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Composition Fall, 2017Shakespeare, Spring 2018Mr. Storer room D-1.

Welcome to Composition and Shakespeare. Your senior year is very much a transitional year in high school
in which you move from the confines of K-12 into a fairly independent world where you make your own
choices, suffer your own consequences and reap your own rewards. We duplicate some of that in this class.
While I still take responsibility for what I teach and how I teach it, you will be taking more responsibility for
what you learn and how you learn it. Youll be given every good-faith opportunity to succeed-what you do
with those opportunities is your choice

Composition is a rigorous college preparatory writing course where you will work on your own writing as
well as your peers writing. In a collaborative environment, you will learn the process of revision and
editing, thesis-creation and argument, using imagery and other literary tools to help you write better
prose.

Shakespeare is a class based on the Folger method of teaching the Bard, and that focuses on your
exploration of two full plays and sonnets that Shakespeare wrote. Our focus is on reading, comprehending,
discussing, writing about and sharing Shakespeares work. Its a fun class where youll be asked to read
aloud, to recite and to draw inferences.

Heres how the class is shaped:

1. You are responsible for much of your own inquiry into writing and to Shakespeare, guided by me, but
not always led by me. You will sometimes hold class discussions that I will observe, but in which I will not
participate. Don't let the thought of not being an "expert" keep you from expressing your thoughts-so
much of what you will learn about fairly complex concepts will be things you come up with entirely on your
own.

2. Notes are your responsibility, and most are given aloud. The whiteboard and screen are your friends,
but thats not the only place youll find notes; learn to commit the spoken word to the page. Please bring
necessary texts when requested.

3. I assume Im dealing with reasonable young adults and teens unless proven otherwise. Dont prove
otherwise. Courtesy and respect go a long way in my classroom. I will automatically assume that you
deserve my respect, my attention and the best I can offer as a teacher. In return, I expect that you will
treat me with that same courtesy.

4. Cell phones are tools and we all use them. Its simply not acceptable to turn on your cell phone during
class, texting or otherwise using your phone unless youre using it for class purposes. Please silence your
phone before you come into D-1 and ignore it entirely during class unless, again, youre using it for class
purposes or you have my express permission.
5. Please read and understand the ACHS Plagiarism Policy, and ask before, not after, if you are unsure
about documentation. We will discuss this extensively the opening week of school. Mainly, the point is to
avoid assembling ideas piecemeal from non-intellectual Internet sources, using the Thesaurus function in
MS Word to alter an author's work, or any other tricks that create garbled, obvious plagiarism. Plagiarism,
including copying from other students, receives an automatic zero with no possibility of making up the
assignment.

6. Senior year is not, as you may believe, a year for you to lose focus and slough off important work. We
teachers do understand senioritis and we even expect and prepare for some of itbut you must
understand that in order for you to graduate and therefore not have to take this class again, youll need to
turn in assignments on time, listen, participate and learn.

Grades

Passing four years of English is imperative to graduation. You are probably aware of this, but it bears
repeating.

The easiest way to have real-time, 24-hour access to your grade is to go to the Main Office and ask for
your own student and parent vue password.

I use weighted grades and thats an important distinction from points. For Composition: Reading and
participation: 30 %, Essays, writing assignments, projects: 30%, Tests and Quizzes: 15%, In-class writing,
group work, etc: 15% and final exam: 10% For Shakespeare, the class is in four sections: Essays/Projects:
25%, Group Assignments: 25%, Reading/Participation: 25%, Tests: 25%

Attendance and Make-Up Work

Do not let attendance become a problem, especially if you are of an age to write your own notes. As of
June, you will potentially have all the free time in the world relax then. Eight unexcused absences or more
can result in either a lower grade or a failing grade. Stay on top of this issue. I understand that you often
have other commitments-but this class is a commitment as well. Please be clear about these things in
advance.

As illness goes, I will work with a documented illness to ensure that it doesnt interfere with grades.
However, I will not issue make-up work on account of truancy or negligence.

Parents and Students: It is the student's responsibility to see me or another student after an absence
to get make-up work. If you are present when homework is assigned and absent when it is due, it is due
upon return. Students have two days upon their return from an absence to request make-up work. After
those two days, the assignment will not be accepted.
Fall Semester curriculum schedule: You will have six major assignments: Memoir, Narrative, Argument,
Writing presentation, Research and Critique. The Critique serves as the final exam. We do several in-class
assignments as well.

Spring Semester, we will do A Midsummer Nights Dream and Henry V as well as the Sonnets.

We do a great deal of collaboration, discussion and project work that includes everything from simple
illustrations to formal presentations. We also do a great deal of writingsince, after all, this is a college
preparatory English class. All essays and formal writing must be word-processed or typed using proper
structure which we will go over in class and will be turned in via the Learning Management System (LMS)
that our district uses.

My e-mail address is mark.storer@ouhsd.k12.ca.us You may contact me with questions about class any
day and if you do so before 9 pm, I will be sure to get back to you that day. After 9 pm, I cannot promise a
same-day answer. Please only use the e-mail addresses for school related questions and help. I dont want
your jokes or photo-bombs or links. Thanks for paying attention to that.

Recording and video taping of me or my lessons is strictly prohibited, unless I give my written consent.