Course Description
English 5 is a course that will help
you develop your skills as a reader and writer. As a junior English class, it
may be among the most important you take at Midwood, for three reasons: 1)
junior year is when students more and more are taking on adult responsibilities,
and in their English classes to read adult-level works of literature; 2)
colleges look especially hard at junior year student work (strong grades in
junior year can make up for weaker grades, at least to some extent, on earlier
school work; and 3) finally, junior year, fall term, ends with your taking the
English Regents.
Doing well on the Regents is of course
especially important. It's a key to graduation and your ongoing after-college
career. We will NOT spend the entire
semester in test preparation, but the work we will do will all go toward
developing the skills you need to do well on the Regents. Additionally, we will
do some direct preparation for the test by familiarizing ourselves with its
style of questions.
Grading Policy:
20%: Classwork/Quizzes/Participation
30%: Major Research Individual or
Group Projects
20%: Homework at least 10 per marking
periods
30%: Tests/Examinations
(Their breakdown of grades is a school
requirement and is English-Department wide.)
IMPORTANT:
1.
Grades are cumulative. That means the grades you make now count as much as the
grades later in the semester. So it's important to work hard from the very
beginning and not dig yourself into a hole in the first weeks of our class. We
will use Skedula, an online grading system in this class. You’ll have your own
account, where I’ll post grades. Your parents or guardians should be given
access to your account.
2. Late homework: Late
homework must be turned in during the week in which it is assigned. After that,
the assignment will be recorded as a 0.
4. Extra credit. There will
be none.
5. Absent? What must you do? It is the student’s responsibility to
make up work. If you’re absent, you must find out from a fellow student what
work was done in class or for homework and get the work to me the following
day.
6. Absent from a test? Do not be absent on test days. If
you can provide a signed and credible note from a medical professional or
family member, it will be your responsibility to speak with me about a make-up.
More than one missed test day will result in a note to guidance and possibly a
parental conference. Your absences on test days will be noted on your report
card.
Attendance: You’re expected to be in class every day. Absent notes are
required in every case if you are absent due to illness or family
necessity.
Electronic devices:
Keep them in your pockets or bags. No use of
electronic devices.
Honor Policy—Cheating and Plagiarism:
If you do the work of this class on your own, you’ll
develop skills that will serve you well for the rest of your life. If you
cheat, you’ll get no such benefits, and you’ll receive a 0 on the work in
question. Your parents/guardian will be informed of your actions. THIS IS MY
CHEATING POLICY AND HOLDS FOR A FIRST TIME VIOLATION. In addition, Midwood has
a series of consequences for cheating that you should be aware of, which will
occur in addition to my own response noted above. Cheating will expose you to
the Midwood consequences too. By cheating you'll also violate my trust in you,
and you’ll lose my respect.
Plagiarism: This is a particular form of cheating that requires a
special note due to its ubiquity. When you take other people’s work and hold it
out to be your own (whether another student’s work or something taken from the
Internet), you are engaging in theft. Plagiarism won’t be tolerated. Plagiarism
will result in a 0 on the work in question. The consequences enumerated in the
Midwood plagiarism code will also be enforced.
Class Communications and Contacting Mr. Vilbig:
The best way to contact me is through Skedula, the
online grading system we'll be using this semester. I can be reached by phone
at: 718 724-8560.
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