Mr. Polish’s Independent Study Creative Writing Syllabus

Writing is exploration. You start from nothing and learn as you go.

~E.L. Doctorow

Writing is an art form of infinite possibilities. If you can think it, say it, write, or dream it, your idea can be made into a story, a poem, a novel, a comic book or a screenplay. The only limitations are your imagination and your time.

This class will be very different from your academic classes. In particular, you are going to do your work within two different contexts:

1. As a class, we will discuss books, poems, short stories, and other forms of writing. This means that your respectful engagement in class is essential to your grade. Every week you will receive a 5 point grade based on how often you participate in class and whether or not you stay on task. Points will be deducted for tardies, unexcused absences, sleeping in class, doing work for other classes, using a cell phone, using facebook or any other website unrelated to what we are doing in class, putting on make-up, eating, chewing gum loudly, messing around with other students, leaving class without getting permission, and/or rude behavior. If you end up getting “negative” points for one week, points will then be deducted from the previous week.

2. You will generally get time in class to do creative writing assignments, but if you do not finish your work, you will also be expected to do write outside of class. Assignments will be posted to

Homework must be printed and handed in at the beginning of your school day unless you prefer to e-mail me your work before the school day begins. Most of the assignments will require you to come up with your own poetry and stories. Don’t even think about plagiarizing anybody as the consequence will be an automatic zero on the assignment and a phone call home. If this happens more than once, you may be expelled from the program.

I want to give you a voice in this classroom and am willing to share some of my power with you. However, with power comes responsibility. If you want to be a part of a class in which you are allowed to speak and be heard, you must:

  1. Be respectful in class. We are going to discuss our feelings, beliefs, and opinions about non-fiction and literature, but we cannot do this if any one person is not on task or making problems with other folks. That means you must:

Raise your hand when you want to speak and wait until you are called on or you will lose discussion points.

Never put anyone down verbally or non-verbally. Doing so will lead to the automatic loss of 3 discussion points for the week.

No hate speech. Regardless of whether or not you think you are “just joking around,” using hate speech will cost you ALL of the week’s discussion points, lead to an automatic e-mail/phone call home and possibly a referral to the vice-principal.

Pay attention in class. Doing other homework, reading things unrelated to the class, eating, passing notes, playing video games, talking, using music devices, putting on make-up or playing with cell phones is NOT ALLOWED under any circumstances and will lead to the automatic loss of 3 discussion points for the week.

  1. Be respectful outside of class. What is said in the class stays in the class.
  1. Be engaged with the class. You are ultimately responsible for your learning. You need to respectfully speak up if you are having problems with the material, me, or any of your peers. You can find me in my room during lunch every day except Tuesday if you need to talk. If you cannot make it at that time, feel free to e-mail me at .
  2. Show up on time. Be in your seat and ready to work when the bell rings. ______

MR. POLISH’S GRADING SCALE

WRITING ASSIGNMENTS/PROJECTS: 90% of the grade

CLASS PARTICIPATION: 10% of the grade

If you do not do your HW and/or your grades begin to drop, expect to receive a phone call home. If your grades continue to drop, you might be dropped from Independent Study.

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Course OUTLINE

UNIT 1: Fables & Fairy Tales

UNIT 2: Songs

UNIT 3: Poetry

UNIT 4: Short Stories

UNIT 5: Comic books

UNIT 6: Fan Fiction

Mr. Polish’s RULES

If you want to avoid problems in your classes, you are also going to have to adapt to some rules. These rules are NON-NEGOTIABLE and will take effect immediately.

Food IS NOT ALLOWED DURING CLASS and will be taken away if I see it out after the first warning. Having it out will lead to the automatic loss of 3 discussion points for the week.

Cell phones/electronic devices are NOT ALLOWED UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES and will be taken away if I see them out after the first warning. Having any of these things out will lead to the automatic loss of 3 discussion points for the week.

Music devices are NOT ALLOWEDunless I give you specific permission to use one while you are working.

Passing notes, putting on make-up, doing other homework, chewing gum loudly, reading unrelated materials, leaving class without getting permission, or sleeping in class are NOT ALLOWED UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES and doing any of these things will lead to the automatic loss of at least 3 discussion points for the week.

Basic Everyday Rules:

Show up to class ON TIME.

TURN OFF cell phones, pagers, iPods, PSPs and all other electronic gadgets and doohickeys BEFORE CLASS.

BRING your own notebook, paper, readings, books, dictionary, pens, pencils, and erasers to class. Not bringing your notebook, or pen/pencil will lead to the automatic loss of 2 discussion points for the week.

BE PREPARED to work, participate, and ask lots of questions AS SOON AS THE BELL RINGS.

RAISE YOUR HAND BEFORE you speak and WAIT TO BE CALLED ON. Speaking out of turn will lead to the automatic loss of 1 discussion point.

ALWAYS ASK PERMISSION before walking out of class for any reason.

IF YOU DO NOT FOLLOW THESE RULES YOU WILL:

1ST – RECEIVE A VERBAL WARNING AND/OR LOSE A DISCUSSION POINT

2ND – LOSE ANOTHER POINT, HAVE A CONFERENCE WITH ME DURING LUNCH, AND/OR

BE MOVED TO ANOTHER SEAT

3RD – LOSE ANOTHER POINT ANDRECEIVE A PHONE CALL &/OR E-MAIL HOME

4TH – LOSE ANOTHER POINT AND RECEIVE A REFERRAL TO ROBYN POPE

5TH – LOSE ANOTHER POINT ANDRECEIVE A REFERRAL TO THE ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL’S OFFICE

6TH – LOSE ANOTHER POINT AND HAVE TO ATTEND CLASS WITH YOUR PARENT

7TH – LOSE ANOTHER POINT AND RECEIVE A REFERRAL TO THE PRINCIPAL’S OFFICE/POSSIBLE

EXPULSION FROM INDEPENDENT STUDIES

Mr. Polish’s Policies

These policies are NON-NEGOTIABLE and will take effect immediately.

Things to Bring Every day:

PENS/PENCILS/ERASERS/HIGHLIGHTERS. Not bringing a pen/pencil to class will lead to the automatic loss of 2 discussion points for the week.

Absences:

It is YOUR RESPONSIBILITY to get the homework and notes from either me or another student if you are absent as you will be graded on all the work assigned in class. You will get no discussion points if your absence is unexcused.

1 Absence (Excused or Unexcused) = Behavior log & phone call or e-mail home

2 Unexcused Absences = Behavior log & phone call or e-mail home/ Referral to Robyn and possible dismissal from Independent Study

3 Unexcused Absences = Behavior log & phone call or e-mail home/ Referral to Robyn and possible dismissal from Independent Study

Tardies:

You will lose 3 points for every unexcused tardy. Tardies may only be excused by bringing a note from a teacher or the office. You must take care of this before you come to class.

Late Work:

HW must always be turned in at the beginning of the day or e-mailed to me at before the school day starts. Make sure to send documents in .pdf, Word 1997-2003 or .rtf formats. LATE WORK WILL ONLY RECEIVE FULL CREDIT IF I RECEIVE AN E-MAIL FROM A PARENT/GUARDIAN EXPLAINING WHY IT WAS LATE. Otherwise, LATE WORK WILL BE MARKED ONE GRADE DOWN FOR EVERY CALENDAR DAY IT IS LATE. WORK THAT IS OVER 5 DAYS LATE WILL BE AUTOMATICALLY MARKED 50% OFF WHATEVER GRADE YOU GET.