Welcome to Ms. Gostlin's English 11/12 page

Visit this page for class procedures, assignments, grades, and announcements.

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS/ASSIGNMENTS/HANDOUTS:
Reading Journal Topics

Pointers for Citing Texts
How to Create a Bibliography in MLA Style

 

CLASS MEETING TIME/PLACE:
English 11/12 meets daily, Tuesday-Friday, fifth period (1:40-2:50) in room 1 of the modular building unless otherwise specified.

 

CLASS EXPECTATIONS:
In order to help class run smoothly and aid in your learning, these expectations must be followed:
1) Show, at all times, respect for other students, the teacher, and yourself.
2) Be on time.  That means in the room and at your seat before class starts.
3) Come to class prepared.

 

GRADING POLICY:
All work is due at the beginning of class on the day required, unless otherwise instructed.  Because it is extremely important to learn good work habits, any work turned in after the assigned time will be deducted 10% (one full letter grade) for each day it is late.

 

ABSENCES:
If you are absent, you are the one responsible for finding out about any missing work and turning it in.  For each day you are absent, you are granted two days as a grace period to make up work before it is counted as late.  If you are absent two days, you will have four days to make up missing work.  If you are absent for more than three days in a row, we will work together on a special make-up plan.  If you have a planned absence and would like to request work before you leave, you must do so a minimum of two days before you will be out.                 

 

Thinkwave:
I have a computer grade book program that allows me to quickly figure out your grade, see how many days you’ve missed, and many other nice features.  One thing it does is let me publish your grades on the internet, allowing you to access them any time you are near a computer with an internet connection.  Sometime in the next few days I will give you your own login name and password.  Once you have those, you may begin checking your grades.  You will also be able to change your login name & password to something that is easy for you to remember.  I will also issue separate login names & passwords to your parents or guardians, so they will be able to check your grades online as well.

 

READING EXPECTATIONS:
Weekly homework assignments:
    Free Choice Reading:  Beginning the second week of classes all students are required to read at least 100 minutes per week—20 minutes a night for at least five out of seven days each week.  Students are to record each reading session in their reading logs.  A parent or guardian must sign the logs at the end of each week in order for you to receive credit for the reading.  Extra reading will be rewarded with extra credit, as long as it is documented and signed on the Reading Log sheet.  I will check these logs each Friday at the beginning of the class period.  Students will be accountable for this reading through group and individual projects, writing and assignments, and conferences with me.  Your nightly reading will be worth 25 points each week.

    Reading Journal: At the beginning of the period every Friday you must turn in a Reading Journal in response to your free reading.  You will be given a notebook in which to write these journals.  These notebooks must be used.  The Reading Journals will be worth 20 points each.

Yearly reading requirements:  You are required to read at least twelve books of 100+ pages throughout the school year.  That equals 3 books per nine weeks.  Unless otherwise stated, this does not include assigned class reading.  This will factor into your grade.  Each week, as discussed above, you will have a nightly reading assignment.  You will also be given some time for reading in class.  You will be given a reading record sheet where you will list and rank all books you read this year.  This is to be turned in at the end of each nine weeks.

Specific Assigned Reading:  You will also be given specific reading assignments.  Unless otherwise stated, these are to be done in addition to the outside reading assignments as listed above.  This will generally depend on the length and difficulty of the piece selected for assigned reading.

 

 

Daily Journals:

Because it is important that you be able to reflect in writing, you will be given a spiral notebook where you will record daily journal entries at the beginning of class each day.  The topics will relate to general life topics (love, loyalty, future plans, etc.), class reading, or topics of your own choice.  It is important that you write thoughtfully, as writing out your feelings is one way of discovering exactly how you feel about something and why you feel that way.  At the end of the year these will be yours to keep, another reason to think about what you write, as the journals will be an interesting document to re-read later in life.  Periodically I will collect the journals to make sure they are being done correctly, but they will not be given an exact letter grade.  You may, at that time, mark any journal entries you would like me to respond to with a star in the upper right-hand corner.  Please keep in mind: to protect your privacy, I will only glance at occasional entries unless you ask me to do otherwise, however, if you write about being abused, considering doing harm to others, or contemplating suicide and I see this, I am required by law to report the contents of that particular entry.
 

Parents and students: check grades at http://www.thinkwave.com/!

Email me at cgostlin@colosys.net.

Visit my class web pages at http://www.oocities.org/cgostlin.