Quakertown Community High School
Integrity • Responsibility • Civility
Course Syllabus for Political Science
Teacher Information
· Teacher: Mr. Kimball
· Email:
· Phone: 215.529.2122
· Extra Help: I am available for help every day before school (7:00 am) and most days after school (as late as
necessary). Please do not hesitate to take advantage of this opportunity so that you can be as successful as possible this year!
Classroom Guidelines
· Please adhere to all school rules and policies as set forth in your agenda book.
· I will always respect you as a person, regardless of your grades or how many times I have to ask you to raise your hand instead of calling out. I believe that I have to earn your respect and trust, so if you ever feel as though I have disrespected you, please let me know (preferably before or after class so we can really talk and work things out).
· I was a high-school student not too long ago. I know that sometimes you have to learn about things in which you’re not particularly interested. I will always try to make social studies as interesting and as relevant to your lives as possible. (Have you ever had a social studies teacher who quizzed you on your ability to memorize and place 20 events on a timeline? I’m not one of those teachers.)
· Please respect our school/class rules and participate in class activities. It’s okay to have a bad day every now and then. Provided that we recognize our mistakes and don’t try to intentionally disrespect one another, I don’t expect us to have any problems. None of us is perfect and we all make mistakes; that’s why all of us deserve a second (and third and fourth…) chance.
· You should always feel as though you can share your thoughts, beliefs, and feelings without fear of being disrespected. Though I will work very hard to ensure that our classroom provides this type of inclusive environment, as a teacher I often cannot see or hear everything that is going on. If you feel threatened or are being made fun of (or if you think another student is being threatened or made fun of), please let me know!
· I am always here to help you with anything (academic or personal). Please come to me whenever you need help or simply need someone to listen.
Grading Information
· This course will use standards-based grading (SBG) to assess your mastery of each learning target. Each learning target will be assessed individually, and then all learning targets within a semester will be averaged in order to determine your semester grade. If you have questions about SBG, please ask me or refer to the extensive information provided on QCSD’s website.
· Multiple sources of evidence will be used to assess your understanding of each learning target, including (but not necessarily limited to) tests/quizzes, homework, cooperative and individual projects, and essays/reports.