North-Grand High School
Freshman Seminar
Standards-Based
2015-2016 Course Syllabus
Cynthia Sanchez
Room: 225/214
Email: cmsanchez12@cps.edu
Welcome to Ms. Sanchez’s Freshmen Seminar!!!
It is going to be a GREAT year and you each will grow to be successful lifelong learners.
North-Grand has students that have graduated from such awesome schools as
University of Illinois, DePaul University, Carlton College and many others. We have exstudents that have successfully joined the military in leadership positions. We have
students that have already joined professions that they have always dreamed about.
YOU can be that successful too! I have high expectations for you, but at the same time
we will have fun and learn how far you can go in life.
You are VERY lucky to have chosen a school like North-Grand. You are also lucky to
have the ability to take Freshmen Seminar. In this class, we will learn how to be better
organized, learn valuable computer skills, take great notes, and most importantly, how to
help each other LEARN. This is a special place! Gone are the days when students
didn't want others to know that they were smart or that they worked hard. We help each
other, push each other, and support each other so that we can achieve all our dreams
and goals.
We will view this class as a family. We may not always get along, we may have
differences, but we will ALWAYS care about each other and respect each other and with
that support we will SUCCEED! It doesn't matter what you have done before in school or
how good your grades were. Together, we get to start fresh, with a great attitude, and
achieve the ultimate goal in life....TO BE HAPPY. And to me that means putting
ourselves in the position to accomplish whatever we want in our lives, college included!
Remember, throughout your time at North-Grand, I will work my hardest to help you with
anything at all that you need. I will do my best to discover who YOU are as an individual
and will give you the utmost respect. I always have an open door and you can talk to me
about anything.
Objectives:
As a student at North-Grand and in my Freshmen Seminar classroom, there are many
things we hope to learn and achieve. Together, we will:
- Learn how to take tests better! We will learn how to understand tests and how
to study for them more productively!
- Learn how to use the vast array of technology available to us, from learning
how to check our grades, attendance and how many times we have been tardy to
how to use Microsoft word, excel and power point.
- Increase our vocabulary. It is not our fault if we have never heard of a term or
word and do not understand what it means. We will take pride in becoming more
literate!
- Write for many purposes and audiences. We will evaluate each other's writing
and our own. We will learn how to write properly, but most importantly, we will
learn how to get the many great ideas, stories, and knowledge in our brains onto
a sheet of paper.
- Read for personal purposes as well as academic purposes. We will learn that
even though we may not find something interesting, or even find it hard to
understand, we are still capable of figuring it out and getting knowledge from it.
- USE OUR BRAINS! We will think and inquire (question) about many sorts of
things. We will become more involved in life, rather than just letting it pass in
front of us. We will prove to the world that we have more to say than what most
people give us credit for.
- Work together, in large and small groups on projects and presentations. We
will learn that “together” we have more knowledge, experience, and capabilities
than we do alone.
- Participate in the routines and rituals of the of North Grand learning, such as
keeping an organized binder, taking Cornell notes in all classes, and bring our
best “high level” questions to our tutorials.
- Prepare to take the Plan, Explore, and ACT tests. We will learn how to better
be prepared to master the skills needed to do well on these tests.
- Participate in many Post-Secondary (after high school) activities. We will begin
to believe that the whole world is open to us, college included. We will begin to
think about these possibilities as our ACTUAL future and begin preparing for
them NOW!
Words of Wisdom from a Wise Owl (Mr. Murphy):
These are some of my favorite sayings and beliefs from throughout my teaching
experience:
✦ You must allow yourself to dream and believe in order to find true happiness.
✦ We all have excuses. We all have REASON to have our excuses. The strong
dare to be inspired, work harder, and overcome their excuses.
✦ Treat everyone as you would want yourself, or any of your loved ones, to be
treated.
✦ We are all different. We all have our own life stories. We each have our own
insecurities. Do not judge anyone else as we wish not to be judged ourselves.
✦ Most of all, have fun!! We each make a decision every day as to how our day is
going to go. If we wake up in the morning and say, “oh man, today is gonna
suck,” chances are it will. If we instead spend energy trying to think of why it may
be a great day despite something we may not be looking forward to, you never
know, it could turn out GREAT!
Course Description and Objectives
Freshman Seminar exists to support the class of 2018. This class will give you the skills and
resources that you will need in order to survive your other classes. You will learn computer
literacy so that you will know how to write an e-mail to your teacher, print out a correctly-formatted
assignment, create an awesome Power point presentation, easily complete research projects,
and even edit your own video files. You're going to read, think, and write about diverse topics,
including sounding off on what upsets you and what gives you joy. You are going to start thinking
about where you're going to go when you graduate from this school. You are going to work
through little things that can keep you from succeeding regardless of how smart you are, like
studying for a test or organizing your notes. Most importantly, you are going to learn how to work
with each other, trust each other, and share with each other. North-Grand High School is a
family, and you're now a part of it. Welcome!
