Mrs. Kristan

Honors 11th grade Language Arts

Dear student (and parents/guardians),

Welcome to a new year here at Riverside High! I am very excited to be your English teacher and look forward to spending a lot of quality time together. We will be reading a wide range of novels, studying a number of American authors in various genres, honing our essay writing skills, and analyzing how the media affects our lives. This will be a busy year but a fun one!

Literature

  • Anthology: McDougal Littell, The Language of Literature-American Literature
  • Anchor novels:Grass Dancer, TheScarlet Letter, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and The Great Gatsby
  • Play: “The Crucible”
  • Vocabulary: Sadlier Oxford Level G (Student purchased consumable $12)

Assessed Activities-Individual, paired, team, and/or whole-class

  • Daily warm-ups such as MUGs, journals, or other quick-writes
  • Demonstration and oral language practice
  • Numerous essays and research projects including the “BIG IDEA” and reflection projects
  • Vocabulary enrichment through Sadlier-Oxford study and various LCPS sources
  • Individual Reading: It is required that each student read six (6) novels per quarter

REQUIRED supplies for this class:

  • Your RVHS agenda
  • 2 packages of loose-leaf paper
  • 2” three-ringed binder (heavy duty)
  • 2 sets of binder dividers (equaling at least 10 individual dividers)
  • Several pencils and 2 red pens

Highly encouraged:

  • 3 different colored highlighters
  • pocket style pencil holder to be left in your binder
  • 1 box of reinforcements (the sticky rings that fix torn paper holes)

Binder

Keeping organized is a key to success in this class and you are thus required to maintain a course binder. As you accumulate handouts, notes, articles and graded material, you are to place them in the prescribed sections. This binder acts as database and so you are NOT TO THROW ANYTHING AWAY until directed to do so. In the case of an assessment error in Phoenix, you are to present Mrs. Kristan with the graded assignment and she will amend the score. Your work is your proof of completion.

Grading Policy: The students will participate in a number of activities designed to foster learning and to enhance their reading and writing skills.

  • The students will be tasked with both formative and summative assessments. The summative assessments will comprise 90% of the individual student’s overall grade while formatives make up the remaining 10%.
  • Individual activities may be worth zero to as many points as are deemed appropriate by the teacher. No one assessment will be worth more than 15% of a student’s overall grade EXCEPT for the honors assessments.
  • Letter grades attached to activities will follow the standard A, A-, B+, etc., reporting format.

Absentee & Late Work:Honors and Academic

  • 10% of the total points earned will be subtracted for each class day that an assignment is late.
  • At five class days, the assignment receives 50% of the points earned.
  • After five class days, the material may be turned in for discussion or remediation but will not be accepted for points.

Retakes and Reassessments:

  • Mastery is the attainment of 93% and is the cut-off for the repetition of a summative assessment or unit exam
  • Students have 1 retake per unit exam
  • Students receive the higher of the two grades

Remediation:

  • Remediation must occur before a reassessment takes place
  • Remediation is not a gatekeeper exercise designed to keep students from re-assessing; instead it is a necessary step to prepare the student for the re-assessment.
  • When: Remediation and reassessment must take place before 2 weeks have elapsed from the date of the original assessment OR by the end of the next unit of study when appropriate.

Other important information:

  • The rigor of the second assessment will be commensurate with original
  • The highest grade a reassessing student can achieve is a 93%

Honors Assessment

In Loudoun County Public Schools, Honors-level high school English classes receive a 0.5 GPA weight (on a 4.0 scale), and we meet the state’s requirement through a, year-long assessment that is meaningful, authentic, and provide students with useful, on-going feedback on their progress over the course of the year. The “Big Question” project is designed to be what Grant Wiggins calls “educative assessments” in that the act of engaging in the assessment activity itself is a learning experience. Though you will work on it for a majority of the year, some of the component assignments will count as formative grades in each grading period. The final product or performance will count as 15% of the fourth quarter grade.

Please print the page below and turn it in to Mrs. Kristan at the start of our next class.

Mrs. Kristan

2016-2017Honors 11 English

Acknowledgement form

I understand that honors level coursework is demanding and that there is a level of expectation held by Mrs. Kristran, my parents, and myself. I have read the course description as outlined in the syllabus. I have read and understand the policies contained. I will abide by both the classroom rules and policies described in the Riverside High School agenda. I will bring MY agenda and required materials to class every day.

Print student’s name: ______

Block: ______

Student’s signature (on the line):

______Date: ______

Parent’s/guardian’s signature:

______Date: ______

Student contact information:

Email:______

Phone: ______

Parent contact information:

Name: ______

Email:______

Phone: ______