Orange High School

Dr. Rosa Schneider

schneiro@orange.k12.nj.us

The Second Year Seminar 

COURSE DESCRIPTION 

What does it mean to exist in the modern world? 

The general theme of the Bard Seminar Sequence is to delve into the question of what it means to be human. In this, the second section of the Sequence, we will explore what it means to exist as a human in the modern world. This is, of course, an enormous question, and one that gives rise to many others, including: 

• What does it mean to be modern? 

• How might technology and globalization fundamentally change humankind? Are modern humans fundamentally good or bad? or are they fundamentally anything at all? 

• What does it mean to try to be a good person in the modern world? 

And perhaps most importantly: 

• How does modernity open up the possibility of understanding humanness from multiple, diverse perspectives? 

Although we cannot hope to answer these questions definitively, we will seek to address them through a seminar conversation arising out of our reading of several challenging, important modern texts. 

Throughout this process, we will write about what we read in diverse ways that allow us to further enter into conversation with these texts, authors, and ideas. 

UNITS AND TEXTS 

Units may be rearranged or additional texts substituted according to the instructor’s discretion and with student input.

Texts will be provided in electronic (generally PDF) form or hardcopy.  All classroom work will be posted in our Google Classroom. We will use either Google Docs or Kami to read and annotate texts. You will also be given a notebook to take notes in, and write Focused Freewites. 

Required Supplies:

School Issued Chromebook

Bard Notebook

Pens

Communication:

Students are required to join the following

Google Classroom: 5dihpm4

Remind: brdp6a

COURSE SKILLS, ACTIVITIES, AND REQUIREMENTS

As participants in Sequence, students should expect to participate at  least THREE TIMES in  seminar discussion and to respond to several discussion prompts, writing assignments, and annotation activities every week. While this work can be completed independently at students’ own pace during the week, it will be assessed weekly by the instructor to provide feedback and make sure that everyone is on

track.

This course and its activities are centered around a set of core skills that students will develop over their

time in the Sequence. In the First Year Seminar, these include

Reading assignments.  Students will be expected to read and respond to a series of comprehension questions along with analysis questions. There will not be a requirement to highlight/underline, etc, but an opportunity to do so. Reading assignments will be posted as both Google Docs as well as Kami Assignments.

*It is incredibly important to do the reading. We will model how to read and annotate in class, but if you do not read at home, it will be difficult to participate in class discussions.*

Seminar Discussion:  Students are expected to be prepared and energized to discuss their readings and to take part in class activities to explore the ideas within them. This is not a passive lecture/handout-based class; instead, it is one in which learning is constructed by the conversation that students create and drive for themselves. 

*NOTE: While verbal response is preferable, participation also counts if you read or add to the annotation. The more people participate, the better our discussions will be!!*

Writing assignments. 

Short responses: these types of assignments will ask students to answer questions/analyze specific sections and begin to work on writing. These will typically be a paragraph (more, of course, is always welcomed). These will help us work toward longer writing. 

Longer responses: These will be a page. Often students will be asked to compare or contrast different aspects of a text.

Papers: These will build off the shorter responses. Students will be asked to revise and join together responses. These papers will have a coherent and cohesive argument. 

*Benchmark Exams*: This is an exam required by the school/state. In this exam you will be given a choice of three options to write about, all taken from our discussions in class.

GRADING POLICIES

Your grade will consist of 5  differently weighted elements:

10% Free-writes, short writing, quizzes, 

20% Writing challenges/Homework

25% Participation and discussion 

20% Annotations (via Kami or Google Docs)

25 % Exams/Final Papers

*Requirements for all homework and paper assignments*:

1. Your submission is spell-checked and edited. For homework a few errors are okay, but it must be understandable. 

2. You must provide evidence for your claims, and engage with the text. Preferably this is quoting the text (so it looks like “Biles avoided any twisting combinations in her routine Tuesday, dismounting with a double pike.”) For homework assignments, referencing the text without quoting it is ok (a reference is a mention of a specific event or moment in the text, ex: When Odysseus  taunts the cyclops from his boat…, without quotations).

