Middle School

Online Student Expectations:

1. Students need to submit work regularly.

2. Students are expected to log in to Google Classroom daily.

3. Chats and comments will pertain to class content only.

4. Students will work with integrity on all class tasks and assignments.

5. Expect to be online working in your Google Classroom 4 to 5 hours daily.

6. Submit assignments daily. You do not want to get behind.

7. Failure to meet these expectations will result in contact with parents and may impact grade.

Daily Agenda:

Check ParentsWeb for your child's specific classes

Grade Level Online Office Hours

Sample Student Daily Schedule

Tips for Online Learning

Getting Started

This is a GREAT page for future reference. The suggestions given here can be used ALL year and for all your online courses.

Organizing your WorkSpace

Before you start doing work...

• Get a notebook for your hard copies that you are instructed to keep throughout the course.

• Create a folder on your computer to keep your assignments. You will file word processing documents that are submitted throughout the course. If you do not know how to set up new folders on your hard drive, please ask your teacher for instructions.

• Make sure you have a space to work at home. Be sure to stock your workspace with pencils, pens, paper, a calculator and a printer. If you are working in a lab at school, be sure that you bring all your materials with you so you will be able to work efficiently during your time in the lab.

• There are two items you will want to always have at your fingertips. Keep a copy of your schedule for the course and a contact sheet for your instructor. These items will answer the three most often asked questions, "What have I done in the course?", "Where am I supposed to be in the course?", and "How can I reach my instructor?”

Organizing your Time

The most common mistake of online students is to mismanage their time. When you are working independently, it becomes your responsibility to manage your learning. This is probably a new experience for most of you. Here are some tips for making the most of your time.

1. Make a schedule. 

This is particularly important if you are involved in a lot of school or extracurricular activities. You can plan that it will take you about eight to ten hours per week to do your required assignments. This can be managed in a lot of ways.

2. Become familiar with your teacher's schedule.

Although your instructor is available to you many times during the day, evening and weekend, there will be "office hours" that will enable you to get a quicker response. It will not always be possible for you to work during your teacher's hours BUT if you can arrange your schedule to do so, you may have better access to help.

3. Stay focused on the task at hand.

Do not search the web, play games, chat with your friends, or watch TV while you are working. All of these activities may make it seem that you are "working" on your computer, but in actuality you will not be getting anywhere in the course.

Maximizing your Learning

You probably were never aware of the "order of things" in your classroom. Since your teacher was doing the "guiding", you may not have realized that reviewing the homework came before a new lesson for a reason. There are ways to maximize your learning. Here are some tips:

• Check your e-mail before you start working. You may have a note from your teacher that will change what you work on for the day.

• Check your e-mail DAILY. This is your instructor's way to communicate.

• Look at your graded work. Any assignment with a zero or low grade probably has comments on how to make it better. Tests and quizzes can only be done one time so use your assignments as an opportunity to learn from your mistakes.

• Look at your schedule and decide what lesson you want to complete during your work time. Be sure you have completed the readings before working on the assignment.

• Once a week, you should check your grade book and record the grades. This will help you organize your completion of assignments. You should NEVER jump around in the course unless your instructor as directed you to do so.

Netiquette

Etiquette (called netiquette in cyberspace) exists in the wide world of computers. Perhaps just as important as "real world manners,” netiquette email rules are necessary because readers draw inferences from your words rather than nonverbal body language.

You may not use your school email account for sending or receiving personal emails that are not related to your school work. Be aware that teachers and administrators have complete access to your emails so nothing you do with your school email account is considered private. Any inappropriate use of email will result in administrative action.

Although there is no one set of rules for writing and sending emails, here are a few rules I would like you to follow.

• Email messages should be written in a more formal manner than instant messaging but not as rigid as a business letter.

• Grammar and punctuation should be consistent with rules of English. For example, capitalize the first letter of a sentence, correct spelling, use punctuation marks, etc.

• Do not capitalize all letters when writing as this means you are shouting!

