In order to align with the district's curriculum expectations, I utilize standards-based grading in Physical Education and Health. Your student is assessed on their physical skills, as well as their cognitive understanding of the concepts and content taught in my class. We will also have several assessments geared towards students' social-emotional learning skills. Assessments and assignments are commonly in the form of quizzes, peer reviews with a partner, or skill checks administered by the instructor. We will also be doing some self checks and short personal reflections this year. Health class concepts are assessed through more traditional homework assignments and will be available on Google Classroom. Physical Education as a whole has moved away from traditional "gym class" grades based on behavior traits such as participation, attitude, effort, and dressing out, etc, and my class structure is reflective of this reshaping. My students are graded on what they know about the content I am teaching and their abilities to demonstrate it in various psychomotor settings.

As stated in the Expectations section of the site, your student is required to have appropriate athletic shoes for class every day. (Vans, Hey Dudes, Converse, etc are acceptable - unacceptable footwear includes boots of any kind, slippers, Birkenstocks, sandals, slides, Crocs, high-heeled shoes, etc) This is both a personal responsibility skill as well as a safety concern, but will not be graded for credit in my class. (We use a fun classroom competition instead to motivate students to bring their shoes!) Grades will serve as communication for attaining and demonstrating the skills and concepts learned in class. See the Unit Plans section of the site to learn more about how skills will be assessed. 

Google Classroom + PowerSchool

All of my assignments that can be completed online will be posted to your student's Google Classroom. Links for Classroom can be found here or here, with the codes listed below. Once your student has joined my Google Classroom, they shouldn't need the code again, but they are posted here for your reference. In terms of grading, I will not be using the Gradebook feature of that platform, due to the process of weighted grades and my current number of students (175+). The most accurate and up to date grades for your student can be found on PowerSchool. I update grades very regularly - several times a week if not daily. PowerSchool is your BEST resource for monitoring your student's progress in my class, as well as any missing work. 

"McKenzie County Public School District #1 believes that grades should reflect a student’s knowledge and proficiency of content standards.

All assignments, assessments, and grades will fall into one of two categories: Formative or Summative. 

30% Formative and 70% Summative [schoolwide]

Formative: formative assessments are meant to be used to guide instruction and should take place as the students are learning the material. Examples may include, but are not limited to, homework, classwork, labs, projects, quizzes, bell ringers, or exit tickets.

*Note: not all formative assessments need to be entered into the Gradebook [PowerSchool]. The goal is to assess where the students are at in the learning process.

Summative: summative assessments are the final assessment of the topic or unit of study and are used to measure how well the student has learned the required content throughout the unit. Examples of summative assessments may include, but are not limited to, projects, labs, papers, tests, or quizzes."

- Page 23, Watford City Middle School Parent + Student Handbook

Formative and summative assessments will be described in the Unit Plans section of this site and clearly defined for you and your student on PowerSchool, as well.