Composition Literature II

This is why we need directions!

Composition Literature II - Course Handbook - because anything worth doing is worth doing right.

Welcome to the new and improved Comp Lit II course! I am very excited to be able to provide you so much flexibility, freedom, and responsibility for your own learning! I hope that you are able to truly work hard and do your best in this course!

Since this is a new way of doing things, I think the introduction and instructions will be very useful and important to you. First, I will spend a little bit of time describing how the course is set up:

There are six units within this course: Plot Analysis, Character Analysis, Poetry Analysis, Love and Betrayal (Drama), Research Paper, Novel Study.
Each of these units has course objectives clearly stated at the top of the page and instructions for completing the unit clearly defined following the objectives.
Each unit also asks students to write one large-scale paper: Autobiographical Narrative, Biographical Narrative, Descriptive Essay, Play Review, I-Search Paper, Comparison and Contrast Paper. There are several other opportunities within the unit for shorter writing assignments, but these are the large-scale papers each student will be expected to write within each unit.

Students will be asked to go through the unit instructions in chronological order until they have completed all of their required tasks, then they are ready to move on to a new unit.

School is 36 weeks long, each unit is designed to conservatively allow each student to complete the unit within a specified time period that will take all 36 weeks (with a little time to spare). There are "Reward Units" available for those students who finish early. These units would include watching some major motion pictures that have minimal activities associated with them. The idea of watching these movies is that they coincide with the units in the course, but there is not time to require them for each student - so those that finish early with their course material will be given the opportunity to expand their horizons beyond the broad design of the units.

Each unit, as I mentioned before, is designed to be completed within a certain frame of time:

Plot Analysis Unit = 3 weeks
Character Analysis Unit = 3 weeks
Poetry Analysis Unit = 6 weeks
Love and Betrayal Unit = 8 weeks
Research Paper Unit = 8 weeks
Novel Study Unit = 7 weeks

Each student will be required to complete the unit based upon the calendar and deadlines provided by the teacher. It is important to note that this is a year-long course, meaning there are two semesters. Each student will be required to complete three units per semester at minimum. Keeping that in mind, students will need to choose units based upon their length. For example, if a student would choose to do only the short units the first semester, he/she would be done in 12 weeks and would have to start working on one of the longer units because there are not 23 weeks in the second semester. Similarly, if a student would choose to do two 8 week units in one semester, unless he/she works ahead, there will not be time to complete a third unit that semester. I realize this is English class, but a little bit of math will be required to ensure that all of the deadlines are met!

Knowing that the deadlines need to be met, students will not have the luxury of "taking days off" or have "free days" in class. Each day will need to be spent working in order to complete the units on time. What follows are some rules to help students stay on task and complete the units, using their class time wisely:

Class begins as soon as the student arrives. There is no need to wait for the bell. Students will be expected to come in, get their folder, and begin working as soon as they arrive in the room.
Computers will be available in the classroom for students to use during class time. If all of the computers are used, students will be expected to sign up on a "waiting list" to get the computers as soon as the previous person has completed his/her task. While students are waiting to use the computers, they are expected to remain busy doing work that doesn't require the computer, or reading their AR books. (There will be days when computers will be available outside of the classroom, and the teacher will assign students on the "waiting list" to computers in the library or other labs as they become available as well.)
There are many things to listen to on the computer, including lectures. Students will be expected to bring/borrow headphones in order to listen to the lectures and other auditory activities provided online and in the classroom. If a student does not bring, or is unable to borrow headphones, he/she will not be able to do auditory activities in (or out of) the classroom on that day. (I will be providing some headphones, and I will provide storage for students wishing to keep a set of headphones in the room.)
There will be a "take a number" clothespin system in use in the room for students to turn in their work and ask questions during class. This system allows the teacher to have the opportunity to meet with each student individually and conference about assignments and materials from the lecture. This will provide students with one-on-one teacher time and provide them with the individualized challenges from the teacher that they need in order to grow as students. Since this system is in place, it will be important that students wait patiently if they are in a line to see the teacher. Students should continue working as much as possible at their desk until the teacher arrives, or work on reading AR books until they get the help they need to move on. (It is possible for students to be doing the same unit as another student in the room, they might try asking other students simple clarification questions as well if they get stuck and are not willing to wait for assistance from the teacher.)
In order to ensure that students are using their time as wisely as possible, it will be important for them to follow the time frame provided by the teacher for completing the activities. There will not be extensions given for absences since students know ahead of time what the ultimate due dates are and are allowed to work at their own pace. (The only exception to that rule would be absences that are excused by a doctor that are more than a week long.) That being said, if a student is falling behind (in the estimation of the teacher) the student and his/her parents/guardians will be contacted and notified. It is the responsibility of the student and his/her parents/guardians to talk to the teacher or figure out a way to get caught up in the class.
Another way to ensure that students are using their time wisely is that the teacher will not accept more than two homework assignments per day (unless approved with the teacher in advance) - so students will not be able to wait until the end of the unit and turn all of the work in on the last day. It will not be accepted in bulk and it will not be accepted late.
Student learning is the most important thing to a teacher-facilitated classroom like this, and, as such, cheating will not be tolerated. If a student is discovered to be cheating, he/she will be subject to sanctions by the teacher and could result in failure of the unit or course.
There is a "Discussion Board" or "Blog" requirement in each of the units. Students will be required to both post their opinions on the discussion blog, and comment on the opinions of their classmates using the blog. Students should note that this requirement should be handled maturely. Students should feel safe to post their opinions on this site and know that only their classmates will be able to post comments about their opinions. Students should feel safe because no post will become public until it has been approved for content by the teacher. Students are allowed and encouraged to have differences of opinions and have spirited debates using the discussion blog, but students are NOT allowed to personally attack others using the discussion blog. Personal attacks that are submitted will be subject to the harassment and bullying sanctions in the school handbook. Students are also expected to broaden their horizons when posting; meaning that students should comment on posts that come from classmates that might not be their best friends or part of their circle of friends. All students like to have positive interaction with their classmates.
In each unit there are required questions for students to answer and comment on using the blog. There are some questions on the blog that are not required. These questions can be thought of as "extra credit". They are not required, but students will earn extra points by answering blog questions, in a useful way, that are not required for them to answer.
There are many documents that are attached to the units on this website. Students are allowed to print off items that they feel they need in hard copy. That is perfectly acceptable, but it would be appreciated by the school if they took the time to only print the documents (or pages of the documents) that they need. The school does not wish to have students wasting paper and ink printing items and documents they don't need in hard copy!

