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HONORS ENGLISH 10 MANIFESTO

Welcome to Mr. Bailey’s Honors English 10 class. Here are many things you will need to know if you would like to be successful in this class:

SUMMER READING: If you are in this class, you should have already read the following:

  • Everything I Never Told You -Celeste Ng
  • Freakonomics -Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner

SUPPLEMENTAL TEXTBOOKS

Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

1984 by George Orwell

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller

(Some of the above books will be provided for the students. Others can be downloaded for free or borrowed from other students who have already read them.)

GRADING POLICY

Here at CHAMPS, students are given letter grades sans plusses nor minuses. Due to CHAMPS’ grading policy, your grades are rounded up (i.e., an 89.6% counts as an “A.”). Here is the standard breakdown:

90% or higher = A

80%--89% = B

70%--79% = C

60%--69% = D

59% or lower = F

WARNING:

Mr. Bailey does not believe in “grade inflation” (i.e., the raising of a grade at the end of the semester for no other reason other than to bump a student up to the next grade). Therefore, it is important that you work the entire semester towards the grade that you wish to see on your report card.

TARDY POLICY

We have a new tardy policy here at CHAMPS that you should acquaint yourself with. In addition, there are several other punishments for tardiness for this class.

There will usually be two or three quizzes in this class every week. Some will be regularly scheduled and some will appear out of nowhere. These quizzes are generally worth somewhere between twenty and fifty points and are usually given at the very beginning of class. If you come to class after the tardy bell rings (but within five minutes of the bell ringing), you may take the quiz, however you will be docked 50% of the grade you would have received. If you come to class five minutes late (or later), you may not take the quiz at all and you will not be given any opportunities to make it up.

If you come to class late for a major test (which is usually worth 100 points or more), you will have 20% of your grade that you would have received docked.

Also, if you come in late (but within five minutes) of a quiz or a test, you will not be given extra time to complete it. Therefore, you may not have time to finish it.

Oh, and if you have the chutzpah to walk in late to class brazenly carrying something like a coffee from Starbucks, prepare to have it taken from you and thrown away.

NOTE: If you miss one or two quizzes due to this policy, it will probably not have an adverse effect on your overall grade, being that there will be so many quizzes throughout the year. If you are consistently tardy though, your grade will in all likelihood be negatively affected.

LATE WORK POLICY

Mr. Bailey will always give you a sufficient amount of time to complete whatever project or homework assignment he gives. This work is due at the very beginning of class. If the work is turned in after it is due (but before a week after the due date), you will be docked 50%. Work that is more than one week (i.e., five school days) late will not be graded.

Work that is late due to excused absences will not be affected by this policy, if it is brought in on the first day the student returns to class. Work that is late due to unexcused absences will not be graded at all.

EXCUSES, EXCUSES

Homework is due at the beginning of class. If you bring in work to class on a day in which you are tardy, you will have 50% of the points you would have received deducted. However, you will be given one opportunity to come to me on the day an assignment is due and offer me an excuse about why you don’t have it (e.g., My printer ran out of ink, I left my homework in the printer, I left my homework in my beach house, etc.). You will then be given until the next day we have class to turn it in without losing any points (This offer might not be valid for major assignments such as book reports, essays, etc.) You will only get to do this once per semester. After that one time, no excuses will be accepted at all (Not even, “My dad is going to fax you my work so you’ll have it by the end of the day.”) If you can go the whole semester without asking for an excuse for a late assignment, you will get 20 extra credit points.

CHEATING/PLAGIARISM POLICY

If you choose to turn in work that you yourself did not actually create (e.g., you cut and pasted it directly off the internet, a friend of yours did the work for you, you and a peer turn in remarkably similar works, you have a parent who “edits” your work to the point where you yourself have no idea what is on the paper, you include phrases such as “you work hard for what you want in life, that your word is your bond…”), you will receive a zero for that assignment, regardless of how little or how much of it you plagiarized. You and your parents will also receive an email regarding the situation and the fact that you cheated or plagiarized will be added into your Behavior Log in the Q for all of your other teachers and administrators to see. Repeated instances of cheating or plagiarizing will result in a referral to the Assistant Principal for further disciplinary action and possible removal from Honors English. It has been Mr. Bailey’s experience that Honors students are just as likely to cheat or plagiarize as non-Honors students. Don’t be one of them. You’ll never prosper.

BATHROOM POLICY

If you need to use the bathroom during class time, go ahead and ask Mr. Bailey. Maybe he’ll let you go; maybe he won’t. The second time you ask him, he might let you go as well.

