d. “The Invalid’s Story’
e. “The Cask of Amontillado”
f. “Beware of the Dog”
g. “The Gift of the Magi’
h. “The Scarlet Ibis”
i. “The Necklace”
j. “The Interlopers”
k. Or others from their literature book
2. Novels (Not all of these will be read by every class.)
a. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
b. A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’ Court
c. Animal Farm
d. Great Expectations
e. A Christmas Carol
f. Call of the Wild
g. To Kill a Mockingbird
3. Drama
Romeo and Juliet
4. Poetry (Student will be introduced to a variety of poetry forms and terms.)
C. Writing
1. Writer’s Notebooks
a. Writer’s notebooks are a weekly in class writing assignment to encourage quick responses to various prompts at an appropriate grade level.
b. WNs are required to have a certain number of words and be written at a particular grade level. Both of which are raised throughout the year as the students’ writing improve.
c. WNs are assigned and completed within one class period
and are turned in to turnitin.com. Both word count and readability are to be put at the end of the assignment. They must be turned in during the class period that they are assigned. They may not be turned in late. Students must use the class time that they are given. They are graded on both their length and their readability level.
2. In class essays
3. Compositions
D. Vocabulary – Besides the vocabulary that is incorporated into the above listed literature, there will be a list of ten words given every week. Day 6 will be the spelling/vocabulary quiz day, as well as the Writer’s Notebook Day.
Student Signature ______
Parent Signature ______