Syllabus for Mr. Dorje’s College Prep English Classes
Please be advised: A student shall not receive a passing grade at the semester if s/he has not demonstrated the required level of performance (70%) on each content standard completed in that semester. If a student does not achieve all standards completed within a semester, but has a final course grade of 60% or above, the student shall receive a final grade of 59% with a letter grade "F."Assignments for Each Quarter and Grade Scale
A=>90% B=>80% C=>70% D=>60% F<59%
Student assignments fall into one of two categories (formative and summative), and are defined below.
Formative: these assignments allow students an opportunity to practice skills and concepts in preparation for formal assessment to gauge their mastery of a content standard.
Summative: these assignments are intended to gauge student mastery of content standards. Students may redo, rewrite or retake these assignments multiple times in order to demonstrate mastery.
33% of students' grades represent their performance on summative assessments.
67% of students' grades represent their performance on formative assessments.
Concerning Student WorkStudents must pass the mandatory benchmarks twice during the school year, once for each semester or they will not receive a passing grade for that semester. Summative assignments are the tool which I use to assess for mastery of benchmarks.
Students receive credit each day for classroom participation. Being tardy or having an unexcused absence will lead to students losing their participation credit.
Formative assignments are never accepted late. I will take summative assignments late for diminished credit. "My printer ran out of ink," is not an acceptable excuse.
All assignments must be written in dark pencil, black or blue ink. Any other ink color used will result in a zero for the assignment.
All formal essays must be typed: NO EXCEPTIONS.
Students are expected to provide their own materials: books, pens, pencils, paper, etc.
All work turned in must have the student’s name at the top of the page, period number, date andtitle of the assignment. Not having such puts the student in jeopardy of having his or her work discarded without an opportunity to make it up.
Never under any circumstances should a student turn in work to my mailbox, unless I make special arrangements with him or her.
Students should expect to have one hour of homework, or more at times, each day.
Discipline
Students should respect their teacher, their peers and the facilities/materials. We must have a positive learning environment in which students feel safe. Students should stay in their seats and raise their hand and wait to be called on if they wish to speak.
Violation of the classroom's or school's rules will result in any one or a combination of the following: a warning; a call home; loss of participation credit; detention; administrative referral;
Saturday school; a behavior contract and in some cases W/F.
Students are to never use electronic devices in class. Phones and pagers are to be turned off. Parents, please do not call your student during class time. Electronic devices will be confiscated.
Students are to never eat in class, bring soft drinks to class, chew gum, etc. Students may drink bottled water: do note my bathroom policy. Students are allowed 5 bathroom passes using their "potty pass" cards. Each card is worth 5 extra credit points for each unused bathroom pass.
Tardy/Truancy Policy: I use the school-wide tardy/truancy. Students are expected to be on-time, or suffer the consequences. In some cases, a student can earn a w/F for being tardy or cutting class too often.
Students are not allowed to use cosmetics during class.
I strictly enforce the district wide dress code. Public school is not a beach. Your students aren’t on vacation here.
Absences
If students are absent and need to pickup makeup work, they must visit the classroom blog, www.mrdorje.blogspot.com in order to get their makeup work. I am often unable to give makeup work during class, so this streamlines the process. Also, students may want to check with their peers. Tests will need to be made-up after school.
Students will need the following materials for this class:
Binder One or more folders College ruled paper Dictionary (or access to one) Several pencils, black or blue pens Multi-colored post-its
