3. Online class
email: dsmorrow@wsfcs.k12.nc.us
Welcome to Online Class for Sophomore Seminar. We're now in the endgame.
(I've rearranged weeks so the most recent shows up at the top.)
Thursday, May 7, Okay, one more update
Good morning. If you did not get the email from Mr. Hearl last evening about grading it is here. You simply need to email me (many of you already have) and let me know if you want your letter/number grade OR a pass. A reminder: If you don’t contact me the default is actually the pass rather than the letter/number. We are in final days here.
Monday, May 4: One more update
This morning I posted a final grade for you that includes your final grade adjusted for the extra points you received for fourth quarter for remote learning. This puts all of you in good shape and most of you in excellent shape. The grade is a way to communicate to you what your final grade is so you can then make a good decision about whether you want a pass for this course or the number/letter.
Once you see your final approximate grade you can decide if you want to:
Take a pass for the course
Take the numeric grade as it’s entered
Reach out to me if you have questions or thoughts about your grade
Mr. Hearl or I will make an announcement once we have a way for you to submit your choice. If you don’t make a choice the default for you will be a passing grade rather than the number/letter. Once you choose you can’t go back and change it.
Hope this makes clear what is a bit of a confusing situation.
Here’s what to do now:
Check your final grade.
Reach out to me if you have questions
Await instructions on choosing whether to take the grade or a pass.
Take care—--
Wednesday, April 29: An update about the semester
I’m guessing you have all seen the announcement by now about fourth-quarter grading. If not, you can find it here. For this class, most of you are going to want to simply take your third quarter grades. Most of your third-quarter grades were excellent. I think there may be one or two of you who have shown some improvement this quarter and in those cases, I'll use fourth-quarter work as extra credit. In other words, your online work can help you but won't hurt any of you. I won’t be putting in any assignment grades for seminar from here going forward unless someone contacts me with a special request. If you have any questions--about anything--please just email me and I’ll try to answer--or find out who might know the answer.
My hope is that this new grading policy will simplify things for you and that you can finish your college courses strong. You can continue to work on Khan Academy as you wish for this course, but you no longer need to be concerned about grades in this course.
I know some of you have high goals for college. If you get the opportunity, even just doing 30 minutes a week of SAT prep this summer will benefit you. All of the other elements like college application essays and such will be addressed in your junior seminar which you will probably take in the spring of next year. If any questions arise that I can help with please contact me.
I’m sorry I’m not getting to see you all to say good-bye for the semester but I hope to see you soon, when I know you’ll be looking even smarter and stronger and more mature. Take care and have a wonderful summer——-
WEEK 6: Monday, April 27 + Wednesday, April 29
Good morning!
Okay, so I’m getting the idea that many of you have a lot going on so I’m going to make this week even more flexible for you. Think about what will work best for you this week and do that. I’m going to let you make that decision without any grading penalty whatsoever. For instance, if it helps you to write a plan for your week do that. If it helps you to know you are preparing for your future by working at Khan Academy (you are) then do that. If you feel the best way to use this week is to just keep moving through assignments for high school and college classes do that. It’s as if we were still in school and I could see that you all were busy and had a lot going on and I said let’s just have a study week.
I hope you’ll find a good way to use this week that will make you feel like you are getting on top of things. I hope you and your families are doing okay. I hope you realize that you are very close to being finished with school! It is the last week of April and both college and high school courses will be ending soon.
One other thing. If we were still in school, I might suggest everyone lie down on the floor and get a little headspace. If that’s something that you think would be beneficial for you, here are some meditation resources:
Meditations at Ten Percent Happier
May you have a good week. I’m thinking of you all and sending you love—--
WEEK 5: Monday, April 20 + Wednesday, April 22
Good morning!
And well done! Giving you options seemed to work well. I got several weekly reports/plans and many folks continued to work on Kahn Academy. Please do whatever works best for you this week. You can change it up from week to week depending on what’s going on. This week may be a little busier because high school classes are gearing up again, but keep in mind you are in the home stretch: just four weeks left by my count.
