Class Expectations

Objectives: 

The key objectives for students will be...

• The development of effective learning habits in order to be able to manage workload (organization) and time management.

•  The application of critical thinking in order to understand physical and human geography and the cause and effect relationships that occur in the world. Students will become active participants in class and small group discussions. 

 Homework:

Students should expect three to four nights of homework every week.   It should be approximately 20-30 minutes of homework each night. Some of that will be reading.  An important part of all assignments will be to turn them in on time.  Homework does lay the foundation and reinforces what is taught in class.  Students that put effort into their homework tend to achieve at a higher level.  If students encounter any sort of difficulty in completing the homework on any given night they should do the following...

• If the assignment is taking longer than expected, stop at the 30 minute mark and email me.

• If there are any other challenges or difficulties then students should email me.

It is important that students email me prior to the due date/time.  Also, there is an expectation that no one will be working on homework late into the night.

There will be a good amount of reading in this course.  Along with the reading comes vocabulary.  Students are expected to learn the vocabulary as we move through the course.  This is critical because it creates a basis for the rest of the content throughout the year.  

 If a student is absent from school they will receive extra time to complete any class work missed and any homework assigned.  Once the student receives that assignment they will be allowed the same amount of time to complete the work that the other students had.  If a student is absent the day that an assignment is due they will need to turn in the assignment when they return to school.  In regards to quizzes, students will know what the content on a quiz will be at least a week in advance of the quiz.  So, students that are absent the day before the assessment is given will need to take the assessment if they are in school on the day that the assessment is given.  If they are absent on the day of the assessment they will need to take the assessment on the day that they return to school.  

All homework for the week is assigned on Monday.  It is posted in the classroom, on my website and students will be writing it in their planners.  Due dates on the assignments will vary.  I do this because students tend to have outside activities and this allows them to manage their assignments. 

Additionally, there is an expectation that students finish any activities or assignments assigned in class that they did not finish in class.  In these cases the due date will generally be the following day.  Students will be told what the due date is and it will be posted under Today in class, which is on the main page of this website.

Group Work:

Being able to work effectively as part of a group is a critical skill.  It's important that students learn to work effectively as part of a team (contribute to discussions and workload, communicates in and out of school, positive engagement).  This is part of a student's grade in world geography.

Tests:

There will not be any tests in world geography.  

There will be quizzes.  The idea behind quizzes is to gauge where a student is at with an assignment or content in general.  Generally speaking, students that do homework consistently, ask questions and seek help when needed tend to do better on assessments.

Respect:

In addition to the high standards of behavior that is expected from all Diamond Middle School students there is an expectation that students maintain a high sense of community in this class.  That means that we always treat each other with respect.  We do not laugh at other peoples’ opinions or observations, and we keep an open mind.  

Grading:

LPS has shifted to Standards/Skills Based Grading in the elementary and middle schools.  Quantifiable letter/numeric grades are not necessarily conducive to learning and growth, which is the whole point of what we do in education.