Eng. 10 H Syllabus/Policies

English 10 HP: World Lit. Course Syllabus

Lauren Monahan La Costa Canyon High School lauren.monahan@sduhsd.net Room 400 Website: https://sites.google.com/a/sduhsd.net/monahan/home


Course Description

Welcome to my sophomore English Honors class! This course constitutes a pivotal year for refining critical thinking, reading, writing, and analytical skills before taking Advanced Placement English.

This course is designed to:

· Enhance students’ writing, reading, and thinking skills

· Stimulate students’ appreciation and understanding of the function of literature in society

· Strengthen students’ confidence, competence, and enjoyment of reading and writing

· Prepare students for the challenges of junior and senior Advanced Placement English

· Expose students to a variety of ideas, readings, and writings so that they can formulate their own opinions, ideology, and philosophy

· Challenge students’ assumptions, expectations, and limitations, so that they not only succeed, but exceed their standards, as well as those of the State

· Encourage genuine discussion, conversation, and interaction in the classroom

Syllabus

The list of texts that we may study from (we will not be reading all of them) includes the following works:

  • Short story selections from Kincaid, J (ed): World Writers Today

  • Maxine Hong Kingston's Woman Warrior** or Nien Cheng's Life and Death in Shanghai

  • The first of Sophocles’ plays in the Theban trilogy: Oedipus Tyrannous

  • Albert Camus’ novella The Stranger (L’Etranger)

  • Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Russian novel: Crime and Punishment

  • Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings**

  • One or more of the following seminar set selections (choice reading):*

Allende, Isabelle: The House of the Spirits

Anaya, Rudolfo: Bless Me, Ultima

Courtenay, Brice: The Power of One

Garcia Marquez, Gabriel: One Hundred Years of Solitude

Mehta, Gita: A River Sutra

Tolstoy, Leo: Anna Karenina

Hosseini, Khaled: The Kite Runner

Yann Martel: Life of Pi

  • J.D. Salinger’s novel: The Catcher in the Rye**

  • William Shakespeare’s comedy: Much Ado About Nothing

  • Franz Kafka’s novella: The Metamorphosis

  • Samuel Beckett: Waiting for Godot

  • South American short story selections from Howes B (ed): Eye of the Heart

The amount of reading required per night will vary, depending upon the text being studied at the time. In addition to reading and discussing the works, students should expect to annotate their reading in detail.


Classroom Atmosphere

I encourage my students to learn independently and to develop the courage and confidence to explore original ways to think, write, and present their ideas. I expect courtesy, kindness, integrity, and dedication to excellence to prevail.

I am also committed to a room where we strive to humanize each other and draw out the excellence and "hero" in each student. We use many techniques to do this including keeping students in teams for the entire year so they may take turns leading the team and explicitly learning strategies to use language to inspire and build a stronger "EQ."


My Expectations

· Honors (Advanced) English students who want to write, read, discuss, explore, and investigate

· Enthusiastic, active class participants eager to engage in meaningful, mature discussions

· Students who take ownership for their learning and behavior, acting maturely and responsibly

· Honest students with academic integrity (which includes not pretending to have read or written something that they haven’t) – please see the Academic Honesty Policy below

· Responsible students who bring the appropriate, completed work and materials to class every time and who are seated and ready to work before the second bell rings

· Respectful students who keep their hands, belongings, and hurtful comments to themselves, and who show kindness and courtesy to everyone in the class

· Students who keep the classroom clean and tidy

· Students who respect our learning environment and refrain from using cell phones

· Students who are proactive and turn major assignments (know the deadline in advance) on the due date regardless of whether or not they are there, and who ask for make-up exams/work the day they return.

Consequences

We are a community of learners in my classroom. I rarely, if ever, find that behavior is a problem, and seldom take “punitive” action. However, if students do have a lapse in judgment (depending upon the severity or nature of the disruption), I reserve the right to take any of the following actions I see fit:

  • Teacher warning / private conference with student

  • Parent-teacher conference

  • Change of seating location

  • Removal of student from classroom for a period of time

  • Detention / referral of student to assistant principal

  • Suspension / permanent removal of student from my class

  • Confiscation of cell phone (first time use: confiscation for class period, second time use or more: confiscation of cell phone to assistant principal)


Grading Policy and Deadlines

Since grades are indicators of student effort, achievement, and the quality of your work, the grades students earn are consistent with the expectations of an Honors classroom.

While completion of assignments is essential to a strong grade, in order to receive an "A" in the course there MUST be mastery of skills. Please do NOT rely on AERIES as a full indicator for your current grade status as it is often deceptive throughout the semester since final mastery of skills at the end of the semester will be weighted far more heavily than mere completion of the assignments first quarter.

