Office Hours:  11:30-12:30 PM

We are in school 5 days a week. Should students miss school for medical reasons, they need to bring a  medical note. If students require a Google Meet, please log on to Google Classroom for more information or email lymoore@greenville.k12.sc.us to schedule a Google Meet during my Office Hours.

Absences are excused the following reasons:

1. Medical Note/Dr Note

2. COVID-19

3. Bereavement

All other notes and excuses will count against a student's attendance. To receive credit towards graduation, a student needs 180 days of "seat time" within a class. There are 5 days that can be excuses for any reason, but after 5 a student must show a medical note, a COVID-19 excuse, or a bereavement note. To find out more about attendance, please contact the front office.

Current Unit of Study - Fisher Writing

Writing and Syllabication

Argumentative Writing

Students are given several prompts to choose from, and need to choose a side (pro or con). After, they will make a thesis statement that states their reasons for their side. During this unit, they will craft a five paragraph essay that uses evidence to support their claim, and provide a paragraph that concedes to the other perspective.

Classes will use the high school model of writing, which is getting them college and career ready. We will focus on using the Schaffer Model of writing, which incorporates evidence in the form of quotes.

Syllabication

In this part of the class, students learn about phonology and morphology. Sylllabication is the process of dividing and forming words into syllables. They will learn how to break words apart using the different syllable types. This helps students to later incorporate the spelling rules, and spell using context for academic content. 

Sequence of Instruction for Older Students

1. Teach at least 2 single vowels and the concept of open and closed syllables before inserting a suffix.

2. Teach suffix: -tion in connection with open-closed syllables that contain the single vowels taught previously; make students aware of schwa- concept in words that carry more than one syllable.

3. Teach remaining two or three single vowels in open and closed vowels and repeat -tion

4. Teach regular phonetic prefix with meaning (and gesture that retrieves the meaning)

5. Teach VC.CV to show how else a word can become complex and how students can handle them.

6. Teach highly frequent vowel teams

7. Alternate teaching a prefix or suffix and basic concept of an essential vowel team, r-control, or C-le pattern. Multisensory practices are used (read, say, write) along with gesture to help recall meaning. This helps develop vocabulary for the content areas and improving spelling and reading skills.

8. Teach CLOVERS patterns in a game format; this helps students review their skills regularly. Students make the word cards for the games, and the difficulty is increased over time.

9. Add roots in connection with meaning and with retrieving gestures. Begin with the phonetic ones and then proceed to those with multiple forms and irregular pronunciations.

10. Teach basic spelling rules interspersed throughout the other topics. 

11. Teach essential content area-specific non-phonetic words each day or two. Combine 2 words that are different in pronunciation and spelling. Select words students need in their content areas as well as basic ones that students still misspell.

Teaching Non-Phonetic Words

Non-phonetic words do not follow regular spelling or pronunciation rules, thus we are not able to pronounce or spell them the way they appear. We will learn special strategies to help us recall with fluency on how to spell and pronounce these words.

General Rule:  Student says LETTER NAME while writing the LETTER. Students do this at least 3 times. Students then uses these new words in subsequent spelling, reading tasks, or writes something on his/her own.

Current Unit of Study - GEC

This first module introduces you to yourself.  Module Overviews are provided at the beginning of each of the 18 modules for this course. These overviews will provide you with a "bird's-eye view" of the activities and resources to be utilized in each Module and should be reviewed prior to beginning the learning activities each week. 

Week Objectives: 

• Students will recognize and explain his/her own learning style (Discussion Forum)

• Students will set SMART goals and objectives (Google Docs)

• Students will complete career interest surveys (KAMI)

• Students will demonstrate knowledge of online tools (KAMI, Google Suites) and create a career
  interest profile (Google Sites)

• Students will use a weekly planner to prioritize weekly activities (Paper)

• Students will define self-advocacy and the components that make a good self-advocate
  (Paper)

• Students will demonstrate an understanding of how learning styles are relevant to academics
  (Discussion Forum)

• Students will demonstrate an understanding of a learning disability and how it impacts
  their success both socially and academically (Google Docs)

• Students will understand the components of an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) (Video, Reading, Discussion Forum)

• Students will identify their teacher’s learning style (Paper)