• Students are expected to attend every class having read assigned material or prepared assigned homework. Many students are involved in a variety of enrichment and special programs in addition to their academic classes. Your participation in these activities should not interfere with your commitment to and attendance in class. You are asked to carefully consider the impact of your absences from class and to refrain from scheduling appointments, club meetings, teacher conferences, and other activities during your designated class time.
  
  
• Students are expected to be in class on time, ready to work with the proper materials (book, pen, paper and completed assignments). You will not be excused to retrieve any forgotten items. Chronic late arrivals to class will naturally result in a lowered grade. Students who arrive late and miss a quiz will not be allowed to make it up. Unexcused absences will result in a zero for all work for that day, including quizzes and tests.
  
  
• Creative Writing is designed as a workshop, so all students are expected to participate in active journaling, sharing and discussion of one another's writing by sharing work, raising relevant, thoughtful questions and observations and paying sustained, consistent attention to the comments of others. Lack of preparation for active work, and/or a passive presence during class time are behaviors that are inconsistent with the goals of this course.
  
  
• In order to encourage open sharing and feedback, students are expected to respect the privacy and confidentiality of their classmates. What we share with one another in class is intended to be for our ears only. (top)

Materials

• Three-ring binder with dividers for notes and handouts.
• Notebook for daily journal writing. You may choose to have a journal section in your binder instead of a separate journal.

Homework/Classwork

• You will be given a weekly assignment sheet. Assignments and due dates will also be posted online at smartscion.com. Please click on the homework link on your course’s home page. It is your responsibility to know what is due and when it is due so you will be prepared for class. Absence is not an acceptable reason for missing an assignment or being unprepared for class when you return.
  
  
• All essays and other assignments are due at the beginning of class on the date assigned. Late work will receive a 10-point per day grade reduction, and will not be accepted after 2 days, resulting in a zero for the assignment. If a serious injury, illness, or other emergency seems likely to prevent you from meeting a deadline, make arrangements or communicate with me before the assignment is due. If no prior arrangement has been made, late penalties will ensue. Computer, printer, or email problems are not acceptable reasons for late work; be prepared to back up your work so it can be turned in on time.
  
  
• If you miss class for any reason other than those outlined above, it is your responsibility to arrange to turn your work in on time. If you have missed a due date because of an unforeseen illness or emergency, you must provide me with documentation of your excused absence in order to receive an appropriate extension.
  
  
• There will be no make-ups given for unannounced quizzes; you will be excused if you have an excused absence.
  
  
• Make-ups for announced quizzes and tests must be arranged promptly upon your return to class after an excused absence, and must be completed in a timely manner. Be aware that make-up quizzes and tests will generally be prepared in a different format than the original quiz or test. (top)

Online Discussion Forum

Creative Writing students can access the class online discussion forum through this site. This forum is designed to provide you with many useful opportunities to enhance your learning experience. To name a few, you can:

• Continue discussions from class.
• Open new topics we weren't able to cover.
• Bring up ideas you might have forgotten to mention in class.
• Ask your classmates about assignments.
• Do group work away from school without leaving the comfort of home.
• Ask for and share resources.

The purpose of this forum is to foster a sense of community and sharing outside the class room, and to provide us with an opportunity to learn from one another in a positive and non-threatening environment. To these ends, I ask that all those who post strictly observe the following guidelines:

• You must register with your first name and last initial (please do not use your full name) in order to post. Although you do not have to make your email address available for public viewing, you must include it in your profile for administrative purposes.
  
  
• This forum is G-rated! This means that all topics, language, avatars, links, and so on must be appropriate. Beware! Inappropriate posts will be deleted, and their authors will be banned from posting.
  
  
• There is a significant difference between a constructive response and a destructive insult. Feel free to disagree with one another, but under no circumstances may you be rude, abusive, or condescending. Negative attitudes are not welcome.
  
  
• There is also a significant difference between sharing ideas and cheating. I encourage the former and don't tolerate the latter. Please use this forum in the true spirit of sharing.
  
  
• Although you are not required to join the forum, your participation in online discussion can affect your participation grade in class, and you will be evaluated by the same criteria outlined under Attendance/Class Participation .This is a good and redeeming opportunity for those of you who prefer to remain relatively silent in class.

Consider the words of the British philospher John Locke (1632 - 1704): "The improvement of understanding is for two ends: first, our own increase of knowledge; secondly, to enable us to deliver that knowledge to others." This, above all, should serve as a guideline for participation in online discussion. (top)

• Homework assignments, quizzes, journals, and other graded in-class assignments are counted as 20% of your quarter grade.
• Major assignments and unit portfolios are counted as 60% of your quarter grade.
• Class participation is counted as 20% of your grade.

Extra Help/Communication

• I am available every day after school. Please make an appointment.
• Students should feel free to email me with their questions at ckurt@smartscion.com .
• Parents should contact me at ckurt@cantonschools.org.