Now that the rules have been covered, it is time to talk about privileges:

It is the privilege of the student to be granted computer access during class time to work on his/her assignment - it is not a right. If students are wasting time or abusing computer privileges, the privilege will be revoked. There are not enough computers available to allow students to mess around and waste their time or the time of their classmates.
Students will be allowed the privilege of listening to music on an i-pod or similar device (not a cell phone) while they are working. Again, this is a privilege and not a right, so students will be granted this privilege as the teacher sees fit.

There are some more new and exciting things that students and parents should be aware of:

Each student will have access to the textbook online! There are a few selections that the textbook company was not able to get permission to provide online, so a hard copy of the text will be needed in some cases, but most of the selections in this course will be available using the online textbook. Besides having the stories available online, several of the selections are available to be read to the students - so students that are auditory learners can click on the speaker button next to the story and follow along while the online textbook reads the selection to them. Each student has a password to access his/her online textbook and many assignments will be submitted to the teacher using the student notebook that is available on the online textbook as well. (Parents/guardians are encouraged to keep a copy of their student's password available so students can access the textbook away from school if needed.)
AR books will still be required throughout the year. Students will be expected to complete 600 page per semester for the reading requirement; however, novels read in class (Night and To Kill a Mockingbird) will count toward that requirement (that is 280 pages of the 1200 right there!). Books are not required to be actual "AR" books, but they do need to be approved by the teacher in advance of reading. Once students have finished reading their books, they will be required to fill out a book form (provided in the classroom) and turn it in to the teacher using the clothespin system. Once the book form has been read and accepted by the teacher, students will be responsible for filling out a "thumbs up" or "thumbs down" card (provided in the classroom) to be posted in the hallway for other students to read. (The reason for doing this is to provide some feedback to the library about the kinds of books students like and don't like and to provide other students searching for a good book a place to go to find some trusted opinions about whether or not a book is "good".)

This handbook is meant to serve a dual purpose. It is meant to be a guide for students, but also a sort of contract for students to follow. For the contract part of its purpose, students are asked to read through this site with a parent/guardian at home. As the first required activity for this class, parents/guardians are asked to email me saying they have read and understood the handbook. I would also like parents/guardians to provide me with their preferred method of contact (email, phone number, cell number for text messaging, etc.) so I can contact parents throughout the year, as needed, about their student's progress in the course. If parents/guardians have any questions or concerns about the handbook, this is the time to voice those. (I provided a link for my email address above, but if you would like to see it to have on file, my email address is: hspetman@oabcig.org

If a student does not have computer/internet access at home, a paper copy of this contract will be provided to the student. Those parents/guardians without computer/internet access will be asked to provide me with contact information as well as questions or comments about the course handbook.

Thank you! Let's have a great year!

Mrs. Heather Spetman