Post date: Apr 4, 2020 2:42:38 PM
Greetings to all my Ravens and Raven families! While the craziness of the world still continues, I think we're all doing a relatively good job of keeping things as normal as possible considering the current state of things. We've officially started spring break, which likely won't look the same for most families as spring breaks of the past. To help everyone find ways to stay occupied while staying at home, Mr. Strittmatter put together this calendar of virtual field trips families can take at home! I'll be using a few of them myself now with my nieces and nephews and then again later for some class virtual field trips I'm hoping we can "go" on for a little final project that reviews all of our content for the year, looking for how math is applied in the world around us. I'll talk about that more as we get closer to that time.
By now you should have gotten several updates from the county regarding grades and instruction moving forward. In regards to grades, the county has decided that the first two marking periods will make up 70% of the overall grade (35% for each marking period; high school classes with an exam as a foreign language will be calculated a little differently) and the third marking period will make up 30% of grades. The county will be going through and updating all the grade books for all teachers, but I've gone ahead and recalculated mine so folks will be able to better determine what this looks like. The individual term grades aren't changing, but you can see the updated final grade for my class at least already. To check this, go onto StudentVUE/ParentVUE, choose Grade Book on the left side and switch it to Marking Period 4 on the right side. Again, all grade books will eventually be updated, but please feel free to reach out if you want help/clarity on how to calculate grades for any other class.
There won't be a marking period 4 grade at all since we are no longer taking new grades for any of the time we are closed, however we are still allowed to take grades for make-up work from this term (MP3) through April 24th. Digital assignments are an easy things for kids to make up as all they'll need to do is go onto Google Classroom (or Canvas for the assignments in the final unit), complete the work, and submit as they are used to from earlier in the year. Paper assignments are a little trickier but definitely not impossible. If students still have the paper copies of their work, they can simply take a picture and of it and send it to me, either added into a Google Doc, attached as a message on Canvas, or emailed by themselves or a parent/guardian. If they do not have the paper still, digital copies can be found in the unit folders. Students can print any of the papers and send me pictures of their work as previously stated, make a copy of any of the Google Docs and share those with me once completed, or (for PDF files) students can send me a Google Doc where they typed out their work and answers. In regards to ALEKS, during the regular school year students didn't have many options for making up missed/incomplete weeks of ALEKS as there was always a new week to fill, students now have the opportunity to do so since any newly completed weeks on ALEKS will take the place of those missed/incomplete weeks earlier this term. Finally, quiz corrections can also be sent to me as a Google Doc using the regular class correction form, but students are reminded that they MUST fill out all parts of the form in order to get credit; details for how to properly complete the error analysis portion can be found here. Even if students do not have their original paper copy the quizzes from this term, all of the quizzes with their selected answers can be found on Canvas. If there are any questions now or in the future about any of this, specific assignments, or "tech support" questions, please don't hesitate to reach out!
I've just finished updating grades with all assignments turned into me at this point, including all those sent last night by students. I'm soooo proud of all the kids who are still working to improve their grades and (more importantly) their overall understanding of the math. As I posted this morning on my class Instagram, the point of education is not grades, it's attaining knowledge that will continue to help you learn and grow as a person. To that end, I can't wait to continue the learning process with all of my kiddos after spring break and I hope they feel the same way! I'll continue to update our original letter and guidelines with everything kids and their families need to know and work on through the end of the school year; families can find information for all of EDMS here on the school's Online Learning Hub or for any other school in the district here on the county's Instructional Support site. I know wrapping up this school year won't look anything like what we've experienced in the past, but we'll make it work! As a school, we hope to plan some kind of "final farewell" to the school year once things return to normal and it's again safe to have social gatherings, but I'm also thinking of taking a day or two to maybe hang out at a local spot (perhaps a park or local coffee shop or restaurant) so that anyone who wants to stop by and catch up in person rather than via webcam can do so. I miss all of my kids and I know many of them are missing the social aspect of school, so I can't wait until I can see everyone in person once again! Until that time, I remind all of my Ravens to persevere and flourish. Those are the two words I told you were my words of inspiration that first day we came together as a class. You each then picked out your own word of inspiration. Whatever that word was, keep focusing on that as you navigate these strange times. If you do that, you will always SOAR in the end!
As always, please don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions or if I can be of any help. I send you all my love and hope that you are all staying safe, happy, and healthy!