Policies-English 9

In order to ensure a quality education, the following policies have been established and some are detailed more fully in the student handbook. These described below are in accordance with and supplement the requirements found in student handbook. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact me and I will be glad to answer them.

Attendance Policy

The attendance policy is outlined in greater detail in the student handbook and I refer you to this for my attendance policy. Also, as described in the handbook/agenda, students are only allowed 24 absences for year-long classes before losing credit for the course. The 25^th absence will result in a loss of credit for the course.

Late/Back work should be placed in the late-work tray in the back of the room. Any extra copies will be kept back here for a student to take if needed. Additional copies will not be made.

Some work may be handed in without making up the instruction time; however, it is the student’s responsibility to seek out the teacher to make up work in order for an absence to be negated for the course. It is the teacher’s discretion as to whether or not the instruction time will be required in order for the student to negate his or her absence.

Also, don't forget the school's policy for tardies:

Ø Over ten minutes late counts as an absence

Ø Three unexcused tardies warrants a referral

Ø Every tardy after your third warrants an additional referral

Please be sure to also note the following:

Ø ABSENCES DUE TO CUTTING AND TRUANCY cannot be made up and work missed is automatically scored as a zero.

Ø In the case of any absence, albeit illness, band lesson, having to go to the nurse’s office, etc., it is the student’s responsibility to seek out the teacher for missed work during 13^th period.

Grading Policy

Course Expectations

Course expectations, including preparation, respect, promptness, and participation, are outlined in the rubric and students will be assessed accordingly for effective work habit grades (EWH).

Grades will be calculated using the following equation:

EWH (20%) + All Grades for Tests, Quizzes, Homework and Projects* (80%) = Student Grade

*Tests and Projects (including major writing assignments) are counted four times, quizzes are counted twice and homework is only counted once.

Writing Assignments

Writing assignments will be evaluated as “Excellent”, “Satisfactory”, or “Not Yet”, which are defined below. The more detailed writing rubric (for major writing assignments) is linked on the documents page.
Any paper scored “Satisfactory” may be rewritten to increase the score on the assignment.
Any work scored “Not Yet” must be rewritten or it will be scored at 50% of the original grade because the original and revised grade are averaged together.
Rewritten work is expected to address the revisions noted as well as clear evidence of the student’s own increased level of understanding.
Rewritten work will only be accepted for one week after the original work was returned to the student.
Assignment cannot be rewritten more than once.
The revised grade will be averaged with the original score. If the original score is higher, then that grade will be counted twice, so there is no harm in revising work.
The original copy must be submitted with the revision or the revision will not be scored. (No additional extension will be given for revisions submitted without the original.)
Click here to see the writing rubric.
Class summaries, reading log entries, and other "smaller" writing assignments will use this rubric, with the addition of "+" for a near-perfect/perfect summary, and a "U" for an (unsatisfactory) incomplete summary. The point equivalent for each score is as follows: +=100%, E=95%, S=85%, NY=70%, U=50%. No revisions, however, will be allowed for these quicker assignments.

	Excellent (“E”)	Satisfactory (“S”)	Not Yet (“NY”)
Quality Description for each category:	The quality of excellent work meets and/or exceeds all expectations for the work, including clear evidence of independent thought, an above and beyond level of understanding, great pride in the work handed in and is presented as a final copy, meeting all expectations for submitted work.	The quality of acceptable work meets all expectations for the work, including evidence of independent thought, a solid understanding of the material, pride in the work handed in with few errors or cross-outs and is presented as a revised/clean copy that primarily follows the expectations for submitted work.	The quality of work that is not yet acceptable minimally meets, does not meet or does not address all expectations for the work, shows little to no independent thought, an unclear or incomplete understanding of the material/task, and/or does not show revision or care with the work handed in (wrinkled or torn, several cross-outs... "looks like something the cat dragged in...")

Expected Format for Submitting Work

Every assignment will be given two scores: One on content (1) and one on format (2).

1. First and foremost, students will be graded on the content of their work. Each assignment is given a point value and students receive a score of points earned out of the total possible points. (Ex. 8/10 or 48/53, etc.). This way, individual assignments are weighted instead of specific categories, like tests and homework.

2. Secondly, students will receive a score on format, worth a total of 10 points (tallied below):

1. Proper Heading: All work is expected to have the following heading

English _(level)_:_(period)_ Name

Assignment Date

2. Proper Medium: All work is expected to be written by hand unless otherwise specified in the assignment.

Written:

1)Dark blue or black ink (+4 pts. 1^st semester, +2 pts. 2^nd semester)

2) cursive (+2 pts. second semester only, 5% bonus on content grade 1^st semester)

3) double spaced (+1 pt)

4) clean edge (+1 pt)

5) written on only one side of each page (+1 pt.)

6) no more than two single-line, single-word cross outs per page (+1 pt.)

Typed**: Times New Roman, 12pt. font, black ink, 1" margins, double spaced, and regular style (not bold or italics)

(½ pt. each)

**Typed work is strongly frowned upon in this class because a major component of the content is writing and mechanics. It is important that your skills, and not those of the computer, be seen in your work. Therefore, typed work will be accepted, but with a five point penalty (50%) on the format grade.

Late Work Policy

Work is considered late if it is not ready to be handed in when it is due/collected. If a student is not prepared for class and does not have the work expected s/he will be allowed to go to his/her locker, but the work is still considered late.

Late/Back work should be placed in the late-work tray in the back of the room. Any extra copies will be kept back here for a student to take if needed. Additional copies will not be made.

All late work will automatically receive one of the following deductions:

10% deduction for an assignment handed in by the close of that school day that was not gone over in class (This refers to any portion of the work)
20% deduction for an assignment handed in by the close of that school day that was gone over in class (This, again, refers to any portion of the work)
+20% deduction for an assignment handed in the next school day or until the following Tuesday. This deduction will only be taken one time.

If I am not available during 13th period that day, the student may submit the work to my mail box in the office. If a student needs help with the assignment and cannot stay 13th period, s/he must see me before 13th period in order to ask for an extension. In this situation, I strongly recommend talking with me after class because I may not be reachable later in the day.

These consequences are designed to better prepare students for life outside of school and to ensure forward progress in the classroom as work that is not done often inhibits additional learning. Please note that although the penalties for late work impact a student's grade, they are designed to try to not prevent a student from earning a passing grade.

PASSES

For the safety of our students, records must be kept in order to identify where a student is at all times. In order to do this most effectively, the following policy/process must be followed:

If a student has permission to leave class, s/he must:

Fill out the section in her or his agenda and present it for my signature.
Sign out in the log located by the door in the classroom.

Although this is somewhat redundant, both passes serve valuable purposes:

The agenda is required in order to unify all hall passes so that teachers and administrators know what to look/ask for when seeing a student in the hall and it also keeps track of the individual habits of some students as some students may "go to the bathroom" every period.
I am also responsible for knowing if a student left my class and for what reason and duration, which is the reason for needing to also sign out in the log. If there does seem to be a suspicious pattern forming, pass privileges may be altered.

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FANG Teachers

Please note that this site is continually under construction. All information on this site is meant only as a guide and may be altered.

If you have any questions or comments concerning the FANG website, please contact Ms. Quinn at: EQuinn@wccsk12.org.

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