Late homework policy: Completing homework and papers as close to on time for this class is extremely important, as this class is scaffolded (which means that each assignment builds on one another. If you miss one, it will be harder to complete the others). All work will be due at the end of the week, Sunday at 5pm (that is, if you have an assignment due on Wednesday, you have until Sunday night to complete it). I will not accept late work, unless you ask for an extension prior to the deadline.  

What does this mean? If you need more time on an assignment (not counting Packbacks), you must ask me, via email or remind, by Sunday at 3. If you do not request an extension or contact me, I will not accept late work. 

HIGH SCHOOL VS. COLLEGE GRADES

You will be receiving high school and college credit for this course. In most cases, you will receive the SAME grade for both high school and college credit. However, in the case that you have completed work for this course but have not yet been assessed by your instructor to have reached a passing level of college work, you may receive TWO different grades – one for high school and one for college -- at the end of a given quarter or semester in this course.

If your overall grade in the course is a “C-” (70%) or above, you will receive the SAME high school and college grade for the course. If your overall college grade is lower than “C-” (70%), you will receive a separate high school grade that is calculated using the alternative weights for assignments provided in the table below.

The intention of these two grading scales is that you are given the chance to reach for a college-level standard in your work, but you will receive high school credit for attempting to reach that standard even if your work may not yet reach the college level.

[Assignment types that are given a higher weight in the separate high school grade are given in bold; assignment types that are given a lower weight in the separate high school grade are given in italics.]

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY

Plagiarism, copying, or otherwise cheating on exams, quizzes, or written work is a grave offence. In most college courses, the attempt to take credit for work that is not one’s own would result in an automatic “Failing” grade in the course, and students could risk further university discipline, including expulsion.

Because this course is intended to prepare students for college success, any instances of academic  dishonesty are taken very seriously, indeed, but we also strive to provide students with a chance to restore  their good standing in the course through renewed academic honesty.

If I detect plagiarism in your assignment (plagiarism means to steal others' work and pass it off as your own—for example, by copying what a website says, particularly wikipedia) you will get an automatic 0 for the assignment. You will have the chance to rewrite the assignment and resubmit it. For a major assignment (such as a paper), the discovery of plagiarism will also result in a notification to your guardians, your guidance counselor, as well as your vice-principal. 

Classroom Rules of Conduct: 

All Rules and Regulations set forth by the Orange Public School District will be upheld in the classroom. No cell phones, iPods, or any other electronic device may be used during class unless otherwise directed. Electronic devices other than those used for instruction must remain out of sight in a bag or pocket. Any student caught using an electronic device will receive one warning to put it away for the remainder of the class. Failure to do so will follow the general sequence of consequences. Any derogatory or foul language addressed to the teacher, students or any other person or group is unacceptable and will result in loss of class participation points.

 General Sequence of Consequences:

 In general, this is the pattern of steps that will be taken for some behavior or activity that is distracting to the educational process.

 ● The first time an incident occurs, the student will be given a warning to correct the action.

 ● The second time an incident occurs, the student will be pulled aside to speak with the teacher and/or a call will be made to the parent or guardian.

 ● Further occurrences will result in a referral to the office and/or a parent teacher conference will be arranged

English Transfer Credit

Bard Seminar is a reading and writing intensive course where students will develop, refine, and practice college level English and Literature based competencies. All Seminar students are expected to write a minimum of three major analytical or comparative essays per semester as well as a minimum 10 page research paper based on peer reviewed, scholarly sources in their final semester. Throughout their Seminar experience, students will be expected to: 

• Practice close reading to identify authorial voice and intent, audience, purpose, logic, and biases

• Incorporate appropriately cited evidence and the ideas of others as evidentiary support and intellectual engagement with relevant intellectual, cultural, and social discourses 

• Participate in processes of drafting, writing, and revision with peers

• Adapt writing style to fit different contexts, audiences, and purposes

• Participate in community-based, purposeful learning through dialogue, debate, and discussion

• Conduct self directed research and information gathering including scholarly, peer reviewed sources 

• Make distinctions between different kinds of sources/texts and identify the most appropriate uses for different texts

• Investigate contemporary hierarchies and inequalities including personal and community based connection of the self and the community to the text

• Embrace reading and writing as creative acts of self and community definition and expression