Curriculum

Survey of Computer Science is an 8th-grade level course that is offered through the LSU Initiative called BR Bytes. This course is a year-long course that counts for high school credit! Students will spend the year completing a variety of activities including but not limited to group work, individual projects, lectures, videos, and simulations to learn various aspects of computer science. While the course material is engaging and often quite fun, it is challenging work that needs to be gone through at a brisk pace. This means that a student should only be "Raising the Bar" during their class period if they wish to stay on top of their assignments and grade. They will "raise the bar" at all times so if for some reason Mrs. Anding is absent, they should always know what to do with no exceptions!

Classroom Expectations

Our class will follow the school expectations of:

1. Arrive to class on time.

2. Be prepared.

3. Respect your classmates and your teacher.

4. Give your all, all the time.

5. Be responsible for your actions.

6. No eating, drinking, cell phones, nor ipods permitted in the classroom.

Classroom Calendar

Attendance

Students are expected to regularly attend class in-person. Students are expected to come to class on time and to remain in class for the duration of the class period. Mrs. Anding monitors attendance through visual confirmation. Mrs. Anding expects all students to be on their district-issued Chromebook and no other device while in class. A tardy is unexcused unless the student can provide a time-stamped office pass, a time-stamped teacher note, and/or inform Mrs. Anding that they have been marked appropriately in the school's Hero system. Students will not be allowed to leave class to get the excused note once they arrive to class. Mrs. Anding follows all school guidelines in regards to marking a student as tardy, cutting class, and being absent. She also follows all school guidelines in regards to when a student can and cannot leave class. (As a librarian she insists that students follow these guidelines when coming to the library so she can do no less while serving as a classroom teacher.)

Communicating with Mrs. Anding

Students are encouraged to contact Mrs. Anding during class through the GoGuardian program, which provides a speech bubble that they can click on during the class period.

Families and students who wish to contact Mrs. Anding outside of the class period are encouraged to call the school at 225-356-4306 and ask to be transferred to the library.

Parents and guardians are also encouraged to become guardians on their Panther's Google Classroom accounts. Mrs. Anding is happy to enter a parent or guardian's email into her Google Classroom so that a parent/guardian can receive email notifications of their child's status.

Finally, Mrs. Anding has a Remind code that can be found on the class syllabus, which is housed in the Google Classroom. Both students and parents/guardians should feel free to sign up for the Remind system.

Grading Policy

Survey of Computer Science is a middle school class which is being offered for high school credit. In order to achieve certification in this course through BR Bytes/LSU, a student must complete a minimum of 80% of the course with a proficiency rating. This will earn them the certificate. They are also responsible for earning their grade, with points that are assigned by Mrs. Anding. This grade will factor into their middle school GPA, their high school GPA and will appear on their high school transcript.

Students are expected to work diligently throughout the class period each day and to do assigned classwork/homework as needed. Daily assignments are due by the beginning of the next day's class period. Students who, for a variety of reasons, need extended time will be allowed to turn the classwork/homework in one class period later. (Ex. An assignment that the class worked on during Monday's class period would be turned in by Wednesday morning by 7:30 a.m.) Larger projects will be broken into smaller components with multiple deadlines so that students can work on building time management skills.

Mrs. Anding provides a Google Slide presentation each 9 weeks in the Google Classroom of the classes, agendas, objectives, essential questions, etc. Students should pay special attention to several sections of the daily slide.

• The background color: Mrs. Anding will change the background color according to the colors of the rainbow: ROYGBIV. By the end of the rainbow colors the class will be done with 7 out of the 9 weeks of class. This should serve as warning to make sure that all work is done ASAP.

• The circles next to items in the agenda: Some agenda items will have circles next to them; others will not. Pay attention to the colors of the dots. A yellow dot means that it will be graded and put into the gradebook. A purple dot means that it is an activity that is part of LSU requirements that must be met by at least 80% proficiency. If there is a purple AND a yellow dot next to it then it is an LSU activity AND will be put into the gradebook.

Mrs. Anding's Certification