English Department Policies:
Each teacher in the English Department has his/her own classroom policies and procedures that are specific to his/her class and course. However, there are several policies which are common to all of Vanden's English courses.
- Late Work
- Late homework and classwork is accepted for half credit as long as it is turned in within 1 school day of the original due date. After 1 day, students may no longer turn in the missing assignment.
- Summative assignments such as essays and projects will not be accepted late (this does not include in-class assessments and tests).
- Incomplete work will not be accepted nor assigned credit
- Late work will not be accepted if it is incomplete
- Handwritten work must be in MLA format and submitted using blue or black ink, only
- Typed work must be in MLA format
- Technological problems will NOT be accepted as an excuse for failing to turn in an assignment on-time
- All school rules will be enforced, including policies regarding attendance, dress-code and academic dishonesty
Grading scales:
Summative Assessment (Unit Exams) 35%
Formative Assessment (Skills Development): 25%
Self-Study (Homework and Classwork) 20%
Final Exam 20%
Academic Integrity:
Academic Integrity is incredibly important, especially in our modern culture where information is literally a web search away. Students will be expected to do their own work and to give any authors whom they quote, reference or paraphrase credit for that authorship. The truth is, when we copy and paste from the internet or copy someone else's answers, we effectively steal their work and then lie to whomever we give it to, passing it off as our own. This is why cheating and plagiarism are known as academic dishonesty. This is an issue that the English Department and the Administration of Vanden High School take very seriously (please click here to see Vanden's policies and consequences regarding Academic Dishonesty).
Turnitin.com:
Turnitin.com is a website that helps students learn the skills to avoid plagiarism and maintain academic integrity. The website allows students to submit their work digitally and see exactly how much of the material in their work is from other sources. Turnitin.com not only makes it unnecessary for students to print all their papers out, but it also allows students to understand correct source attribution.
