Contemporary Global Issues
Cascade High School
Course Syllabus 2014-2015
Mrs. Kristen McPherson, Room 621
E-Mail: kmcpherson@everettsd.org
Voice Mail/classroom phone: 425-385-6181
Goal
The primary purpose for this course is to help you develop the ability to make
informed and reasoned decisions for the public good as citizens of a culturally
diverse, democratic society in an interdependent world. My efforts will be geared
toward that end, and I hope yours will be as well.
CGI is a semester-long course focusing current world events and issues by
looking for their causes and historical background. Students will study and
analyze national changes, world-wide changes, trends and predictions for the
future.
Text/Curriculum
The primary materials for this class come from the Choices Program published
by Brown University. Information for classroom discussion will come from current
publications (newspapers, magazines, and the internet.) Supplemental readings,
films and a variety of visuals will be used as well.
Credit
A grade of 60% constitutes a passing grade in this course. Satisfactory
completion of both semesters will satisfy the US history requirement to earn a
diploma at Cascade High School.
Required Materials
These are the materials that you will need to provide daily for this class:
 3-ring binder with dividers
 Paper
 Pen & pencil
 Daily access to various electronic news sources/online access
outside of class
Grading Criteria
In this course you will be doing a variety of work. Assignments and special
projects will be given point values and unit tests will have the most weight. The
grading breakdown will be as follows:
Home/Classwork 15%
Journals 15%
Semester Final 25%
Choices Assessments 20%
Quizzes 25%
I will use the following 4 point grade scale will be used to assess student
learning
A = 4.00 – 3.71
A- = 3.70 – 3.55
B+ = 3.54 – 3.15
B = 3.14 – 2.85
B- = 2.84 – 2.55
C+ = 2.54 – 2.15
C = 2.14 – 1.85
C- = 1.84 – 1.55
D+ = 1.54 – 1.15
D = 1.14 – 0.85
F = 0.84 – 0.00
Knowing your grade
This year the Everett School District is continuing to use our new Learning
Management System (LMS). This online system will allow you & your
parents/guardians to access grades, attendance & other pieces of information.
Additionally, I maintain a teacher website which you can access through the
Cascade High School site. You should familiarize yourself with the features of
the site, including a comprehensive calendar of daily assignments. If you are
absent, you should use the website to get any additional information or
assignments that you need. Some work in this class will be done entirely online.
Submitting your work
Students must turn in work at the beginning of the period on the day it is due in
order to earn credit unless directed otherwise. Late work will be accepted within 5
class days of being due with a maximum grade of 1.0. In the event of an
emergency, extensions will be granted if you see me before the first bell of the
day work is due so a new date can be set on an individual basis. If absent, it is
your responsibility to seek out the information and materials needed to
make up the work you missed the day that you return to class. Deadlines
set prior to date of absence still stand; therefore, if an assignment is assigned
on Monday with a due date of Wednesday and you are absent on Tuesday, the
assignment is due on Wednesday or the day that you return from being absent.
Your absence must be excused, per the attendance office, in order to receive full
credit for work made up on time.
Classroom Expectations
I expect all of my students to meet the following classroom expectations each
day:
o Use your resources – there are many! This means that you should
take advantage of your peers, paper and electronic sources, and
teacher as tools to help you learn.
o Become an independent learner: I am not the keeper of all
knowledge. You will learn how to use your peers, a variety of
printed and electronic sources, your own mind as well as your
teacher in order to learn.
o Use your electronics as tools in this class for doing our work
together. They should never be distractions; only tools for your
learning Please enjoy your music outside of class time.
o Please enjoy your beverage in class, but eat your food between
classes.
o We will have an atmosphere of mutual respect: teacher to
students, students to teacher, and student to student. This includes
using academic language, listening attentively to one another, and
being kind.
Attendance Policy
It is crucial to your success in this course that you attend class regularly. I will
start class at the bell and expect that you are in your seat and ready to continue
learning. Excessive tardies and absences will reduce your performance in this
course. State law mandates compulsory attendance and that schools record
excused and unexcused absences. Students returning from an excused
absence may make up work for credit. I will make every reasonable effort to
provide makeup work equivalent to what we did in class, though not everything
we do can be duplicated. Some things that we do in this course, such as the
current events quizzes, cannot be made up.
I will follow the district and school’s policies with regard to attendance. Please
refer to your student handbook for this information, detailed on pages 13-16.
It is your responsibility to find out what you need to do from an absence & to
make up that work; you have as many days as you were absent to complete the
work. Likewise, it is your responsibility to turn in your note for an excused
absence in accordance with our district attendance policy. Only work resulting
from excused absences, as reported to me by the attendance office, will earn
credit. I maintain a website that I will direct you to in order to find out what you
have missed. Please utilize this resource and see me for clarification or
additional help.
If you are tardy to class without a pass from another teacher or staff member in
hand, you can expect a warning with the first tardy, a lunch detention upon the
second, an after school detention on the third, and an admin referral after that. It
is critical that you are on time to class. We have 50 minutes or less together, so
let’s make it all count!
Academic Integrity Philosophy
Honesty is a value that holds each person to tell the truth and to defend the truth.
Honesty supports intellectual growth and creates a fair learning environment.
Integrity is firm adherence to our values with or without the presence of others. In
an environment of honesty and integrity, the work we turn in as our own is our
own.
Teachers and administrators at CHS understand that pressure to get good
grades can sometimes create the incentive to cheat. However we firmly believe
that cheating denies the value of education, damages the ethical character of the
individual student, and undermines the integrity of our school community. The
Academic Integrity Code of Conduct (The Entire Code of Conduct can be
found in the CHS homepage) affirms that we value learning for its own sake, and
that we therefore demand personal integrity and intellectual honesty in all
academic work.
Definition
Having academic integrity means valuing and demonstrating positive
regard for:
Intellectual honesty
Personal truthfulness
Learning for its own sake
The creations and opinions of others (i.e., intellectual property)
Disciplinary action will be taken commensurate with any violations. Please
refer to the CHS Code of Conduct at the CHS homepage.
Controversial and Sensitive Subject Matter
In social studies courses we do not shy from controversy. As we look at the
issues that currently drive our nation and world perspective, we will be dealing
with controversial and, at times, sensitive subject matter. This course requires
honest, thoughtful, and respectful student contributions as much of what we’re
doing is not only working with each other, but engaging in meaningful dialogue.
Everyone in this room is responsible for contributing positively to the classroom
environment and offering thoughtful questions, ideas, and opinions. There will be
times when our discussions and work will center around something that is
breaking in the news, or major events that are currently unfolding. We have to
be flexible and respectful of one another and ideas so that we can have the best
experience possible. It’s good practice to challenge ideas & logic, but not
people.