Basha High School
English 12 Syllabus / Management Plan
Instructor: Ms. Samatha Canuto
Phone: x2149 when you call the school
E-Mail:
Web Site: Use the link on the school website
Room: C-109
BHS Mission Statement: Benevolence, Honor, and Scholarship
Course Description:
English 12 is a challenging course designed to build upon prior academic skills, as well as prepare students for higher education and real-world tasks. Reading and writing components are a part of the curriculum and will be heavily emphasized. Critical thinking skills will be utilized in preparation for their transition into life after high school. The multi-disciplined class serves several purposes: to prepare students for vocational and/or collegiate opportunities after high school; to prepare students for college entrance exams; and to strengthen their existing education. This course is aligned to the common core (national) standards.
Upon completion of this course students should possess:
· A stronger use of vocabulary—used appropriately and effectively
· The ability to use a variety of sentence structures within a written composition
· The ability to use logical organization, enhanced by specific detail (included within essay writing)
· The ability to understand various uses of literary analysis, such as mood and tone, figurative language; symbolism, point of view, and character development
· The ability to create persuasive arguments based on readings, research, and/or personal experience
· The ability to research a topic, use valid sources, and report findings in a formal structure according to the Modern Language Association (MLA)
· The ability to analyze different genres of material ranging from poetry, short stories, drama, novels and non-fiction
· The ability to move effectively through the stages of the writing process, with careful attention to inquiry and research, drafting, revising, editing, and review
· The ability to avoid plagiarism
Required Materials:
· A 3-ring binder (1 to 1 ½ preferably), or section of one, to be used exclusively for English/ folder of some sort to keep English papers organized.
· Pens: (For most assignments, purple, black or blue. Red pens are allowed for revision and editing purposes only. Students should also have either a mechanical or standard pencil for Scantron tests, drafts, etc.
· Paper (College Ruled)
· Highlighter
· A personal dictionary or thesaurus for home and classroom use.
· A gmail account (a free tool that can be set up from home or the library)
· Access to a Windows or Apple computer (computers available in library)
· A flash drive for electronic storage of research and writing assignments (strongly recommended)
Management Plan
Grading:
90%-100% = A
80%-89% = B
70%-79% = C
60%-69% = D
59% or below = F
How grades are weighted:
English / 9 / Honors 9 / 10 / Honors 10 / AP Eng Lang / 11 / AP Eng Lit / 12In-class assignments / 25% / 20% / 20% / 15%
Writing / 30% / 35% / 40% / 45%
4 Year Project / 20% / 15% / 15% / 15%
Formal Assessments / 25% / 30% / 25% / 25%
Tardies:
A tardy is defined as not being in your seat ready to go when the bell rings. On your 4th and 5th tardies, the teacher will call home and you will be assigned after school detention for 30 minutes. All tardies after 5 will result in a referral and administration will determine the consequences thereafter.
Homework/Attendance Policies:
· Late Work: One day late will result in a 10% deduction from the grade. Two or more days late will result in up to 50% credit for the assignment
· Excused absences: You have as many days to make up work for an excused absence as days missed, except in the case of excessive absences or required project assignments. For larger or extended assignments absence will not be an excuse for turning in the work late. Test make-up must be set-up between the student and teacher immediately after missing a test.
· After eleven absences student may be dropped from my class roster.
Cheating and Plagiarism:
Cheating and plagiarism does not exist in my/your English class. For a first offense I will call home, conference with the student, require that the work be redone, and administration will be informed. On your second offense, administration will determine the appropriate consequence.
Conference Hour:
Conference period will be on Wednesday and Thursday from 9:17 - 9:45. During this time students are only allowed out of the classroom if they have a pass. The library is not available during conference. Students will use this time to study or read.
General Classroom Management/Class Rules:
Basha High School teachers are charged with providing the best education possible, not only to meet National Common Core Standards, but also provide students with an opportunity to make an educated decision on their future. In order to achieve that end, the classroom environment must be fair and equitable for all students. Thus, please observe the following general rules. Individual teachers may have other rules for their classroom environments.
All of the policies that you are about to read about are based upon district and school guidelines. The information can be summed up into five basic expectations listed below and posted in the classroom:
1. Be on Time
2. Come Prepared
3. Engage in Learning (participate)
4. Play Nice
5. Open Your Mind
Classroom Environment
· Students are expected to have an outside reading book with them everyday
· Be respectful of yourself, your classmates, and me—your teacher. This means no talking while someone else is talking, no lewd, crude, socially unacceptable language, name-calling, or profanity, roaming the classroom, or disruptive behavior.
