Guidelines: Writing a Classroom Syllabus

 

Contact Information: Your name (students will forget) and your location/room number because parents might need to locate you. In addition, you need to give your work number.

Course Description: This is very easy to obtain. Usually it is provided through the school or the school district. Also, include the textbook you will be using in your class. To supplement this section, you can include the main topics that will be covered throughout the year. Some teachers will even include a detailed outline with anticipated major projects and assignments.

Materials: This section will vary and should depend on your needs as a teacher. One main thing to consider would be the type of school at which you work. If the majority of the student body comes from homes where they receive government assistance or free lunches, then it might not be practical to require too many materials. Also, you must decide if you will allow students to keep their materials in class. Whatever you decide you must stay consistent. Beware; if students lose their materials that you allow them to keep in class they will blame you for the disappearance.

Grading: This is straight forward. You will decide what percentage of their grade will come from different types of assessment. For example, 45% of the grade is homework and 55% is test, etc. Also, you might have a different grading scale for a higher level class.

Attendance/Tardiness Policy: You should reinforce the school's attendance policy. However, you might want to include any penalties you might have for attendance problems. For instance, deducting points or calling a parent. You also want to include what's your idea of being late to class.

Make-up Work Policy: It is important to specify what work you will allow to be made up, the circumstances you will accept work, and the given time period when it must be completed. This could be different for various assignments or tests. If you don't do these students will turn in half?
Completed work three months late, and if you never specified your policy on make-up work it would be unfair to not accept the assignment.

Rules and Procedures: Unless you already have established classroom procedures and rules, it might be easiest to use those provided by the school. Generally, these should address what to do in class, how to behave and interact with other students, and what is allowed in class.

Penalty for Breaking Rules: As a teacher, you must always know what the consequences are for breaking your rules. Also, you must stay consistent. If you make up rules and consequences as you go, the students will not respect you as an authority figure. One suggestion is to always give a warning first and call home. Furthermore, make sure the students know the school policy for breaking school rules. Finally, it is wise to include a separate sheet to your syllabus that request both student and parent/guardian signatures with multiple contact numbers for the parent. This allows you to keep that sheet for your records and the actual syllabus is left with the student.

 

Guidelines for Writing A Classroom Syllabus, by: Sarah Clancy (June 12, 2007), retrieved June 29, 2009 from http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/272495/guidelines_for_writing_a_classroom.html?cat=4