Class Rules

 

Sophomore English

http://sites.google.com/site/bibbcoenglish10/

jwsimmer@gmail.com

 

Class Rules:

 

 

Consequences:

Maintaining an environment conducive to learning is of utmost importance to ensure every student’s right to a great education.  Violation of established rules of the school and the classroom will not be tolerated.

 

If a student breaks a rule, one warning will be given. If student continues to break a rule and disrupt class, the student may be removed from the classroom, and silent lunch will be given.  If problem persist, student will be sent to the office and detention will be given. Parents will be contacted at the teacher’s or administration’s digression at any point for violations. For any infraction of rules the teacher reserves the right to send the student directly to the office.

 

Procedures:

 

 

Technology Integration:

 

Computers will be used to correspond and enhance the Alabama Course of Study. Computers are to be used for instruction only, not games or YouTube. Students must receive permission from the teacher to use the classroom computer.  There will be times that the class will be able to use the computer labs for activities.  These times will be monitored by the teacher.

 

Supplies:

 

 

 

Grading:

 

20% Tests / Projects 

20% AHSGE Prep 

15% Reading 

15% Writing 

15% Quizzes 

15% Daily Work / Active Engagement

 

From the State of Alabama’s Department of Education website: 

http://www.alsde.edu/html/sections/documents.asp?section=54&sort=2&footer=sections

found in the “Curriculum and Programs” publications for English.

 

Student Characteristics

 

High school students grow significantly as writers, readers, and researchers as they progress from ninth grade to twelfth grade.  They continue to develop physically, emotionally, and intellectually as well as strive to express their individuality and achieve greater independence.  Mastery of English language arts skills at the high school level, along with skills and knowledge gained from other content areas, enables students to transition successfully from high school to postsecondary education or to the working world.

 

Instructional Environment

 

The goal for instruction is for all students to learn.  Therefore, the instructional environment is one in which all students have equal opportunities for achieving their learning potential.  In designing instruction, careful consideration is given to addressing the individual learning needs of students.  This requires teachers to use a variety of instructional strategies such as projects, demonstrations, and cooperative small groups in addition to traditional techniques.  Both formal and informal assessments are also provided to address learning styles and to give students ongoing results regarding progress.  The English language arts classroom supports student learning by providing ample materials for learning—including the use of technology—to facilitate student acquisition of knowledge and skills.

 

Scope of Content

 

The Grades 9-12 English language arts content is carefully aligned with the Grades 9-12 content of the 2004 Alabama Course of Study:  Social Studies and with the national standards document, Standards for the English Language Arts, published by the National Council of Teachers of English and the International Reading Association.  By aligning social studies content with English language arts content, students are able to see the interrelationship between the history of the United States and the world and the literature that grew from that history.

 

While the five strands across the grade levels remain constant, the level of critical thinking displayed, as well as the complexity of content, increases in rigor at each successive grade level.  In the reading and literature strands students examine authors’ styles, vocabulary, literary components, and persuasive strategies.  The writing and language strand culminates in the application of skills mastered at a significantly complex and sophisticated level.  Standards in the research and inquiry strand become more demanding.  Although not all research results in a formal paper, ninth grade students support a thesis on a nonliterary topic, tenth graders support a thesis on a literary or nonliterary topic, eleventh graders support a thesis on a literary topic, and seniors research a teacher-approved topic of interest.  The oral and visual communication strand prepares learners to function effectively in both employment and postsecondary educational settings.  In practice, these strands are integrated, thereby enabling students to see the relevance of what they are learning.

 

Literature

 

Classroom instruction and independent reading across the senior high grades provide rich multicultural experiences in literature from around the world as students read primarily world literature in Grade 9, primarily pre-twentieth century American literature in Grade 10, American literature of the twentieth and twenty-first century in Grade 11, and British literature in Grade 12.  This sequence of study helps students see relationships between their literary studies and their study of world and American history.  Typically, a Shakespearean drama is included in classroom instruction in Grades 9, 10, and 12.  Usually those plays are Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar, and Macbeth respectively, although this is a local school system choice.  An American drama is usually selected for eleventh grade.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tenth Grade

 

 

Tenth graders continue to develop their unique personalities as they establish personal values and identities.  They assume more complex responsibilities such as working and are developing and practicing leadership and interpersonal communication skills in the school and community.

 

Classrooms that are rich in a variety of activities encourage the intellectual growth these students need and seek.  Activities that include making dramatic presentations, writing creatively, and working cooperatively encourage vocabulary development, critical thinking, use of research skills, and appropriate use of language.  In addition, students write essays with increased attention to mode, purpose, and audience.  Similarly, they become more adept at responsibly reporting the ideas of others in both oral and written form.

 

Literature at this level focuses on pre-twentieth century American literature.  This parallels their study of early American history, thus enabling students to gain a better understanding of the relationships between the literature read and the history of the United States and the world before the twentieth century.

 

 

Minimum Required Content

 

Students will:

 

Reading

 

    1.    Apply both literal and inferential comprehension strategies, including drawing conclusions and making inferences about characters, motives, intentions, and attitudes in short stories, drama, poetry, novels, and essays and other nonfiction texts.

