Classroom Syllabus

Ms. Storrs Room 21

Contact Information
E-mail: jstorrs87@gmail.com Website: http://wordcourse.blogspot.com Grades and Assignments: Zangle.com

Policies
Grading: This is the standard grading for Advanced: A 100-91% A- 90% B+ 89% B 88-81% B- 80% C+ 79% C 78-71% C- 70% D+ 69% D 68-61% D- 60% F 59% and lower My Teachers Oath: My promise to you is that you will have fun in this class while you are listening, learning and working. I want you to enjoy yourself while you learn, and I promise to make that happen! All you have to do is follow the rules and procedures, and I will do my part to make this a great year!

Proficient:

Basic:

Below Basic:

Far Below Basic:

I want you to win at school. My goal is to watch you grow and succeed and to have a good time doing it. If you have a major issue with your grade, and you think that it is not what you deserve (and you have double checked that you have done your work and put forth your best effort), talk to me! We can work it out! Homework and Assignments: Homework is not a nightly thing for my students. A lot of what I will ask you to do is think, Google, take notes, watch something, read something, or contemplate. When there Is homework, it is usually an ongoing project and I expect you to pace yourself. If something is due in four days, work a little bit on it each day. Do your reading, contribute to discussions, bring ideas and research in. That is what I ask of you.

Late Work and Make-Up Policy: Turn assignments in on time. I will give you a maximum of three days to turn in something, and you will get a percentage taken off of the work each day. After the third day, the assignment will not be accepted. If you have an issue that prevents you from turning in something on time, please see me BEFORE the assignment(s) is/are due, if possible, and I will try to work with you. If you know ahead of time that you will be absent from class, please let me know. I will give you extra days according to what you missed. All makeup work and expectations are posted in class and online. Do NOT come up to me and say I was absent this day, what did I miss?. You need to ask your peers, look at the board, go to the make-up box and get the assignments anything but ask me. I will just sit there and point you in a direction. Plagiarism, Cheating, and Academic Dishonesty: Dont do it. You are old enough to know that cheating is wrong. I will know that you cheated if you did. On top of that, all of my assignments are unique, so you wont be able to cheat or plagiarize. Dont do it. Ill catch you, and you will be horribly sorry you did it.

Special Policies: Left-Shoe Collateral You need to have all of your supplies with you when you come to class. Thats part of being ready, my third expectation. If you have to ask me for a pen etc I have what is called the Left-Shoe Collateral policy. This means that I will trade you your left shoe for what you need. I will give back your shoe when you give me back my pen. Freebie Fridays I like having some time on Fridays to wind down and hang out with you guys. You will have 15 minutes of free time on at the end of class on Fridays IF I feel you have done well behaviorally during the week. I will take away minutes from your free time for demerits and misbehavior. If you waste my time, I will waste yours.

Standards and Expectations Classroom Expectations I dont have rules in my classroom, I have expectations. I expect you to do three things throughout the year:

Be Respectful, Be Responsible, Be Ready These are basics, but by the second week of class, we will have worked out a good set of rules together as a class, and I will ask you to sign a user agreement stating that you accept my terms. Attendance: I will take attendance within the first few minutes of class time. If you are not in your seat AND prepared to work, you will be marked tardy.

Things you need in my class: A notebook: Each day of class will use AT LEAST one page in your notebook. On top of that I expect you to take notes on talks that we have or lectures record, record, record. Pens! ALL work will be done in pen. No pencils please! A section of your school binder OR a binder for the period in general A folder in that binder. Here we go again
Classroom Procedures Bell Work: Come into class, sit down and copy the agenda on the board either in your planner or on the designated page in your notebook. Copy whatever is asked of you and start the warm-up. Warm-Ups: We will do a warm-up each day in order to get you in an English/Language Arts mindset. These warm-ups will vary each day grammar, a game, sentence correction, reading comprehension, etc. Talks: A lot of time, the homework I will ask you to do is research work (googling specific questions or ideas), watching the news, or thinking about something I need your input on. I will use Talk time to give you time to discuss what I asked you to look at the day before.

PowerPoints: Most of my lessons are in power-point format, which allows me to use media like videos, music and pictures. These times are meant for you to pay attention and take notes. Please dont talk or sleep through my power points. Activites: For many of my activities, I ask that you be prepared to move around, think outside the box and express yourself. Please respect that I am doing this because it is a fun way of learning. I could easily just give you a ditto and make you do your work silently, but I dont work like that. If you shove, run around, act unprofessionally, yell and scream, I will find alternate ways of giving you the lesson, and these activities wont be as fun as the ones I have planned. Dont make it come to that. Other Details:
Restroom Use/Hall Passes: I dont limit bathroom passes if you have to go you have to go. If I feel that you are abusing this policy, than I will take your time from you for Friday depending on how long you take in the restroom. Consider if it is worth the risk, and take care of your business during passing period. Packing Up: I will do my best to keep track of the time during class, and I will allow you time to pack up. Pease do not start packing up until I tell you to that is part of being respectful. Levels of Volume: I have several levels of volume that I refer to throughout class. They are: 1. Quiet Time: No talking at all, usually for reading and writing. 2. Theater Volume: When someone is talking, you should be listening. Usually during talks and lessons. 3. Working Volume: You can talk and discuss, but it shouldnt be crazy loud. Usually during in-class work time.

ABOVE ALL . . . Be a partner in learning! If we work together as a class, we can accomplish anything!