When | Why |
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Aug-13-20 | NoRedInk & Membean |
AP English Language and Composition Course Syllabus
Instructor: Ms. Melissa Easley Email: [email protected]
Location: LMHS campus, Room C300 Remind: text @ to 81010
Course Description
It is the goal of this course to “cultivate the reading and writing skills that students need for college success and for intellectually responsible civic engagement. The course guides students in becoming curious, critical, and responsive readers of diverse texts and becoming flexible, reflective writers of texts addressed to diverse audiences for diverse purposes. The reading and writing students do in the course should deepen and expand their understanding of how written language functions rhetorically: to communicate writers’ intentions and elicit readers’ responses in particular situations”.
This course assumes that you have already developed a command of standard English grammar. Therefore, writing assignments in this course will focus on the writing craft, assisting you to become a more competent writer in college-level coursework. The course emphasizes academic essays, some of which should be at least 1,000 words in length and be taken through multiple drafts before completion.
The AP Exam
The AP Exam for English Language and Composition will be administered on May 12, 2021.
The exam is three hours and fifteen minutes long and is comprised of two sections:
Multiple-choice questions 45 questions 45% weighting 60 min
Reading questions 23 - 25 questions
Writing questions 20 - 22 questions
Free-response questions 3 questions 55% weighting 2 hr 15
Q1: Synthesis 6 points
Q2: Rhetorical Analysis 6 points
Q3: Argument 6 points
The exam assesses the four “big ideas” for the course: Rhetorical Situation, Claims and Evidence, Reasoning and Organization, and Style.
Scores
Scores on the AP examination are reported on a five-point scale as follows:
5: extremely well qualified 2: possibly qualified
4: well qualified 1: no recommendation
3: qualified
Your score will be reported to you in early July. Most schools in Louisiana give credit for a score of 3 or better on the AP Language exam. However, some schools will only give credit for a score of 4 or 5. You will need to research any schools to which you plan to apply.
Grading Procedures
The standard grading scale in this class is as follows:
90 - 100 A 70 - 79 C Below 60 Failing
80 - 89 B 60 - 69 D
Students are expected to utilize JCampus to stay informed about their current grade in the course. I will not discuss grades during class; please see me before or after school or send an email if you prefer.
Labor-Based Grading Contracts
AP English classes at Liberty use Labor-based Contract grading to determine final course grades. This grading system rewards students with high work ethics for the labor they put into the course as they work toward growth and progress.
*This contract is to be signed by admin and teacher, then student and parent at the start of the semester.
*The contract adjusts to allowing less late and missed work per 9 weeks.
Details: 10 pt grading scales + extra quality point
Breakdown:
100 possible points a 9 weeks = 1-2 10-pt assessments (major) + 17-18 5-point assessments
*because four grades of X or I would mathematically equal 80%, once you miss 4 assignments or turn in 4 incomplete assignments, one of your other 5-point assessments will drop to a 4 out of 5 in Jcampus to reflect the accurate class score of 79 C. The same method applies to D’s and F’s.
1st 9 Weeks
*If a student surpasses any one of these categories, their grade drops to the next category. E.g., if a student has 3 recorded grades of “I” but 2 recorded grades of “X,” that student has earned a “B” for the 9 weeks, and vice versa.
*The number of L, X, and I total in each category determines whether the resulting class letter grade is + or -. For example:
Student A
Student B
Further explanation of each category:
Late Assignments refer to any assignment, activity, or assessment that is turned in after the due date prescribed by the teacher.
Not-Submitted Assignments refer to any assignment that is not completed within 3 days (24-hour cycles) of the due date prescribed by the teacher. “X” in Jcampus. Plagiarized assignments fall under this category.
Incomplete Assignments refer to any assignments turned in that have ignored guidelines and are inadequate. E.G. the assignment is a full essay, and the student turns in a paragraph; the assignment is a paragraph, the student turns in a sentence. Students may choose to turn these assignments in late instead of being recorded as “Incomplete.” “I” in Jcampus.
JCampus & Google Classroom - I update JCampus and Google Classroom regularly. I strongly recommend retaining copies of all returned work until the grade has been posted in JCampus so that if there is a discrepancy, you may show me the assignment and I can make a correction at that time. Stay on top of your grades. This is a college-level course. It is not your parents’ responsibility to monitor your progress; you should be doing that yourself.