·      Identifying major historical developments in language and literature in America from the beginnings to 1900

Examples:   simplicity of early American literature, religious nature and themes in much early American literature, relationships to historical events and to British literature

·      Using context clues to determine meaning

·      Identifying sequences to enhance understanding

·      Summarizing passages to share main ideas or events

·      Drawing other kinds of conclusions from recreational reading texts

 

    2.    Identify and interpret literary elements and devices, including analogy, personification, and implied purpose.

·      Identifying and interpreting figurative language and imagery, including symbolism and metaphors

·      Interpreting tone from author’s word choice

 

    3.    Read with literal and inferential comprehension a variety of informational and functional reading materials, including making inferences about effects when passage provides cause; inferring cause when passage provides effect; making inferences, decisions, and predictions from tables, charts, and other text features; and identifying the outcome or product of a set of directions.

Examples:  textual materials—driver’s manuals, reference materials, newspapers,          career information, high interest magazine articles, subject-area texts

functional materials—menus, schedules, directions, maps, want ads

 

·      Following complex or embedded directions

·      Distinguishing author’s opinion from factual statements

·      Determining main idea and supporting details in informational and functional reading materials

·      Summarizing passages of informational and functional reading materials

·      Determining sequence of events

 

    4.    Recognize fallacious or illogical thought in essays, editorials, and other informational texts.

·      Evaluating strength of argument in informational texts

·      Recognizing propaganda in informational texts

 

 

Literature

 

    5.    Compare literary components of various pre-twentieth century American authors’ styles.

·      Identifying examples of differences in language usage among several authors

Examples:   Anne Bradstreet, Jonathan Edwards, Phillis Wheatley,

Edgar Allan Poe, Henry David Thoreau

 

    6.    Determine word meaning in pre-twentieth century American literature using word structure and context clues.

Examples:  prefixes, suffixes, root words

 

 

Writing and Language

 

    7.    Write in persuasive, expository, and narrative modes using an abbreviated writing process in timed and untimed situations.

·      Critiquing content, literary elements, and word choice, including addressing clear, precise, and vivid language

Examples:   self editing, peer editing

·      Using a variety of sentence patterns

Example:     determining use of a variety of sentence patterns by diagramming, parsing, or labeling patterns of selected sentences

·      Evaluating opinions, including personal opinions, for supporting details and bias

·      Using active and passive voice when appropriate

 

    8.    Write in a variety of genres for various audiences and occasions, both formal and informal, using an attention-getting opening and an effective conclusion.

·      Developing an effective voice suitable for audience and purpose

 

    9.    Apply principles of Standard English by adjusting vocabulary and style for the occasion.

 

 

  10.    Justify a thesis statement with supporting details from American literature prior to the twentieth century.

 

  11.    Demonstrate correct use of commas with parenthetical expressions and after introductory adverbial clauses and correct use of semicolons before conjunctive adverbs and in compound sentences with no conjunction.

 

  12.    Demonstrate correct use of singular and plural collective nouns and words with alternate accepted forms; pronoun-antecedent agreement in number and gender; and nominative, objective, and possessive pronoun cases.

 

  13.    Apply the correct use of subject-verb agreement with singular and plural subjects, including subjects compound in form and singular in meaning and subjects plural in form and singular in meaning; intervening prepositional and appositive phrases; and correlative conjunctions.

 

  14.    Edit for incorrect shifts in verb tense in paragraphs, use of verbals, use of dangling participles and misplaced modifiers, and parallelism in phrases.

 

 

Research and Inquiry

 

  15.    Use the research process to document and organize information to support a thesis on a literary or nonliterary topic.

Examples:   paper on a teacher-approved topic of interest, career paper

 

·      Managing information by locating, selecting, retrieving, and evaluating primary and secondary sources while using available technology responsibly

·      Differentiating among plagiarized, paraphrased, and appropriately cited selections

 

  16.    Explain the purpose and benefits of using predicting, summarizing, underlining, outlining, note taking, and reviewing as part of personal study skills.

·      Explaining when skimming and scanning are appropriate in studying materials

 

 

Oral and Visual Communication

 

  17.    Critique oral and visual presentations for fallacies in logic.

Examples:  circular reasoning, false analogy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Additional Information:

 

Test dates may, and probably will, change.

You are responsible for recording the dates on this syllabus, and keeping up with any changes which occur throughout the semester.  All dates on the syllabus should be interpreted as guidelines, not set in stone.  The pace of coverage for each section will be dictated by the teacher based on any number of factors deemed relevant, including student comprehension and retention. 

As the syllabus evolves through the semester, some material may be dropped from the course, and other material may be added.  Your teacher will make all reasonable efforts to inform the class of significant changes, including posting information in the classroom and/or verbally communicating changes during class time.  Your teacher will not track down every student individually to inform them of changes.  Once again, it is the student’s responsibility to remain informed.

 

 

Make-up work is your responsibility.

If you are missing an assignment, you will need to see the teacher during class to make the necessary arrangements.  Makeup work will be given partial credit only.  Refusal to complete an assignment will result in parent conference, in accordance with the updated 2010-2011 Bibb County High School policy.  If work is not made up before the grading period ends, a grade of “INCOMPLETE” will be awarded.  Any grades of “INCOMPLETE” will result in the student failing the course – meaning you will have to retake the class next year. 

Students are no longer able to receive a grade of “0” on any assignment:  you can’t skip an assignment, get a zero, and still pass the class because the overall grades average out.  Now any incomplete assignment, no matter how small, will result in repeating the class.  Forewarned is forearmed…turn in everything that is assigned.  Or do it all over again next year.  Your choice.

 

 

 

 

 

“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.”

~ Thomas Alva Edison

 

"If you think education is expensive, try ignorance."

~ Derek Bok

 

 

 

 

"Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information upon it. “

~ Samuel Johnson

 

"The art of teaching is the art of assisting discovery."

~ Mark Van Doren

 

 

 

 

 “Wit is educated insolence.”

~ Aristotle