Leaf Cycles, Ltd. and Jaezz Designs

Students must have for class:

A supply of loose-leaf, college ruled paper

Work turned in on paper that is torn, soiled or with the ragged edge resulting from being torn from a spiral notebook may be returned to be repaired or redone.  This is absolutely the case with writing assignments.

A sturdy folder

There will be numerous handouts including homework assignments which need to be kept for a short time or a long time in good, readable condition.  Students are responsible for keeping and using handouts, not teachers and not parents. Many, but not all, handouts may also be found and copied from my Website - http://leafcycles.com/edison.aspx. Use it.

A sturdy notebook

It cannot be done wrong, but it could be left undone. A three part spiral notebook should work well for this. This notebook will be kept in the classroom, retrieved and returned daily by the student, and checked weekly by me for credit. It should be used for three types of writing.

ü       Class notes:

Daily vocabulary, weekly critical thinking activities, notes, definitions, homework and other class work. Up-coming assignments may be in a separate planner that goes with you.

ü       Collins Writing type 1 assignments

these brief, timed writing assignments are checked as students complete them and their scores recorded immediately. These writings may not be made up. Attendance is important. Extra work in other areas may easily make up for missing a couple of these writings, but multiple absences make success difficult.

ü       Drafts for up coming papers

most writing assignments require one, two or more drafts before the final product. Only the final product will need to be turned in on loose paper; all others may be kept safe and clean in a good notebook.

A pencil and pen always  [This is every student’s responsibility, not the teacher’s.]

For most work, including notebooks and most quick writing and drafts, a pencil is adequate, but many writing assignments require the use of a blue or black ink pen or being printed from a computer.

A copy of reading assignment currently under way

Students are advised to buy copies of readings whenever possible.  It builds a solid library for you, and allows you to take notes in your own books.  While Samuel Taylor Coleridge may have felt free to do so, I absolutely discourage students from writing in books they do not own.  Edison’s resources are limited, but so are some family’s; we will be sure every student has the materials she or he needs to learn, but your help will always be gratefully accepted.

Attendance Policy:

Be on Time:

v      If you are in class on time, which means in your assigned seat, ready to start when the bell rings, you will earn two participation points.  Earning these points is an expectation, worth approximately 90 points per quarter.

v      If you are tardy to class—not on time and without a legitimate written note excusing your lateness—your quarter grade will be reduced by 2%.

v      Excused or unexcused, you must have a legitimate pass to come to class late.

Period 1 only: Accounting for school bus issues, if you are tardy to class due to a late bus, you must let me know that, or I will mark you tardy. It is your attendance and your responsibility.

Buy Back: Point and grade reductions may be worked off.  A student will be credited with a grade percentage reimbursement at a rate of one tardy (2%) for twenty minutes of detention time before or after school or during lunch.  To earn the reimbursement during detention, a student must be working on some school work.  It need not be English.

Classroom Expectations:

Academic Expectations

The academic expectations are the most important.  Learning is what we’re here for.  The teacher can do the best teaching in the world, but the students have the final control of their learning.  For learning to take place, students will have to do these five things:

Behavioral Expectations

In order for learning to take place, the classroom must be safe, calm, orderly and supportive.  One person cannot make this happen, but one person can surely make it not happen.  These expectations are based on what successful, productive, smart people do.  This is how you fit that description:

Assignment expectations

You will find that I have a reputation for grading hard. It’s earned. To get a good grade in here, you will need to work hard. Students who do well ask questions, check out their major assignments with me, and make appropriate changes before turning them in. Students who do well can tell me, or anyone else, what they should be learning from an assignment. Students who do well want to learn even more than they want the grade.

Students who do little or none of the work will not do well. This is not a credit recovery class; a grade in here means something, and you may be proud of it.

·              NO LATE WORK WILL BE ACCEPTED.

o        You must take responsibility for your work and your learning.

o        Absences between the assignment date and the due date, excused or unexcused, do not change the due date.

o        If you are absent on the due date, the assignment will only be accepted on the day you return to school, even if you are not in this classroom on that day, and only if you have a yellow excused absence slip.

o        If you are absent when an assignment is given, you are responsible for finding out what has been missed and arranging with Mr. Ritterson when it will be completed. Once that arrangement has been made, it establishes your assignment due dates. Some things may not be made up.

o        Know what is due and when it is due. I’m not your mother! Take care of yourself.

·              You must put your name on all your work. I am not good at guessing handwriting. I won’t be putting it up anywhere for you to turn it in later, because it would be late then, so unacceptable. It will go in the recycling.

·              Work especially in your notebook must be identified so that I know what it is. I will not waste time trying to figure out what you’ve done. Label assignments clearly at the top of the page.

·              Work must be legible. If I can’t read it, I can’t read it and I won’t credit it.

·              Work must be in the correct form and format. If an assignment is a Collins Writing type 3, it must have your name and date and the focus correction areas at the top and be written in pencil on every other line, for example. If an assignment is assigned to be written in ink, it must be in ink to be accepted. If it is to be printed from the computer, it must be printed from the computer.

Grading

Grading is based on a curve. Notice that the curve shrinks the number of scores that earn A’s and expands those that earn C’s. Rise to the occasion. D and F grades on major assignments turned in on time may sometimes be redone to earn a higher grade. Usually that higher grade will be a C, but it could be a B; it will not be an A. Excellence is achieved the first time. Always ask and do not assume that redone assignments will be accepted. You must get an okay and a due date for redone assignment.

Week by Week Syllabus

Here is a general breakdown of the course content for the year.  This is only the big things, not the day to day stuff. None of this is cut into stone.  Based partly on what has been successful in the past, partly on what will enrich that success, and partly on what is available, these are the topics and titles I would like to use and about when I hope to use them.