Letter to Parents and Students - Class Expectations and Overview

Post date: Aug 27, 2013 3:21:43 AM

Dear Parents and Students:

In an effort to more effectively present my expectations for my courses this year, I have created this post to my website. I found the length of the parent letter and syllabus to be too long to be a manageable document to reproduce and expect parents and students to use effectively. My hope in creating both the shortened document and the post, I will better represent the policies that I plan to implement during this school year. This post will hopefully illustrate my goals and vision for the learning environment I want to establish with my students.

The following post will discuss the strategies and methodologies used in this course in terms of my vision for the course, use of technology, evaluation of student work, and other expectations.

Classroom design:

Students learn by doing, not being told information is the guiding philosophy of my classroom. Over the past few years, I have worked to create a learning environment that is meaningful, challenging and relevant to the life of my students. To this endeavor I have created numerous activities and projects designed to help students connect the class content to the events of their lives. The activities selected were constructed to bring about deeper levels of critical thinking and provide opportunities for students to demonstrate what they have learned through the creation of a product, not simply answering questions.

Paperless classroom:

There are many reasons to reduce the amount of paper used in a classroom. My main reason centers around the fact that it is more convenient to use technology resources than create a multitude of paper handouts. That isn’t to say that there are never handouts or paper resources, but overall I have created my website and uploaded a multitude of resources to help students stay connected in and out of the classroom. The site includes text resources, assignment calendar, and contact information to share ideas, ask questions, or submit work. I have created a contact page above to direct you to the methods used by my students, but I also have included those below. I will attempt to use Remind101 and Twitter as resources this year, but to be honest the best resource for information is this website.

Evaluation:

There are a few significant changes to my grading or evaluation policy this year.

1) Students will be expected to complete in class and out of class work that will help them deepen their understanding of the course content, however not all of this work will be graded. This is part of the formative process and helps guide instruction.

2) all graded tasks are expected to be completed by every student in order to earn credit for the course. Not every task will be graded, and this generally applies to projects, assessments, presentations and other significant tasks created to measure student understanding of important concepts.

3) Students who do not complete tasks at an acceptable level will be expected to revise the task until it meets the minimal standards of the assignment.

Evaluation of student work will be based on the ongoing demonstration of learning and understanding. The process will include assigned readings, outside of class tasks, projects, and daily engagement in class activities.

The gradebook will reflect both formative and summative assessment tasks. The formative grades reflect completion of tasks that assist in the learning process. Summative grades measure the level to which learning and understanding have been demonstrated through the completion of assigned projects and tasks.

Part of the assessment process is done through in class activities where students demonstrate their knowledge through completing tasks or in class discussions. These formative tasks help me create a more complete picture of your level of understanding. Although not all of these tasks will be added to the gradebook, they are important for your overall completion of assessment/summative tasks so please do your best in all class tasks and activities.

Grades are based on the following category breakdown below:

• 1. Summative Assessments –

     1. Tests and Quizzes (40%)

     2. Projects (40%)

     3. Semester Final/eportfolio (20%)

  2. Formative Assessments- *

• • 1. Class Discussions

    2. Homework tasks

    3. Editing of projects and other assessments

3. All Summative Assignments must be turned in to earn credit for the course.

4. All Summative Assignments are eligible for revision if you do not meet the minimum expectations.

5. Extra Credit -

a. No Extra Credit will be offered!

b. You have opportunities to demonstrate your understanding through the entire learning process.

c. You have opportunities to make revisions when necessary

*- Formative Assessments will be recorded to reflect completion of tasks. If necessary I will modify the grade structure to reflect formative tasks that are deemed necessary to the the learning activities. Possible example - a student who is having struggles with the summative tasks is not completing the formative tasks, they may be required to complete all formative tasks at an acceptable level before making progress on the next task.

Parent explanation of evaluation system Student explanation of evaluation system

Expectations

Classroom Activities and tasks:

I have modified this course to allow for greater depth of demonstration of knowledge. I expect every student to complete tasks and fully participate in class activities. Formative tasks will be utilized as a guide through the learning process. The completion of these tasks is designed to provide you with opportunities to learn without worrying about getting it wrong or failing. This can be a powerful experience, but to make the most out of this course, you must complete both the formative and summative tasks.

Technology:

This year we will implement BYOD at school and I plan to use your electronic devices in classroom activities. This means more freedom of use, but with this comes added responsibilities and expectations. We will discuss acceptable use as a class. I am very passionate about using technology, however I understand that access to technology can be an issue. I don’t ever want technology issues to prevent students from learning. If there are access issues, or technical problems that arise, please inform me and we can find solutions. The demonstration of content knowledge is much more important than using technology to complete the task.

Possible applications: We will allow access to social media, video production, and sharing of work, images and products online beyond the Little Chute community. Be aware that what you create will be visible to anyone who accesses our classroom site. Please be mindful of how you present yourself.

