Rules, Routines, and Procedures

Rules

  1. Aretha, you sing it, sista: Respect your classroom, your classmates, your teacher, and yourself.

This is the only rule you’ll have to remember in this class. It is a catch-all rule of sorts, but one we’ll respect throughout the school year. Arrive on time to class, prepare yourself before the bell rings,and stow away phones and other tech devices. Please, please, please do your best to observe and live by this rule. If you do, you’ll breezethrough this class and, even better, you’ll breeze through life.

Routines

Homework, Handouts: Our class will have a handout and homework table in the back of the room. When you arrive, check the table to collect any necessary handouts.

Procedures

Entering and leaving the classroom

Time together:Our class is 47 minutes long. I promise todismiss you on time if you promise to begin on time.

Bathroom: No need to ask to go to the bathroom. Quietly go if you have to.

Responding to fire alarms, codes, or other alerts

Emergencies: In the event of a fire or some other alert, remain calm, listen carefully, and support one another through thick and thin!

As a final note, know that I will serve as your social studies teacher. I can be of service to you for all matters relevant to our class. You may reach out to me before and after school, and during my planning periods. The best way to contact me is by email – . Should you need advice or help for other matters, don’t hesitate to seek me out too. As a general rule, though, seek out those you trust most, whether that’s a friend, a favorite teacher, a school counselor, ora family member.

Other General Policies

Attendance

  • Come to class on time and prepared
  • Three-ring binder or notebook with lined paper
  • Recommended Tabs/Dividers Toolbox, Notes, Vocabulary, Assessments, Miscellaneous
  • Pen or pencil
  • Assignments/readings that are due

Assignments

  • Assignments are given regularly and with deadlines that must be met. Homework is valued highly in this course. Writing must be legible.

Absence

  • Absence due to illness or accident is understood. Make up work schedules should be arranged with me on the day of your return. It is your responsibility to come to me.
  • Being absent the day before the test is not necessarily a sufficient reason to postpone taking a test. If you are absent the day of a test, you will be expected to take on the day of your returnexcluding any extenuating circumstances.
  • If you are tardy to school on the day of a test and miss the period you were to have taken the test, you will make up the test after school that same day.

Participation

  • Class participation is expected by all on a regular basis. Share your ideas and questions. Don’t be a dry sponge!

Technology

  • Unless otherwise advised, no phones, iPods, tablets, laptops, or other tech-related devices are permitted.

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Other policies

  • Please do not gather up books, clean up, or leave until the bell rings. Make sure your desk area is clean, arrange the chairs, put materials away and make sure the room is neat.
  • Don’t cheat. Don’t cheat. Don’t cheat. Don’t cheat. Don’t cheat. Don’t cheat. Don’t cheat.[1]

Acton-Boxborough Regional High School Academic Integrity Statement

“The International Center for Academic Integrity defines academic integrity as a commitment to five fundamental values: honesty, trust, fairness, respect, and responsibility” (The Fundamental Values of Academic Integrity ).

Academic integrity is first about honesty. Honesty means submitting work that is yours and citing other people’s ideas when incorporating them into your work. Honesty fosters trust, which is the ability of others to trust you and your ability to trust your skills when faced with challenges. It takes courage to demonstrate personal responsibility and open yourself and your work to the criticism of others. By taking responsibility for your own work, you will maximize the benefits of the education you receive here at AB.

An academically honest person earns the respect of his teachers, peers, and community. Being academically dishonest undermines your education because you are unable to benefit from your teachers’ assessments of your skills and suggestions for improvement because the work they are evaluating is not yours. When you are academically dishonest, you are doing a disservice to your community and to yourself. By maintaining academic integrity, you are preparing to be a person of honesty, responsibility, and respect.

Please refer to pages 66-68 [Appendix Nine] of the ABRHS student handbook to read more about academic integrity and our policy regarding what academic integrity entails at the high school.

We will work together throughout the year to ensure that the work you create in your classes represents your original thoughts and ideas.

Works Cited

The Fundamental Values of Academic Integrity. Second Edition. International Center

for Academic Integrity Under Creative Commons. Web. 08 Sept 2014.

Examples of Academic Integrity Infractions

English
  • Using someone else’s writing assignment as your own
  • Using an idea or theory from another source and calling it your own
  • No citations or using misleading citations
  • Sharing exam information with another student or asking for a summary of a work before class
/ Social Studies
  • Looking at someone else’s answers
  • Seeking out information about an exam before taking it
  • Sharing information about an exam with people who have not taken it
  • Copying homework
  • Cutting/pasting information from a website
  • Plagiarizing from a print source

Math
  • Gaining an advantage over another classmate on an assessment(examples: receiving info about test questions ahead of time, looking at another student’s test during administration, using a calculator or notes when not allowed)
  • Passing off another person’s work as your own ( examples: copying homework from a classmate , copying answers from the back of the text)
  • Altering test answers for the purpose of receiving credit after it has been returned
  • Giving an advantage to another student who has not taken an assessment yet by providing information as to test specifics
/ Visual Arts
  • Turning in an assignment completed for one art class to another art class or subject area
  • Incorporating elements of the work of another artist (peer, famous, professional, works on line) without giving the original artist credit
  • Passing in the work of another student and claiming it as your own
  • Copying the work of another artist and claiming it as your own original work.
  • Downloading online files, whether free or purchased, (for example 3D models, HTML/CSS code files) and submitting these as your own work

Science
  • Falsifying data
  • Failure to cite sources (this results in plagiarism)
  • In general using someone else’s work or ideas without properly attributing it to him/her
  • Copying a lab report or answers to lab questions unless the teacher has specifically said this is OK
  • Copying homework
/ World Languages
  • Use of online dictionaries or translators for more than single word translations
  • Unauthorized help of native speakers or undeclared tutors
  • Copying homework or other assignments
  • Sharing of assessment information
  • Use of published translations
  • Integrating sources without citation

[1] See Acton-Boxborough Regional High School’s Student Handbook, Appendix 9: Academic Integrity Procedure, p. 68.