Clayton High School

Welcome to Honors English I!

Mrs. Todaro 

Office & Hours: 003J; 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, before and after school as needed

Email: clairetodaro@claytonschools.net 

Period: 8

Honors English I Overview

Designed for the ninth grader who possesses both a strong ability and great interest in the study of English, Honors English I provides a course of study that teaches students to think deeply and carefully through reading, writing, speaking, and listening. Independent readers in Honors English I study within these major works: Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun, Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Romeo and Juliet, Sophocles’ Oedipus the King and Antigone, and Homer’s The Odyssey. Students also read other plays, essays, poetry, and novels, often independently. Composition assignments range from literary analyses to creative writing, with an emphasis on the former. At least nine conferenced and revised compositions are required. Students design and deliver at least one oral presentation, likely a persuasive speech. Students complete a reading and study assignment the summer before Honors English I.

Core Literature for Honors Eng. I

The Odyssey by Homer

A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry

Oedipus the King and Antigone by Sophocles

*We will also read multiple works of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, short writings, and beyond not listed on the syllabus

Conference Policy

We will work on compositions this year and you will need to partake in one conference per composition. We will find a time during a shared period to conference (it may change each cycle). Learning Centers, free periods, Study Skills, Greyhound time, lunches, contact time, and before or after school all work. If you need to reschedule your conference, email Mrs. Todaro before it happens. Conferences typically last 15-20 minutes. If you miss a conference, we can attempt to find a new time that works for both of us, but it is not guaranteed. If the second conference doesn’t happen, you will only get written feedback on your piece. 

Assignment Expectations

Your primary form of homework on any given night will be reading. Of course, during a conference cycle, you will also be expected to draft and revise comps as assigned. In addition to reading and composition work, you may have other types of homework. All homework assignments are practice for more formal (summative) assessments that will be graded; therefore, homework completion is essential to your learning. All late work will be accepted up to one week late. Summative assessments (typically comps and tests) will be given an INS (0%) if they are missing. 

Retake Policy 

Larger, summative assessment retakes will be allowed once outside of class at a predetermined time (usually a set of Greyhound times). Smaller, formative assessments will not be given opportunity to retake unless special circumstances arise. Some formative assessment will require retakes in class if the expectations are not met the first time around.

Absence & Tardy Policy

Absences: Students are responsible for checking Google Classroom to see what they missed when absent. Because reading schedules, essay topics, and due dates will be distributed at the beginning of each unit, students will be expected to keep up with reading despite absences, and will therefore be expected to participate in discussions, take reading quizzes, and turn in any work due on the day they return.  If this is problematic, for example due to serious illness, students should contact me before class (and not as we are walking to class) for an extension. The school has an attendance requirement for students. Find further information on absences here.

Tardies:  prompt attendance to class is essential for student success. Any student who is not in the classroom when the bell rings is considered tardy. Repeated tardiness will result in the following disciplinary action: Each student is warned for two tardies per class, per semester. Beyond that, detentions will be issued and parents will be notified. Tardies are reset at the beginning of each semester.

Cell Phone Policy

Cell phones and accompanying technology are expected to be stored out of sight during academic time. If technology is permitted at any given time, it will be announced. Failure to abide by this policy shall subject the student to disciplinary action. Find the school-wide policy here.

Google Classroom

Students and parents should consult Google Classroom for daily announcements and to view (and print, if necessary) copies of course documents such as the course expectations, unit plans, worksheets, etc. in the case of absences or lost documents.  Students will be expected to utilize Google Classroom daily for announcements, assignments, and resources.

Grading Scale & PowerSchool Codes

English Department Statement on Academic Integrity

The English Department designs writing assignments to encourage students' growth as readers, writers, and thinkers. We value students' original work. Consequently, we insist upon academic integrity and will not tolerate plagiarism.

• plagiarize (v.) "To steal and use (the ideas or writings of another) as one's own."¹

• plagiarism (n.) "Literary theft. Plagiarism occurs when a writer duplicates another writer's language or  ideas and then calls the work his or her own. Copyright laws protect writers' words as their legal property. To avoid the charge of plagiarism, writers take care to credit those from whom they borrow and quote."²

Please see the student planner for further description of how Clayton High School values and defines academic integrity.

Statement on Use of AI Generated Work

Take pride in your work! All work submitted in this course must be your own. Contributions from non-academic sources (such as AI tools) are prohibited. Contributions from approved sources must be fully acknowledged and properly quoted or paraphrased by you every time they are used. Failure to follow this policy constitutes a violation of academic integrity and may result in disciplinary action. All work for this course needs to be written through Google docs or done on paper and shared with Mrs. Todaro in order to show complete revision history. 

In a confirmed case of plagiarism on a student composition, these consequences will occur:

• Academic consequences: In a case of deliberate plagiarism (as determined by the teacher and department chair), the student will earn a grade of "zero" on the plagiarized composition. Less severe consequences may be applied by teachers of underclassmen who determine that the plagiarism occured as a result of a student’s deficit in research or citation skills. In all cases of plagiarism, students will be expected to complete a new composition in order to practice the requisite skills.

• Disciplinary consequences: Disciplinary consequences (including detention and suspension) will be imposed upon students who plagiarize multiple assignments or participate in other major academic integrity infractions during their studies at CHS.

• Notification: The teacher will notify the student, parent(s), department chair, grade-level principal, and counselor by phone, email, letter, or other means. In addition, the notification will be placed in the student's permanent file.

The English Department expects students to use the current Modern Language Association (MLA) format for citing sources.

For academic integrity violations other than plagiarism (ie. cheating on a test or quiz or copying homework from a peer), English teachers will generally impose the penalty of a “zero” but have discretion to impose alternate penalties out of consideration of the circumstances of the infraction.

¹"plagiarize." The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. New College ed, American Heritage Publishing Company, 1981.

² "plagiarism." The American Heritage New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy. Third ed. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2005, Dictionary.com. www.dictionary.reference.com/browse/plagiarism. Accessed 10 Sept. 2009.