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Mr. Murphy |
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FAQ
Do you accept late homework assignments? No, homework assignments are due the following day unless announced beforehand. If you have an excused absence the next day, the homework assignment is due your first day back to school. Do you accept late assignments other than homework? I accept late assignments that count as major grades such as tests, essays, or projects. However, I deduct ten points per day up to five days. After five days, I do not accept late assignments. If you are in a gifted class, you will have a vocabulary quiz over twenty words every other Friday. The quiz will include definitions, synonyms, antonyms, parts of speech, and complete the sentence. You can prepare for your quizzes by completing the review exercises at www3.vocabtest.com. You must click on Level D on the left margin and then click on the current vocabulary unit. Students will be offered one extra credit assignment per semester as long as they do not have a zero on any major assignment or quiz or have less than a "B" on the overall homework grade. To earn extra credit, students must make a short movie or music video about a piece of literature read in class for that specific semester. What do you consider tardy to class? Students have six minutes to get to their next class. Students are tardy if they are not in their seats when the tardy bell sounds six minutes after the first bell rings. You will be sent to the STAMP table for each tardy. Once you have accumulated three tardies, you will be given a punishment for your fourth tardy. Are students allowed to eat or drink in the classroom? Students may drink plain bottled water in the classroom, but no other types of drinks such as Gatorade or soda is allowed. No food is allowed in any classroom at Parkview. How can I get more information about the Paris and Rome educational tour? Go to www.eftours.com and click on the student or parent tab at the top of the page. Scroll down to where it says "Check out a tour" on the right margin of the page. Put tour number 636311 in the box and hit enter. You may also get the paper version of this information from me. We will have a parent meeting some time in the fall to discuss the trip. How can I prepare for the End of Course Test? You can go to www.usatestprep.com to take practice tests and play review games. The username is parkview, and the password is newton7. Be sure to click on the 9th Grade Literature and Composition link to take the right test. What will we read in this class? Besides poetry and short stories, we will read Anthem by Ayn Rand, The Odyssey by Homer, and Mythology by Edith Hamilton during the first semester. In the second semester, we will also read more poetry and short stories as well as Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare, The Call of the Wild by Jack London, and To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. The school will provide you with all of these books, but if you want your own book to write in or highlight to take notes, I encourage you to buy your own. You will also read at least one independent novel and other shorter works each semester. Other readings may be assigned at the teacher's discretion. How much writing is required in this class? You will write eight to twelve essays during the course of the year. Essays count as major grades and greatly affect your average. Good writing is essential to getting an "A" in this course. Students should very quickly move beyond writing a simple five-paragraph essay in this course. Also, major grammatical errors in essays will cost students valuable points on their overall grade on an essay. Run-on sentences, sentence fragments, and simple sentences are not acceptable at the high school level. No, it will be difficult to get an "A" in this course. Students have the misconception that just because they are enrolled in a gifted course that they will automatically get an "A." Usually, only about one-third to one-half of the students per class get an "A" in the course. Students should also remember that high school teachers have higher expectations than middle school teachers. This will be true for college professors too. The higher the grade level, the more challenging the work becomes, the amount of work gets larger, and the more effort is required to attain the same grade that may have come easily at a lower grade level. Parkview is a great school for preparing students for college. What do I do about assignments if I have an excused absence? Any announced assignment before your absence is due the next day after you return to school. Any test, quiz, or assignment given on the day of your absence must be completed within five school days upon your return. After five school days have elapsed, any uncompleted work becomes a zero. What is the grading scale in this class? The grading scale for this class and all classes at Parkview are as follows: A 90-100 B 80-89 C 74-79 D 70-73 F 69 and Below What supplies will I need this year in this class? It is absolutely necessary for you to have access to the Internet during this course. Also, in addition to the typical supplies such as pens, pencils, and paper, you will use the following materials at different points in the semester: 2" Three-ring binder with dividers Several poster boards CDs to record projects Hi-liters Glue Construction Paper Markers flashdrive I recommend that you wait until I announce the assignments in class before you purchase supplies that may be specific to that particular assignment. How are grades weighted in this class?
