Mrs. Ritter's English III

Welcome to English III. The most important characteristic a student can bring to the classroom is a willingness to learn. With effort on the students’ part, every goal is accomplishable. I look forward to a successful year.

Materials:Students must have the following materials on a daily basis:

1” three-ring binder: this is where you will store all of your English papers. This will be your notebook, which you will be required to keep and turn in for a weekly grade.
Pencil/Pen – I do not loan writing utensils
Paper – we will use paper every day!
Index cards – will be required for vocabulary

Areas of Emphasis: During the course of the year, we will focus our studies on three areas of English: reading, writing, and grammar.

Composition: students will compose responses to literature, create poetry and other personal writings, and develop numerous essays. Through practice, we will master the five-paragraph essay.

Grammar: grammar will primarily be a review of previously learned concepts and will be applied to the writing.
Literature: students will be responsible for reading selected stories and poems from the literature book as well as five novels.

Novels: Papers:

The Crucible	Narrative
Ethan Frome	Persuasive (x2)
Fahrenheit 451	Descriptive
Of Mice and Men	Research (expository)
The Great Gatsby	Plus additional essays we will write during EOI review.

Late Work Policy:

I will accept work only one day late beginning at 50% credit. Turning in your work on time is a great way to maintain a reasonable grade.
*NO late work will be accepted on the research paper!!!

Grading Scale:

90-100 A

80-89 B

70-79 C

60-69 D

0-59 F

Make-Up Work:

Students are responsible for all worked missed due to an absence. When a student misses class, he or she is responsible for checking the make-up folder to collect the missed assignments. Students have one day to make up work for each day they are absent. Work not turned in on time will result in a zero.

Tardies/Absences:

We will follow the policies in the student handbook.
Absences: students will not receive credit for this course if they are absent more than 12 days per semester; this does include check-outs. Three tardies are equivalent to one absence.
Tardies: students will receive a detention for their sixth and ninth tardies; students will be sent to a principal at the12th tardy.

Rules:The classroom rules are simple and are expected to be followed. Failure to do so will result in disciplinary action.

Be on time
Come to class prepared (student has writing utensil and paper, and homework is complete)
Show respect to teacher and fellow classmates
Recognize school dress code (no holes above the knee, no spaghetti straps, etc.)
No cell phones/mp3 players/electronic devices. Cell phones will remain out of sight. There is a functioning clock in the classroom if you need to check the time. This is your warning; you will be sent to the office with a referral if I see your cell phone
No profanity/cursing – NO tolerance
No food/drink
I, not the bell, will dismiss you. You will remain in your seat until dismissed; do not line up at the door

Consequences:

Step 1: Verbal warning
Step 2: Principal-assigned detention and call home to parent
Step 3: Further disciplinary action determined by principal