Business/Technical Writing : Laura Hoebing

Welcome to Business and Technical Writing!

Course Description: This course will focus on career-oriented writing. Students will learn how to write business letters, memos, résumés, cover letters, and other business-related writing. Focus will be on professional presentation, content, and etiquette in professional writing.

Expectations:

I expect students to:

Behave respectfully and responsibly
Do their best work in class and on assignments
Follow directions and school policies
Be on time for class and due dates
Communicate concerns and problems to me

Students can expect me to:

Treat them with dignity and respect
Grade and return assignments in a timely manner
Enforce established rules with appropriate consequences
Help students successfully cultivate reading, writing, and analytical skills they will use in the future
Communicate with students and parents regarding their performance in this class.

If a student or parent has a concern that these expectations are not being met, arrangements will be made to meet outside of class time to discuss strategies and solutions. If students and I cannot agree on a successful strategy, parents and/or administration will be involved.

Classroom procedures:

You should use the bathroom before or after class. If you need to use the bathroom during class, let me know without disrupting the class and return as quickly as possible. I reserve the right to suspend this privilege if it is being abused.
Come to class prepared with a pen/pencil, book, notebook, assignment, laptop, and any other material needed for that day. If you do not have your assignment when I collect it, it will be counted late.
Books being borrowed from the classroom library must be checked out in the check-out log and returned upon completion.
If you know you are going to be gone for a school activity or family trip, you must pick up your make-up work in advance. Depending on the assignment and length of absence, you may be asked to complete the work before your trip or turn it in the next class period. For other absences, you will be given two class days to complete the work you missed. It is your responsibility to pick up make-up work and turn it in.
Cell phones must be placed in the caddy by the door when you come into class. Each student will be assigned a number and their phone should remain in their respective slot until the end of class.
Bring your independent reading book to class to read if you have completed all other class work with time left over.
Don’t procrastinate. You are already busy; don’t make it worse for yourself. Use time wisely.

Grading:

Course grades will be calculated according to the school’s uniform grading scale:

100-94% A 89-87% B+ 79-77% C+ 69-67% D+ 59-0% F

93-90% A- 86-84% B 76-74% C 66-64% D

83-80% B- 73-70% C- 63-60% D-

Grading for Learning

This course will follow HHS expectations for grading. As stated in the student handbook:

– Students may not have an F during any grade check throughout the school year (this includes homeroom).

– Grades will be checked 4 times a quarter (Week 3, 5, 7, and end of quarter)

– Grade checks will occur at the end of the school week.

– Students deemed ineligible will miss the following Monday-Sunday.

– Students ineligible at the end of 4th quarter will miss the first week of contests in the fall.

Due Date	Maximum Percentage Assigned
Formative/Summative Assessments—On Time	100%
Formative Assessments—After due date, prior to chapter/summative assessments	90%
Formative Assessments—No more than five school days after the chapter/summative assessment.	50%
Summative Assessment—Turned in within five school days of due date.	90%
Summative Assessment—Turned in five or more days after the due date and prior to the end of the quarter.	50%

Retakes will cover the same content, but in a different format.

Students will have five calendar days to take the retake and must have all assessments completed and turned in.

Teachers may elect to give only part of the summative assessment as a retake.

The score a student receives on the retake is the score on the summative assessment entered in JMC.

Academic Honesty:

Cheating will absolutely not be tolerated in my classroom. This includes copying from another student, the internet, or a published source without giving proper credit. As stated in the HHS student handbook, “Academic dishonesty will be handled in accordance with ISD#203 Policy 506 (Student Discipline). Students in violation of this policy will have five school (5) days from the incident to complete an alternate assessment. If a student fails to complete the alternate assessment a grade of zero will be recorded. The time and location of the alternate assessment will be set by the classroom teacher. Any student with a documented incident of academic dishonesty during the quarter will be ineligible for the honor roll. All documented incidents of academic dishonesty will be considered a violation of ISD#203 Policy 534 (Student Code of Responsibilities).”

Major Assignments (subject to change):

Resume/Cover Letter

Memos

Proposal

Brochure

Instruction manual

Mock Interview

Thank you Letter

Quill.org Assignments and tests

Build-a-Business project

Students will be producing at least 10 pages of polished writing throughout the course of the semester. This is a universal expectation for all high school writing classes at HHS.