Eng II H Syllabus Mr.

Vicente Fall 2023-Spring 2024

Course Overview: This course is aimed at improving your skills in reading and understanding
literature, writing, speaking, listening, and critical thinking.

Materials: College-ruled loose-leaf notebook paper (no spiral shreds); notebook(s) of your
choice for note-taking and vocabulary (make sure it includes rings or clips; pockets alone are
insufficient); blue or black ink pens (no pencils will be allowed for tests); and notecards and red
pen for editing essays.

Novels which will be read: The Scarlet Letter, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Great
Gatsby, The Sun Also Rises, Of Mice and Men, To Kill a Mockingbird

Grades:

Essays 45%
Tests, Vocabulary 30%
Rough Drafts, Quizzes, and Assignments 25%

Novel Preparedness and Note-taking—To maintain 100%, have the correct text with you on the
correct days. Note taking is essential for this class. The teacher's commentary and exposition on
the texts are fair subjects for testing. Therefore, lack of note-taking in class will prove to be
detrimental to your general knowledge of the texts and this will reflect in your grade.

Rough Drafts—Each essay you turn in must be accompanied by a rough draft that clearly
demonstrates the thought and effort you put into the paper. In addition to the grade you receive
for the final essay, you will also receive one of the following rough draft grades

100%--sentences are rearranged/changed, words have been changed to improve diction,

specifics are added, there is obvious evidence of thought and easily identifiable evidence
of improvement and effort in the paper process

70%--spelling has been circled and corrected, a “handful” of grammar changes

50%--virtually nothing was done to improve the paper

0%--no rough draft

Essays—Writing comprises 45% of your grade in this class. We will have approximately 5 - 6
of these assignments in a semester; you can imagine that it is virtually impossible to recover
from a zero.
Electronics Policy

No digital device may be visible or used whatsoever without express permission from the
teacher. ONLY physical copies of the novels are allowed in class; digital versions of the
literature are not permitted under ANY circumstances.

Plagiarism: Using (without correctly citing in a research format) the words or ideas of any other
person or misrepresenting the originality of your work will result in an automatic zero on the
assignment and significant discipline as determined by instructor/principal.

Class Procedures/Policies

All papers are due within the first fifteen minutes of class (determined by satellite time);
otherwise, it will be considered late work and will receive a 50% deduction per day not turned
in.

Always staple your rough draft to the back of your essays. A physical hard-copy of both
your rough draft and your paper. Missing one or the other will lead to severe penalization of your
grade.

All papers are double-spaced, Times New Roman 12pt., MLA.

If you were absent from school one day expect to do make-up tests, quizzes, etc. the very
day you return. We are constantly building on skills in this class, so if you fall behind, you are
missing valuable skills and knowledge needed for the next step. Illness is a fact of life, but we
must work diligently to stay caught up.

If you were absent when I collected and graded an assignment, a zero will most likely be
entered into Renweb. That is logical bookkeeping for me and an easy, visual reminder for you
of what your grade will look like if you fail to make up the work according to the absence policy.
If you comply with the absence policy, I will immediately change the grade in Renweb when I
have graded your assignment (which I will do promptly).

Make-up work: Follow the school's absence policy. This does NOT apply to long-term due
dates, i.e. when an essay is due one week from now, being sick one day during that week will not
affect your due date. TURN IT IN ON TIME.

Extra credit: The extra-credit policy is contingent upon the teacher's discretion and will not be
universally applied. In order to merit extra-credit, effort and diligence must be demonstrated
throughout the course of each semester. Therefore, work hard so as to have no need for extra-
credit at the end of the semester.
Class Break: There will be a 5 minute break in each class during which bathroom usage is
authorized as well as the consumption of light snacks and water. Said consumption will only be
allowed during the break, not before or after, and only within the confines of the classroom.