Expectations

TO: All my students
FROM: Justin Wells

RE: Expectations and procedures for this class

Your responsibility, as a student in this class, is to improve your skills and increase your knowledge in the use of the English language. My responsibility, as your teacher, is to help you bring your skills and knowledge to a standard that allows you to succeed at the next level.

As a learning community, we cannot and will not tolerate anything that impedes or disrupts the job at hand. The work that we do—and the time we spend doing it—will be treated with the dignity it deserves.

In order for you and me to meet our obligations, we will observe the following procedures, rules, and standards in this class:

Respect this time and this space

There is a moment—as obvious as when the lights go down in a movie theater—when class has begun. This moment will occur anywhere between one second and five minutes after the official start time of class. From this moment until the end of our classtime, we are engaged in our duties of learning and teaching.

If you arrive to the classroom after the official start time but before “class has begun,” then consider yourself lucky. But once things have started, if your body is not in your seat, your materials not out, and your undivided attention not on the task at hand, then you are late. Write your name and the time on the dry-erase board by the door, pick up a copy of any handouts you see on the table, go to your seat, and join the lesson. Do not speak to me or any student; I will treat it as a disruption of class. A tardy results in a half-hour, after-school detention.

If you must leave the class to use the restroom, please ask permission. Try to make your request at an appropriate time: between activities, not in the middle of a meaningful class discussion. Per school policy, you may not ask to leave during the first or last 10 minutes of class. If you make your request at an inappropriate time, I will simply ask you to wait. Once you leave, return as soon as you can. If you are gone for what I think is an unreasonable amount of time, then I will mark you as having cut my class. Because I am responsible for your safety during class time, I must limit bathroom privileges to one student at a time. Please use the hall pass hanging by the door.

During class time, do not stand up and wander around the class unless you are leaving the room; it is a distraction to me and other students. You can throw things away on your way out the door.

As in all other classrooms at Metro, you may not eat food or drink beverages other than water in this room. You may keep bottled water accessible to you, as long as it is capped tight.

You must keep electronic devices and gadgets—cell phones, walkmans, MP3 players, headphones, etc.—safely zipped away in your book bags.

If you are sleeping, then I assume you are sick, and I will ask you to go to the office where appropriate measures can be taken to help you. If you are not sick, then you need to wake up. If you can’t stay awake, then I will mark you as having cut the class, for that is, in effect, what you have done.

The time that you spend in this class is devoted to the language arts. If you have “free time” during the period, then you must spend it reading or writing. Always bring your independent reading book to every class.

I often assign seating in ways that I believe will facilitate your learning. If I see a seating arrangement that does not support our learning goals, then I will change it.

Outside of class time, I am available for your individual questions and concerns as much as possible: before and after class, and after school most days of the week. After school is preferable. During the frenzy immediately before and after class, you cannot expect my undivided attention.

I meet with students one at a time, first-come-first-served. If you have a quick question but I am wrapped up with another student and there is no end in sight, ask permission of the other student, not me, if you can interrupt.

I believe that a clean and orderly classroom is essential to efficient learning, and I expect you to help me in keeping it this way. At the end of every class, please tuck in your chair and tidy up your area. I will often ask you to pick up the micro-trash that inevitably finds its way to the floor. Do not leave the room until I see that the room is in order and dismiss the class.

I have a zero-tolerance policy toward academic dishonesty, otherwise known as cheating. Claiming someone else’s work as your own is an inexcusable crime and I will treat it accordingly. If you cheat in my class, you will fail the assignment, you will permanently stain your academic file, you will seriously lower your chances of getting into the college of your choice, and you will lose my respect.

To qualify for a passing grade in this class, you must turn in all major writing assignments, generally three to five per quarter. If you are missing any major writing assignment when the grading period ends, you earn a No Credit (NC) for the quarter, which will remain on your transcript until you complete and submit the missing assignment(s).

