AP Test Requirement: Your student's participation in the English Language Advance Placement class carries with it the obligation to sign up for, pay for (or apply for financial aid for), and take the English Language AP exam which will be administered on the Skyline campus during regular school hours in early May 2002. Last year the test fee was $77 for each AP test applied for.
Yes! I (we) understand and agree that we will either pay or apply for
assistance to pay the AP fee for my (our) student. Please initial here and
sign below: __________.
Grading: This is a college level class and carries with it added grade
point weighting; consequently, this class requires more work, at a higher
level of complexity, with a higher level of proficiency to earn the highest
grades. Students who do not attend class, are perennially tardy to class,
miss important assignments, fail to perform at a high level of proficiency
or who do not improve their proficiency cannot expect the highest grades.
All assignments carry a point count. Grades are based on cumulative assignment,
essay, quiz and test points with A = 90% or higher, B = 80%=89.9, C = 70%
- 79.9 %, D = 60% - 69.9%, F = 59.9% or below.
Yes! I (we) understand the grading policy and that this is a college level class. Please initial here and sign below: __________.
Field Trip: I propose to take one fall semester field trip, October
11th, to visit the San Francisco Maritime Museum in connection with the reading
of Melville's Moby Dick. On the voyage by ferry to the SF Ferry Terminal
we will read Queequeg and Ishmael's crossing from New Bedford to Nantucket.
After a brisk walk to the Maritime Museum, we will board a sailing vessel
and enact the "gold doubloon" scene. Later, on the quarterdeck our
Ahab will philosophize with our Starbuck about the composition of the universe,
about determinism and free will, and, of course about malevolence. On the
return, we will, like the crew of the Pequod, individually reflect on our
fate as crewmembers. Class will convene and dismiss from the Jack London ferry
wharf.
Yes! I (we) understand about the field trip and agree to chaperone (I need 5 parents minimum) this all day trip. Please initial here and sign below: __________.
Readers: The success of the class depends greatly on the number of
timed essays the students write on which they receive feedback. To increase
beyond the already large number of essays required needs a force of readers,
trained and ready. You can become a reader by attending two training sessions
and practicing the craft. The commitment will be to score 30 essays on at
least three occasions, mostly during spring semester.
Yes! I (we) understand the need for readers and agree to train and read on three occasions. Please initial here and sign below: __________.
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn -We will be starting the book The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn during 2nd marking period.
Immediately upon its publication, this book caused consternation and controversy-
it was banned by the Concord, Massachusetts library in 1885 -and has continued
to do so for a variety of reasons ever since. Despite Hemingway's naming Huckleberry
Finn as the source book for the modern American novel, Huck Finn has fallen
on evil times and is read less and less.
I am teaching the book, which is, not incidentally, on our Skyline reading
list, precisely for these two reasons: 1. It is the source book for the American
novel 2. It is controversial. The thrust of our reading will, then, be to
discover why the book causes such controversy- it isn't simply because of
one word however many times repeated -and why the modern novel can be traced
back to this one book. Students will come away with a heightened awareness
of the problems of race in the 19th and 20th centuries and, perhaps, what
some solutions might be for the 21st century problem. I look forward to any
comment you choose to offer now or during our reading.
Yes! I (we) understand my student will read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Please initial here and sign below: __________.
Parent Signature _________________________________________.
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