English III CP Syllabus

Teacher Contact Information

Mrs. Joyce Robley

Phone: 814.443.2831 ext. 3430

Course Description

The course rests on a foundation of accountability. Students will learn the valuable skill of communication in addition to the core objectives outlined in the curriculum. There are three levels of accountability the class will maintain throughout the year:

  • Accountability to The Learning Community
  • This means that everyone is invested in building understanding together. Being “accountable” means more than being present; it means working to listen and to understand everyone in the learning community.
  • Students are expected to actively listen to everyone in the room and to seek clarification when the ideas expressed are not clear. Likewise, students are expected to challenge and critique the ideas offered by those in the learning community to build deeper understanding together.
  • Accountability to Accurate Knowledge
  • This means that everyone is invested in seeking the most accurate knowledge from the text or from each other to support the claims and assertions made in the classroom.
  • Students are expected to be specific when they make a claim or form an argument. Students should cite specific evidence from the text or from their lives to support the assertions made in class. Students are expected to question whether the information presented is accurate, relevant, and/or unbiased.
  • Accountability to Rigorous Thinking
  • This means using the accurate knowledge to build a line of reasoning or build a cogent argument.
  • Students are expected to question their claims and work to refine them. Students are expected to compare/contrast factual knowledge and consider ways to construct sound arguments and uncover hidden assumptions and biases.

Course Content

In addition to the selected texts, students can expect the following tasks:

  • Vocabulary study appropriate for college-bound students
  • Journal assignments that allow students to write from their lives and experiences using details, imagery, sensory language, and stylistic techniques.
  • Creative essays and presentations prepare students for college and work.
  • Academic essays that allow students to polish their interpretations of texts.
  • Poetry recitations that offer students an opportunity to internalize a poem in its entirety and bring it to life through voice inflection and pause. Students will memorize and recite one poem from the Poetry Out Loud website (poetryoutloud.org) for each of the first two nine week grading periods. Students can choose to compete in the National Poetry Out Loud competition (February or March).
  • Written assignments in MLA and APA formats give students a chance to learn to write for various disciplines as future scholars.

Specific rubrics will accompany all assignments.

Students should not proceed with an assignment if the directions are not clear or they do not understand the assignment.

Course Policies

The following policies will be enforced in the classroom:

  • Students are NOT permitted to use their cell phones during instructional time.
  • Students will have one week to make up quizzes, tests, and in-class assignments. Of course, if a student is out for multiple days, the student and I will come up with a plan to get the work made up. It is the student’s responsibility to make up work.
  • All work should be placed in the bin by the end of the school day that it is due.
  • Students’ grades will be reduced by one letter grade for every day they are late in submitting work (papers, essays, reading journals, etc.)
  • NO LATE JOURNALS WILL BE ACCEPTED.
  • Students will receive detention for disrupting the learning of the group by being on their phones, complaining (this detracts from the learning and goes nowhere), and/or other behavior that takes time away from the educational process. Students can expect detention to be in either half hour or hour increments, depending on the nature of the offense.
  • Students who harass, ridicule, or attempt to show an unkind attitude toward any peer will be asked to leave. Severe disciplinary action will follow any personally damaging act.
  • The plagiarism policy is as follows:

Students are encouraged to think for themselves and take responsibility for their own learning experience. For this course, plagiarism is defined as “The unauthorized use of someone else’s material, which is then presented as being the result of the plagiarist’s own primary research, creative impulse or insight. Plagiarism technically encompasses the borrowing of ideas of others, as well as their exact words…” Laurie Henry, The Fiction Dictionary, p.219.

In short, plagiarism is taking someone else’s idea, thoughts, or words and attempting to pass them off as one’s own.

The following actions will be taken regarding plagiarism:

Violation / Procedure / Resulting Penalty
First offense / Teacher reports plagiarism to the assistant principal.
The student’s parent(s)/guardian will be notified.
The infraction will be included in student’s discipline record. / The student will earn a zero for the work in question.
The student’s letter grade will be lowered by 10% for the final nine week grade.
The student will confer held with the assistant principal.
The student will receive one day (1) Saturday suspension.
Second offense / Teacher reports the plagiarism to the assistant principal.
The student’s parent(s)/guardian will be notified.
The infraction will be included in student’s discipline record. / The student will earn a failing grade for the semester.
The student will receive two days (2) of out of school suspension.
A conference will be held with the assistant principal.
  • *If you have any questions or concerns, please make arrangements to discuss them with your English instructors.

Reminders
I am a mandatory reporter. Whatever you write in your journals will be kept in confidence between the writer and me, the reader, however, if the writer intones that he/she is considering harming his/herself or others, I will report the information. I will confer with the student prior to alerting the appropriate office, except in the event of an emergency.