• Refrain from using abbreviations or use sparingly as I may not be able to decipher what it means. (For example, TIA -- Thanks in Advance)

• You may use emoticons to express feelings, but remember there is no substitute for a clearly written email.

• Always sign your first and last name to your emails so I know with whom I am working.

• Please do not send chain letters or spam material of any nature to your teachers or fellow students. This is most inconsiderate!

• And last but not least, think before you send as you cannot unsend.

Email Etiquette and Technique

E-mails are a great way to communicate, and today most people are familiar with it. Many people do not understand that there are ways to do it more effectively, and there are certain "rules" that have grown up with the process. Read the following material, and then do the assignment.

Addressing the message

When you address a message, the heading usually says To:

There are other options, though. Here are two other ways to address a message.

CC: This means carbon copy, and the name goes back to the days when the only way to copy a letter was to put two sheets of paper in a typewrite with a sheet of "carbon paper" in between. This sends the message to people other than the people you addressed as To: USe this for people who are not addressed by the letter but who need to see what you wrote.

BCC: This blind carbon copy, and it means that a copy will be sent to someone without the name appearing in the header. You can use this to send a copy of a message to someone without having the person addressed know it, but that isn't the real reason for it. When you send a message to many people, if you use BCC for everyone, then they won't get a long list of email addresses taking up half a page.

Subject Line

The subject line in an email is very important to people who get many messages. These people often choose when to read a message when they are busy, and the subject line helps them. More importantly, though, it allows them to find your message when they need to get it out of a stored folder. Always use a subject header!

Signatures

Many times you write to someone and forget to sign your name at the bottom of the message. This leaves the reader with only the email address to identify the sender. Since many email addresses do not clearly identify the sender, the person who receives the message has to consult a list of email addresses (if s/he has one) to figure out who sent the message. If the person has many email contacts, this can take forever. An online education teacher can be absolutely baffled about who is sending a message.

Replying to messages - Quotes

You are a heavy email user who sends a lot of important messages to people. You receive the following email from someone you barely know.

I agree. I will take care of the first few items as soon as I can. The last one will not be possible.

Um. What is she talking about? You search through your records to see how you know this person. You find out that she is in a group of people to whom you sent a request for information. But you can't remember exactly what you said. You have to do a lot of work to understand what he had written.

What she should have done is use the QUOTE feature in her e-mail program. That copies your message. Then she could have erased the parts that weren't necessary to leave enough of the message to remind you about the topics. It would look something like this:

>get me your summer address, your new e-mail address,

I will take care of the first few items as soon as I can.

>and the dates you will be there so I can get in touch with you then.

The last one will not be possible. I won't know until the last minute.

Lesson: You should always include at least part of the previous message for a reference point for your message. Don't include too much, though. It can be a huge waste of space.

Replying to messages - Reply all

When you click Reply, your message goes to whoever is in the From: line, unless someone else is identified in the Reply to: line. If you want to send a reply to everyone who received the original message, use Reply All.

Forwarding messages - Do's and Don't

When someone sends a message, and you want to send it along to someone else, just use the Forward command. Just remember some key tips:

1. Don't forward messages if the sender does not want it forwarded. People send their messages to you, and they may not like them going somewhere else. (In many cases they don't care; just make sure you know the difference.)

2. Forwarding jokes is very popular, but many people do not appreciate it. People who are very busy are often annoyed to find their email filled with a series of jokes they don't really want to read. If you have some friends who want those kinds of messages, send to them only. Again, make sure you now the difference.

3. You will get many e-mails asking you to forward important messages that people need to know. These are usually important messages that will save your life or make you rich. These are almost always hoaxes; very few are real. Please don't pass them along.

Spelling and Grammar

In general, people are more tolerant of errors in email messages, because the purpose is often to get messages out quickly. Use your judgment, though. If you are writing to someone asking about a possible job, you will still want to avoid errors-- you don't want to be judged that way.