However, the third time you ask him if you may use the restroom during class time, you will have to copy by hand all of the following translations (These will be known simply as “Bathroom Translations”):

ENGLISH: Thank you for allowing me to use the bathroom.

SPANISH: Gracias por permitirme utilizar el baño.

FRENCH: Merci de me permettre d'employer la salle de bains.

GERMAN: Danke für das Erlauben mir, die Toilette zu Badezimmer.

ITALIAN: Grazie per permettere che me usi la stanza da bagno.

PORTUGESE: Obrigado permitindo que eu use o banheiro.

MORSE CODE: - .... .- -. -.- / -.-- --- ..- / ..-. --- .-. / .-.. . - - .. -. --. / -- . / ..- ... . / - .... . / -... .- - .... .-. ------.-.-.-

You will have to do this for homework; you may not work on it in class. (If you are working on it in class, Mr. Bailey will just throw it away and you’ll have to start from scratch.) Mr. Bailey will not grade your upcoming vocabulary homework until you turn in the above translations.

The fourth time that you ask Mr. Bailey if you may use the restroom, you will have to copy all of the above translations twice. The fifth time that you ask him, you will have to copy the translations three times. The sixth time that you ask him you will have to copy the translations four times. And so on and so on.

If you can produce an actual doctor’s note in which said doctor informs me of a specific medical condition in which you might need to utilize the bathroom facilities at a moment’s notice, I will excuse you from the above assignment.

By the way, the above translations (save for the Spanish and Morse Code ones) come from the Babel Fish website and therefore are in all likelihood extremely inaccurate. (Lo siento.)

If you can go the whole semester without interrupting class to ask to go to the bathroom, you will be given 20 extra credit points on the day of the finals.

GUM/FOOD/DRINK POLICY

As per CHAMPS policy, you may not chew gum, eat food, nor drink anything but water from a clear plastic container during class. You may not bring in any open containers of drinks (excepting water) into class. (NOTE: A drink with a plastic, fast food style lid will still be considered an open container.) If you do bring these illicit items into class, they will be thrown away and you will not get any money from Mr. Bailey or CHAMPS to reimburse you. If you bring food or closed-container drinks into class, make sure they are put away in your bag or under your desk so that they won’t tempt you into enjoying them during class.

Each time you are caught chewing gum, you will have to spit it out and then you will have to copy by hand the following:

Oompa Loompa doopadee do/I've got another puzzle for you/Oompa loompa doopadee dee/If you are wise you'll listen to me/Gum chewing's fine when it's once in a while/It stops you from smoking and brightens your smile/But it's repulsive, revolting, and wrong/chewing and chewing all day long/The way that a cow does/Oompa Loompa doopadee dah/Given good manners, you will go far/You will live in happiness too/Like the Oompa Loompa doopadee doo

If you are caught eating or drinking anything (save for water in a clear plastic container) during class, you will have to copy the following on your own time:

I don't care if you're full/Just eat it, eat it/Open up your mouth and feed it
Have some more yogurt, have some more spam/It doesn't matter if it's fresh or canned
Just eat it, eat it, /Don't you make me repeat it
Have a banana, have a whole bunch/It doesn't matter what you had for lunch
Just eat it, eat it/If it's gettin' cold, reheat it
Have a big dinner, have a light snack/If you don't like it, you can't send it back
Just eat it, eat it, Get yourself an egg and beat it
Have some more chicken, have some more pie/It doesn't matter if it's boiled or fried
Just eat it, eat it/Don't you make me repeat it
Have a banana, have a whole bunch
It doesn't matter what you had for lunch
Just eat it, eat it, eat it, eat it

If you can go the entire semester without eating food in class, drinking liquids that are not entirely made up of H2O, or chewing gum, you will be given ten extra credit points on the day of the finals.

OTHER THINGS YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO DO IN CLASS:

  • Homework for other classes (Prepare to have the homework crumpled up and thrown away).
  • Chatting with your fellow students while the class is in session.
  • Anything that looks at all like tagging. (Referrals and parental emails will be given to repeat offenders.)
  • Sag your pants (even if the underwear that your mom bought you is particularly awesome and free of potentially embarrassing stains). On weekends, please feel free to wear your pants in as idiotic a manner as will delight you and your similarly-clad peers.
  • Playing with any electronic device (e.g., cell phones, Playstation Vitas, Speak & Spells, microwave ovens). These items will be confiscated until the end of class and a Behavior Log will be sent to your parents, Repeat offenders will have their electronic devices sent to the office where a parent will have to pick it up. Ringing cell phones will also be confiscated.
  • Putting on makeup or doing anything else for the sole purpose of aesthetically enhancing your face (e.g., eyebrow tweezing, tongue piercing, spray tanning, teardrop tattooing, self-injecting Botox, etc.)
  • Setting fire to or defenestrating any objects.