As a reminder, here are your three options. Due by Thursday night. Choose one: (see previous post for more detail)
SAT prep at Kahn Academy for 30-60 minutes
Choose another course on college prep from Kahn Academy and work on that for 30-60 minutes
Write a brief report on how things are going + a schedule for your work for the week--high school and college this week. Submit that here.
Email me if you have questions or have an idea for a better option that will work for you. Also, don’t hesitate to reach out to Ms. Mills if anything is arising in college classes that you need help or support with. I am wishing you all a good week. Take care and much love——
p.s. If you’re a Les Mis fan--or even if you’re not--you might enjoy this: One Day More
WEEK 4: Monday, April 13 + Wednesday, April 15
Thanks to everyone who participated in the survey. It was helpful to hear how things are going for you. Here’s what I learned: 77% of you are feeling pretty overwhelmed right now. That’s a high number and I want you to know I’m taking that into account as I plan what these next weeks will look like. Also, 54% of you would rather keep doing SAT prep than doing something else. That’s the majority, but there’s enough of you who feel differently that I think the best thing to do is to give you options. So--here’s what I’m thinking. The first two options are to help you with your future. The third option is to help you keep your head above water if you’re feeling overwhelmed right now.
Each of these will be due each week by Thursday midnight.
Options: Just pick ONE:
Keep doing SAT prep like you have been doing--but aim for 30-40-minute minimum rather than 60. If you’re having a good week go ahead and do 60--it will benefit you in the long run--but if you’ve got a lot going on 40 is fine.
Choose one of the other 3 Kahn Academy courses--Careers or College Admissions or Personal Finance and do 30-40 minutes a week (or 60 if you have time). As with SAT prep I’ll be able to see from my side what you’ve done. I’m going to go ahead and assign all 3 courses to all of you so they’ll show up on your home page if you click “Courses” on the left menu. If you finish a course you can start another one or go back to SAT Prep. If any problems arise with this, just email me and I’ll try to troubleshoot.
Each week write out a one-page typed document with a few sentences about how things are going. Then list everything you have due that week and plan out a schedule for when you’re going to work on each thing. I’ve set up a Power School page where you can submit it here.
So those are your three options. I hope one of these will work for you. You can change your choice from week to week if you like--as long as you do one of them. If you have a fourth option, unique to you, please email me a proposal for what you’d like to do. Also, please, please email me if you have unique circumstances or need help with something. I’ll do what I can to try and help.
Take care—-hang in there--and know this is going to be temporary—-it will--and you’re going to be okay on the other side of this—and very possibly even stronger and smarter for juggling so much on your own without being together—-
WEEK 3: Monday, April 6 + Wednesday, April 8
Good morning and thanks for checking in again!
First, I have put in your first online grades for sophomore seminar. I wanted to give you all a chance to get adjusted to your online work in your core and college classes and I hope that has happened for all or most of you by now. Many of you did quite well this week. I saw a lot of people check in and get some significant SAT prep time in. Well done! If you don’t think the grade I gave you in Power School reflects the work you’ve done, please email me and we can try to figure this out.
Note: A few folks do not show any time spent on Khan Academy since we went online. I’ll be trying to reach out this week to make sure you have what you need to get connected to the site and do the work.
Second, I’m in the process of trying to figure out the best way to use these next weeks of sophomore seminar. What I’m trying to do is find the sweet spot between giving you something that will be beneficial to you and your future but won’t be terribly burdensome while you’re trying to get everything else done. So--to help me figure this out I’m asking for your input. I’ve made a survey that I’ve embedded below and that I’d like you to take by Wednesday morning. That’s when I’ll look at the responses and make a plan for next week. It’s just six questions and your feedback will be important to what I do with the class.
Meanwhile, please continue this week with SAT prep at Khan Academy just like you did last week. Try to put in one hour of practice over the week. This is a way to review and keep you practicing your math and/or reading skills as well as prepare for future testing. I will check your progress on Friday morning.
