English I/II

Instructors: Jennifer Gainey, Deirdre Heverly, Kim Meaney, Brad Robinson, Jessica Robinson,  and Paul Slater

firstname of teacher.last name of teacher@carteretk12.org

2008-2009

The English curriculum for freshmen is based on the North Carolina Standard Course of Study and the Carteret County Instructional Curriculum Guide for English Language Arts I/II.  The Croatan High School English Department has structured a program designed to challenge skilled students and to prepare all students for success. Our curriculum requires that students in English I/II explore the ways in which audience, purpose, and context shape oral communication, written communication, and media and technology.  While emphasis is placed on communicating for purposes of personal expression, students also engage in meaningful communication for expressive, expository, argumentative, and literary purposes.  The course is also designed to explore the various genres of literature: nonfiction, fiction, drama, and poetry.

 As students will read, discuss, and write about both classical and contemporary world literature through which students will identify cultural significance.  They will examine pieces of world literature in a cultural context to appreciate the diversity and complexity of world issues and to connect global ideas to their own experiences. 

This year-long course will emphasize writing in a variety of contexts and with a variety of purposes.

 All students in this course will take the state-mandated English-I End-of-Course Test at the end of the year.  The test assesses two skills: editing student-written compositions and textual analysis.  There are no exemptions, and the test counts as the final exam for the course (i.e. 25% of their final grade for the course).  Students must pass the English I EOC to graduate. 

Materials Needed

·          1 three-ring binder (at least 2 inches)  with seven dividers (I will provide students with construction paper to make dividers if you don’t want to buy them)

·          Notebook paper

·          Ink pen, black or blue

·          #2 pencils

·          Highlighter

·          Dictionary/ thesaurus for at-home use (If you have internet access at home, Dictionary.com and Thesaurus.com are  great alternatives.)

·          Index Cards (20 per week)

Notebook

·          Your notebook (a daily class requirement) should be organized as follows:

                 Section I:  Editing

                Section II: Journal

                Section III:  Vocabulary Workshop (VWS)

                Section IV:  CRASH! (Grammar Focus)

                Section V:  Book of the Month (BOM)

                Section VI:  Reading / Writing Workshop (R/WWS)

                Section VII:  Homework Planner/Week Agenda- outlines will be provided

                Section VIII: Graded Work (optional section- but. . . HIGHLY ENCOURAGED)

Optional Materials

·          Markers/ colored pencils (come in handy on creative projects)

·          Poster board

Textbooks

·          Issued to students

o         Elements of Literature, Third and Fourth Course- online access is available for this text

o         Elements of Language, Third and Fourth Course

o         Vocabulary Workshop (Workbook)

o         Grammar, Usage, and Mechanics (Workbook)

 ·          Novels (a daily class requirement)

o         Speak

o         Night

o         The Dark Child

o         Persepolis

o         The Ties That Bind, The Ties That Break

o         Death and the King’s Horseman

o         The Hobbit

o         One Self-Selected novel of your choice

o         Poetry Anthologies

 Grades:

• Major assignments: 60%
  • Includes participation, double-entry journals, essays, exams, seminars, notebook checks, homework average, and projects
• General assignments: 40%
  • Includes quizzes, short papers, homework, class work, daily preparation

Final Grade: 25 % EOC + 75% average of three six weeks’ grades

Note: All freshmen students are required to take the English I End of Course Test mandated by the State Department of Public Instruction. No freshmen is allowed to exempt thi test , which also counts as the final exam grade for the English I/II course.

  Cheating

• Intellectual dishonesty is intolerable. The following are some examples:
  • Copying another’s work
  • Allowing another to copy your work
  • Giving answers to classmate
  • Plagiarism in all its forms
    • TurnItIn.com is no joke!

o        Consequences

§         Zero on the assignment

§         Unsatisfactory conduct grade for the six weeks grading period

§         Notification of administration and parent/ guardian.

 Behavioral Expectations

• Preparation:
  • Bring all materials to class.
  • Do not interrupt the class to borrow a pencil, pen, or paper.
  • Be in your seat and working when the bell rings.
  • Go to the bathroom before you get here (Students will be issued bathroom passes each six weeks).
• Participation:
  • Raise your hand.
  • Contribute to group/ class discussions.
• Motivation
  • Use all your class time wisely.
  • Work until I dismiss you.
  • Always stay on task in groups.
  • Try. Try hard. Try very hard.
• And . . .
• Don’t have side conversations—they’re distracting.
• Don’t talk when your classmates are working quietly—again, distracting.
• Stay awake in class.
• Always raise your hand to speak when your teacher is talking.
• Make this room a place where we are all comfortable taking academic risks.
• Work to create a community in the class.
• Be nice and show respect.
• You may have a bottle of water in class; food, soda, and grooming are prohibited.
• Follow all CHS Handbook policies and procedures

Website

• If you have any questions about a given night’s homework, check your teacher’s website.  You can access it from Croatan’s homepage.  Because teachers keep pages updated with assignments, you should know that it’s only a hop, skip, and click from MySpace to www.carteretcountyschools.org/chs; ignorance is no excuse for missing work. 

Homework

• It is the student’s responsibility to write down and keep up with homework assignments.
• Homework is accepted at the beginning of class, and late homework is not accepted.
• The Strike Policy
  • 1st time without homework:  grade of a  zero, a verbal warning, which should not be taken lightly
  • 2nd time without homework: grade of a  zero and one day of lunch detention
  • 3^rd time without homework:  grade of a  zero , 2 additional days of lunch detention, and call home
  • 4^th time without homework  : grade of a  zero, 5 days after school with Mr. Bottoms (2 hour sessions) and parent conference
  • 5^th time without homework: grade of a  zero and ALC
  • Note:  Your strikes start over each semester.

Attendance/ Make-up Work

• Regular attendance in all classes is an expectation.
• Students are responsible for making up missed work.  You must make arrangements with your teacher within two days of the absence (2 days, see CHS Handbook). 
• If a student is absent and wants to know what he or she missed, he or she has three options for finding out:
  • Before school
  • During lunch
  • After School
• Plan to make up missed quizzes and tests in your teacher’s room after school—arrive by 2:40.
• If a student is not in class for a test or major assignment and is in the Alternative Learning Center (A.L.C.), the student must take the test or do the assignment in A.L.C. at that time.  It is the student’s responsibility to make these arrangements with the assigned teacher.
• If a student is assigned A.L.C. he or she is also responsible for coming to the assigned instructor before school that day to get any work you need.
• Students will not make up quizzes or tests during class.
• If a student is absent, he or she is expected to be prepared for class when he or she returns, which is to say that being absent is not an excuse for not having an assignment announced prior to the absence.  The only exceptions are assignments announced on the day a student is absent; those assignments would fall under the make-up work policy.