Our Goals

To gain an understanding of the foundations and principles of the U.S. Constitution.
To learn about and apply the Bill of Rights to our everyday lives.
To know what our rights and responsibilities are as US Citizens and how we become citizens.
To learn about US Domestic and Foreign Policy.
To examine current events and controversial issues affecting our society today.

Responsibilities

1. Bring materials to class everyday.

2) If you are given class time to work, use it. Don't mess around.

3) RESPECT - respect every other person in this class! Respect their right to learn, to study, and to speak.

4) Planner - It is expected that you bring your planner to class with you each day. Passes are located in

your planner and no planner means no passes

Absences

If you are absent you need to get the things you missed from me after school or before school. This is to ensure that you will have my full attention to take care your education.

Class Participation: everyday we will do a small activity where you will earn class participation points. These points cannot be made up if you are not here since you cannot participate in class. I want you here in class everyday and this is a way to encourage you to be here. It will be your responsibility to hand this in at the beginning of class or else you will get a zero for that day. These points add up to a lot, so it can greatly affect your grade. These points will only be entered in Quarter grades and final grades.

Grades

Your grade will be based on the percentage of the total points that you have earned. Your grade will include daily work, homework, projects, papers and daily class participation. The grading scale is posted around the room.

Attendance

It is important that you are in class everyday. Many of the projects that we do will require you to work with others and I know that they would appreciate your help. So be here! We will follow the LSE attendance policy, which means that after 3 unexcused absences you can be removed from class. If you are absent often I may reduce your credit, so be in class.

Tardy

If you are late to class you will need to fill out a tardy sheet. If you are tardy 3 or more times I will then assign a detention for each tardy. On your fifth tardy you can be removed from class.

Teacher/Student Work Time I would love to help you if you are falling behind or just need a little extra help. I get to school about 6:30 I am here after school until at least 4:00. If you need to see me outside of class just let me know in advance and I will be here to help.

Missed and late Work

If you miss school you will have 1 week to make up missing assignments. All missed quizzes and test must be taken before or after school. I will not remind you of missing work. It will but up to you to get things handed in.

Volunteer Hours

Each student must do 20 hours of Volunteer work. These hours must be completed by __Jan 4______________or else you will fail the class. When you have selected a place to volunteer please double check with the hours book to make sure they count. If your hours are not approved by the district (on the list) they will not count and you can fail the class. I will give you 15 extra credit points for handing in you hours before December 19th. (Some hours that have counted in the past do not count this year so check the book so you do not have to redo hours)

Extras

The Southeast Rules and Regulations will be followed in this classroom. If you are not clear about what those are please ask.

Plagiarism

Plagiarism will not be tolerated in class. Plagiarism will be defined as “the unauthorized use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one's own original work”. (dictionary.reference.com) If you are caught plagiarizing you will receive a grade of zero on the assignment.

Biggies

This semester you will be asked to do a lot of work. I want you to be fully aware of this so you cannot complain later. You will be expected to complete several projects, and a presentation as well as lead a class discussion, take tests and write.

You are a senior and I expect you to be responsible.

Units and Expectations

US Foreign and Domestic Policy

What is policy, how is it made and example and examples of it.

We will also look at other types of governments and economic systems.

You will be doing a great deal of class discussion in this unit and it will all be graded.

US Constitution

Lots of facts and things to remember…but if you already know it we can move on. We will have a pretest to see what you know. We will cover the seven articles of the constitution and also do a large project on the preamble…no you do no memorize it.

Bill of Rights

In groups all students will be expected to give presentations on the bill of rights. Then we will test over the information you share. These are big, but you will have time in class to get it done, but only if you use that time.

Rights and Responsibilities of Citizens

We will discuss what it means to be a citizen of the US and what rights you have.

We will look at ways we can be involved.

Controversial Issues

Through the semester we will look at issues of the day as well as current events.

I want to make sure both you and your guardians understand the rules of class to ensure your success. Your first assignment is to take this home and go over it with your guardians and then sign it.

Parent Signature: __________________________ E-Mail Address _____________________________

Student Signature _________________________ E-Mail Address _____________________________