If you are having any trouble accessing the site or completing the work--or with anything else--please email me: dsmorrow@wsfcs.k12.nc.us and I’ll work with you. Thinking of you and sending good thoughts. Please take care of yourselves and the people around you—--
SURVEY:
WEEK 2: Monday, March 30 + Wednesday, April 1
Good morning. Thanks for checking in. I kept last week very chill for seminar and would like to keep that going--keep it not burdensome BUT also make it productive. Several of you have gone in and done some ACT prep. If you have, congrats! Well done. A number of you haven’t yet. This may have been because you had already finished the math diagnostic quizzes and so didn’t feel like you needed to do anything. That’s fine. For this week, let’s just say: 1 hour of SAT prep at Khan Academy. This can be math or reading--your choice. For both math and reading, once you finish your diagnostic quizzes it will start recommending lessons to you. Do those recommended lessons. Do 30 minutes a day on 2 different days or just do an hour and be finished with it. Think of this a way to invest in yourself and your future.
I will be giving you a grade this week--on effort--not number of correct answers. I will check your progress on Friday morning and put a grade in then.
If you are confused about how to access Khan Academy please email me. I can walk you through it or even do a video conference. You can also talk to other folks in the class. I am counting last week as a transition week (no grades) but will start giving a participation grade for SAT prep this week. ACT question of the day from Kaplan is a good habit to get into but, in the interests of keeping things simple for you--and allowing you to focus on your coursework--I’m keeping things very simple this week: just one hour at Khan Academy.
I’m also aware college classes are starting today. I suspect you have a lot going on, and that you may be experiencing a weird mix of feeling both overwhelmed and not feeling like you want to do much of anything. This is pretty common and normal during this transition while everyone tries to figure out how to adjust when time is so externally unstructured. During a time like this, you have to create your own structure--sort of like people who work from home--and the transition can be hard. If you stick with it and make effort, I do think it will get easier--and it will be a skill that can serve you in the future. A lot of people these days have jobs that involve at least some teleworking and figuring out how to do this well is a useful skill for the future.
One thing you may find helpful is to set up some kind of schedule for yourself each day. Khan Academy has a sample schedule for a high school student here. You can of course modify it in any way you want. What I like about it is it groups all of school together and then schedules for free time as well. It also schedules for exercise. Something to think about.
Please know I’m here if anything arises--thoughts, questions, concerns--just email me. I’ll work with you--and I can also try and help connecting you with resources. I’m sending good thoughts that this week becomes as good for you as is possible. Take care--
WEEK 1: Monday, March 23 + Wednesday, March 25
I know that this week is causing upheaval for you in all kinds of ways--perhaps small--or perhaps large--and I don’t want Sophomore Seminar to become another burden. At the same time, I do think you’ll feel better when you look on these few weeks--however long they may last--and are able to say--it was weird and sometimes hard but I used it well. One way to use it well is just to prepare for the future by studying for the ACT. This will also help you with Math and Reading which are going, in turn, to help you with so much of what you want to do going forward. So, in the interests of you having a productive but not overly stressful week, I’m going to make this week in seminar really simple.
Please do the ACT Question of the day on at least 2 different days and record on a sheet of paper. You can divide a blank sheet into four quadrants. Remember: Label the question with the kind of test. Don’t just put the letter answer. Show your work for Math and Science when applicable--and for all the subjects defend why your answer is correct. If you feel like doing more than 2 days, go ahead--those can be put in the bank for later.
Please go to Khan Academy and continue with your Math diagnostic quizzes. Between the two days plan to finish your Math diagnostic quizzes. Once you’ve finished with the diagnostic quizzes you can go ahead and start the Math that is recommended to you--or you can save that until next week. Your choice.
(note: from my side in Khan Academy I’ll be able to tell if you’re logging in and doing the work so you won’t need to keep a paper record of this.)
You should plan to spend 1 hour a week doing SAT prep in Khan Academy along with the 2 ACT questions of the day.
I'll be posting participation grades based on your SAT work--not on accuracy but on effort.
Please take good care of yourself and be kind to the people around you--we’re all going to need that. Take care and don’t hesitate to email me if you have any questions or concerns.
Monday, March 16 Spring break begins
No class today since spring break has been extended. I will post instructions by Monday, March 23 on expectations for sophomore seminar during this online part of the course. They won’t be burdensome--I promise--if you keep up with things. This is actually a really good opportunity for you to do some ACT prep that can greatly benefit you later. Please feel free to email me if you have any questions.