Academic Etiquette  Serious effort to reintroduce students to the basic concept of appropriate behavior in school is underway.                                                                        

Subtitled - How Not to Annoy Your Teacher So He Won't Silently Curse You in His Heart
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Academic Etiquette: (ak' a dem' ik et' i ket') n. phr.   Nearly archaic.

• Accepted conventions for appropriate conduct in a high school classroom. 

• Examples of usage: 

               "Whatever happened to, like, academic etiquette?"

                "You mean, like, wasn't that a New Wave alternative band in the 90s?"

In the last decade, classroom etiquette has been more difficult to locate than honest Enron officials.

It's not a problem confined to World Lit with Mr. H.   Students in high schools and colleges all across the nation often cannot identify basic breaches of classroom and academic etiquette even when given quizzes about it. Attitudes toward learning and the classroom have been changing. Given these problems, this teacher says enough is enough!

The time has come to explain some basic expectations in class and the reasons for those expectations. Besides, if bell-bottoms, ripped jeans, tie-dye t-shirts, and bare mid-riffs can make comebacks from the days of yesteryear, so can that old concept, "academic etiquette."

Academic etiquette is similar to social etiquette (i.e., politeness), but it goes beyond saying "thank you" and "please."

This discussion is designed to make our mutual encounters as pleasant and productive as possible. After all, we will be spending a lot of time together in the next few months. It will benefit all of us not to waste that time on rancor and ill feeling.
And, yes, there will be a quiz. . . and spelling does count!

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The Philosophy:  First of all, you need to understand the implicit covenant between a student and a teacher. It is assumed you are here because you want to learn. Mr. Hanft will do everything he can to help you learn, IF you accept primary responsibility as the learner.

It is required that you prepare for class. Those of you who don't prepare never get the point, never make the literature yours by putting your own original twist on it, and never really understand the magic.
At best, you might in a distant, general, and theoretical sense understand it because Mr. Hanft describes his struggle, his wrestling, his interpretation of the literature, but that isn't your struggle; it is the teachers. If it isn't yours, you won't get the point. You won't experience the power of poetry, or think deeply about the issues raised in a story.

To use a simile, reading literature is like wrestling with a text. This means that extracting knowledge and understanding from a story or poem is hard work.
It calls for flat-out effort.

The litany of lamentation concerning the workload for seniors is directly related to goals.    The complaining emanates from two incompatible goals:

• You want to get out of WHRHS with a respectable diploma and get in to a college so that you can work at a high-paying job.
• Teachers at WHRHS want to graduate you with a respectable diploma  as soon as you have finished the work.                                                                                            ------------------------------------------------
• You focus on yourself as a future college student and worker.
• Teachers focus on you as a current student.
  
  Thus the problem!

In World Lit. you will be pushed to work hard because that is the nature of the teacher’s job.
To be honest, I admit it is also a delight.
Teachers like setting the bar high to see students grow and rise to the challenge.

And on a final note: A class presence can be negative or positive (neutral as well, although in this context, neutral is probably closer to negative). Good students develop positive class identities by contributing ideas in class discussion or writing well or having perfect attendance records (or all three ways).

A neutral presence usually equates with a negative presence. Students who don't participate in class discussion may appear apathetic or unintelligent--even if they are immensely enjoying the course and are actually quite bright.  Take the time to speak up occasionally and participate to show us your excitement and insight.  If you make an effort occasionally to draw eye contact and smile, so will your teacher.
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Attendance: policy is as follows:
Attendance at all class sessions is required and a student is responsible for all the work, including tests and written assignments.  Call a classmate to find out what you missed if you must be absent!  Don't fall behind!  Arrange to obtain assignments and notes for class sessions missed.

Punctuality:  If you are late once (maybe twice?) over the course of a term, sometimes that can't be helped. The polite way to handle this faux pas is to slip in as quietly and quickly as possible, taking the seat nearest to the door, and apologize after class is over. Such politeness, however, loses its impact if it happens several times over the course of the semester.   Then, the apology takes on a different cast; it looks smarmy and insincere. Regular lateness signals that you don't treat the class as seriously as whatever it is that you were doing that made you late. It suggests that whatever you were doing is worth regularly interrupting class. You don’t want to create that impression!

Class preparation:  You are here to learn.  A teacher is here to help you learn!  Failure to read assignments does not help learning.  Study and review class notes every night.   The goal is not to pass a test or quiz, but to prepare for life!  Your course text, and notebook need to come out of your friend's car and into the classroom. 

You need a pen!                                                                                                                                      Sports, extra-curricular activities and off campus jobs are a reality of life in the twenty first century, but the primary purpose of this school is academics and preparation for life.  Organized priorities and the realization that responsibilities must be accepted are signs of maturity.

Cheating on a test or plagiarizing in an essay is dishonest and wrong.  Don't do it!

Titles: All adults in a school are politely referred to as "Mr.", "Miss", "Mrs." or "Ms." as they indicate in class.  Never assume a familiarity beyond that unless, at some point invited to do so. The name is Mr. Hanft not "Dude"

Attire:  It is easy.  If it is appropriate for the gym or the beach it is NOT appropriate for school.

Sleeping in class does not help your grades.  It should come as no surprise that sleepware is considered inappropriate in class!

In western culture gentlemen remove their hats when indoors.  Baseball caps are distracting.  Take them off.  Rude students use their hats as a "shield" to hide themselves from participation and eye-contact.

Ladies, let your parents admire your navel piercing, not your English teacher. 

School rules plainly state NO bare midriffs.

Gentlemen, your grandmother may admire your boxers, not your class mates.  Pull your pants up!

Eating in Class:  . . .is not permitted.

If you chew gum no one should see it or hear it!

Electronics:  MP3 players are not permitted in school!  Really!  Read the rules in the handbook!

Cell phones may NOT be used in school (without specific, limited permission).

* Modified from from Classroom Etiquette, a handout by Ken Tompkins, et al, of Stockton College