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PictureLuna the English Retriever [photo by J. Burgess]
In my fifteen years of teaching all levels of English and all kinds of students, my fervent hope is to instill a love of the written word: both reading others' and writing their own.

On writing: the goal of written communication is to convey to others what we are thinking, and for others to take our ideas seriously.  Cultivating a student's own, personal voice is part of this process, and I teach students about the rules and the game of code switching.  For every audience, there is an expected standard of writing.  Social media has its own written conventions.  The college essay or job application has others.  It is critical for students to understand the norms and conventions of many different forms of writing, while they are honing their own personal style.

On reading: Are we reading for content, such as a text book or instructions or a test question?  Then this requires a particular set of skills to interpret and discern what information is needed.  Are we reading for pleasure:  Then our lessons focus on the art of writing: how authors skillfully craft the magic of storytelling using only words and punctuation.  

On our class structure and environment: we will spend our days engaging in reading, writing, listening, thinking, and conversation.  You will use different lenses to examine your world.  You will be asked to question: Your own life, the lives of others, your implicit biases, and underlying meaning and truth. You will develop an appreciation for and understanding about ideas and experiences that are not your own. Together, we will read a balance of contemporary and classic works of fiction and non-fiction and visual media: short stories, essays, novels, poetry, nonfiction, drama, and non-print media.  

Habits of Learning:I am committed to a respectful, inclusive learning community and take seriously acts of carelessness or hostility that undermine our safety or ability to learn.  I expect you to:
  • Be on time and be prepared
  • Use your “small device” with maturity and discretion.  [a full description of “cell phone use” is outlined later in this document]
  • Refrain from using obscene, derogatory or otherwise disrespectful language
  • Be honest at all times.  Plagiarizing or copying any materials or ideas not your own is unacceptable.
  • Own your own behavior.  We all make mistakes.  We are all flawed, and we are all righteous.  However you choose to be in the world, take responsibility for it.

Grading and Assessment
See "grading" page for a full description of skills-based/proficiency grading

Revisions:  (with a few exceptions) each assignment can be revised once.   Revisions MUST be accompanied by the original, evaluated work to establish the revision process.   If, for any reason, you are unclear about an assignment or require additional time you MUST communicate with me prior to the due date.