Course Syllabus

Creative Writing Course Information – Benjamin Lukey

 

Dear Students and Parents,

 

Welcome to Weddington High School!  I am honored to be a part of your educational experience here.  This letter outlines my course policies and procedures.  After reading these policies, students should keep this sheet in their course binders for future reference.  In case you have any questions or concerns, my contact info is listed below. Email is usually the most efficient way to contact me.  I am eagerly looking forward to a great semester with all of you!

 

Sincerely,

Benjamin D. Lukey

Teacher Contact Info—WHS phone: 704-708-5530/e-mail: benjamin.lukey@ucps.k12.nc.us

Course Description—Creative Writing is an elective course in which students work to improve their skills in writing fiction, poetry, and nonfiction.  It is an honors course, and so students’ work will be held to high standards.  Careful thought, painstaking effort, originality, and growth should be showcased in everything students submit for a grade.  Detailed assignment sheets will be used to provide guidance for formal projects, but students will have great creative leeway with the work they submit.  By the end of the semester, each student will revise a piece and submit it for publication to an established literary journal or magazine.

Classroom Rules

  1. Be professional:
  2. Come to class on time and prepared for work.
  3. In everything we do, give your very best.
  4. Don’t waste my time.

  1. Be respectful:
    1. Treat others the way you wish to be treated.
    2. Control your verbal and non-verbal communication.
    3. Don’t waste each other’s time.

 

  1. Be Proactive:
  2. Learn classroom routines and follow them independently.
  3. Read directions and ask for help.
  4. Don’t waste your time.

 

Adherence to these rules may look different in different situational contexts, so I will refer back to them frequently and model my expectations continually throughout the semester.  They are posted conspicuously at the front of the classroom for this purpose.  As you can see, one overarching principle is that students should not waste anyone’s time, including their own.  This is not just about getting classwork done efficiently.  Education should not be a waste of anyone’s time, and ideally it should never even feel like a waste of time.  I will treat every lesson as crucially important, and I will always give each class my very best.  I expect my students to do the same.

 

Grading—Grades will fall into three main categories.  They are as follows:

  1. Formal Writing – 40% (This category includes major works that are assigned well in advance of their specified due dates and have been formally revised using peer and/or teacher feedback.)
  2. Informal Writing – 40% (This category includes in-class projects, presentations, and notebook checks for in-class informal writing exercises.)
  3. Weekly Participation – 20% (This category includes student participation in, and accurate documentation of, silent reading/writing time at the beginning of each day’s class.)

 

Homework—Students will be given a good deal of class time to write and revise, but everyone works at their own pace.  Depending on several factors, including how efficiently students use their time, they may have a significant amount of work to do at home in order to meet course deadlines.

Extra Credit—I offer extra credit at least a few times each grading period, and all students are given the same opportunities.  No extra credit is ever offered on an individual basis.  These opportunities vary each six weeks and the details will be explained to students as the semester progresses.

 

Required Materials

  1. A standard composition book (will be collected for notebook checks)
  2. Pencil, HB #2
  3. Pen with black or blue ink (work submitted in ink of other colors will have points deducted)
  4. Highlighter (if the directions for an assignment call for highlighting, work submitted without appropriate highlighting will have points deducted)
  5. Reading material (print or digital) of genre(s) in which students hope to improve their writing
  6. Chromebook and charger