Ellison Syllabus
Room L7 Information
General Information:
Ms. Ellison
8th grade English Language Arts/ 8th grade Comprehensive English/ PreAP English 7th and 8th
elizabeth_ellison@myfsd.org
(714) 447 - 2890
I am available to meet for parent/student conference after school Tuesday - Friday most weeks. Please just contact me to schedule an appointment.
Curriculum:
In all ELA Classes, we will use the District adopted, state approved literature program called StudySync.
ELA 8:
Comprehensive English: This class focuses on writing, grammar, listening and speaking. Students will be completing a variety of writing projects covering narrative, informative and argumentative writing. These projects will incorporate listening and speaking skills.
Homework Policy
In accordance with the district policy, nightly homework will be kept to a reasonable level. At Fisler School the policy is that an 8th grader should not have more than 90 minutes of homework a night total. If you find that you are spending more than 90 minutes a night, please contact your child’s teacher so we can discuss the situation and come to an understanding together. 7th graders should not spend more than 80 minutes a night on homework.
Turning in assignments: Unless otherwise directed, assignments will be turned in through Google Classroom, StudySync or on paper. Specific assignments will be created with a dropbox students access when directed to turn in assignments. You will also be turning in assignments on StudySync. All assignments that are submitted will appear in your StudySync Binder. This is a great way to know for sure that you have turned in your assignment.
**Homework is listed daily on my teacher website. It is your responsibility to check my teacher site to keep track of assignments and due dates. Due dates are also noted in Google Calendar when an assignment is posted in Google Classroom.
Directions:
1. Log into Google Classroom/StudySync
2. Locate the assignment.
3. Select, “Hand in” or "Submit" when directed to turn in your assignment.
4. When you hand in the assignment, you will get a message indicating that you have done so. If you don't get any kind of message, you have not handed in the assignment. In StudySync, if you have handed in an assignment, it will no longer appear in your assignment bank. It will be moved to your binder.
5. If you are having technical difficulties, please talk to me. Let’s problem solve together so we can resolve issues as quickly as possible. If you don’t talk to me, I have no way of knowing that something is wrong.
Late work: If you do not turn in an assignment on the due date, it is late. Please turn the assignment in, and the follow up with an e-mail informing me that you have now turned in the assignment. Once an assignment is late, I will not go back to StudySync or Google Classroom to look for late/missing work. When I am collecting hundreds of assignments on a given day, it is like looking for a needle in a haystack for me to go back to Google Classroom or StudySync to search for your missing work.
*** An assignment is late once it has not been turned in during the class period on the day it was due. If you find yourself in this situation for whatever reason please follow these steps:
1. Check to see what assignments are missing/late. You can figure this out by checking Google Classroom, StudySync and by checking Power School. All sites will indicate that an assignment is missing. As soon as an assignment is missing, it will be marked as missing with a 0 in Power School.
2. Once you realize that you have a missing assignment, complete it. Ask for help if you need it.
3. Prepare an e-mail with the following message:
Dear Ms. Ellison,
I have completed the following late assignments:
1. _________
2. _________
Sincerely,
Your Name
Class Period #
Missing Work Noted in Power School: If an assignment has not been turned in for whatever reason, it will be noted as “Missing" in Power School. It is your responsibility to check Power School for any “Missing Assignment” notations. Missing assignments are indicated with an orange box where the grade would otherwise be noted. If you see that an assignment has been marked as missing, please find it/complete it and e-mail it to me. I will update Power School accordingly. It is your responsibility to follow up on assignments that have been marked missing. If you do not follow up on missing assignments, they will become “0’s.”
**In an excused absence situation you have the number of days you were absent to make up any missing work.
**Extra credit is rarely offered. I would rather have students focus on putting their best effort into all assignments on a daily basis. Grades are based on quality, not quantity. Extra credit assignments are only given as an enrichment opportunity.
**Please note that there are times when an assignment or test may be weighted more or less heavily. In that situation, you will be notified prior to beginning the assignment.
Plagiarism/Academic Dishonesty: