social studies 9 

• Computer as approved device and headphones will be used daily!

• Class textbook: Title: Issues for Canadians   -  the replacement cost is $73.00

• A binder, in order and up-to-date, complete with lined paper.

• Several HB pencils & pens, eraser, and a few highlighters.

• Post-it Notes, Pencil Crayons, poster paper, and other additional materials may be required for some projects.  Notification will be provided.

• A positive attitude and a willingness to participate.

General Expectations:

• Students will attend class every day, prepared to work, with a writing utensil, an organized binder, and any other supplies or textbooks that are being used for the unit being studied.

• Food may be consumed, but teachers have the right to disallow food if garbage, or allergies, become an issue.

• Students will treat the teacher and fellow classmates with respect. Everyone has a right to be heard and to learn in a secure environment.

• Students will treat the property of the school and the property of others in a proper manner.

• Students will not let anything impair their ability to communicate (cell phones, music players, headphones, etc.) and the teacher may confiscate the item if it becomes an issue.

Academic Integrity 

We at Bert Church High School (BCHS) believe Academic Integrity supports intellectual growth and creates a fair learning environment. Teachers and Administrators at BCHS recognize that there are significant expectations and pressures to achieve academic excellence and the pressure can lead individuals to be dishonest and/or cheat. However, we firmly believe that cheating diminishes the value of education, damages the ethical character of the individual student, and undermines the integrity of our school community. BCHS Academic Integrity affirms that we value learning, and that we expect personal integrity and intellectual honesty. 

What is academic integrity? 

• Intellectual honesty 

• Personal truthfulness 

• Learning for its own sake 

• Representing your work honestly and accurately 

• Giving full credit to others who have helped you, or whose work you have incorporated into your own 

What is cheating? 

Cheating is defined as seeking to obtain (or aiding another to obtain) credit or improved scores using any unauthorized or deceptive means. 

Some examples of what cheating looks like: 

• Presenting information collected, organized, or envisioned by someone else as your own (with or without the author's permission) or allowing someone else to present your work as his or her own 

• Taking shortcuts (such as unauthorized use of study aids) that allow you to bypass steps of an assignment 

• Using forbidden material to "help" during an exam, such as cheat sheets, graphing calculators, or cell phones. 

• Asking about or sharing questions and/or answers to quizzes and exams. 

• Submitting the same work for more than one assignment without express permission from your teacher(s). 

• Altering corrections or scores with the intent of changing your grade. 

• Misrepresenting yourself in any way to your teachers regarding the work you have done, such as saying you've turned in an assignment when you did not, or that you've worked hours longer than you did to complete an assignment. 

• Fabricating information to try to earn more time, more credit, or grading leniency on an assignment, project, or exam. 

• Missing class to avoid turning in an assignment or taking a test. 

• Doing more or less than your share of a group project without permission from your teacher 

Next steps if found cheating. 

When there is evidence of cheating, staff will consult with their grade level administrator on next steps. Cheating has consequences, both academically and behaviourally. Academically, students are not getting valid feedback on their knowledge of the curricular outcomes. Behaviourally, students are not engaging in their learning in an honest way, and this could lead to other breaches of integrity when it comes to school rules.  

Upon consulting with the grade level administrator, staff will: 

1. Connect with their grade level administrator to inform them of the situation.  

2. After consulting with their grade level administrator, staff will proceed with: 

1. Having a private conversation with the student and present the evidence collected. 

1. If the student admits to being dishonest, the staff member will work with them to have them re-do a similar assessment.  

2. Upon devising a plan, the staff member will reach out to the guardians and grade level administrator to communicate the situation and solution.  

3. If the student denies the claim, the staff member will consult with their grade level administrator on next steps. These could involve 

1. Meeting with the grade level administrator 

2. Meeting with the guardian 

3. Re-doing a similar assessment 

4. Schedule changes 

5. Other actions deemed necessary by the administrator 

Our goal is for students feel supported in their learning and for them to not feel cheating is a worthwhile endeavor. If found to have compromised the integrity of an assessment, our goal is to collect new, valid evidence of learning, as well as have the student reflect on their behaviour with their teachers, administrators, and family so it is less likely to re-occur.  

