Community Norms:

Each of my classes will be deciding on our own community norms that we will live by together. We will talk about this more in person, but essentially, we will decide what we think is the most important for how we want to function as a classroom community, and we will commit to holding ourselves to it for the whole year. Once we have decided on our community norms together, I will post them in our room, on this website, and I will also update our syllabus to include them. That way, they can be easily accessed at any time by students, parents, and myself.

While we will be deciding on our community/classroom norms together, there are a few non-negotiable norms for every class that I teach, which I will list below:

1. All people are to be treated as fully human, valuable, and worthy of dignity and respect.

1. I am fully committed to making our classroom a safe and welcoming class. Everyone should be made to feel welcome and safe to ask questions when they don't understand a concept, and nobody should EVER be made to feel like they don't belong.

2. This also means respecting the teacher, respecting the classroom, and respecting the school. To intentionally damage school property is not only a quick way to receive detention, it is also forgetting to treat the maintenance and custodial staff with dignity and respect.

3. Respect also looks like coming to class prepared to learn. To come unprepared means taking from others’ instruction time. Respect also looks like being generous and patient with our peers, so if your classmate forgets a pencil, maybe let them borrow your extra one!

2. All people are required to work for their own betterment and for the betterment of their community.

   1. Every person, myself included, is required to bring their best selves. We have a lot to learn, and while it will require hard work, it will be worth it.

   2. Behaving in such a way that other people’s safety or ability to learn is disrupted will not be tolerated.

3. Absolutely no cell phones in our classroom.

   1. Cell phones (and all personal electronic devices, including smart watches and wireless headphones/earbuds) are to be left in lockers and powered off during the school day. The only time they are allowed to be used is during lunch. Otherwise, the State of Michigan now requires all schools to enforce a strict no cell phone policy. If I see it or hear it, I will take it and it will be sent to the office. No exceptions unless discussed directly with me before the incident.