Course 2301—Texas History Syllabus Addendum (8:00 – 9:15 TR)

E-mail Address: codom@panola.edu

Telephone Number: 903-693-2047
Office Hours: Monday 1:30-4:00
Tuesday 2-4
Friday 8-12:30

Grading procedures:
Students will be evaluated by major exams and by daily grades. A brief explanation of
each follows.

Exams—Students will take three exams during the semester. Each exam will count 25%
of the overall course grade. If a student has to miss an exam, it is the responsibility of the
student to contact the instructor to make arrangements for a make-up exam. Students
missing exams due to illness should have a doctor’s note to make up the exam. All
other reasons for missing an exam will be handled on a case by case basis. The
instructor reserves the right to deny make-up exams. In the event a student misses an
exam due to an emergency, the student should contact the instructor as soon as possible
to make arrangements for a make-up exam. Students, who fail to notify the instructor of
missing an exam within 24 hours of the exam, will receive a grade of “0”. This obviously
will put the student in serious jeopardy of failing the class. Hence, it is wise to take all
exams on time if at all possible.

Daily Assignments—Students will take lecture notes each class period, including notes
on any video, audio, or outside presentations used as part of this course. Daily
Assignments will include pop quizzes, announced quizzes, periodic key term
identifications, writing assignments and other activities as announced by the instructor in
class. The average of the daily assignments will count 25% of the students’ daily
assignments. The instructor will not accept late daily assignments. The instructor will
drop two daily grades, this includes quizzes, during the semester. Students will have the
opportunity during the semester to earn up to 100 bonus points that will be added in with
the daily grades.

Sample Grade Compilation

In the following example, a student has earned a 78 average on the three major
exams and a 90 average on daily assignments. The following example explains how
the grade would be determined for this student.
Test Average= 78 X .75=58.5
Daily Average=90 x.25=22.5
Total Average for the course=81 (Note this figure comes from adding the two
columns above together.
Textbook: Rupert N. Anderson et al. Texas: The Lone Star State, 10th edition. Upper
Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson-Prentice Hall, 2010. Information not covered in
lecture or the textbook will be presented via handout, library supplement, or links online.

Student Conduct
General Classroom Expectations As students of history at Panola College, I expect you
to adhere to high ethical standards. I realize that in today’s society, many do not have a
clear understanding of what it means to be ethical. In relation to the class that I will teach
to you, ethical will mean respecting one another and respecting me as the instructor.
Within this framework of respect, the following rules will be adhered to:
1. Do not work on other materials or engage in conversations with other students
during class.
2. No eating or tobacco use is permitted in the classroom.
3. Be punctual to class and be prepared to start class at the appointed time for
class. Students should have notebooks and pens ready when class is ready to start.
(See attendance policy below)
4. Leaving class early is prohibited unless prior arrangements have been made
with the instructor or illness occurs during class.
5. Do not put books or notes until class is dismissed.
6. Turn-off pagers, phones, and any other electronic device during class. Prior to
testing the instructor will ask everyone to turnoff all electronic devices. Anyone
caught violating this principle will be dealt with on a case by case basis.

Attendance Policy as per Panola College*

Regular and punctual attendance at classes and laboratories is required of all students.
When a student has been ill or absent from class for approved extracurricular activities,
he or she should be allowed, as far as possible, to make up the work missed.

In accordance with Section 51.911, Texas Education Code, Panola College shall allow a
student, who is absent from class in observance of a religious holy day, to take an
examination or complete an assignment schedule for that day within a reasonable time
after the absence. By the end of the second week of class, the student must notify his or
her instructors of the student’s intent to be absent for religious holy days, which occur in
the semester. When an instructor feels that a student has been absent to such a degree as
to invalidate the learning experience, the instructor may recommend to the VP of
instruction that the student be dropped from the course. Instructors may drop students for
nonattendance after they have accumulated the following number of absences.

Regular session
5 absences—MWF classes
3 absences---TTH classes
2 absences—One-day-per week classes

Summer sessions
3 absences—Five-day-per-week classes
2 absences—Two-evenings-per-week classes

*Excessive absences will result in the reduction of the student’s overall grade. Students
who miss more than five times in a semester without providing valid reason for the
absences will receive a ten percent reduction in his/her grade. A valid reason means that
the student is seriously ill, a death has occurred in the family, or some other reason that
the instructor determines as a valid reason for missing the exam. Students, who miss less
than five times in a semester, will have the option of allowing the final exam to replace
the lowest exam grade for the semester.

Cheating or plagiarism
Plagiarism is defined as the taking of a person’s ideas or the copying of a person’s
writings and claiming those ideas or writings as one’s own work. Plagiarism will consist
in this class as the copying of 7 or more consecutive words from an author. Quoting and
citing borrowed information is not plagiarism. For the purposes of this class, a student
who plagiarizes is subject to failure of the assignment for the first offense and failure of
the class after repeated offenses. (This policy shall be adhered to unless mitigating
circumstances should prove a lesser penalty should apply).