General Class Policies:
TIP FOR STAYING FOCUSED AND PRODUCTIVE:
TIPS FOR PARTICIPATING IN CLASS:
GRADE IMPROVEMENT:
EXTRA CREDIT:
CELL PHONES:
CHEATING:
ATTENDANCE:
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TIPS FOR PARTICIPATING IN CLASS:
- My advice is to participate more in class.
- Answer questions. Ask questions.
- This is especially true of you are bored or have a negative attitude about the class or school in general.
- I believe participation will help you learn better and also enjoy it more.
- Additionally, I'll admit that I get nervous about speaking in public.
- Even in front of a class of students.
- But it gets easier with practice.
GRADE IMPROVEMENT:
- Students can make up work (including quizzes, tests, etc.) for partial credit.
- It’s not “do over”; it’s “do better.”
- As long as a student is paying attention in class and putting forth reasonable effort...
- he or she can come in after school to redo assignments, quizzes, tests, or to get one-on-one help, study help, etc.
- The grade on any made-up assignment(s) will be 75% of what it is this second time.
- For example, 85% on it would convert to 64%, etc.
- Also,
- There is a two-week deadline for completing this work on homework, quizzes and tests -- two weeks from when the grade is entered in the grade book.
- There are exceptions to the two-week policy:
- If a student is failing, he or she can make up anything from the quarter or semester (except a 0% due to cheating or plagiarism) that will help improve the grade, regardless of how long ago it was.
- There is a two-week deadline for completing this work on homework, quizzes and tests -- two weeks from when the grade is entered in the grade book.
- Additionally, the deadline for making up any work for partial credit is the Friday before exam week.
- Students can make up an assignment only once (e.g. you don't get a third, fourth, fifth try at the same quiz).
EXTRA CREDIT:
- Students in English 3 and AP English can earn extra credit up to once per nine-week quarter by doing a reading minute.
- I often offer extra credit for submitting a poem to a poetry contest, such as Jackson District Library's.
CELL PHONES:
- Unfortunately, cell phones have been too distracting in recent years, so I must implement a no-cell-phone policy during class.
- Students may keep phones in their pockets or purses, on the table in the back of the room, or otherwise out of sight and out of mind.
- Any phones that are visible or audible may be confiscated for the rest of the day.
- Repeat offenders will require parents to pick up their phones in the office.
CHEATING:
- Homework assignments may not be copied.
- It's OK to offer minimal help to a friend, but it is not OK to just give answers -- that defeats the purpose of why we're all here.
- A student needing a significant amount of help should ask the teacher.
- Students caught cheating (including plagiarism on writing assignments and assisting others in plagiarism) will automatically receive a 0% on the assignment, quiz, or test in question.
- Under no circumstances will students who cheated be allowed to make up the assignment, quiz or test for credit or partial credit of any sort.
ATTENDANCE:
- All absences are considered unexcused unless they are classified as “completely excused” or “absent excused."
- Students are allowed five unexcused absences per semester.
- Students absent more than five (5) times per class period during a semester will have their class credit suspended and subsequently lost, unless they have administrative approval (i.e. pre-arranged absences) or they successfully complete one of the following options:
- 1.) Successfully test out of the class through the completion of an approved test-out exam at 77 percent or more in the following semester or summer.
- Testing out will be graded on a “pass/fail” basis and will not be applicable to a student’s grade point average. (Note: some colleges and universities may assign a score of 60% or D- to a class that has been scored as a Pass due to test out when they recalculate core class GPA’s.)
- 2.) Earn at least a 60% in the class prior to the exam and earn at least a 60% on the final exam.
- This is known as the “60-60 Policy.
- 1.) Successfully test out of the class through the completion of an approved test-out exam at 77 percent or more in the following semester or summer.
- Students absent more than five (5) times per class period during a semester will have their class credit suspended and subsequently lost, unless they have administrative approval (i.e. pre-arranged absences) or they successfully complete one of the following options: