Syllabus:
All English III and IV Students:
Welcome to SusQ-Cyber Charter School and
the 2009-2010 school year. My name is Mrs. Julie Fehr, and I am going to be
your English Instructor. I am looking forward to a very interesting and
successful year, and I am sure you are doing the same. Cyber school is a
unique and exciting academic experience and hopefully you will achieve each
and every goal you have established for yourself. I will do my best to help
you do this as together, we work through the Language Arts Course this year.
Before starting your work, you will need to be aware of certain guidelines and
requirements that I have put in place. By following them, you will be insured
a successful and rewarding year in English. Failure to adhere to them could
result in you not finishing the course on time, and a possible failing grade
for English. They are, as follows:
1. You must attend
and give time to this course every school day.
2. This course has a web page, and
it is necessary for you to go to it every day before starting to work.
*The web address is:
http://teacherweb.com/PA/SusQ-CyberCharterSchool/LanguageArts/ap20.stm
Once there, you should click on the
appropriate icon (Grade 11 or Grade 12) to check what unit and lesson(s) you
should be completing for that day.
Each day you will be required to
complete TWO initial/warm-up assignments on the course web page before
doing your English coursework in Odyssey Ware. They are: the "Daily Journal"
and "The Word of the Day." Once you have opened each item on the web page,
write your responses and vocabulary word activity in a file in your computer.
I will collect them at the end of the semester. You will be able to send them
through your “Homework Drop” on Gaggle.net
Should you miss any of the prompts or
words, you will see icons labeled "Journal Prompt Archive" and "Word of the
Day Archive". You can click on either of them and get your items you need to
make up.
3. The units are set up so that
basically, you should need only to complete one - two lessons a day, which
calculates to one unit per month. Certainly you may work ahead, which I
recommend, but please do not allow yourself to get behind. I will post
your weekly schedule on the web Page.
4. Once you get into your course and
look at the lessons, you will see they are labeled either "Lesson," "Project,"
"Quiz," or "Test." ALL activities are to be
completed in the order shown. Please do not skip around within the unit. .
"Projects" are usually written
assignments. Do NOT skip them because of this. They are put in that order for
a reason, and are to be done in order.
If I see that you are skipping over the
projects, you will be warned about moving forward until the skipped project is
finished. If you fail to go back and complete them and continue to move on
into the next unit, I will give you a zero for each assignment you skipped in
the previous unit. Please do not put yourself in that position.
5. Additional Assignments:
Each unit has a “Special Project”
lesson. In most of them, you will need to click on the yellow box at the top
of the lesson to get your instructions for that project. Please do NOT skip
these as they are worth more than regular lessons, projects and quizzes.
6. Each semester you will be invited to
read a book and complete a project for it. I will post the instructions,
criteria and due dates on the web page. You can access the directions from the
side directory labeled "First Semester Book Project: All Students." In
addition, the instructions will be placed in the "Handouts" section of the web
page so that you can download them and print them out for your own personal
reference. It will be your responsibility to turn in the assignments when they
are due.
7. Journals (On the course
web page as mentioned before)
You are required to respond to a
daily journal prompt. You should do this in a file on your computer.
a. Go to the web page, and click on
the "Daily Journal Prompts" icon
b. Read the prompt
c. RESTATE the prompt and then write
your response in your journal.
d. A response should be at least 5-8
sentences in order to receive credit.
e. Journals will be turned in to me
at the end of each semester.
f. You will receive a grade for
this, so it is important that you complete them
g. If you find that a prompt reaches
too deep into a personal event or feeling, and you do not want to respond to
it, you may free-write a journal for that day.
h. All responses will be
confidential, so if you feel you need to "vent" on a topic, that is fine, or
if you want an additional and immediate response from me, you may send it to
me via Odyssey Ware messaging or e-mail.
i. If you miss a day, go to the
"Archive" icon on the web page and you will be able to find the prompt
listed there by date.
8. Vocabulary Word of the Day
(On the course web page as mentioned before):
a. Each day there will be a new
vocabulary word for you to "make your own."
b. It will be posted under the icon
"Word of the Day" on the web page.
c. As you are reviewing the web page
each day, click on this icon and copy or print out the word and its
information.
d. You are also required to keep these
words in a file on your computer, and this is where you will write your words
each day, along with the noted "strategy for ownership" that I will include
with the words. Explicit directions will be given as to what you should do.
e. I will collect this book each
semester and enter a grade for it.
f. If you miss a day, go to the
"Archive" icon on the web page and you will be able to find the word listed
there by date.
9. Please familiarize yourself with the
web page and be sure and go to it every day before starting your work in
English. You have two sections on that site that must be addressed each day -
the journal prompt and the word of the day. These are daily class assignments
and should only take 5 - 10 minutes.
*** Note: You will not be
starting your Journals or Word of the Day activities until next week>
September 8th. This will give us all a bit of time to organize and get settled
in!
10. Each student will be issued a school
e-mail account. This will be the main vehicle for communication with your
teachers. Please check it on a DAILY basis.
11. Within that account you will have
access to a “Digital Locker” where I will place assignments and announcements,
and several other venues such as a “Homework Drop” which you can use to send
me some of your extra assignments and the journals and vocabulary words when
they are due. I encourage you to explore it totally.
12. Another vehicle for contact is the
messaging section on the Odyssey Ware site. You must check your
messages there every day also after you are finished on the web page. I will
put notes and comments, etc. concerning your lessons and your work on there.
You may also send me messages through that system.
13. If you have any questions, or you
are confused about anything in this handout, please call me immediately.
I can be reached at 1-866-370-1226, ext. 321. You can also send me an e-mail
at jfehr@susqcyber.org
14. I will be making regular contact
with you, the student; and also your parents or guardians. (I will also call
with positive feedback)
15. In SusQ-Cyber School, we also have
the benefit of a program called "Elluminate." In a few days I will be sending
you a link to my Elluminate Classroom. It will come through the Odyssey Ware
message system so you will be able to go back and get it whenever you need it.
You might want to tag it as a "Favorite" or "Bookmark" so you can readily get
to it.
I will open my classroom for one hour
every day. The hours will be from 10:00 AM until 12:00 PM. If you have
questions or problems and want to talk to me online, then click on the link
and I can tutor you from that venue. Here is the link:
If you cannot make it at that time, let
me know and we can arrange another time for a tutoring session.
16. If you would like to come in meet
with me in person, that would be fine, also. Please call to set up an
appointment. My office is at the Technology Center in Bloomsburg, 240 Market
Street, Suite 15.
17. On the web page, you will also find
a page labeled "Completion Schedule". There is one for each particular grade
level and course section. On this page I will give you a weekly schedule, and
you must follow it. If I see you getting behind and not
completing the work as assigned, after a few calls and e-mails, if I see no
change, then I will be forced to give you zeroes for those assignments not
completed by the designated time. Please be sure that you check it regularly
and that by the end of each week you have fulfilled the completion requirement
on the schedule.
18. Plagiarism is the deliberate copying
of another author's work. It is unacceptable in this English course. Anytime
you quote or write anything in the exact words of a source, you must cite it
and all the particulars of that writing. This includes ALL Internet writing as
well. If I find that you have done this, you will fail the assignment, and
have to do it over and you will have to meet with me to discuss your actions.
The accepted format for all written
papers at the SusQ-Cyber Charter School is MLA Style. You can access a link
to that informational site through the “Resources” section on the school web
page.