THINGS YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO SAY IN CLASS:

Just like with shouting “Fire” in a crowded theater, free speech does have its limits in this classroom. Unless the ACLU intervenes, here are some things you are not allowed to say in my class.

  • “May I borrow a pencil?” (All of the scantron quizzes require a No. 2 pencil. Mr. Bailey will not give you one no matter how nicely you ask. Bring your own.)
  • “The bell’s going to ring!” (No one in the class is as aware of when the bell is going to ring as Mr. Bailey is. Therefore, you have no need of yelling this or any similar statement, such as “But it’s almost time to go!”)
  • Any statement that serves only to insult or demean any of your fellow students or any employee of CHAMPS.
  • Profanity (There might be exceptions to this however. Some of the literature that we will be reading and discussing contains profanity. Therefore, profanity might be acceptable in specific situations, when used to help further your education.)

Basically, all of these just boil down to Rule Number #1: DON’T ACT STUPID!

TYPING AND PROPERLY HEADING WORK

All homework (including major assignments such as essays) must be typed and printed. The paper needs to be properly headed on the upper left side of the page. For instance, if there is a student named Veruca Salt who has Honors English 10 during Period 3, and she has her Vocabulary Homework #1 assignment due on August 26, 2016, the heading on her paper should look like this:

Veruca Salt

Mr. Bailey

Honors English 10—Period 3

August 28, 2017

Vocabulary #1

If you incorrectly head your work, you will receive a mark that will say “I.H.” (which stands for Incorrectly Headed). There is a two point penalty for incorrectly heading your work during the first semester and a five point penalty during the second semester.

VOCABULARY HOMEWORK

Most every week, there will be vocabulary homework. Mr. Bailey will give you ten words and their parts of speech (e.g., verb, noun, adjective, preposition, etc.).

On the last day of the school week that we have class, the vocabulary homework will be due. There will also be a quiz about the words’ definitions and occasionally their spelling. Here is how to do the vocabulary homework: Pretend that this is one of your vocabulary words:

tenacious (adjective)

You should type and print something like this:

tenacious (adjective) holding fast; characterized by keeping a firm hold

James kept a tenacious grip on the leash because he knew his dog might at any moment want to run across the street and attack the UPS man.

Here is what you see above:

The word (tenacious)

The part of speech (adjective)

The definition (holding fast; characterized by keeping a firm hold—This may be copied directly from a legitimate dictionary and it will not be seen as plagiarism)

A completely original sentence that nobody has every written before (James kept a tenacious grip on the leash because he knew his dog might at any moment want to run across the street and attack the UPS man.)

The above would receive all three points. You MUST include an original sentence, being that it’s the only part of the vocabulary homework that you are actually creating on your own. If you do not include an original sentence, you will receive zero points for that word, even if you follow all of the other steps.

You will lose points however for the following types of sentences:

My brother is very tenacious. (This sentence does not in any way prove to me that you actually understand the word’s meaning, even though it is a complete, grammatically correct sentence.)

My favorite Tenacious D song is “Dio.” (This sentence also does not prove that you actually understand the meaning of the word “tenacious.”)

I called my sister a tenacious because she’s always grabbing onto my hand tightly. (This sentence would lose points because tenacious is being used incorrectly as a noun, not an adjective. You always have to use the part of speech that you are assigned, even if the word has more than one part of speech, e.g., orange, building, lead, etc.

A tenacious grip on my arm (This would be the worst sentence because it’s not really a sentence—it’s a fragment—but more importantly, it was plagiarized directly off the internet. If there is even one offense such as this on your homework, you will receive a zero for the entire assignment.) (NOTE: I usually catch about 10% of my Honors Sophomores plagiarizing their homework in this fashion. Try not to join their ranks.)

In addition, you will also eventually lose points on sentences if they include any of the spelling or grammatical mistakes that I will cover later throughout the year. E.g., if you have an inappropriate apostrophe on your vocabulary homework after I have covered apostrophes, a point will be deducted.

JOURNALS

On most of the second days of the week, there will be a Journal Topic on the board. You will be given about 15-20 minutes in class to respond to the topic in your journal. Your journal must be an actual notebook. There should not be anything in your journal except for your journal entries. You should not have notes for any other classes, nor should you have notes about anything else. In fact, you will lose five points for every piece of paper in your journal that has writing on it that is not a response to one of the journal topics. Mr. Bailey will not accept anything other than a complete notebook when collecting journals (meaning, he will not accept loose pieces of paper, even if they are stapled or clipped together.)