To get much more information about Parview High School, go to www.parkview.net. Plagiarism is using someone else's words or ideas without giving credit to that person. Plagiarism can be direct quotes of someones else's words or paraphrases of someone else's words. Whether intentional or accidental, plagiarism is a major violation that will result in a zero on your essay!!! To avoid plagiarism, simply document all sources using parenthetical citations and bibliographical entries in a Works Cited page. May parents observe classes with their children in them? Sure, please notify the teacher beforehand to arrange a visit. Parents must check in at the main office for a visitor's pass before proceeding to the classroom. Do you have a syllabus for this class? Parkview High School Course Syllabus Freshman Gifted English 2009-2010 Teacher: Allen Murphy Language Arts Workroom 770-806-3817 allen_murphy@gwinnett.k12.ga.us Classroom Website – http://teacherweb.com/ga/parkview/murphy or http://www.parkview.net/mainmenu/teachers/amurphy/index.html Vocabulary Website—www3.vocabtest.com Welcome to Freshman English! Course Description: Freshman English is an integrated language-arts course. This course includes work in listening, speaking, reading, writing, vocabulary, and research. Objectives: Gwinnett County Public Schools 9th Grade Language Arts Academic Knowledge and Skills. (Please see the student AKS book or visit http://gwintranet.gcps.k12/gcps-mainweb01.nsf.) Units to Be Covered: (The teacher reserves the right to make adjustments to the curriculum as needed.) First Semester Literature • Short Stories • Fiction and Nonfiction • World and Greek mythology • Poetry • Epic (The Odyssey by Homer) • Anthem by Ayn Rand Grammar, Usage, and Mechanics Vocabulary Writing • Personal Narrative • Literature Based Creative Writing • Comparison and Contrast Documented Essay • Research & MLA Style Documentation (Parenthetical Citations & Works-Cited Page) Second Semester Literature • The Call of the Wild by Jack London • Romeo and Juliet • To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee Grammar, Usage, and Mechanics Vocabulary Writing • S.A.T. Persuasive Timed Writing • Romeo and Juliet Gateway Essay • To Kill A Mockingbird Literary Analysis Texts: Prentice Hall Literature: Gold Level (Lost book replacement cost is $61.95.) Prentice Hall Writing and Grammar: Gold Level (Lost book replacement cost is $55.55.) Note: The teacher may supplement the material in the textbooks with various newspaper and magazine articles and video clips. Video excerpts may come from The Power of Myth (an interview with Joseph Campbell), a History Channel special on the historical background of J.R.R. Tolkien, A&E biographies of various authors, and Hallmark Entertainment’s version of The Odyssey. Required Materials: • Blue or black ink pens, pencils, lined composition paper • Binder with sections to keep vocabulary, literature, composition, and grammar notes • Several poster boards for various projects • Multi-colored construction paper for various projects • Glue sticks • Internet access • Music downloading capability • Use of digital camera to make video • CD or DVD to save projects Grading Policy: 90-100 = A 80-89 = B 74-79 = C 70-73 = D 0-69 = F In this class, grading will be done on a point system, with assignments having different point values. 45 % = major assignments (tests, essays, projects, etc.) 30 % = quizzes, homework, class assignments 5 %= benchmark mid-term exam 10 % = performance final exam (essay)* 10 % = benchmark final exam (multiple choice)** The grading scale will be slightly different for the second semester. *The performance final exam will be weighted 5% of the overall grade. **The benchmark final exam will be replaced by the End of Course Test that will count 15% of the overall average. Cheating: Every assignment submitted for credit is accepted as the student’s own work. It may not, therefore, have been composed, wholly or partially, by another person or copied, wholly or partially, from a book, article, essay, newspaper, another student’s paper or notebook, or any other written or printed source. Cheating by students is considered inexcusable conduct, and it will not be tolerated. A zero will be given to the student for the assignment involved, and parents and administrators will be contacted. Make-Up Work: When a student has an excused absence, he or she must make up any missed work within five school days. It is the student’s responsibility to get the missing assignments and get extra help or explanations at the teacher’s convenience, before or after school. The five-day rule does not apply to pre-announced due dates on assignments such as projects and essays. In those cases, it is generally expected that the student would turn in the assignment or take the exam on the first day back to school. A student must show the teacher the excuse for an absence within two days of his/her return to school, or the absence is automatically unexcused. Students will not be allowed to make up work for unexcused absences. If a student is absent from this class more than 10 times, he or she will not receive credit for the course, regardless of whether the absences are excused or unexcused and regardless of the student’s grade in the class. Tardy Policy: Parkview High School has instituted a Student Tardy Accountability Management Program (STAMP). Any student in the hall after the tardy bell rings and who does not have a hall pass will be sent to the attendance office in Building H (near the media center). The administrator on duty will issue a warning or consequence and give the student an admit form to class. Students will be given a warning for the first three tardies. After the third tardy, consequences will range from administrative detention to out-of-school suspension. Remember: A student is considered tardy if he or she is not in the classroom when the tardy bell rings. Late Assignments: Ten percent of the points for an assignment will be deducted for each day the assignment is turned in late. An assignment is late if it is not handed in when I ask for it. This means that if a student turns in the assignment any time after I have collected it, it is late. (A malfunctioning printer, by the way, is not an excuse for turning an assignment in late. Students may bring in the document on a disk and print it in one of the school computer labs.) I do not accept any assignment that is more than three days late. Homework and class assignments will not be accepted late. Parkview High School Language Arts Department Composition Standards: Follow these guidelines for your essays: • Papers should be typed if at all possible. • Type a heading in the upper left corner of the first page, including your name, your teacher’s name, the name of the course, and the date. Joe Smith Mr. Murphy Freshman English September 5, 2005 • Center and type the title of the paper. Use standard capitalization rules. Space once between the title and the body of the paper. Do not underline the title. • Double-space the entire paper, including the heading. (If you must write your paper by hand, skip lines. Do not leave an extra space between paragraphs.) • For multi-paged papers, number all pages in the upper right- hand corner. (Using the header function of your word processor, indicate your last name and page number, beginning on page 1.) • Write or print on only one side of the paper. • Use blue or black ink on lined, loose-leaf notebook paper if you are handwriting your paper. • Edit your papers carefully. Rules concerning Standard English apply to all assignments. • Take pride in the overall appearance of your paper! Projects Associated With Literature All major pieces of literature will normally have a project associated with it that will count as a major assignment. The projects for this year are as follows: • Creation of a fish as described in the poem “The Fish” • Publication of a book of nature myths similar to creation myths from mythology • A music CD connected to Anthem by Ayn Rand • Class performance of Romeo and Juliet • Shoot a scene from The Call of the Wild • A museum exhibit associated with To Kill A Mockingbird More projects may be added, and some may be deleted as dictated according to the pace of the class. Acknowledgement of Classroom Procedures and Requirements Mr. Murphy’s Freshman English ______________________________ Student (please print) ______________________________ Class period I have read and understand the course syllabus, standard procedures, and classroom expectations. I agree to follow the procedures and expectations for the class. I understand that there are penalties for not following the procedures and expectations and that these penalties are to be determined by the teacher. ______________________________ Student signature ______________________________ Date We have read and understand the course syllabus, standard procedures, and classroom expectations. We further understand that there are penalties for not following the procedures and expectations and that these penalties are to be determined by the teacher. ______________________________ Parent signature ______________________________ Date Parent’s Home Email :___________________________________________ Mother’s Work Email:___________________________________________ Father’s Work Email:____________________________________________ Other Email Address:____________________________________________ |
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