ACT College Readiness Standards 16-19
Topic Development in Terms of Purpose and Focus
➢ Identify the basic purpose or role of a specified phrase or sentence
➢ Delete a clause or sentence because it is obviously irrelevant to the essay
Organization, Unity, and Coherence
➢ Select the most logical place to add a sentence in a paragraph
Word Choice in Terms of Style, Tone, Clarity, and Economy
➢ Delete obviously synonymous and wordy material in a sentence
➢ Revise expressions that deviate from the style of an essay
Sentence Structure and Formation
➢ Determine the need for punctuation and conjunctions to avoid awkward-sounding
sentence fragments and fused sentences
➢ Decide the appropriate verb tense and voice by considering the meaning of the entire
sentence
Conventions of Usage
➢ Solve such grammatical problems as whether to use an adverb or adjective form, how to
ensure straightforward subject-verb and pronoun-antecedent agreement, and which
preposition to use in simple contexts
➢ Recognize and use the appropriate word in frequently confused pairs such as there and
their, past and passed, and led and lead
Conventions of Punctuation
➢ Provide appropriate punctuation in straightforward situations (e.g., items in a series)
➢ Delete commas that disturb the sentence flow (e.g., between modifier and modified
element)
Course Outline
In this course, every day has its own theme. The schedule below gives an overview of what skills
and activities will be covered.
FALL
WINTER
SPRING
Thursday
Friday
Organization
Time
Management
Study skills
College/Career
Service Learning
Scenerios
Computer Lab
Typing
Computer skills
Word
Power point
Video editing
Research skills
How to use the
library
Computer Lab
Grade Check
Typing
Computer skills
Word
Power point
Video editing
Research skills
How to use the
library
Legacy Leaders
Goal Setting
Conflict
Management
Resume Writing
College Prep
Service Learning
Reading
Journals
Current Events
Socratic Seminar
Conferences
We will also transition topics throughout the year:
FALL:
- Introduce the importance of GPA and how it is calculated
- We will become familiar with college admission vocabulary
- Discuss the importance of extracurriculum activitites and taking challenging courses
WINTER:
- We will explore our interest (Naviance Survey)
- We will explore different colleges and universities
- Continue and elaborate college admission vocabulary
- We will explore service learning opportunities
SPRING:
- Introduce the EXPLORE exam and its relation to the ACT
- We will search for summer internships and activities
- We will reevaluate your interest.
Grading Policy
Standard Grading Scale:
A – 90-100
B – 80-89
C – 70-79
D – 60-69
F – 0-59
Grade Breakdown:
● 40% Mastery
o Projects
o Quizzes
o Exams
● 35% Class work
o Computer Literacy Portfolio
o Journals
o Socratic Seminars
o Tutorials
o Organization/Binder/Cornell Notes
o Legacy Leaders
● 15% Homework
● 10% Student Professionalism
o Effort
o Participation
o Behavior
o Attendance/Tardies
------100%
Extra credit is not meant to take the place of assigned work. Any extra points are given at the
teacher's discretion
Materials
Supplied by the School
The student will receive multiple texts for this course, including supplemental materials, such as
novels and readings that will be their responsibility to return. The school will also provide a threeinch binder, dividers and agenda.
Supplied by the Student
Each student will need a journal, binder, loose-leaf paper, a highlighter, pencils and pens
(blue or black ink only).
Student Responsibilities
✦ Students are to arrive to class promptly and prepared to learn.
✦ Students are to attend class regularly and provide written explanation for absences.
✦ Students should come to class with necessary materials (binders, paper, pens, etc.)
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needed to actively participate in the learning activities.
Students are to respect themselves, their fellow students, and the teacher.
Students are to participate in all class activities and attempt all assignments.
Students are to ask for additional assistance, directions, or clarification if needed.
Students will strive to maintain a successful grade point average.
Students will replace binder if lost or damaged.
Homework Policy: Each day your assignment is turned in late, a letter grade will be dropped.
Late Work Policy: See NGHS Student Handbook.
Tardy Policy: After 3 tardies, teacher will call home. After 6, referral to dean.
Teacher Responsibilities
The teacher will notify students of their academic progress on a regular basis.
✦ The teacher will be available for conferences with students and parents.
✦ The teacher will provide sufficient time and resources for students to complete
assignments.
✦ The teacher will provide an environment conducive to learning.
✦ The teacher will arrange for additional educational support for students requesting it.
✦ The teacher will provide grading criteria for each project before the project begins.