Syllabus

U.S. History Course Syllabus

2018 - 2019

Class title: U.S. History (8th grade)

Instructor: Mr. Ames

How to find me:

· Room

· Email:bryancicero@gmail.com

· Voicemail extension:

· Web page: https://bcicero88.educatorpages.com/

Dear students, parents, and guardians:

Welcome to 8th grade U.S. History! I hope that you will find this class interesting, informative—and fun! You will be working very hard to develop new skills and understand new concepts this year. I strongly believe in challenging students through a variety of activities that will make history “come alive”. This syllabus will give you information about how to become a productive member of my classroom, so that you become your very best by doing your very best. I am looking forward to what we can accomplish this year. Please review this packet carefully.

COURSE DESCRIPTION

U.S. History aims to prepare students to read, conduct research, and communicate more effectively in a range of academic, professional, and public settings. Specifically, you will complete a number of projects designed to acquaint you with the audiences and types of documents you are likely to use as you advance in your educational and professional careers. Because successful communication in the 21st century increasingly requires writers to engage their audiences in a variety of media and formats, in addition to producing traditional print documents (i.e., letters, reports, proposals, etc.), you will also be exposed to a number of digital genres.

Two assumptions will be key to this work:

Writing and speaking are rhetorical: effective communicators must carefully consider their audiences and their purposes as they plan, draft, and revise their communications.
Academic, professional and public audiences often differ in how they read and respond to communications: effective communicators must learn to recognize and negotiate such shifting demands in each new context they face.

REQUIRED MATERIALS

Course Textbook
Regular access to the internet to complete assignments and download materials from our
Blackboard companion site at: http://bcicero88.educatorpages.com/
A USB flash or jump drive with at least 2GB of storage

REQUIREMENTS

In order to earn at least a “C” in this course, students must satisfactorily fulfill all of the following:
Complete the persuasive essay assignment and participate in classroom presentation;
Complete all weekly quizzes 7 in all;
Complete a midterm exam and a final exam to be completed on assigned date; and
Maintain regular attendance, actively participate in course discussions, and complete any

additional homework or activities assigned

GRADE DISTRIBUTION

200 Point Item

1. Final Exam:Due Date Week 18

150 Point Item

1. Mid-Term Exam:Due Date Week 7

100 Point Items
1. Attendance
2. Persuasive Paper:Due Date Week 18

50 Point Items

1. Group presentation:Due Date Week 11-15

2. DBQ Packet:Due Date Week 17

30 Point Items
1. Interview parent or teacher:Due Date Week 2
2. Personal biography:Due Date Week 3
3. Art project poster:Due Date Week 6
4. Peer review of group presentations:Due Date Week 11-15

20 Point Items
1. Getting to know you activity:Due Date Week 1
2. Ruff draft #1 of persuasive paper:Due date Week 8
3. Ruff draft #2 of persuasive paper:Due Date Week 12
4. Timeline of events:Due Date Week 16
5. Quiz (there will be 7 quizzes):Due Date Every Other Wednesday

10 Point Item
1. Bring syllabus back signed by parent or guardian

Extra Credit Opportunities 10 Point Items
1. Answer five questions during class (unlimited attempts)

2. Come to class 30 consecutive days (unlimited attempts)

3. Build a website using a theme from our course
4. Mid-Term Exam study sessions: Date Week 7
5. Final Exam study session: Date Week 16

*Bold Items YOU ARE REQUIRED to Complete in order to pass course*

*Students Can receive up to 100 points Extra Credit*

STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES

U.S. History Course is a Common Core State Standards (CCSS) course at School Name, and students taking this course are expected to meet the following Common Core State Standards (CCSS) learning outcomes:

the student is able to develop a topic and present ideas through writing in an organized, logical, and coherent form and in a style that is appropriate for the discipline and the situation.
the student can observe conventions of Standard English grammar, punctuation, spelling, and usage.
the student can find, use, and cite relevant information.

In addition, the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) at School has identified specific learning outcomes for each of its first-year writing courses that are meant to complement our SMARTER Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) outcomes. At the completion of Course, students will be able to:

Students introduce a topic clearly, previewing what is to follow, and develop the topic with relevant, well-chosen facts, definitions, concrete details, quotations, or other information. Understand the basic features of several academic, professional and public genres, and how to modify these features in response to new audiences and situations.
Students provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the information or explanation presented.Understand the specific expectations of audiences in you chosen academic and professional field, and to adapt your communications to more effectively address these expectations
Students organize ideas, concepts, and information into broader categories.
Students use appropriate and varied transitions to create cohesion and clarify the relationships among ideas and concepts
Students use precise language and subject-specific vocabulary to inform or explain the topic.

In addition, the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) at School Name has identified specific learning outcomes for each of its first-year english language arts and literacy courses that are meant to complement our SMARTER Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) outcomes. At the completion of Course, students will be able to:

Students determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text, including its relationship to the characters, setting, and plot. Students also provide an objective summary of the text.
Students cite evidence from the text that most strongly supports an analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
Students evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of using different mediums (such as print or digital text, video, or multimedia) to present a particular topic or idea.

ADDITIONAL COURSE POLICIES

In addition to completing all reading and writing assignments, preparing for class means being ready to discuss and intelligently question issues raised by the material. This does not mean, however, that you must master the material. On the contrary, it is perfectly reasonable that you may be confused by some readings the first time we encounter them. But in such cases you should be prepared to discuss what you specifically found puzzling, aggravating, thought-provoking, engaging, or difficult about the assignment. In other words, if you feel you have nothing to state about a piece of writing, you should actively develop a list of questions about it. Remember, much of your grade in this course will be determined by how much you improve over the course of the semester, so there is really no such thing as a stupid question, provided that you ask it in the spirit of honest inquiry.

