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MELCHER ENGLISH II 2020-2021

Ms. Melcher, Room 12

Contact Email: jmelcher@hsd1.org
Website: englishmelcher.weebly.com
Phone: (406)324-2261
Welcome to English II!

Expectations and Norms

School Wide Expectations and Norms
Be respectful. Respect yourself, respect others, and respect our school. Treat everyone as you
would like to be treated.
Be responsible. Your success depends on your ability to take responsibility for your own
learning; you can achieve this by participating in your classes and completing your assignments.
Remember to do the following every week:
 Check Teams or my website each Wednesday for that week’s class agenda.
 Check PowerSchool each Thursday for updated grades. Assignments will be updated in
PowerSchool no later than one week after they are received.
Be involved. Your priority is active participation in your classes, but we also encourage you to
explore extracurricular communities. Helena High offers a wide variety of clubs and activities
for all different interests.
Be a graduate. Everyone at HHS cares about you and wants you to succeed in school and in life.
Partner with us to make and reach your goals for a successful future.
Classroom Expectations and Norms
Use personal electronic devices appropriately. Most of this year’s work will be completed
digitally. Make sure you bring your laptop to class every day and charge it every night. Do not
bring your cell phone to class. Any visible cell phones will be sent to the office.
Practice academic honesty. Please respect me, yourself, and the class by submitting original
work. For a detailed description of the requirements of academic integrity, see
http://hhs.helenaschools.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/31/2014/12/Academic-Integrity-Policy.pdf
Consequences for academic dishonesty:
● First Offense: The student will receive a zero on the assignment with an
opportunity to rewrite (pending conference with teacher). The student’s
parents/guardians, administrator, and counselor will be notified
● Second Offense: You will receive a zero on the assignment with no opportunity to
rewrite. Your parents and HHS administrator will be notified.
Be on time. Please come to class on time and ready to learn.
Respect the facilities. Please help me take care of our school and follow these simple guidelines:
● Clean up after yourself—all paper, wrappers, disposable beverage bottles, etc.
should go into recycling or the trash.
● Do not handle or disrupt anything that doesn't belong to you or that you don't have
permission to use.
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Curriculum

The Helena High School curriculum is tied to the Montana State Common Core English
Language Arts and Literacy Standards, which are broken into the four following areas:

Language Use
 Vocabulary: The ninth and tenth grade vocabulary curriculum at Helena High focuses on
building familiarity with classical roots and affixes instead of the memorization of
specific words, allowing for exponential vocabulary growth. Last year, you learned a
variety of Greek roots; this year, you will focus on Latin.
 Grammar: A solid understanding of English grammar is essential to effective
communication. We will use a program called NoRedInk to build this understanding.
Units of instruction for sophomore year cover the following: pronoun agreement,
dependent and independent clauses, restrictive and nonrestrictive clauses, comma usage,
coordinating conjunctions, conjunctive adverbs, misplaced modifiers, and subordinating
conjunctions.

Speaking/Listening
You will be expected to participate in (and occasionally lead) many class discussions over the
course of the year. While I am not entirely sure how these discussions will take place, we will
most likely be utilizing video conferencing software on Teams as well as online video-hosting
platforms like Flipgrid. You will also give several low-stakes presentations over the course of the
year, including a persuasive speech and a poem recitation.

Writing
The writing focuses for sophomore year are compare/contrast structure and research strategies.
To build proficiency in these areas, you will be composing four processed pieces each semester.

Reading
The reading strand of the Common Core is divided into two categories: Informational Texts and
Literature.
Reading-Informational Texts
We will concentrate on reading for the purposes of writing research papers, investigating
a variety of print and digital sources. Key skills practiced and honed include:
 Evaluating credibility, bias, and purpose
 Analyzing overt as well as implied meaning
 Synthesizing information gleaned from multiple sources
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Reading-Literature
You will build and refine your ability to interpret and make meaning out of works of
literature. Focuses for literary analysis include:
 Perspective
 Text structure
 Figurative language
 Tone/Mood
 Voice
 Medium (specifically, the representation of the same subject/theme through
different artistic mediums)

Shared texts include:

 Collections (English II textbook)
 Two Old Women by Velma Wallis
 To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
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Grading
Semester Grade Calculations
 Quarter 1*: 40%
 Quarter 2*: 50%
 Semester Project: 10%
Because Quarter 1 was shorter this year (due to the late start), and because it took us a
while to adjust to the staggered AACBB schedule, I am shifting weight from Quarter 1 to
Quarter 2 (instead of both quarters being weighted at 45%, Quarter 1 will be weighted at
50%
*Quarter Grades are weighted as follows:
 Language Use (Grammar [NoRedInk assignments/worksheets] and Vocabulary
[notes and quizzes]): 30%
 Speaking and Listening (Discussion preparation and participation, presentations):
15%
 Reading (Close reading, bookwork, reading quizzes): 15%
 Writing: 40 % (Process work and final drafts)
o Final Drafts: 35%
o Process Work (prewriting and rough drafts): 5%

Absences and Late Work

I will go over all assignments in class and post them to Teams every Wednesday. If you have any
concerns about your ability to access Teams on a regular basis, please let me know immediately.

If you miss a day of school, be sure to check the weekly agenda and Teams to see what you need
to make up. As per the student handbook, you have a time period equal to your absence plus one
day following your return to make up the work you missed for full credit.

Late work will lose credit based on the following scale:

Up to one week late: Deduction of 10%

Up to two weeks late: Deduction of 20%
Up to three weeks late: Deduction of 30%
Up to four weeks late: Deduction of 40%
Beyond four weeks late: Deduction of 50%

Please note that I will not accept late work from a previous quarter.

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Please acknowledge have read and understand this syllabus by following this Microsoft
Forms link and submitting your response by Wednesday, September 16th. Make sure that
both you and your parent/guardian submit responses.