Course Syllabus

No Google meets [0] today, Friday 08-21-202. Please work on your canvas quizzes. Problems: email me jleaver@liberty.k12.ga.us

Brit. Lit. 12th Grade, Dr. John David Leaver

Google Meet codes are 2nd block (M & F) - TurfMoor2 - (@ 12:45-1:30 pm), 3rd block (M & W) - TurfMoor3 - (between 1:30 - 2:15pm), 4th block (T & Thurs) - TurfMoor4 - (between 2:15 - 3:00 pm) & office hours 3-4 pm - TurfMoor5 -. (no dashes)  Click here to access Google Meet: https://meet.google.com/

A syllabus explains what we are going to do, when we are going to do it, and what we must accomplish to excel. To get a good idea of what is in this course, and why it is worth studying (it is, it definitely is) click on the link A Rationale above.  A link you can explore throughout is generally highlighted in yellow. 

Next, there are various ways to proceed all linked together. So as long as you know what you are trying to achieve, there are many ways to get it done. First, click on 'how we do what we do'. That sets out the immediate priorities, but also gives you a table of daily assignments taking you straight into the thick of the action. Whenever you see a table with dates, you will know you are targeting today's assignment, or any others you may have fallen behind submitting.

Each assignment has three days set aside for you to complete it. So, you will be able to complete everything. If I have not heard from you (you haven't logged in, in three days), I will be chasing you down. After completing an assignment, expect to see a grade for it appear in powerschool within two more days.  To the left, by clicking on 'Grades' you can always check to see what you have and have not completed.  There a dash, like this - over a number, for example -/20, says you haven't completed an assignment. If you repeat a quiz and score higher, 11/20 may turn into 17/20.

First things first, let us explain how we determine grades.  There will be a basic text, often a graphic novel, to read. This will be broken down into daily chunks with an online multiple-choice test covering daily readings.  When we have completed a unit - there are nine (see A Rationale above) -, we take a unit practice test. This contains all the questions from all the daily multiple-choice tests covering our unit text. Typically, there will be somewhere between 120 and 250 multiple-choice items on a unit practice test.  There is little to distinguish testing conditions on a daily multiple-choice test from those on a unit practice test. 

Basically, you can do these as many times as you like to get your highest score possible. You will pick up hints along the way from experience, as well as what I tell you, usually in Discussions (see left margin), but try to learn the basics from texts and simple multiple-choice tests. Lastly, there will be a unit test. This is formal assessment.  You take it only once, unless we agree otherwise. It is timed, and tailored to your current level of performance. Different student groups have more or less time, many or fewer questions, and different test versions depending on whether they are taking it on a first or subsequent, "make-up" occasion. 

So, how does all that tally with district directions for online instruction? Daily multiple-choice and unit practice tests are daily work and participation grades. Consequently, they constitute 50% of your overall grade. You are required to login in daily, or at least once every three days, so that is 20% participation and then there are the readings, daily multiple-choice and unit practice tests making up the other 30% daily work.  The 30% assigned by the district for test or performance tasks can be earned on the unit test, including its written assignment. We have reached 80%. By doing all of what I describe in the paragraph before this you can get a B grade. 

District Grading for Online Student Work

Please note the upper-right-hand corner calendar. The slightly grayer dates are ones on which you have to complete an online quiz (clicking on a gray date takes you to the quiz). Now, scroll down to the bottom of this syllabus to the section called 'Course Summary'. There you see all the current online quizzes from our readings. Again, clicking on a quiz name takes you to the quiz you need to complete by the date identified in the upper-right hand corner and course summary. 

Now, in my experience a B sends the message "you might do well in an academic college", but, of course, looking back we all want something more than might-have-beens.  So to get an A, and the message 'you have a good shot at succeeding in college' what else must be accomplished? College [in English, other humanities subjects or the social sciences ] is about good writing to the order of professors who have no responsibility for your success and who are generally preoccupied with affairs outside the classroom. An important sentence. Do not learn what it means by bitter experience. I, for my sins, was a college professor for fourteen years!

So what about the vital 20% between a B and an A grade. Liberty County School District identifies this as project work worth 20%. What I would have you do is a written project, if you are currently serious about college.  You should want to, as an individual or as part of a like-minded group of students, practice formal writing. You can contribute extensively, a couple of paragraphs, to our discussions, make a significant effort on the written portion of our unit test, or ask me to review a formal piece of writing you might want to submit with a college application.

That is a wide spectrum of activities subsumed under the heading 'discussions/written work'. To illustrate the significance of formal written English in college, for those not immediately college-bound think of how important a job application letter can be, consider three reasons why I am no longer a college professor. I like teaching, offered tenure I did not want any future pay increase dependent upon colleagues' good opinion, and I did not write enough (publish or perish). What I will reward, therefore, is excellence in formal written English. This is the 20% that makes a real difference. Watch out for more about what we start out labeling 'discussions'.

How We Do What We Do