Mr. L. Blu Dutchko
Middle School Social Studies
SYLLABUS
Welcome to TPA Middle School Social Studies, I plan on having an interesting, entertaining and most important an educational course of study this year. The most important thing to remember is that this is a CORE class and that you must pass it to be promoted. Failure is not an option in this class, the way I have constructed the course if we work together as coach and team we will achieve our goal, which is getting a good grade and having a good time.
COURSE SUMMARY: The course of study is that of a comprehensive overview of American History with an emphasis on North Carolinas place in it.
CLASS PROCEDURES AND STRUCTURE: My class is highly structured; each day upon entering the classroom the students should look to the right side of the white board there they will find that day’s agenda which will explain to them exactly what we are going to do that day. My class agenda usually consists of the taking of attendance, followed by a brief written warm up, lecture, in class reading of the text, worksheet to support the reading, and some type of exit question as review. Many times I will augment the lecture with a video. I also intend to use Socratic Seminars, the creation of poems and short thought provoking essays on a regular basis. Students will also get class time to work on their projects as needed.
CLASS RULES AND REGULATIONS: A list will be sent home for signature.
GRADING POLOCIES: A= 100 - 93 B= 92- 85 C=84 – 77 D= 76 – 70 F= 69 >
HOW DO I EARN MY GRADE? Everything you do in my classroom is graded and earns you points. Your participation during the question and answer portion of my lectures and in class reading earns you class participation points, completion of the chapter work sheets earns points as of course does your scores on projects and test. Extra credit is earned by doing exemplary work on the assignments given, not by doing extra assignments. A very approximate scale of the value of the different components would be
Test: 40% Projects: 30% In Class Work: 15% Homework: 15%
Now this is just a general overview of how my grading policies work so as you can see there are enough different ways to earn points and enough points to be earned so that any student, with effort should be able to pass this course.
HOMEWORK: Students will be required to keep a current events folder in a 1” 3 ring binder. This folder will consist of their summary and opinion of 1 article per week taken from the newspaper or their choice. For those students who do not have access to a newspaper I will provide a copy of the Shelby Star daily. Each summary and opinion must have the name of the newspaper from which it was taken and the date of the issue. At the end of 9 weeks I will review each folder, each article that meets all requirements will earn 10 pts. 90 pts. Possible each nine weeks
PROJECTS: The "Jackdaw Project" will be a year long project consisting of six components. It will be worth a total of 325 points. There also will be smaller less weighty projects throuout the year. Handouts will be sent home to explain in detail what is required for each of these projects
VIDEO’S Videos such as The History Channels series on the Civil War and the Revolutionary War. Ken Burns’ PBS series The Civil War. Biographies of Great Historical figures such as Harriet Tubman, Abraham Lincoln, Henry Ford, Thomas Edison and even feature films like Forrest Grump, Band of Brothers and Tombstone will occasionally be shown in class to support the curriculum. Questionnaire Worksheets will be given to be answered will watching these films.Video times is not nap or note time! There value will range between 10 and 20 points per work sheet and there usually are questions from the videos on my tests.
CONCLUSION: There you have a synopsis of this year’s class, as I said in the beginning the goal this year is for everyone to get a great grade and have a great time doing it. My classroom is open for visitors anytime. I am available every afternoon between 1:30 and 2:30 p.m. My phone number is (704) 476 -8399 x-7691, my e-mail is lrdutchko@clevelandcountyschools.org. Contact me when every you have concerns.
| 