Reflection:

As part of the learning process, you will be expected to blog and journal periodically throughout the term as part of the learning process. You will be expected to at times respond to specific prompts and other times to generally reflect on your learning experience. These tasks will be evaluated primarily as having been completed, because my intention is to have students truly reflect upon and respond to the the learning activities you are completing in the course.

Assessment:

Assessment refers to the measuring of student knowledge and level of understanding. It is a process that takes on many forms. I will be utilizing the implementation of formative and summative measures to help assess student progress. Formative is where students are provided feedback and opportunities to revise their work. Summative is the final evaluation of student learning and understanding of a topic, lesson, concept, or term.

Term eportfolios:

Student learning is an ongoing process that builds upon itself. As part of this course, students will create an electronic portfolio chronicling their work throughout the term. The portfolio represents their learning and understanding of their course through the products they have created. It will be accompanied by written reflections demonstrating their thoughts and ideas about the activities and process they have experienced. I believe this is a more meaningful measure of the comprehensive learning students have completed than other forms of testing. I hope you will help support your son or daughter in maintaining this eportfolio throughout the term so they are able to build a comprehensive representation of their work.

EXPECTED BEHAVIORS:

RIGHTS:

COMMUNICATION:

• • The website above is a filled with resources and information to keep you informed of lessons, assignments and due dates.

    • Expect to check the site daily

  • Be proactive - if there is an issue or concern, please contact me as soon as possible.

    • In person - see me if you have a question or an issue arises.

    • Email - also listed above provides a way to contact me throughout the day

  • I will communicate due dates, expectations for assignments, projects, and assessments. If there is an issue on your end I expect advance notice. I can’t address issues if I don’t know they exist.

  • Remind101 - I will use this periodically, but this is not the main method of communication for class. This will primarily be to help with major projects tasks, or changes that happen through the course of the term.

ASSIGNMENTS

• • Most assignments will be shared as a Google Doc on the website.

  • Students will be expected to utilize Google Apps on a daily basis.

    • If there is ever an issue with the use of technology complete it with paper and pen or some other form. It is more important to demonstrate the knowledge than the use of technology.

  • Label documents - Name Date Hour Assignment Name

LATE WORK

• • The formative assignments are designed to aid all of us in the study of the course material. If you do not complete the work, you are hindering the ability of you and your classmates to understand the material completely.

  • Summative assessments are the measure to how well you understand the material. There are reasons why these tasks have due dates and deadlines. If you do not complete a presentation or a project in the allotted time, this may disrupt the overall learning activity. You will be assessed a reduction of points if not turning these tasks in on time.

    • Typically if you turn in a daily task late you will see a reduction in points of 30%.

  • Every Summative Assessment must be completed in order to receive credit for this course, so even not done on time, the assignment MUST be completed!

ABSENCE –

• 1. Be a responsible learner!

  2. Every day we do things in class that are valuable learning opportunities. The tasks and activities done in class are designed to benefit you and provide evidence of your level of understanding.

  3. See me! Contact me in person, email -

  4. Check the website calendar

1. There will be times when you will be expected to complete tasks that are modified activities from what your classmates did in order to demonstrate your understanding. This is not a punishment, but rather another method to assess your level of understanding.

VIDEO MATERIALS:

The social studies lends itself well to the viewing of video materials to help students make sense of the concepts and ideas discussed and presented during the course. Unfortunately due to the nature of events studied in social studies there is a greater likelihood to find videos with violence or language that may lead to an R rating. With that being said, I understand that not everyone is comfortable with rated R movies. I want to make you aware of the following policies for showing any movie, but especially an R rated movie. I am very discerning in my choices to show videos in the course. They must be directly connected to the concepts being studied, and they need to enhance the learning experience of my students. I do edit, or censor aspects of a video that I do not feel are necessary or appropriate. This at times means that only a few scenes of a movie are shown, but it still falls under the R rating. I want to inform you of my policies, and if you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me.

Possible videos - list includes all courses - I will update as necessary

Gladiator

Glory

Lord of the Flies

Braveheart

Amistad

Shawshank Redemption

Nell

Final expectations and overview:

1. You will have times of success and triumphs!

2. You will struggle and find things difficult.

3. What do you do when you put forth your best effort and still don’t meet expectations?

• 1. Think about a time in your life when you weren’t successful after your first attempt (ex – riding your bike). How did you respond to this adversity?

  2. Concepts and task may be complex and difficult, expect to have to revise your work.

  3. Set high expectations for yourself, and don’t settle for less.

4. If you do things to the best of your ability and still don’t meet expectations, you will have opportunities to make revisions

• 1. Projects, Tests and other major Assessments

  2. You will have opportunities on many of these to submit these tasks prior to the due date for review and ability to make corrections

  3. You will have opportunities on some of these to have peers review them

  4. Tasks submitted on the due date will not be graded and no opportunity for revisions

  5. Take advantage of these opportunities, ask questions, and do your best!