Welcome to English II, a study of global literature with diverse cultural perspectives to develop students’ reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills.  Our primary goal is to prepare students to be college and career ready by emphasizing the 4 C’s necessary to prosper in the twenty-first century: critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity.  In conjunction with our magnet theme, we will also explore readings that focus on Medical Science and Global Health. I’m looking forward to working with you this semester!

About Me:

I was a Teaching Fellow Scholar who graduated from Appalachian State in High School Education and English, with an ESL certificate.  I also got a certificate from East Carolina University for teaching at the community college; I earned a master’s degree in social work with Western New Mexico University.

I have been teaching for 19 years, including places such as Greece, Spain, and six counties in North Carolina from the coast to the mountains.  Some of my hobbies include woodburning, reading, painting, photography, kayaking, camping, hiking, fishing, and traveling (Greece, Spain, Jamaica, Canada, Mexico, Gambia, the Dominican Republic, and the Caribbean Islands).

ALLERGY ALERT:  Please do not spray perfume and cologne right before coming into my room, during class, or on the way out as you leave the classroom.  Please do not wear strong smelling lotions or essential oils.  I am allergic to chemicals in scents, causing symptoms such as difficulty breathing, hives, swelling, burning, and itchiness in the throat.  I appreciate your consideration of this health concern to create a positive working environment.

Expectations and Regulations

1. Respect is essential!  Give respect to each other, the teacher, the school, the community, and any property.  
2.   Come prepared with materials to learn with books, paper, ink, binder, and a positive attitude.  Laptops should be charged nightly.  Changing seats so that you can plug up at an outlet is not acceptable.  The Media Center is no longer loaning daily laptops.  If you lose the charger, you will need to buy another one rather than depending on others to borrow one.  Student-issued laptops are required for testing days; assessments cannot be accessed on personal devices.
3. Arrive on time! I teach from bell-to-bell which means if you show up to class late, not only will you receive the appropriate corresponding consequence but you will also be behind! 
4. Stay on task. We have a lot of information to cover and in order for us to do so, we have to stay focused and disregard extraneous distractions such as cell phones!
5. Any form of bullying or dishonesty, including cheating, will be addressed with appropriate consequences.  Make choices wisely.

Demonstration of Mastery

Athens Drive Magnet School is committed to maintaining rigorous performance and achievement standards for all students and to providing a fair and consistent process for evaluating and reporting student progress that is understandable to students and their parents/guardians and relevant for instructional purposes. 

Assignments will hold value so that a student's effort on tests and homework will both be significant but neither will "make or break" the final grade.  Therefore, it is essential to follow the wisdom of the Tortoise in Aesop's fable:  Slow and steady wins the race.  Consistency is key, but we strive for evidence of progress.  Quality of a student's work is far more important to me than the number that is supposed to reflect it.

Course Goals: 

The study of literature helps students develop skills that are essential for active and thoughtful membership in our society. By the end of the semester, you will be able to read, comprehend, and analyze texts from a variety of different genres, support analyses and arguments with textual evidence, and write thoughtfully constructed, MLA formatted essays.

Units:

1. Short story collection and poetry review
2. Night, Elie Wiesel
3. Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe or The Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Adichie
4. Literature Circle Options:

• Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi
• Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini 
• Sold by Patricia McCormick
• A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah
• Born a Crime by Trevor Noah

Suggested Materials:

• All materials are provided on Canvas, so come prepared with your student-issued laptops.
• 3-ring binder with loose leaf paper and dividers
• pens and highlighters (no pencils)
• Creative arts supplies
• Wake County Public Library Card
• Copies of all texts will be provided.  However, students are encouraged to acquire personal copies of the books we will be reading to allow for direct annotations.

Grading Scale                                                    

A = 90 – 100                                                           

B = 80 – 89                                                  

C = 70 – 79                                                

D = 60 - 69

Each quarter is worth 40 % of the final semester grade and the EOC exam is worth 20 %. 

HONORS Grading Plan                               

Tests / Projects                                40%               

Quizzes (Commonlit; APES)            30%                 

Homework / Classwork                  30% 

ACADEMIC Grading Plan

Tests/ Projects                                 30%         

Quizzes (Commonlit; APES)            30% 

Homework / Classwork                  40%

I will assign a task almost every day.  Not all of them will count.  You don't know which ones will stay in PowerSchool.  If you ask me, I'll tell you that everything counts.  I expect you to practice and refine your skills.  The effort is more important than a numerical quantifier.  You will have approximately 40-60 assignments in PowerSchool each quarter.  They will make dramatic changes in the beginning and subtle ones in the end as there are more numbers to go in the average calculations.

DO NOT EMAIL OR TEXT ME TO TELL ME THAT YOU SUBMITTED AN ASSIGNMENT.  I see it all online with date stamps.  I will go back and give credit to anything submitted.  You are wasting your time and cluttering my e-mail by trying to micromanage the update of the gradebook.  

Honors students do not get to make test corrections.  You should study and prepare beforehand.

ADMHS Tardy Policy

Student Responsibilities

1. Arrive to school and class on time.
2. Students who are late to school due to an approved reason (WCPSS Board Policy 4400) should report to the Attendance Desk with an excused note to receive an Attendance Pass to class. Students who arrive after 7:45 a.m. need to have a Bus Pass or a Pass from the Attendance Office to be admitted to class.
3. Students are considered Tardy to class if they are outside of the classroom when the Bell rings.
4. Students’ personal belongings being placed in the classroom does not constitute a student being on time if the student leaves and arrives back to class after the Bell rings.
5. Be aware of the consequences related to tardies.
6. Report directly to your class in the event you are late.
7. Report to class quickly, quietly, and respectfully.
8. Refrain from disruptive behavior while in the hallways.
9. While in the hallways during instruction, have your official pass in view and be prepared to present your pass to staff members upon request.

