larrycavender@pickens.k12.ga.us

706-253-1800

  • English 11
  • English 12


 

 

 


 
  


Larry Cavender

Mr. Cavender’s Classroom Policies

I In my room, we follow the policies in the PHS Handbook, in addition to these:

1. Assignments will be turned in on time.  The instructor is not responsible for reminding students of work due.  Students should not expect credit for any work not turned in or turned in late.  If a student is absent the day that work is due, then the student should submit the work the first day he returns to class without being prompted by the instructor.   In addition, if a test is scheduled for a day when classes are cancelled (icy weather for example), then the student should be prepared to take the test on the first day classes are resumed. Students are responsible for getting missed lecture notes or other material from fellow students.

2. Mature high school students are prompt.  Therefore, students should be in their seats when the tardy bell rings.  Students will be punished for excessive tardies.

3. The use of electronic devices are not allowed in class.  This includes cellphones, Ipods, etc.  Alll such devices should be stowed away in bookbags during class.  If any such electronic devices are seen during class, they will be immediately taken up, tagged and turned into the office.

4.  Students will be allowed to leave the classroom only if they have in their possession their own personal PHS student agenda for use as a hall pass.  The agenda should be completed properly with the date, time, and destination.  Students may not borrow other students’ agendas for the purpose of using it as a hall pass.  If this occurs, both students will lose the privilege of leaving the classroom for the remainder of the semester.  Excessive trips outside the classroom will also result in the student losing this privilege as well.

5. Students should be prepared for class by bringing the necessary supplies such as pens, pencils, paper, notebooks, etc.  The instructor will not loan any supplies.  Many tests are to be answered on Scantron answer sheets which require a number 2 lead pencil.  If a student does not have a pencil in their possession on the day of such tests, they will not be allowed to take the test.  Instead, that test will be counted as a drop grade or awarded a zero (0) if drop grades are exhausted.

6. The classroom should be a learning environment.  Therefore, no eating is allowed in class (this policy is a PHS school policy).  Students are allowed to bring drinks into the classroom if such drinks are in spill-proof containers (no cans).  Also, sleeping in class is prohibited.

7.  Lively discussion and spontaneous responses are welcome.  However, any conversation or activity which is disruptive to class proceedings will not be tolerated (including, but not limited to talking out of order, grooming, throwing paper, excessive trips to pencil sharper or trash can, etc.)

8. Certain areas of the classroom are off limits to students, including the teacher desk and work area, storage cabinets, and file cabinets.  In addition, unauthorized use of the whiteboard is prohibited.  Students are also not allowed to turn on or adjust the heating/air conditioning unit or television without teacher permission.
  1. Vandalism and destruction of school property is prohibited.  This includes writing on desks or textbooks.
  2. Cheating on exams and other work will not be tolerated.  If a student is caught cheating on an assignment, then he can be expected to get a zero (0) on that assignment.   Zeroes for cheating will not be dropped.

MR. CAVENDER’S GRADING POLICIES

All lessons and activities follow the Georgia Department of Education’s Georgia Performance Standards for Language Arts, found at http://georgiastandards.org/english.aspx

Required assignments include the following:

Daily grades—Daily grades will be in a variety of forms including in-class assignments, worksheets, homework, pop quizzes, etc. and will be weighted as a 10 point grade.

Vocabulary tests—Vocabulary tests will be administered approximately once every three weeks during the semester.
 
Vocabulary tests will be weighted as a 50 point grade.

Major exams—Major exams, covering both grammar and literature, will be administered once every two to three weeks during the semester and be weighted as a 100 point grade.

Writing assignments—Students will be required to keep a journal.  Much of the time, the instructor will assign a journal topic on which to write.  Other times, students will be given a “Free Write Day” in which students may write on any topic they choose. 

Each journal entry will be weighted as a 10 point grade for a total of 50 points per week.  College level courses will also be required to do at least one book report each nine-week grading period on a book assigned by the instructor.  Book reports will be weighted as 100 point grades.

English 11

Literature—The literature portion of this course covers American literature, spanning the spectrum from the Colonials, the Romantics, Realists, Regionalists, Naturalists, and Modernists including but not limited to the following authors:: Franklin, Jefferson, Paine, Henry, Poe, Bryant, Irving, Cooper, Thoreau, Emerson, Longfellow, Dickinson, Twain, Crane, London, Lanier, Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Steinbeck, Wolf, and Faulkner.

Grammar—The grammar portion of this course is an extensive look at the parts of speech, the parts of the sentence, basic sentence patterns, sentence analysis, and includes a review of specific problem areas of subject-verb agreement, pronoun-antecedent agreement, pronoun case usage, adjective and adverb comparisons, verb tenses and conjugation, and other areas.

English 12

Literature—The literature portion of this course covers British literature, spanning the spectrum from the Anglo-Saxon Period, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, The Restoration, the Romantic Period, the Victorian Era, and the Modern Era, including but not limited to the following works or authors:  Beowulf, Chaucer, Marlowe, Raleigh, Herrick, Marvell, Shakespeare, Donne, Jonson, Bacon, Milton, Bunyan, Swift, Pope, Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Lord Byron, Shelley, Keats, Tennyson, Browning, Kipling, Elliot, Churchill, Woolf, Orwell, Yeats, Joyce, and Lawrence.

Grammar—The grammar portion of this course is an extensive look at the parts of speech, the parts of the sentence, basic sentence patterns, sentence analysis, and includes a review of specific problem areas of subject-verb agreement, pronoun-antecedent agreement, pronoun case usage, adjective and adverb comparisons, verb tenses and conjugation, and other areas.