Freshman Composition Syllabus East Rutherford High School Fall 2014-2015 Teacher: Ms. Kari Strickland Email: kstrickland@rcsnc.org Website: erhs.rcsnc.org/departments/english/ kari_strickland Angel Parent Insight Window: erhs.rcsnc.org/departments/english/ kari_strickland/a_n_g_e_l_for_parents/ About Me: This is my second year teaching English I at East Rutherford High School, and my second year teaching Freshman Composition. I graduated from East in 2009, and I am blessed to once again call myself a Cavalier. I recently graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a Bachelor of Arts in Education, and I will forever be a Tar Heel. While at Carolina, I spent most of my time tutoring, coaching soccer, working in Campus Ministry, and working with international students. Philosophy: As an educator, I believe that to unlock the full potential of my students I must build relationships, community and a rigorous curriculum that meets their individual educational, developmental, social and emotional needs while pushing them to maturity and success. Today, more than ever, it is important that our students become global citizens of the world, and that is why I consider it my responsibility to equip them to become lifelong learners who can effectively communicate through speech, written word and technology with people from diverse backgrounds and belief systems. I also firmly believe that I cannot help them achieve this goal alone. Peer, adult and community motivation are vital to success this ever-changing global world. Students must be supported and challenged by their parents, guardians, adult mentors, peers and community. Most importantly, students must set high goals for themselves they strive to become educated contributors in our global community. Course Description: Freshman Composition is designed as an extension of Honors English I focusing on the ELA standards for ninth and tenth grade English while primarily addressing language, writing, collaboration and discussion. Students are given a unique opportunity to dig deeper into the Common Core writing and language standards, because Freshman Composition provides students with a writing intensive curriculum focused on personal revision and expression, peer critique, elevation of language, advanced sentence structure and presentation skills. Course Goals: This course primarily focuses on preparing students to write at a college level. We will focus on many different types of writing from narratives to argumentative essays, research papers and even emails. This course is designed to make students successful in future higher level honors and AP English courses, the workplace and the university. While it is a composition course, we will also incorporate reading and discussion into the
class on a weekly basis. Good writers are good readers, and effective communicators must be good writers. Expected Student Learning Outcomes: (an abridged overview) (based on the Common Core English Language Arts Standards for Grade 9 and 10) Upon completing Freshman Composition, students should be able to: analyze and interpret samples of good and bad writing, identifying and explaining an author s use of rhetorical strategies, structure and techniques apply effective strategies and techniques in their own writing write for a variety of purposes write arguments to support claims write narratives to develop real experiences write informational texts such as research papers to impartially educate and inform collaborate to critique and improve writing revise writing to make it suitable for different audiences use technology to produce writing products conduct collaborative research projects to answer group generated research questions evaluate and draw evidence from authoritative and valid sources, accessing the usefulness of each source participate in a rang of collaborative small group and whole class discussions verbally express their own thoughts and claims clearly and persuasively evaluate a speaker s point of view, reasoning, use of evidence and rhetoric while accessing the validity and bias of the text/speech collaborate to present research, information and findings in a logical, organized, reasoned and engaging manner Homework Policy: Students will have weekly vocabulary tests every Friday which are cumulative. Any words that have previously been assigned may be on the test. Students should study vocabulary EVERY NIGHT. Additionally, students may have reading, grammar or writing assignments to complete. Keeping a sticky note on your desktop or having a notebook where you write down assignments will help to keep you on track. Late Work: Late work is not permitted unless their are extenuating circumstances. Frantic searches or last minute attempts to finish up work wastes class time, and class time is precious. Furthermore, high school students are expected to respect deadlines and assume responsibility for their own learning. For these reasons, students will be allowed a brief time window to turn in assignments when I ask for them. Be organized and ready to submit your assignments when they are due. Students will not have time to study for tests at the beginning of class before the test is given. Homework and studying should be completed at home. Any late assignment will receive a zero. Grading Policy: Based on current pedagogy, I do not grade all homework assignments or formative assessments. Homework and formative practice are designed as practice. Final
