Contemporary Composition/American Lit
Welcome to Contemporary Composition (fall) /American Literature (spring). This class is designed to further develop students’ analytical reading and writing skills as mastered in English 10 A/B, while exposing students to a variety of writing styles and genres. To that end, students will develop their skills in a variety of ways, from independent reading of grade-appropriate materials, small group and large group discussions, cooperative learning projects, as well as a variety of projects and tasks, both in writing and through various technologies, which enable students to engage with content materials and evince their mastery of skills.
Academic grades are determined by students’ mastery of learning targets, which are aligned to the ELA Common Core State Standards for this grade level. Throughout the semester, students will have multiple opportunities to demonstrate proficiency, and all graded assignments include rubrics with areas of focus for particular assignments.
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Grade Description
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4-Point Rubric Description
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A: Demonstrated mastery in at least 80% of learning targets (12/15) and proficiency in the rest. |
4 - Mastery The student demonstrates complete and detailed understanding of the learning target. |
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B: Demonstrated proficiency in at least 80% of learning targets (12/15) and basic ability in the rest. |
3 - Proficiency The student demonstrates considerable understanding of the learning target. |
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C: Demonstrated at least basic ability in all learning targets.
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2 – Basic Ability The student demonstrates basic understanding of the learning target. |
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D: Demonstrated at least novice ability in all learning targets.
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1 – Novice Ability The student has partial but incomplete understanding of the learning target, or has multiple misconceptions about the learning target. |
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F: Does not demonstrate at least novice ability in all learning targets. |
0 – No Evidence Student has not submitted work which shows any evidence of a grasp of the learning target. |
In order to succeed in this class, keep in mind the following rules/expectations:
- Be in class every day, and on time.
- Participation in discussions and activities is essential to learning, so all students are expected to participate fully in this class.
- Reading and writing are crucial to education, and students are expected to complete all reading and writing assignments on time.
- Missing work and late: it is the students’ responsibility to discuss with me how and when to make up and turn in any late or missing work.
Academic honesty/plagiarism policy: All work submitted by students must be their own original work. When quoting, paraphrasing, summarizing, or in any way including any ideas that are not your own (i.e., coming from any writer other than you), you must properly cite the source of information. This is called in-text citation. Failure to properly cite information sources is academically dishonest and constitutes plagiarism, and should be avoided. See The Owl https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/02/ for more details regarding in-text citation procedures. Any violation of this policy (i.e., any instance of plagiarism) will result in a score of zero points for the assignment and/or a teacher/parent conference
The following page (#2) provides a detailed list of the various units that make up the bulk of our two semesters. Page 3 lists the Common Core State Standards and the learning targets students will be working towards in this class.