Cheating and Plagiarism
Cheating and plagiarism are both direct violations of our school’s Academic Honesty Policy. Students caught cheating will automatically receive a zero on the task, will be referred to the front office for disciplinary action, and will have a notation placed in their permanent record. To avoid any misunderstanding, do not talk during a quiz or test (even if you have completed your work). If you have a question, raise your hand and I will assist you. As a special word of caution: in a digital era and age of virtual learning, it is especially tempting to cheat or plagiarize. Aside from the morality and ethics of such behavior, I will caution you that failure to complete assignments independently will result in an inability to complete additional assignments in a more restricted environment. Do the work. You’ll be happy that you did.
Cheating is defined as any attempt to receive academic credit for work done by someone else. This includes but is not limited to the following:
Copying another student’s work on a test
Looking at another student’s test paper
Copying another student’s homework or turning in a term paper, report, theme or project written or prepared (in whole or part) by another person
Using a textbook, notebook or “cheat sheet” on a test when it is not authorized.
Using an electronic device like a cell phone, iPad, or iPod on a test when it is not authorized.
Plagiarism - the practice of taking someone else's work or ideas and passing them off as one's own (This list is meant to be illustrative only.)
Providing illegal aid to enable others to cheat is also considered cheating. This includes but is not limited to the following:
Allowing your work to be copied and turned in by another student as his/her own
Allowing your test to be copied by another student Writing a term paper, report, theme for another student
Preparing a project for another student
Obtaining unauthorized information about a test and/or spreading this information.
Sharing text messages with another student to give answers or information when it is not authorized. (This list is meant to be illustrative only.)
Self- plagiarism: Reusing old papers from another current or past class
It should be noted that eyewitness accounts of a teacher, evidence based on written work or confiscated “cheat sheets,” will be accepted as determining the occurrence of cheating. In no case where cheating has taken place will academic credit for any part of the assignment in question be given to any student involved. In all cases when cheating is determined to have occurred,
(1) the suspected work will be confiscated and a grade of zero will be given;
(2) the teacher will counsel with the student and will contact the parents of the student involved, and
(3) notification of the offense will be sent to the Dean of Students for discipline.
In addition to the above, punishment may include: first offense: In-school suspension, second offense: suspension, third offense: magnet status revoked/expulsion.
Attendance/Tardiness
I expect all students to be in the classroom prepared to work on bellwork when the tardy tone sounds. Upon your arrival to class, please take care of any “housekeeping” tasks before the bell rings. If you are absent from school or miss a portion of class due to an appointment or some other cause, you are responsible for finding out what work you missed and completing that in a timely manner. Our school policy allows you one day to complete work for each day missed; if you miss school on Monday, you are to get your make up work Tuesday and have that prepared to turn in on Wednesday.
Writing Assignments
Students will be asked to write frequently throughout this course, in prompts of varying degrees of length and complexity (essays, research papers, analytical writing, rhetorical analysis, argumentative writing, et cetera). All writing assignments should include a works cited page, formatted using the most recent MLA style guidelines (information will be provided with each assignment/rubric). Although we are virtual, I prefer for you to hand write your essays and short responses, then take a picture to submit. We are trying to get Rocketbooks for y’all, but in case we don’t, handwritten is preferred. Handwritten assignments must be legible; I prefer that you use dark ink, skip a line, and write on one side of your paper unless it does not bleed through.
LINK TO COURSE CALENDAR
Added August 13, 2020 at 8:05am
by Melissa Easley
Title: NoRedInk & Membean
Membean & NoRedInk
*Membean is a weekly practice. In order to receive credit, students must meet their training goal every week with 2 grace weeks (not counted). This will be calculated at the end of the 9 weeks - don’t fall behind!
*NoRedInk is independent grammar work. At the end of the 9 weeks, I will check each student’s progress, and students must not be missing more than 2 assignments to receive credit for the 9 weeks.
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This section clearly articulates the goals of AP Lang! Go Easley!!
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shows what exactly ap lang focuses own and the goals we should achieve by the end of the year
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I love how AP Lang focuses on encouraging students to take ownership of their education and participation in history, government, etc.
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This sentence is important to me because it gives an outlook on what we should be able to do when we finish the class and have to take the AP test.
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This is important because it tells the students what to expect to get out of this course.
