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My name is Melody Phillips and I want to take this opportunity to introduce myself and express my excitement about working with your student this year. I love teaching high school English. I believe students can grow and develop by examining the various issues we will cover in class. The main goal of my course is to cover the fundamentals of English. Over the course of this year, I will introduce your student to the wonders of reading a wide variety of literary and informational texts, writing where they will compose a variety of written texts, research, listening and speaking, and finally, we will work on vocabulary development.
I believe that all students want to be successful in school. We often consider a student’s first attempt their final endeavor. Writers, however, revise and edit their work many times before they submit their manuscripts. Architects review and revise many times before beginning their building projects. Improvement is a sign of effort. However, effort is hard to measure as a separate grade. Effort reinforces the importance of working to one’s capacity. An increase on a test score demonstrates improvement and can be used as an indicator of effort. Likewise, I feel it is unrealistic to expect students to do their best work on a one-time-only basis. I believe in allowing students to take advantage of the 3Rs – Redo, Retake, and Revise all assignments. I am not an advocate for minimal effort the first time or for procrastination. With that stated all assignments your student may choose to redo, retake, or revise will be due no later than the dates below which is several days before the end of each six weeks: · 2nd 6 weeks—November 4 · 3rd 6 weeks – December 16 · 4th 6 weeks—February 13 · 5th 6 weeks – March 30 · 6th 6 weeks – May 18
My grading policy is as follows: · Redone, Retaken, or Revised assignments will receive slightly lower weighting than on-time and first-time efforts. · If a student’s first score on a test is 50 and they retake test and they score an 80 there will be a 20% deduction between the original and the redone, retaken, or revised assignment. · 80(2nd grade) – 50(1st grade) = 30(difference between the two) · 30 x 20% = 6 · 80 – 6 = 74 redone, retaken, or revised grade Finally, if you have any questions I will arrive at school each morning shortly after 7:00 am and will leave shortly after 4 pm in the afternoon please come and visit with me. If you prefer to call my conference periods are 1:00-1:50 pm and 2:48-3:38 pm each day. I can also be reached through email at mphillips@esc17.net or maphillips550@gmail.com. I am excited about working with your child. I welcome questions or comments, and am looking forward to a great year! |