Honors Freshman English Syllabus

Instructor: Michelle Turner

Room #: 256

Email: mrturne3@asu.edu

Phone: 123-4567

Welcome to Honors Freshman English! This class will serve as an introduction to literature and
academic writing that will prepare you for the rest of your high school career. This class also
involves a LOT of discussion and student-driven learning, so be prepared to dive right in!

Course Objectives
Throughout the course of the year, students will:

Read and analyze a variety of literary works and examine specific themes within them

through academic essays and projects.

Write creative fiction, poetic works, and personal narratives.
Learn the basics of MLA formatting and how to set up a formal academic paper.
Write strong argumentative pieces backed by research and textual evidence.
Utilize literary criticism as a tool for a deeper understanding of literary texts.
Analyze poetic works in terms of form, meter, and literary devices.
Deconstruct nonfiction texts and examine them in terms of authors purpose, rhetorical

approaches, and potential bias.

Apply major themes in literary works to real-life issues.

Course Readings

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In addition to various poems, articles, and short stories which will be provided by the instructor,
we will be working with the following texts as a class:

Mythology by Edith Hamilton

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer
Macbeth by William Shakespeare

Students will also be asked to complete two independent novel projects over the course of the
school year. Well talk more about that when the time comes!

Classroom Procedures
Every day, students will begin class with that days warm-up activity. This might be a
logic problem, a quick-write concerning the previous days reading, or a short journal activity.
Students will have 5-7 minutes to complete the warm-up before the class re-convenes to share
answers and engage in brief discussion.
Class time will always end with a short re-cap/wrap-up of the days activities, any
important reminders, and concerns about homework. I will never keep class needlessly late, but
please be respectful and do not leave the classroom until I have verbally dismissed you, to be
sure that you do not miss important details during class wrap-up.

Absence Policy
Attendance is mandatory to succeed in this class! As per school policy, students will be
allowed to miss up to five days without adverse affect on their grade. This does not excuse you
from missing assignments. Missing class also means missing out on valuable class discussions
and lecture time, so please be mindful of coming to class every day prepared and ready to
participate.

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Should you have to miss class, please consult a classmate to determine what material or
details you have missed out on, and consult the Daily Recap section of the course website.
Should you have any specific questions, feel free to email me.

Make-up Work
If you are absent the day of a quiz or test, you will be expected to make up the quiz
within one week. Please meet with me so that we can work out a good time for you to make up
your missed assessments. Homework assigned while the student was absent will be accepted for
up to as many days as the student was absent without penalty. After this time period, the late
work policy will be implemented as usual.

Late Work
I will accept late work up to one week past the initial due date. If you are absent the day
that an essay is due, you must email me a digital copy of the essay in the form of a document
attachment by the end of the school day. If I do not have a copy of your essay in my inbox by
the last bell, the essay will be considered late.
Each day that the work is late, I will deduct 10% from the total grade. This means that a
paper which may have merited an A will receive the grade of B if it is one day late, C if it
is two days late, and so on and so forth. I will not accept any work turned in past the oneweek deadline, and you will receive a grade of 0 for that assignment. Please, please make an
effort to turn in all work in a timely manner.

Communication

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For both students and parents, please conduct all questions, concerns, and other
communications about the course to me via email only. I check my email every day, and while I
do pride myself on prompt replies, please allow at least 24 hours of response delay for email
queries. When emailing, please include the course name and your full name in the subject line
so that your messages do not get buried in my junk email box.

Rules and Consequences

In addition to the Student Code of Conduct, I also expect students to adhere to the
following classroom policies:

1) Be respectful of other students at all times.

This includes student work, student opinions, and student discussion. It is fine to disagree, but
disrespect of any kind will not be tolerated in this classroom, and will be taken very seriously.

2) Come to class having read all necessary materials.

This is a collaborative, often discussion-based class environment. In addition to quick-write
prompts on readings, students will be graded for their participation and preparedness in active
group discussion.

3) Cellphones, personal music players, tablets and other mobile electronics are not
acceptable in the classroom.
Unless the student has explicit permission from the instructor due to existing circumstances,
personal electronics are to remain off and put away during class time. Students caught with
their phone or other electronics out will receive up to two verbal warnings anything beyond
these will result in further disciplinary action.

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4) Academic Dishonestly will be handled with utmost seriousness.
I expect that all work students turn in for this class is original, and has never been published or
utilized for a previous assignment. Students caught cheating on an assignment will receive a
grade of zero for the assignment in question, absolutely no exceptions!

All classroom rules are to be upheld at teachers discretion. If a student requires any sort of
accommodation, they should consult with me at the beginning of the school year.