🌎 Spanish Class Updates

9/4/26

• 💡It was wonderful to meet families at Back-to-School night.  Please feel free to reach out to me at this email address with any questions or insights.  I’m happy to collaborate with parents toward their child’s development.

• 💡I’m finding that a large number of students, about 30%-70% of students varying by class period, are not using the time I give them in class to do their practice work on Vista. Some of them end up getting the work done outside of class.  Often, these students do poorly on their quizzes.  As a reminder, the bulk of a student’’s grades are based on their assessments, not practice. I expect that all students use the approximately 20 minutes per class period that I give them to practice.  I’m afraid, based on quiz results for students who aren’t working during class, that many of them are using translators, AI, or other methods of cheating outside of the classroom.. Students often boast that they do the work at home because they can use translators and AI there. As always, this ultimately cheats the student as they don’t learn and they don’t pass their assessments.  Students are provided enough time in class to complete most, if not all, of this practice work.  The next digital practice work is due Tuesday when we have our next mini-quiz.  

• 💡 Use of Spanish in Class tickets were due today.  However, I can still accept them for full credit next week, they just won’t be included in the Progress report grade (except period 1… those tickets will be included if collected Tuesday)

8/28/2026

• 🌻 Today is the last day for engagement points for August.  Monday will be on September’s Engagement emails.

• 🌻 We have a our estructura packet due on Monday (Vista) and our mini-quiz.  While most students are already done or nearly done, there are some who have either not started at all or barely done any work. Students have had more than enough time in class this week to complete the practice assignments, so unless a student has been absent, they should be done.  I make every effort to note in these weekly emails if a student is off task during class, but sometimes they fool me by having the assignment up on the screen, but aren’t doing anything.    So when the Vista practice grade is posted on Monday, please note your student’s score.  If it’s less than 70% in PowerSchool and they weren’t absent, then you can assume they were off task during class when they had time to do the work.

• 🌻 Today is supposed to be the last day for schedule changes.  There has been little time in class to help new students get adjusted, so if any new students are feeling not quite caught up, please come and see me before school or during B-lunch.  Your table-mates can also help!

8/21/2026

• 🏈  On Monday, we have our first lección quiz.  The practice work for that quiz (Vista) is also due at 8:30am.  Students had plenty of time this week to finish the practice in class, so students should not have any practice

• 🏈   I would like to ask parents for help with the state law and school district policy that prohibits students from having their cell phones powered on during class time (they may use them only during break and lunch).  Please talk to your student about the importance of having their phones powered off and put away during class.  Because cell phones are nearly universally recognized as the biggest distraction from student learning and so many students are literally addicted to their phones, I do insist that we follow the Board Policy and have all personal electronic devices powered off and put away, including cell phones, tablets. smart glasses/watches, headphones/ear pods, and laptops.  I meet students at the door and verify that they’re put away before the enter.  I also give students a warning.  However, if a student is a repeat offender, the will be required to check their phone into the wall-chart before class starts.  I also notify parents of any electronics policy violations via this weekly email.  Thank you for your support on this very difficult issue.

• 🏈  This summer, I reworked the system that I use to send these emails home to parents and I’m still finding a few bugs on the upgrades.  Last week, the attendance percent was off for some students.  It should be accurate now.  Thank you to everyone who helped me debug that.  Please note that the attendance percent is not a grade, but just helps us to understand a student’s progress in class.  If a student is absent, tardy, or leaves early for any reason, it reduces that percent, even if the reason is excused.  It’s important for students to be in class and engaged to learn.  

• 🏈   Back to School Night is September 2, 2026.  Parents will follow their student’s schedule throughout the evening, spending about 10 minutes per teacher.  This is never enough time to really get to know each other, but I do look forward to on-going collaboration with parents throughout the year.  I hope to see you at BTS!

• 🏈   I’m sorry to report that schedule changes continue to be happening as classes on campus are opened and closed due to overall campus enrollment.  The office must finish these changes by the first day of the fourth week of school.  I know that these changes are tremendously difficult for students and I do my best to help students adjust.  I am available by appointment before school and during B lunch for those who need some extra help catching up.

8/14/2026

This is your weekly personal update for Spanish class.  Please see PowerSchool for grades. 

Class-wide notes:

• ✅  ¡Bienvenidos a la clase de español!   Each week I will email this custom report home for each student. There will be the generic announcements for everyone (“Class-wide notes”) and custom information including the engagement points earned and notes for the week.

• ✅  Parents can contact me by replying to this email or emailing me directly at JSTrumps@avhsd.org.  I look forward to meeting everyone at Back to School night on September 2, 2026.

• ✅  This week has been a challenge with lots of schedule changes.  We have already had a few assignments turned in and we have a big one due on Monday along with a vocabulary quiz.  Students who joined the class late, can talk to me at the end of the period and we can work out extensions to due dates to get them caught up.

• ✅  You can read the syllabus here:  https://sites.google.com/avhsd.org/spanish/syllabus.  There is no need to sign-and-return it.

• ✅  I will try to make these weekly emails as succinct as possible by using bullet points for quick reading.

Class Resources:

• ✅ Class web page:  https://sites.google.com/avhsd.org/spanish/home

• ✅ Class syllabus:  https://sites.google.com/avhsd.org/spanish/syllabus

• ✅ Archive of the Class-wide portion of these weekly emails: https://sites.google.com/avhsd.org/spanish/spanish-class-updates

If you have any questions or comments, parents, please feel free to reply to this email and students, please speak to me during the practice time toward the end of the period.

Collaboratively,

-Sr. Trumps