Absences:

• It is always the student’s responsibility to determine, and complete, any evaluative activity has been missed. Students are expected to view schedules, assignments, due-dates, and notes in Google classroom while away. 

Excused Absence:

• An excused absence occurs when a parent or guardian phones the school at 403-948-3800 (24 hours a day) to report an absence. Telephone calls from students are not acceptable, unless the student has “adult status” confirmed by the administration of BCHS. Parents are requested to phone in advance of the absence if possible. If that is not possible, parents must call the day of the absence, or no later than the day after the absence (i.e. within 24 hours) if it is to be excused. Notes received from parents within this time frame are also acceptable.

• If a student is excusably absent from class on days during which an assignment, quiz, examination or other evaluation activity occurs, the student shall be given the opportunity to make up the missed work through either the original or replacement work at the teacher's discretion.

Unexcused Absence:

• An unexcused absence includes those absences for which no phone call or note has been received within 24 hours following the absence.  If the student misses a class where there is an assignment due or a quiz or exam written, the work will be awarded a designation of “missing”, which constitutes a zero for the purpose of calculating grades. (Chapter S-3, Part 1.14, School Act, 2000).  

Late Arrival:

• Please arrive to class on time.  If you are late for any reason, you will knock on the door and wait outside until it is convenient for your admission into the classroom.

• Repeatedly being late will result in disciplinary action which is specific to the presiding teacher.

Submitting Assignments:

• All assignments must be submitted in Google classroom to be considered turned in. 

• Any assignment "shared" and not turned in to the posted assignment in Google classroom will not be graded. 

• If an assignment is completed on paper, students must take a picture/scan the assignment and attach to the assignment in Google classroom. Paper assignments handed in to Ms. Jans will not be accepted; all assignments must be turned in to Google classroom. This includes photos of all posters/projects you may complete.

• Attaching blank pages/submitting blank work as an completed assignment in Google classroom is considered not submitted and a grade of zero will be put into Powerschool with a note on the assignment in question in Google classroom. 

• All summative assessments must be completed in class in person.  

Missed Assignments:

• When a student has an excused absence, it is their responsibility to use Google classroom to view any missed work as they are still responsible for the work covered in their absence. 

• If excusably absent on the due date of an assignment, then the assignment is due the day you return to school.

• If no attempt is made to contact the teacher or the work is not completed within the agreed time an indication of “missing” and "late" will be awarded for the assignment in Powerschool and is calculated as a zero.

• Assessments not completed/submitted within 2 weeks of the deadline will not be eligible for re-assessment or submission. In these cases, a mark of 0 will be assigned, and the students will have an opportunity to re-assess the material at the end of the semester and/or during re-assessment week.  For more information on re-assessment; please see the Re-assessment at BCHS tab.
  
  

The following assignment policy will apply to the class:

• Assignments submitted on the due date – Will be marked in as timely a fashion as possible (typically 2-3 weeks, depending on the size/type of assignment).  These will be given a rubric, and formative feedback.

• Assignments submitted late– Will be marked as other assignments allow (these are not the priority, and the only timeline that can be assured is prior to the end of the semester).  Students will receive no written feedback on late assignments.

Please Note: The presiding teacher has no onus to grade late work immediately. The teacher will do everything in their power to mark late work as quickly as possible, but it may not be marked until the conclusion of the course.

Extensions:

• Extensions on assignments will only be considered if a student makes arrangement at least one (1) day prior to the due date; students must email ljans@rockyview.ab.ca to arrange this; a verbal request will not be considered. 

Rewritten Assignments:

Some minor assignments qualify for replacement grades, which means the most recent example of student achievement will replace the previous one. If the teacher determines that a rewrite on an assignment is appropriate, the following guidelines apply:

• Completing only minor corrections on assignments are not permitted as rewrites; students must apply all feedback provided to be considered for new score. 

• Prior to attempting a rewrite, the student must meet to discuss it with the teacher one-on-one. Students can arrange this by emailing ljans@rockyview.ab.ca 

• Re-written assignments are due within one week of review with teacher. After one week, the rewrite will not be accepted and the original grade stands. *re-assessment may still be an option during re-assessment week only. 

