Mr. Buckley cbuckley@darienps.org

Room: A205 x2215

Office: A208 www.darienps.org/teachers/cbuckley

American Studies 200

Your junior year is like no other year of high school. The level of work that is assigned and expected of you by your teachers will be more then in any other year of school. This class is no different. The class is designed to challenge your views of American history and develop an understanding of how the history of the United States ties into your day to day life, the life of your community and how history has shaped and is still shaping the events of today. Basically, we will try to answer this question: “Why do the actions of dead white guys matter to me?” The other question that we will answer is “Does this stuff really matter?” (By the way, I know the answer to both already!)

My class is not completely different from other history classes that you have take in the past. There will be a few tests given and you will be asked to remember certain dates and important people and places. You will be asked to write papers and contribute to class discussions. However, your ability to commit dates to memory and remember which year the War of 1812 was fought (I’ll give you three guesses) will not make or break you in this class. In order to do well in this class, you must be a consistent student. Homework, class work, and participation are what I value the most in my students. You must work to be a rounded student in order to excel in this class.

What this class is designed to do is give you an solid understanding of how our nation was started, what ideas it was founded on and why, and how our country has developed over the last two hundred plus years into the United States that we all live in today. In order to create this understanding, we will look past the facts written in the textbook. We will utilize primary sources; analyze the books and stories written by American authors; listen to music composed by American musicians (yes, we will be listening to a little Jimmy Hendrix and Bob Dylan!) Don’t get me wrong, we will use the text book (despite my dislike of them – I think they are giant sleeping pills) but you will be reading a lot of things from handouts so it is important that you stay organized!

I also understand that not everyone learns in the same ways or at the same speed. In this class you will learn about American history not just through our dry text book nor will you be assessed simply by the standard test. I am open to suggestions on how to you would like to learn, so please voice them (within reason!). I also have spoken with teachers in other departments and have developed some fun and interesting projects and trips for this year!

How I decide my grades:

Tests and quizzes: 25%

Homework: 20 %

Class work/Participation/Attendance: 35 %

Papers: 20%

Second and Fourth quarters will altered to include your finals, which are worth 30% of your grades!

The 10 Key’s to success in Mr. Buckley’s class. (I am telling you what to do to get a good grade! Pay attention!):

1. Be in class – I know this sounds silly, but you would be surprised how many people don’t realize how important this is. There are lots of things that we discuss in class that are hard to understand from a friend’s notes or my website.

2. If you are going to miss, let me know! My email and extension are at the top of this page. USE THEM! If you know that you are not going to be in class, you need to let me know. Missing class is not an excuse to not hand in work that is due. You need to get the work to me or make arrangements with me to have the work submitted.

3. If you don’t understand something, make sure you come and see me! I am not a scary person (at least I try not to be) and I am in the business of helping students learn. If you don’t understand a concept that we have gone over, make a point to come and see me so that we can clear it up. Better to get extra help then to do poorly on an assignment later.
4. Be prepared. That means bringing pens, pencils, paper, assignments, readings, and YOURSELF to class!
5. Laugh at all my jokes. Trust me, it goes a long way!
6. Don’t root for the Yankees!
7. Don’t leave papers on my desk if I am not there! My desk tends to get rather cluttered (NOT MESSY!). The excuse, “I left it on your desk” will not fly. Make sure you put your papers in my hand or give them to another teacher to leave on my desk.
8. Come see me in my office when you know I have a free period. My free periods are: 2, and 7. I will be free period 1 first semester and period 8 second semester. If you are not free during those periods, then make an appointment with me for after or before school. I am sure you are all busy with lots of after school activities, but make the time for questions and extra help! A note: Just because I am not teaching these periods does not mean I am free.
9. The Red Sox are the best team in organized professional sports. Period! Recognizing this as a fact will get you far with me!
10. I am not a completely unreasonable monster of a teacher. I know that school is just part of your life and that there are many other responsibilities that you have and other commitments on your time. If you are feeling completely overwhelmed, come and see me. The more I know about what other things are impacting you, the more I can help you with the work that is required for my class.

Other important things to know:

• You should have a binder dedicated to this class. It will hold class notes, handouts, and returned assignments. Bringing the binder to class is considered part of class participation and your grade can be affected simply by being unprepared!
• Homework and major assignments are due at the start of the class period. Late work will be accepted with a 10 percent deduction from the grade. Any work not present when it is collected is considered late! Remember, just because a grade is late doesn’t mean that it shouldn’t be turned in. Any grade is better then a zero.

• You are responsible for getting in missed work. I will remind you once, but I am not your babysitter or your parents! You are Juniors, the responsibility falls to you! I have a web page which, in addition to have links to many worthwhile and helpful websites, also contains a calendar with links to the assignments and notes for that day. Use this resource if you are absent for the day! If you don’t know if you are missing something, come and ask me. If I can’t tell you at that moment, I will find out for you.

School Policies that you should know:

Ø Academic Cheating: The same rules that apply to every other class at DHS apply here. DON’T CHEAT! It’s not worth it. If you are having difficulty with an assignment, come get help from me rather then cheat. I will help you, but if I catch you cheating, I will punish you accordingly! Just so that we are all clear on the definition of academic cheating, it is defined as such:

The participation in any activity in which a student knowingly misrepresents ‘or assists another student to misrepresent’ his/her actual achievement in a course.

What that means is if you copy the work of someone else, both of you get in trouble! Trouble in this case would be loss of credit for the assignment (a 0) and possible loss of credit for the class (an F). This applies to everything, not just tests and papers! Homework can be plagiarized as well!

Ø 3 late appearances to class = one cut. 3 cut classes = an incomplete for the course! I do count these!

Ø I understand that people are absent from school. I am aware that sometimes these absentees occur on the same day as a test or a paper due date. This cannot be helped. You are responsible for making up the test on your own time. If too much time passes without any effort being made to take to the test, it becomes an irreversible zero. A pattern of absenteeism on test days will cost you to lose the right to make up tests.

Ø I have a web page (the address is listed on the front of this syllabus). In addition to have links to many worthwhile and helpful websites, it also will have a calendar with links to the assignments and notes for that day. Use this resource if you are absent for the day!

If you have this syllabus in the front of your binder on the last day of school, it will count as an extra homework assignment!