products such as tests, papers or projects are a better indicator of student performance than homework assignments. That being said, you should always give your best effort because you never know when the work will count toward your grade. Because this is primarily a writing course, 50% of students grades are based on their formal writing assignments and projects. While this may seem like a large percentage, it more accurately represents students ability and the quality of their work in my class. Additionally, this grading policy mimics higher level English classes as well as university courses. Grading Scale and Breakdown: (as of Fall 2015) With the shift from a 7 point scale to a 10 point scale, the value of a numeric score changes. Where before an 80 would have been considered average and awarded a C, an 80 now means above average and is awarded a B. This does not mean that making a C becomes harder or easier. My grading is highly based on the standards of the course. My philosophy is that an A is for students showing exemplar work and advanced comprehension of the material. A B is for students who show proficiency and mastery across the board and demonstrate an above average understanding of course material. A C is for a student who shows proficiency in many areas but may still be progressing with the understanding of some course subject matter. While a D reflects that a student is struggling to grasp course material and objectives. Because my course is standards driven, final assignments are graded on a rubric which dictates the standards and objectives being assessed. Rubric scores more accurately reflect mastery and proficiency of course material. Grading Scale A 90-100 B 80-89 C 70-79 D 60-69 F < 60 Grade Breakdown Papers/Projects: 50% Tests: 20% Quizzes: 15% Participation: 15 % (discussion, classwork, homework) **All work will be weighted according to teacher discretion. Different assignments (based on type) may have different weight values which will be communicated to students as assignments are made. Pacing Guide: On the next page, you will find a pacing guide that provides a brief overview of the semester. The standards have been listed in abbreviated form. To get a full understanding of the standards being addressed please visit the link to corestandards.org.
Thematic Writing/Learning Product Standards Addressed First Six Weeks Identity 1st 3 weeks: Poetry Descriptive writing Memoir Using strong verbs Peer Critique Introduction Individual: Memoir- ibook Personal essay and poetry TACKK webpage CCSS.ELA-LITERACY. W.9-10.3 W.9-10.3.A-E W.9-10.4 W.9-10.5 W.9-10.6 2nd 3 weeks: Writing paragraphs using textual evidence Transitions Writing reviews Personal Essay RI.11-12.5 RL.9-10.5 RL.9-10.6 RL.11-12.6 L.9-10.2 L.9-10.2.A-C L.9-10.5 L.9-10.5.A-B L.9-10.6 Second Six Weeks Self & Society 1st 3 weeks: Persuasion Tone SOAPSTone Rhetoric Debate Using participle phrases Varying sentence structure Research Paideia seminar 2nd 3 weeks: Argumentative analysis and writing Parts of the body paragraph Creating effective introductions and conclusions Crafting a thesis statement Incorporating evidence Individual: book review, argumentative essay pet peeve persuasive storyboards tennis debates paideia seminar CCSS.ELA-LITERACY. W.9-10.1. A-E W.9-10.4 W.9-10.5 W.9-10.7 W.9-10.8 W.9-10.9 SL.9-10.1 SL.9-10.1.A-D SL.9-10.3 SL.9-10.4 RI.9-10.5 RI.9-10.6 RI.9-10.8 RI.9-10.9 RI.11-12.5 L.9-10.1 L.9-10.1.A-B L.11-12.3 L.11-12.3.A
Thematic Writing/Learning Product Standards Addressed Third Six Weeks Problems, solutions and phenomeno ns Independent learning and discovery 1st 3 Weeks: Research MLA Source and note cards In-text citations Evaluating sources Incorporating sources Creating group and individual research questions and topics Individual: 2-4 page research papers Collaborative: PSA video Research Keynote Group Presentation Website Common Core Literacy Standards for ELA: W.9-10.2 W.9-10.2.A-F W.9-10.4 W.9-10.5 W.9-10.6 W.9-10.7 W.9-10.8 W.9-10.9 RI.11-12.5 2nd 3 Weeks: revision speech writing presentation skills Keynote creation SL.9-10.4 SL.9-10.5 SL.9-10.6 L.9-10.3 L.9-10.3.A