• ALL rewritten assignments must be submitted with:

-        The original, marked assignment

-        The mark sheet/rubric for the original assignment.

If the noted guidelines are not adhered to, the re-written assignment will not be accepted.

All summative assessments must be completed in class in person.  

At BCHS, we want to provide students individualized and flexible instruction and assessment. A fundamental part of this individualized instruction is re-assessment. These re-assessment opportunities give students the ability to show growth and improved understanding on curricular outcomes, as well as address missing or incomplete work.

Re-assessment will be accessible to students both throughout the course, as well as at the culmination during re-assessment week. We are aware of the diverse course offerings and their unique instruction and assessment approaches at BCHS. Teachers make reasoned choices as to how courses progress with pace, order, and assessment structure. Courses are designed for students to follow these timelines and deadlines to maximize learning throughout the course.

To guide the successful implementation of re-assessment at BCHS, staff, students, and parent/guardians should be aware of the following expectations:

A. Ongoing Assessment Throughout the Term and/or Semester:

1.     Students will have the opportunity to seek re-assessment for summative assessments if the original assessment was submitted on time. (See A.5)

2.     To access re-assessment during the semester, students will complete a standardized BCHS Re-Assessment form and email to ljans@rockyview.ab.ca Re-assessment forms are posted in your Google classroom in the Tool Box. 

3.     All completed assessment will be used as evidence of learning. Teachers will use their professional judgement when determining student grades at the conclusion of the learning period (term, semester, or year) which evidence validly reflects student learning.

4.     Re-assessment can be done in different forms and does not have to be test/quiz based.

5.     Assessments not completed/submitted within 2 weeks of the deadline will not be eligible for re-assessment. In these cases, a mark of 0 will be assigned, and the students will have an opportunity to re-assess the material at the end of the semester and/or during re-assessment week. (See B.1 below).

B. Assessments completed during Re-Assessment Week:

1.     This time it designed for incomplete or missing work (i.e., to complete any work assigned less than a passing grade). (See A.5)

2.     Students may choose to complete a maximum of two summative assessments per course during re-assessment week.(Minor assignments are not summative assessments). 

3.     Students choosing to be re-assessed will complete the BCHS Re-Assessment application form.

4.     Students should be made aware of the impact re-assessment will have on their final grades; reassessments are not "no risk" and the most recent score will be updated. Students should have realistic expectations for grade improvement. Teachers can review this with students when submitting their application for re-assessment as well as with the entire class.

5.     Students writing standardized final exams are still eligible for the same re-assessment period as gr. 10/11 students.

An educationally functional electronic device as outlined by Bert Church High School policy is an asset.  If such a device is to be used, it is expected that students will bring their device to class with charge sufficient for use throughout the period.

A cellphone is not considered an acceptable device for course work. (See Cell Phone Policy below.)

Please see your teacher if you need to borrow a computer (long term rental) and she will provide you with the forms to access this. This computer will be yours until the end of the semester. 

Cell phones do not replace the use of a Chromebook/Laptop, and significant research reveals that such devices are significant distractions to student learning and impediments to success. As such, cell phones and other non-educational electronic devices will not be used in room 2029 unless expressly directed by the teacher. 

• Students may use their phones to listen to music as long as they have headphones during independent work time. Students may not be listening to music during instructional time or group collaboration.  

• Should there be times when phone use is teacher approved, students are expected to be using their phones as tools for learning and remain on task. 

Response from teacher to issues concerning technology in class as per BCHS Electronics Policy: 

1.  Teacher will address if there is a use issue in the classroom around technology.

2.  If a teacher confiscates the technology, the device will be returned to the student at the end of the day or class.

3.  If the distraction persists a discipline notice will incur and a discussion with Administration.
In addition to using their devices responsibly, students (and, by extension, their parents) are responsible for safeguarding and caring for their devices. While teachers and administrators will remain watchful and attempt to mediate any disputes arising over the loss, theft, or damage of electronic devices on school property, they are ultimately the property and responsibility of the student.