· Cell phones, pagers, I Pods, MP3 players, CD players, or any other similar type of distraction will only be allowed in class at the discretion of the teacher. Please turn all ringers off. Do not text or make/take phone calls in class—this will result in the confiscation of the phone. The phone will be sent to the front office—where the administration will determine its retrieval process. If an emergency arises, please do not hesitate to inform me…we will assess the situation.
· Defacing school property, such as desks, books, or walls will not be tolerated. Let’s make this room something WE can be proud of!
· Passes will be issued for students to use to leave the room on a limited/emergency basis. Please talk with me and I will work with you; however, arrangements should be made to take care of personal needs between classes. Please keep in mind the tardy policy.
· Parents can access their child’s grades and assignments by going to the school’s website and clicking on Our School and then Accessing Grades. Follow the instructions to set up an account.
· All individuals have a right to an educational environment free from bias, prejudice and bigotry. As members of the Basha High School educational community, students are expected to refrain from participating in acts of harassment that are designed to demean another student’s race, gender, ethnicity, religious preference, disability or sexual orientation.
Discipline Process
There are three steps that I will take if a student is disrupting the learning of others in our classroom.
· FIRST OFFENSE: Speak with you directly
· SECOND OFFENSE: Removal from desk &/or classroom. Call/Email your parents/guardians to discuss the situation, and a referral to the office.
· FURTHER OFFENSE: Refer you to your administrator with a referral, and discuss the situation with the administration
PLAGIARISM
WHAT IS PLAGIARISM? Materials from http://www.ehhs.cmich.edu/~mspears/plagiarism.html, with permission from Michael Spears
One HUGE misconception that students have is that rewriting something is not plagiarism, because they are "putting it in their own words." Well, if the source is not officially acknowledged, IT IS PLAGIARISM. Copying and pasting actually accounts for only a small percentage of plagiarism. The majority of plagiarism is a result of text manipulation. The accessibility of the Internet makes plagiarism very tempting, and unintentional plagiarism springs from this as well. Simply stated, plagiarism is using someone's work without giving the appropriate credit. This can mean several things...
1. Copying and pasting text from on-line media, such as encyclopedias is plagiarism.
2. Copying and pasting text from any web site is plagiarism.
3. Transcribing text from any printed material, such as books, magazines, encyclopedias or newspapers, is plagiarism.
4. Simply modifying text from any of the above sources is plagiarism.
5. For example, replacing a few select words using a Thesaurus does not constitute original work.
6. Using photographs, video or audio without permission or acknowledgment is plagiarism.
7. You may use such a photographic, video or audio source with or in a paper or multimedia presentation that you create, as long as you do not profit from it or use it for any purpose other than the original assignment. Youmust include the source in your bibliography.
8. Using another student's work and claiming it as your own, even with permission, is academically unethical and is treated as plagiarism. This is known as "collusion" and is bad. Very bad...
9. Acquiring work from commercial sources is academically unethical and is treated as plagiarism.
10. Translation from one language to another is not using your own words. Translations fall under the guidelines for quotations, summaries and paraphrasing.
11. Using an essay that you wrote for another class/another purpose without getting permission from the teacher/professor of both the current class and the class for which the original work was used is SELF-PLAGIARISM and is basis for consequence or penalty. I am sure this seems ridiculous to some of you, but that is how it is. Sorry about your luck! Do something original and put forth some effort, why don't you?!?! You may use your previous work as a basis for new research of course, but include the original work in your bibliography.
Parts of the following movies all rated PG-13 or less may be shown at the discretion of your teacher:
Beowulf A Knight’s Tale King Arthur
Hamlet The Lion King Romeo and Juliet
Finding Forrester Aeon Flux Gattica
The Importance of Being Earnest
Parts of the following TV shows may be shown during our satire/sarcasm/hyperbole unit:
Psyche The Simpsons Big Bang Theory
Student’s and Parent’s (s’) Signatures/E-Mail Addresses
To acknowledge that you and your parents have read the information on the English 12 required course syllabus, and acknowledge the procedures embedded therein please sign below.
Please detach and return your signed syllabus to Ms. Canuto by Friday, July 26, 2013
Student’s name: ______Student’s signature: ______Date ______
E-Mail address (Please be Clear Here): ______
Cell (Optional): ______
Parents Printed Name(s) : ______
Parent’s (s’) signature(s): ______Date______
Parent’s (s’) signature(s): ______Date______
Phone(s) #:______
E-Mail address (Please be Clear Here): ______
Preferred method of contact______