Classroom Routines & Procedures

Early Academy

Early Academy for humanities will be held Tuesdays from 8-8:40am. Early Academy is an excellent place for you to ask specific questions about assigned texts, assignments or classwork, long-term projects, any points of confusion, etc. Early Academy is a place for individualized support that will help you with your understanding and knowledge of content, your progression through the course, and your mastery of skills. Early Academy is not intended as an opportunity for you to have your homework checked to see if you “got it all right” or to have your project or essay read to see if it’s “good enough.” Come with specific questions and you will leave with specific answers.

Homework Policy

Assigning of Homework:

  • Homework will be assigned most nights (and you will always have an independent book you should be reading).
  • All homework needs to be completed on time. Homework not completed, in class, and ready to turn in when called for is considered late (unprinted papers on flash drives is not considered ready to turn in—you will not be able to print out your work at the start of class). It is important that homework be completed on time because what we do in class often involves the previous night’s homework. Not completing your homework will make you unprepared for class and make it difficult for you to effectively participate in class. This is why if you miss class, you should (to the best of your ability) try to still complete the missed day’s assignment so you won’t be lost when you return to class.
  • Daily homework assignments will be written on the board and are due the next school day unless otherwise stated. Projects are assigned at least 1½ – 2 weeks before their due date and reminders will be posted on the board as well.
  • Students should never leave school confused about what they need to do that night for homework. If you have any questions about the homework, ask at the end of class or check with a classmate.

If You’re Absent:

  • If you miss a class for any reason, you are still expected to complete the work done in class as well as any homework. What we do in class one day leads to what we do in class the next day, so it’s important to find a couple of reliable homework buddies and write their phone numbers in your Student Planner, so if you’re absent you’re able to find out what you missed in class and what is due when you return. You are encouraged to contact someone directly and not to rely on any “class group chat”—in the past individual memory has proven more accurate than collective memory.
  • For any handouts passed out during missed classes, extra copies are available in the “While I was Absent” folders in class. It is the student’s responsibility to pick up any and all handouts that were passed out while s/he was absent. It is highly recommended that when you miss a class, you come before school on the morning of your return or at lunch (not the beginning or end of class) to check in. This will allow you to be able to pick up any worksheets you missed, and if you still have questions, these are the best times to get answers to them.
  • For every day you’re absent, you have TWO DAYS to make up any missing class assignments and homework that was graded during your absence (not all class assignments and homework gets graded, so it’s up to you to figure out what you owe). Please turn in all missing work due to absence into the “Late Assignments” tray located in the classroom (with ABSENT written on the top of homework followed by a parent/guardian signature—no signature=no credit). Please do not hand it to a teacher or leave it on a teacher desk if you would like for it to be graded. Remember to write ABSENT at the top or it will be mistaken as late and you will lose points.
  • Absences due to high school tours are different. If you miss class because of a tour, all homework for the missed class is due upon your RETURN TO SCHOOL NOT CLASS (so if your humanities class is in the morning, come at lunch or after school and submit your homework in the “Late Assignments” tray, writing TOUR at the top). All classwork missed because of the tour is due the following day as well as any homework assigned for that night (you do NOT have two days). It is important for you to stay on top of your work. Don’t stress if you miss a class, but don’t get into the mindset that you are not responsible for finding out what you missed…it will come back to haunt you.

Late Assignments:

  • During the first marking period, homework may be accepted up to one school day late as long as there is a parent/guardian signature on the assignment when it is turned into the “Late Assignments” tray located in the classroom (no signature=no credit). Any homework reviewed in class will not be accepted late if you were present during the class it was reviewed. NO ASSIGNMENTS MORE THAN ONE DAY LATE WILL BE ACCEPTED. THE TWO LOWEST HOMEWORK GRADES WILL BE DROPPED EACH MARKING PERIOD.
  • Late projects/essays/papers will not be accepted. If unforeseeable circumstances arise, extensions may be given on a case-by-case basis, but only if you make arrangements for an extension before the due date. Grades for late projects, essays, papers will reflect the need of an extension.

Grading Policy

In this class grades are tools to help communicate what you have learned—they are a reflection of your understanding and knowledge of content, your progression through the course, and your mastery of skills at a given point in time. To be successful in this class, you need to see grades given throughout the course (on classwork, homework, and quizzes) as feedback on your understanding and progression through the course. Great effort is made to provide you with feedback specific to you in order to let you know where you are succeeding and where you could improve. To not reflect on this feedback, misses the point of the grade and will limit your progress and achievement in the course.

To help students see grades as feedback and not as markers of validation and worth to be compared with other students, the traditional grades of A+, B, C-, etc. (or their numerical equivalent) will not be used in this class on a daily basis. Instead students will receive for all assignments either:

    • CHECK PLUS (Advanced): Learner has demonstrated highest level of conceptual and procedural understanding of specific knowledge and skills.
    • CHECK (Proficient): Capable & talented, learner has demonstrated understanding of specific knowledge and skills.
    • CHECK MINUS (Basic): Learner has demonstrated a developing understanding of specific knowledge and skills.
    • NC (No Credit): Learner has yet to successfully demonstrate a clear understanding of specific knowledge and skills.

Grades on the report card at the end of each marking period will be a calculation of your work and progress for the marking period and reflect your level of mastery, at that given point in time, of the subject matter, concepts, content and skills addressed, in addition to non-mastery measures such as formative assessment feedback received throughout the course, preparedness, and participation. These grades will be numerical and calculated on the following:

    • 30% – Formative Assessment – Homework and classwork: work done during the course of a unit that allows you the opportunity to develop the content and skills addressed in that unit. Please note that not all homework and classwork will be collected and graded. Classwork could include worksheets and writing completed in class, in addition to quizzes that demonstrate different portions of the content and skills learned before the end of a unit.
    • 45% – Summative Assessment – Tests, essays, papers, and final projects that demonstrate mastery of the whole unit's content and skills.
    • 20% – Preparedness & Participation – Preparedness is coming to class with a willingness to learn that is reflected by having all the necessary tools (writing implement, notebook, text, etc.) and having made a good faith effort to complete the homework (all social studies notebook checks are a part of this). Participation is actively listening to what is going on in class, participating in small group and whole class discussions and activities, and completing classwork. [SEE BELOW FOR MORE INFORMATION]
    • 5% – Independent Reading – Reading completed towards the schoolwide independent reading requirement.