A Word on Grades
Grades are difficult and somewhat nebulous in the humanities. There are rubrics for all your portfolios and essay questions and those are what are used in grading. I want to clarify the expectations for you since English, History, and American Government are not like math where there is one correct answer. The humanities can have a number of different answers. The key to high grades in the humanities is to develop an argument and be able to defend it with evidence.
Hopefully this explanation will help you understand grading.
A –A is exceptional work. It demonstrates that you are working at levels beyond your grade and age. All requirements of the assignment are met. Evidence that demonstrate this is the details and expertise of your argument and ideas, the depth of analysis on your part and depth of the analysis of the sources your use. Sources are reliable and valid. If it is a creative writing assignment or personal narrative, an exceptional paper would demonstrate a high degree of reflection, complication and coordination of plot. Both would include use of sophisticated vocabulary used correctly. No misspellings, sentence structure or grammar errors. Outside sources are cited correctly both in the text and on the works cited page.
B –B is very good work. It demonstrates you are working above grade level. All requirements of the assignment are met. Things that demonstrate B work are writing that goes beyond a basic reading of the material, an argument that is well developed with substantial evidence that has been correctly analyzed and synthesized. Sources are reliable and valid. Creative writing demonstrates a cohesive plot, details and coherent structure. It is interesting and keeps the reader involved. Vocabulary is advanced and used correctly. No misspellings, only one grammatical or sentence structure error. Outside sources are use appropriately and cited correctly both in the paper and on the works cited page.
C – C is average work. It is what is expected for the grade level. Requirements of the assignment are basically met. Things that demonstrate C work are writings that show a thorough reading of the material with a basic understanding of the material. An argument is present with evidence. Sources are reliable and valid. Creative writing demonstrates the basic structure of a story with plot, building action, climax and resolution. It presents a cohesive story. Vocabulary learned in the lesson is used correctly. There are no more than 2-4 misspellings and 3-4 sentence or grammatical errors. Outside sources are cited correctly both in the text and on the works cited page.
D – D is below average for the grade level. It shows an attempt was made at reading the material but understanding is limited. There is an argument made but no evidence to support it. Creative writing struggles to demonstrate a coherent plot and use of story techniques. Vocabulary is basic and below grade level. There are several misspellings and sentence or grammatical errors.
F – F is a failing grade. Directions are not followed and basic requirements of the assignment have not been met. There is no demonstration of either reading the material or understanding it and no attempt has been made to contact me for clarification or assistance. There are numerous spelling, grammatical or sentence structure errors.
If you have questions about any of your grades, make sure to call me and we can discuss them.
Guidelines for Redoing Work English 12
To assure that students have a meaningful and quality experience in English 12, there are some guidelines for English 12. Please read the following.
To assure that students have a meaningful and quality experience in English 12, there are some guidelines for English 12. Please read the following.
- The expectation is that all English lessons are completed the week they appear on the student planner.
- On Fridays, temporary zeroes will be entered for those assignments due that week and not turned in.
- Student has another school week to complete the overdue assignments and turn them in. At that point any Open Book tests and portfolios not submitted will earn a permanent zero.
- To earn credit for the Open Book tests and portfolios that have a permanent zero, you will need to call me.
- You set up a meeting with me at Ms. Whipple's Calendar within the next week.
- An agreed upon due date will be set for the make-up assignments.
- Any work not turned in by the agreed upon due date, earns a permanent zero.