Consequences for Tardiness for Each Class

• 1st Tardy: Warning
• 2nd Tardy: Warning
• 3rd Tardy: Warning (Parent/Guardian notification by Teacher)
• 4th Tardy: Warning
• 5th Tardy: Lunch Detention for One Day (If you miss Lunch Detention, ISS for the Entire Day)
• 6th Tardy: Lunch Detention for Two Days (If you miss Lunch Detention, ISS for the Entire Day)
• 7th Tardy: ISS for the Period (Off-Campus Lunch Pass Suspended for Remainder of Quarter)
• 8th Tardy: ISS for the Entire Day (If the student serves all the consequences to this point, the students’ Tardies are reset)
•  9th Tardy: OSS (Out-Of-School Suspension)

Homework

According to the Board of Education policy, homework reinforces learning and fosters independence, responsibility, and self-direction.  Completing homework is essential so that students are prepared to review the material the following day and make corrections.  Homework should fulfill the following purposes:

1. To enrich and extend school experiences through related home activities.
2. To reinforce learning by providing practice and application
3. Students should be prepared for nightly homework in all subjects.

When reading is assigned as homework, anticipate a pop-quiz the following day. 

Opportunities to earn extra credit may be available in additional assignments. 

Makeup Work

It is the responsibility of the student to obtain and complete any work missed due to an absence. Missing work due to an absence must be made up in a timely manner.  It is imperative that you communicate with me to indicate the circumstances and completion is expected within five days of the student’s return from absence..  All assignments and deadlines are posted on Canvas.

Late Work WCPSS Policy

• Students and families are responsible for monitoring Powerschool and Canvas to stay apprised of missing assignments and work together to submit work in a timely manner.  
• Students may submit late work (classwork, projects, and quizzes) up until the summative assessment for a unit of study.
• Late work will be assessed a 10% penalty for each day late.  If turned in more than 4 days late, it will be assessed a 50% deduction in addition to accuracy.  

Academic Integrity: 

All students are expected to show integrity in their academic work.  Students should not engage in cheating, plagiarism, falsification of work, or other activities outlined in WCPSS Board Policy 4309.  Student behaviors that are in violation of this policy will be addressed through appropriate discipline and grading as outlined by the Student Code of Conduct.

English Dept. Policy:

      Having academic integrity means turning in work that is wholly your own creation. This policy concerns all forms of cheating, which include the following: 

• copying from a peer/sharing your work with a peer, 
• having someone else complete your assignment for you, 
• copying from an online source, 
• using ChatGPT/other AI platforms, 
• and not citing sources or including a Works Cited page on assignments. 

On the first offense, students may redo the assignment for up to a 60. On the second offense, students may redo the assignment for up to a 50. The teacher will give the student a deadline for the re-do, and no re-done assignment submitted past that deadline will be accepted. On the third and any subsequent offenses, students will receive a zero with no chance to redo the assignment. In addition, all instances of plagiarism will result in a write-up and parent notification.

      Writers should be prepared to present evidence that their work is not plagiarized by meeting draft deadlines, saving all notes, keeping historical drafts that show revisions/edits of assignments, and having an accurate Works Cited page that provides links to all online sources used in an assignment.

By signing the honor code, students attest that they are aware of and understand this policy. (Click to view the presentation.)

Complete the academic integrity code statement and acknowledge receipt of the syllabus on the Google form online.

Cell Phones

There is no need to have a cell phone in my class other than Kahoot games and English translators.  You have a student-issued laptop for work purposes.  Therefore, phones should not be on the desk but put away in bookbags.  If there is a problem with transportation, illness, or other family emergency, please ask to step outside to call parents.  Do not engage in long text conversations in the middle of class.

I will ask you to put the phone away three times each day.  Then I will notify parents that you aren't focused and respecting the learning environment.  I will document it as a minor infraction for non-compliance.  After 3 warnings, you will have a referral to the office, as many times as it takes for you to understand the expectations.

Read the Wake County Cell phone policy here.

Bathroom Procedures

You can stop at the bathroom before coming to class, so you shouldn't need a break when you arrive.  In the second half of class, I will give you an activity to practice skills with classmates or independently.  During this time, you can sign out on the clipboard to go to the bathroom.  Please do not ask while I am giving instruction directly in the first half of class or you will miss important material.  You cannot go to the bathroom during the first and last ten minutes of class.

• Be sure to write the time out that you leave class and take the pass with you.
• Leave the door cracked so you aren't locked out.
• When you return, sign the time in that you return to class.  Hang the pass on the hook by the door.  Only one person can leave the room at a time.  Sign up and wait for your turn.  

If you are gone longer than 10 minutes, there will be a concern of intentions to skip class.  I do not want to micromanage your time to the bathroom.  Be responsible and mature.  Do not take advantage of the pass at other people's expense to leave class for other purposes.

Contact Information

E-mail comments and questions to msimetra@wcpss.net. 

To receive notices of due dates and other information, please sign up with Remind.  Parents are welcome to join!  Download the app to join a class or simply text the message to 81010. 

REMIND CODES      text 81010     

Honors (2nd & 3rd period):@2bae6a

Academic (4th period):  @bbde28

 

I am usually available for conferences from 7:45 - 8:30 on Tuesdays and Thursdays or between 2:30 - 3:30 p.m. on Wednesdays.  Call the front office, e-mail, or text on Talking Points to schedule an appointment:  919-233-4050.   

Thank you so much for blessing me with an opportunity to share in a learning journey with you!

Ms. Simetra

“Let us think of education as the means of developing our greatest abilities, because in each of us there is a private hope and dream, which fulfilled, can be translated into benefit for everyone and greater strength for our nation.”  John F. Kennedy