On major assignments, I expect from you your best effort. Don’t turn in work that is less than what you are capable of: I will return it; you will have to do it over again. You are here to learn, and you can only learn if you push yourself.

I grade you based on your performance, not on your effort. It means that a student who slaves away on a paper may get a C, while another student whips it off in half the time and gets an A. I agree: this doesn’t seem fair. But we live in a world where everyone is different (thank goodness!) with different abilities, interests, and experiences. Quite often, those same two students move on to math class and the tables are turned: the easy A and the struggling C trade places.

I must give grades that honestly represent to you, and to whomever it may concern, not how much time you put in, but the level of critical thinking and the command of English language that your work demonstrates. This is how you know where you’re at and what you need to work on.

That said, every student here is “smart enough” to do work that would earn an A in this class. And if every student were to reach that point by the end of the year, I would gladly give you all A’s. You are not competing against each other; you are only competing against yourself and the standards that I set for you. Before you embark on any assignment, I will explicitly tell you what you must do to succeed. If you don’t feel that the grading standards are clear, ask me to make them clear to you. It is your right as a student to know what is expected of you.

I am far more interested in where you get to in this class than in where you’re at right now. Your grade is based almost entirely on the quality of the work you do at the end of the marking period. If you’re consistently doing C work at the beginning of the semester, but by the end of the semester you’re consistently doing A work, then you get an A for your final grade. This means that you should look at every assignment as a renewed opportunity to improve your skills, advance your learning, and achieve the grade you desire. It does not mean you can deliberately slack off in the beginning of the semester and then turn in a bunch of great work at the end; as noted above, if you do work that is less than your potential, you will be asked to do it again.

While I expect your best effort, I do not take it for granted. I recognize and applaud the hard work that my students do. I am particularly impressed by those students who remain committed to their education and their self-improvement no matter what grades they receive or challenges they face. Some of the students I most respect and admire for their effort and commitment do not earn A’s from me. These students understand that learning is a process, that failure is temporary, and that eventually, through continued hard work, they will succeed.

Respect the members of this learning community

Respect for your education begins by respecting the education of the person sitting next to you. You do not have the right to interfere with the learning of anybody in this class or, for that matter, at this school. You may not behave in a way that disrupts the learning of anyone else.

For this classroom to be an effective learning environment, every student must feel not just safe but respected. While there will often be disagreements—even heated arguments—in here, my students know how to distinguish between an idea and a person. I will be outraged if you directly insult or ridicule a fellow student for any reason.

And when you make a slur against an entire group of people, you insult or ridicule the individuals that make up that group. This is also unacceptable.

Our behavior changes depending on where we are and whom we are with. This is human. How we act alone with our friends is different than how we act in church which is different than how we act at the family dinner table.

Let me be clear about how we act in this place: The classroom—the place where you learn and expand your mind—is a formal, public space. (To me, it’s a lot like church, because I believe that the act of learning is sacred.) My students act, speak, and move their bodies in a way that befits the dignity of this place. They do not curse or use foul language, they do not roughhouse, they do not throw things.

You always have the right, even the obligation, to know why we are doing something, or why class is being run in a certain way. I will try to remember to explain the rationale for everything we do—but if I forget, ask.

Respect your choices

My students take responsibility for their choices. If you choose not to follow the procedures or meet the expectations of this class, then you choose the corresponding consequences.

If you are routinely late or not doing your work, then your grade will suffer, and I will call your parents.

If you disrupt the learning that takes place in this room, you will be asked to leave. Wait quietly outside the door until I come out to speak to you.

If your disruptions are serious or repeated, I will notify your parents, your advisor, and the principal, and corrective measures will be taken.

On the other hand, if you choose to meet the expectations of this class—if you work hard and act with dignity—then you will be praised, your parents will be informed that you are doing well, and, most importantly, you will learn, which is of course why you’re here.

I look forward to working with you this year.

Respectfully,
Justin Wells

Posted by Justin Wells : 09/08/2007