ATTENDANCE

The framework of this course – with its emphasis on class discussion and group work – demands that you attend class regularly. Failure to complete in-class work, such as peer reviews, in-class writing assignments, and group meetings will result in the lowering of your overall grade. Indeed, no in-class activities (including quizzes) may be made up due to tardiness or absence, and students who accumulate nine unexcused absences over the course of the semester will automatically have their final grades lowered. There is a distinction between excused and unexcused absences. More than nine unexcused absences in a semester will result in your failing the course.

RESTROOM PASSES

Restrooms used during class time are for emergencies only. Students are given plenty of time during passing periods to take care of bathroom needs. Each student will receive a sheet containing four personalized restroom passes to be used at their discretion. After recording the date, time, and their period,

• get my signature for approval.
• sign-out before leaving the room. • sign-in when you return.

Upon return, you must forfeit the pass to me. Once a student has used all their passes, they are gone. No more will be provided. Therefore, students must plan responsibly and wisely in order to have passes available. (Students with an emergency can use the restroom if they have no passes left, but they will be required to make up the lost class time at lunch.) Lost passes will not be replaced. Any passes left at the end of the semester will be worth extra credit for “extra” time spent in class.

ACTIVE PARTICIPATION

Being physically present in class is not enough; you must also be mentally present. Sleeping, engaging in distracting behaviors (such as interrupting discussions, texting, playing on social media, doing work for other classes, etc.), or refusing to participate in class activities and discussions is unacceptable and is grounds for being counted absent. If you have a hard time staying awake, concentrating, or sitting still at your desk, you may stand up or move around, provided you do so in a non-distracting way.

MINDSET
Students are expected to be seated quietly when the bell rings. Students not seated at the second bell are considered tardy—this is a school-wide policy. Each day, students will copy the day’s agenda in their planner. There will also be a warm-up assignment on the front board for every student to complete at the beginning of each class. If a student is tardy, they will forfeit the activity points.

LATE WORK

Late work will only be accepted up to two days late if you can demonstrate that you have encountered a valid obstacle before the deadline (i.e., that you’ve been working on the project in good faith, but have run into some problems). If you feel you may be unable to complete an assignment on time, you should contact me as soon as possible, but no later than two days before the due date. After reviewing all the work you’ve done on the assignment, we will set a new deadline together. In all other cases, late work will automatically be docked one letter grade per day past the deadline, beginning on the day the assignment was due and including weekends.

Note: Unless specified otherwise, no papers submitted electronically will be accepted, and work magically appearing in my mailbox without a prior agreement with me will also be considered late.

PORTABLE ELECTRONIC DEVICES

Except when I specify otherwise, the use of portable electronic devices (such as cell-phones, tablets, laptops, etc.) is prohibited in class, and such devices should be turned off and placed in your bag and/or out of sight under your desk. Students who use such devices in class without permission may be asked to leave and/or may be considered absent for attendance purposes.

Students are encouraged to utilize portable electronic devices (such as tablets and laptops) for constructive purposes. Students who choose to use these devices for our electronic readings must show evidence of annotation and analysis via an annotation program (iAnnotate, Good Reader, etc.). Texting, checking email and social media sites, gaming, listening to music, doing work for other classes/purposes, and other distracting uses of technology are unacceptable. If I notice that you are using technology in an inappropriate way, I will not (further) distract the class by pointing it out, but I will deduct a point from your final average for each infraction.

PLAGIARISM

All members of the academic community at the School are expected to take responsibility for academic honesty and integrity. Plagiarism – the willful copying/presenting of another person’s work as if it were your own – and other forms of cheating are unacceptable. The penalties for such behavior can include failure of the course and, in some cases, even expulsion from the School. If you have any doubts about what constitutes plagiarism, please refer to your student handbook, to School policies on Academic Honesty, or come talk to me.

ADA NOTICE

The School Name is committed to providing equal access to its programs, services, and activities for people with disabilities. The Americans with Disabilities Act requires that reasonable accommodations be provided for students with physical, sensory, cognitive, systemic, learning, and psychiatric disabilities. If you feel you may need accommodations in this or any class, please contact the Office of Disability Services (118 College Dr. #8586, Hattiesburg, MS 39406-0001) at 601-266-5024 (Telephone), 601-266-6837 (TTY), or 601-266-6035 (FAX).

THE WRITING CENTER

The Writing Center is a free program available to all student writers at the School Name. It offers one-on- one help with any kind of writing project, at any stage of the writing process. The Writing Center is located in Room Number. The Writing Center will play an important role in the design of this course. For more information, and hours of operation, you may contact The Writing Center at School Phone Number, or visit the website at: School Email.

HOW TO REACH ME
If you have any questions or concerns students and parents can best reach me by email. My address is: bcicero@gmail.com(the phone system at school is not a reliable way to leave me a message, so I rarely check voicemail, relying instead on email communication. To try to reach me live, call me at the school at School Phone Number. In keeping with school policy, please allow up to 72 hours for a response. I am truly looking forward to working with you over the coming year!

MY PROMISE TO YOU

As a teacher having my students improve over time is my number one priority. I know we will get there by pushing ourselves to achieve the highest standards. Although we may not get there right away, we will eventually get there by the end of this course. I wish to create a routine of improvement each day that will lead all of us to have consistent success in every area of our lives. Every person has different strengths and weaknesses. Instead of just focusing on weaknesses I instead wish to help develop our strengths. I wish to be transparent and ready to help, taking an active interest in my students lives and encouraging them to reach past their limits, as the quote goes “If the sky is the limit why are there footprints on the moon.”

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