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I love how this class will allow my writing skills to improving. This class will help me become a better writer at an earlier age.
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I’ve always loved writing and I think this will be the class to get me pass the basics of writing and find my true voice.
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This sentence informs us on how this course with teach us how to use the skills we are already familiar with and apply them to higher level thinking assignments.
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I like the example of a 1,000 word essay because it emphasizes how challenging this course could be.
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Yes, it may be a challenge for sure, and that’s a good thing, like you say. Challenge is how we grow! Can’t wait to read y’alls writing!
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This shows that the class we’re taking will be much more difficult compared to the past English classes we’ve taken before
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This section is important because it explains the part of the AP Exam, and how the free response work on there.
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This paragraph is important because it tells us about the details of the AP Exam, so that we know what to expect come test time.
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This is important to know because it gives you the test date and how long the test will be. This will give you an idea of how long you have to prepare for the test and how much time it’ll take to complete it
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This and the following paragraphs give clear information about the layout of our AP exam in the spring. It allows us to have decent expectation of what our test will look like.
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This is an important date because you get to show everything we learn in the class and all your hard work pays off.
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This paragraph shows that the most important part of the test is part two because 55% of it is weighted when it comes to grading the test.
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This paragraph is important because it lets me know what I need to study and practice in order to pass the AP test.
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These big ideas help us students understand what we should focus on when it comes to the exam what we need to prepare for
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You must exceed your own expectations and others to be ranked as qualified and above .
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This paragraph gives us information for the dates of our scores, and how Louisiana schools are different then most schools. It also informs us that a minority of schools use give credit differently.
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Informs the students of where to keep track of their grades. If they have any questions, to email the teacher.
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This sentence is important because it shows what impact doing the work assigned has on our grade
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Yes! My personal philosophy is always work ethic first. Natural talent and skill is great, but to use those effectively, we have to have strong work ethics.
I see part of my job as your teacher as encouraging work ethic and effort, not just content and skill (although, I encourage those too).
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This sentence shows that the course is expected to help us students excel as writers.
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This sentence tells us that as long as we put in the effort, our grades shouldn’t suffer too badly. It’s reassuring.
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Basically as long as you are putting forth some type of effort into your assignments some type of credit will be given. No one is trying to see us suffer, you only wants what’s best.
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I’ll explain this in detail next class — but it is just how we make this grading method work within Jcampus. It’s to make the math work out with percentages etc.
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This chart shows us some of the leeway we have for assignments before we drop a letter grade.
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Because this student had 4 late assignments their grade got dropped down a whole letter . It shows the importance of turning things on time and not just turning them in in general .
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This is a very good thing to enforce so students can know what their grade currently is.
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This is important because since we are having online school it’s easy to get away with cheating because the teacher can only see what the camera shows, so this point should be a more important point, so no one would think of using electronics.
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It is absolutely not tolerated & both parties will receive the consequences
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This is a form of cheating we may not have known of.
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This paragraphs details additional punishments that will take place for cheating / plagiarism in the order of the number of offenses .
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If something happens to my chromebook or my wifi is not working when I have your class will I still be tardy?
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It depends. If you can prove that is why you are tardy to the office, then no. The office is handling tardies and such (I just submit the attendance record), so you will need to document and make sure they know what happened. Good question!
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We would have to collect our work the next school day then turn it in on the following school day.
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Good thing is, everything will be online at all times, so it will be super easy to know and get what you miss.
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This paragraph basically shows us the guidelines of our writing assignments and what types of writing assignments we can expect to see. It also points out that handwritten assignments are preferred over typed.
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Writing prompts are always either easy or hard for people so knowing that there will be writing prompts and what they might be about is important to know for the future.
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Reminds us to always use MLA format and a workscited page.
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This part of the syllabus explains what’s the requirements for the writing assignment so no one would get confuse of how to write it.
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I like that this sentence is here because I don’t have to wonder how to format assignments when writing on paper.
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Useful for planing ahead.
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Will everyone have a different training goal? Also can you explain to me what two grace weeks are?
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This sentence encourages students to stay on top of what they are doing in Membean because it will catch up to them if they do not .
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General Document Comments 0
Read through my syllabus and highlight anything you think is important, then leave a comment why it is important.
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I think its important to have an explanation of how the AP test is going to look for this class and what is going to be in it.
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