Grades will be awarded on a point system with a significant number of points reserved for the end of the semester, and will usually be updated monthly. In the meantime, you should check your work in the Google Classroom to make sure all work is completed.

THE FINAL PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT WILL ACCOUNT FOR APPROXIMATELY 1/3 OF YOUR GRADE!!!

***NOTE: ANY CHEATING/PLAGIARISM (see attached guide at end of document) WILL RESULT IN NOT ONLY A 0 ON THE ASSIGNMENT, BUT ALSO A -40 POINT PENALTY. THIS WILL OFTEN DROP A GRADE A FULL LETTER GRADE. TURN IN YOUR OWN WORK!!!

Late Work:

Late work is not accepted for unexcused absences and must follow excused absence guidelines per school policy. Occasionally there are extenuating circumstances where special accommodations might be given, but student must proactively talk to teacher as soon as circumstances emerge to work out a plan ahead of time.

Grade Breakdowns are as Follows:

100%-98%: A+

97.9%- 94%: A

90%-93.9%: A-

89.9%-88%: B+

87.9%- 84%: B

80%-83.9%: B-

79.9%-78%: C+

77.9%- 74%: C

70%-73.9%: C-

69.9%-68%: D+

67.9%- 64%: D

60%-63.9%: D-

59% and below: F

·

Personally Speaking

I love teaching. I take my job very seriously, and deeply believe in my students. I hope that we can have a fantastic year where, together, we become stronger as we traipse through the minds of the greats, and pick up some of their skills along the way.

If there is ever an issue, please contact me immediately. I prefer to be proactive and address any issues personally and with speed before they become worse. You may also contact me with happy thoughts/articles/ideas as well so we may deepen our bond as learners. If I do not respond right away, please try again. It's been tough keeping track of the floods of emails as we've adopted to going online. Thank you in advance.


Sincerely,

Lauren Monahan

Please also read and sign the Plagiarism and Academic Dishonesty Policy information below:

(Borrowed, in part, from policies established by the University of Washington’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.)

Cheating, or academic misconduct, is increasingly a problem amongst high school students. Regardless of motivation, cases of academic misconduct are completely unjustified in every instance. To cheat is to demean one’s efforts. It causes one’s character to come under suspicion, and it belittles the hard work of all students. Cheating, plagiarism, or academic dishonesty, in any form, is not tolerated. The purpose of these policies is to clearly delineate examples of cheating, as well as to clearly inform students of the consequences of academic misconduct in this course.

**NOTE: These policies refer only to how plagiarism is viewed within the confines of this classroom. These do not supersede the Academic Dishonesty policies initiated by the San Dieguito Union High School District in any way. These policies inform students and parents/guardians of how academic dishonesty is viewed in this class.

Examples of academic dishonesty include, but are not limited to:

1. Using another author’s words without proper citation.

2. Using an author’s ideas without proper citation.

3. Reproducing the exact wording of another source without using quotation marks, even if the source is cited.

4. Borrowing the structure of another author’s words or phrases without proper credit or citation.

5. Borrowing all or part of another student’s paper or assignment, including borrowing the structure of another student’s words, phrases, or ideas.

6. Using a paper writing service, or an online source of written assignments, or having another student complete an assignment

This includes obtaining information, either in full or in part, from Internet websites (popularly known as “paper mills”), in which students can obtain papers either free or for cost). This also includes the cutting and pasting or by hand reproducing content which can be found online, such as is found on sites such as (but not limited to) Wikipedia..

Other examples of academic dishonesty:

1. Cheating during a quiz or an exam, including:

 Copying answers from another student

 Possession of unauthorized notes or study-aids during a quiz or exam

 Using an electronic device (such as a camera-enabled smart device) at any time during an exam or quiz.

2. Turning in work that is identical, or substantially similar to, the work of another student:

 This is frequently a by-product of “working with another student.” In many cases, working with a partner while studying is a beneficial way of learning. However, please understand that submitting work that is identical or quite similar to the work of another student is considered cheating. All work should be uniquely your own.

3. Purchasing or possessing materials that contain specific answers to homework assignments or exams.

4. Cutting and pasting answers from online sources, such as Wikipedia, even if the work is cited properly. This is not “doing” your own work, and in this class, it shall be treated as a case of academic dishonesty.

Any infraction not described above, but that clearly falls under the auspices of academic dishonesty, is subject to the consequences in the Discipline Policy outlined by La Costa Canyon High School and the San Dieguito Union High School District.

Students who engage in academic misconduct will incur the following consequences:

1. The student will lose credit for the assignment & lose eligibility for an "A."

2. The student will be referred to an administrator for documentation and for possible disciplinary action.

Careful planning and time management will serve as good tools to prevent instances of academic misconduct. Please do not engage in any action that will cause your integrity to be questioned.