Junior High Classes

There are two major parts to school life in the PACeS Junior High:

• Online Class Time (Zoom)

• Class Assignments (Google Classroom)

Both of these parts are required and very important. Online class time is a time set aside for us to meet as a group, get to know each other, pray with each other, and learn together. We focus on discussion and APPLYING the learning that has been taking place during the week.

Class assignments will be given to you through Google Classroom and are activities that you work on through the week at home. They come in a few different categories:

• Learning Resources

• Checkpoints

• Mastery Checks

• In-Class Tasks

• Final Tasks

LEARNING RESOURCES are the tools that we use to learn different concepts. They can take the form of a video, textbook pages, practice questions, websites, etc. Resources are posted in each core class. You are responsible for learning the material provided for you. Often with resources, I find multiple ways to present the same information so that those who learn in different ways have available to them a method that works. You are NOT required to hand in resources (they just get marked as "Done" on Google Classroom when you have finished with them). For any type of practice questions in your resources, I will provide the answer key so that you can check your work and make sure you're understanding.

CHECKPOINTS are given as a way of evaluating whether or not you've understood your resources. These are completed AFTER you have gone through the resources and BEFORE you move on to the next set of resources. Most checkpoints are a series of multiple choice questions based on the resources for that week. You will receive immediate feedback on how well you did. The great thing about these checkpoints is that if you're not happy with your score, you can try again. Go back to your resources and make sure that you've cleared up any misunderstanding of the information and then give the checkpoint another try after a 24-hour cool-down period.

MASTERY CHECKS are another method of evaluating your understanding. However, they are different from checkpoints in a couple of ways. Mastery checks don't happen as often. You will encounter these at the end of a unit of study (not every week). Also, mastery checks don't have unlimited tries. You will know, at least a week before one of these challenges, that it is coming up so that you have a chance to review your resources and checkpoints and prepare.

IN-CLASS TASKS are activities and discussions that take place within our online Zoom sessions. They can be either independent work, group activities, or a combination of the two.

FINAL TASKS also occur towards the end of a unit of study. These tasks are like a project that is a practical application of the information that you have been learning. You will be asked to take the concepts you've learned throughout the unit and use it to solve a problem or demonstrate in another way your command over the material.