Items for Your Syllabus
Experience has shown that providing written information such as the following can help avoid confusion or problems down the line. Feel free to copy and paste into your syllabus any of the information below:
Attendance. The teacher preparation program's professional conduct policy states that you are expected to be present and on time for your professional commitments. If you must be absent from any one of your professional responsibilities due to illness or an emergency, you must inform the people who are affected by your absence. That is, for your field placement you must notify your collaborating teacher, your field partner(s) if you have one, your MSU cluster leader [or field instructor during the internship], and your course instructor. For your on-campus courses, you must notify your course instructor. More than two absences during a semester from on?]campus courses or pre-internship field placements is cause for concern. Recurring absences or tardiness will put your recommendation for continuation in the program in jeopardy. During the internship, interns who are absent more than four days in a semester in their school placement may be required to make up the time. If you have difficulty meeting this expectation because of an emergency or any other reason, talk to your course instructor or cluster leader in advance or as soon as possible. Informing the appropriate people about extenuating circumstances will allow us to work with you to make appropriate arrangements.
Grading (in general). All assignments and requirements must be completed satisfactorily to receive a passing grade in the course, including those assignments related to your field placement. [Instructors: You might want to consult our page on grades and grading.]
Grading for TE 401/2. In order to pass this section of TE 40X, each subject matter must be passed with a 2.0 or above. Also, a satisfactory report must be received from the teachers in the field experiences during TE 40X. If you receive less than a 2.0 in either subject matter section of this course, the lower grade will be the final grade for the course. The entire course would need to be repeated in order to continue in the Teacher Preparation Program.
The grade "incomplete." MSU policy is that “the ‘I’ (incomplete) grade may be given only when the student (a) has completed at least 12 weeks of the semester, but is unable to complete the class work and/or take the final examination because of illness or other compelling reasons; and (b) has done satisfactory work in the course; and (c) in the instructor’s judgment can complete the required work without repeating the course.” Since each course from TE 301 on is a prerequisite for each succeeding course, incompletes must be cleared before the first meeting of the succeeding course. Therefore, it is wise to avoid Incompletes entirely.
Academic Honesty and Integrity We assume that the student is honest and that all course work and examinations represent the student’s own work. Violations of the academic integrity policy such as cheating, plagiarism, selling course assignments or academic fraud are grounds for academic action and/or disciplinary sanction as described in the university’s student conduct code. Incidents of plagiarism are taken very seriously and will be pursued. Students are strongly cautioned not to copy any text verbatim on class quizzes, tests, reports, projects, or other class assignments without using appropriate quotations and source citations.
Regarding disabilities. Students who have special needs and require accommodations in testing or other aspects of course-taking should speak to the instructor and call the Office of Programs for Handicapper Students at 353-9642. The OPHS website is at http://www.rcpd.msu.edu/.
Counseling Center. Even normal, capable, intelligent, and reasonable persons like the members of this class sometimes face situations and problems that they find difficult to deal with by themselves. Team Two's instructors or cluster leaders might be able to help. Also, MSU has an Office of Student Affairs and Services, with a Counseling Center. See http://www.vps.msu.edu/units.html
Writing Center. Teachers are models and coaches of writing for their students, and must communicate effectively in writing with colleagues, parents, and others. For those reasons, teacher candidates are expected to write effectively and conventionally. If you need more help in meeting those expectations than you can get from your instructors and other teacher candidates, try the Writing Center at http://writing.msu.edu.