Pre-IB Sophomore English

Mr. Miller

gmiller4@asu.edu

Room #5212

Course Overview_______________________________________________________________
This course is designed to prepare students for English classes in the International Baccalaureate
program during Junior and Senior years. Sophomore year English classes include literature from
a variety of cultural traditions, aiming to expose students to new perspectives and promote
empathy with people with different social mores. Other foci of the course include developing
analysis of a text into thematic understandings of literature, building a strong foundation of
English grammar knowledge, and writing in a variety of contexts.
International Baccalaureate program______________________________________________
The IB curriculum is an international program which has developed a reputation in the United
States for a high level of rigor and well-rounded instruction which develops transferrable skills
rather than rote knowledge. I encourage joining the IB program next year, as I believe strongly in
its core principles, but taking this course does not require committing to the IB program. Many
of our students perform quite well in AP, honors, or standard English classes following pre-IB
English Sophomore year. Some students use the class as a trial period for IB, seeing how well the
rigor and workload of the class fits their needs before committing to the program Junior year.
Course Progression_____________________________________________________________
This course follows this outline in roughly chronological order:
Grammar (throughout the year)
Introduction to the course and Logic
Rhetoric and analysis of bias
Non-fiction
Poetry
Short Stories
Novels
Course Materials_______________________________________________________________
Course Reading Materials
Students will need to obtain the following materials for use during the school year:

Access to the internet for access to poetry, op-ed articles, and various other literature

Two full-length works of literary fiction chosen from a list which Mr. Miller will provide
Norton Non-fiction Anthology
The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Hamlet by William Shakespeare

What to Bring to Class

Spiral or composition notebook dedicated to the class
Loose-Leaf 8 x 11 notebook paper (if it cannot be torn neatly from a notebook)
A No. 2 pencil or two
Pen(s) of a solid and legible color
Colored pencils (the classroom will have some extras available, but not enough for
everyone)
Tissue boxes to donate to the class
Floor fans to lend to the class during the Summer
If obtaining any of these materials proves difficult for any reason, please do not hesitate to
communicate with me in order to ensure that you can be properly equipped to succeed in class.
Course Policies________________________________________________________________
Class Rules
The classroom should be a safe, secure environment in which everyone can feel comfortable
taking risks and make mistakes. One of the first orders of business in the classroom will be to
establish a list of rules that both Mr. Miller and students can agree will be conducive to
establishing that classroom environment. These rules will then be posted in the classroom, and
the syllabus will be updated to reflect them.
Late Work
My late work policy reflects a balance between my belief that course work is intrinsically
valuable and should be completed for its own sake rather than for a grade and the fact that
students need to develop a sense of punctuality and responsibility in order to be successful in
their future work environments.
My most important rule about late work is that students need to make me aware that work will be
late and for what reasons ahead of time. I check my school email regularly and can be reached
there in addition to lunch hours and before and after school. I do not promise exceptions to the
late policy, but do reserve the right to make them in the case of difficult circumstances.

Generally, late work will always be accepted for minor assignments like checks for
understanding and regular exercises for 90% credit. For major assignments like research papers,
presentations, and other long-term projects, I will have made a considerable effort to assist
students in pacing themselves, so late assignments in this category will be much less forgivable
and will earn 50% credit for being a day late, dropping by 10% for each additional day late.
Turning in assignments in a timely fashion is the single best safeguard for your grade in this
class; be responsible and communicate with me.
Absences
As with late assignments, students need to communicate with me about absences in order to
ensure that they are able to make up everything they have missed as a result of being absent for
any length of time. Any work that is late and any material which a student has not mastered as a
result of an absence that has not been communicated to me will be held against you.
Generally, students will have as many days to complete work missed as a result of an excused
absence as they had days absent. However, I may make exceptions to this rule of thumb for
various reasons including, but not limited to, absences which had been known about for some
time, due dates which had been communicated to students well ahead of time, and a students
demonstrated punctuality on previous assignments.
I follow school procedures regarding the accepted number of absences from class; I take
attendance daily, and a certain number of unexcused absences will result in automatic failure
from the class.
Grading Scale
A = 90% - 100%
B = 80% - 89.99%
C = 70% - 79.99%
D = 60% - 69.99%
F = 59.99% or below
I do not offer + or grades. I will not bump grades artificially and will only discuss course
grades in the context of the individual scores on assignments which contribute to them. I follow
school procedure regarding academic status reports but will largely leave responsibility for
monitoring student grades to them, as the gradebook will be available online at all times as per
school procedure.
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This slip is due signed and physically returned to class by 8/XX/16
I have read the syllabus and agree to all of the procedures and policies outlined here.
Student: ____________________________________________ Date: _____________________

Parent: _____________________________________________ Date:_____________________