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Parent Information Page

I am excited to have your child as my student this year. We will be working together to ensure they have the basics needed to provide them with a successful future. It is my goal to become an active participant of the learning processes of my students by motivating them to develop skills necessary to become tomorrow’s leaders.

I will be implementing technology in the classroom in order to prepare your children for the fast-paced society they will become a part of. Each and every student in my classroom will have ample opportunity to learn and use new technologies. If your child does not have access to technologies in the home, ample opportunities to use school resources will be provided. Your child will also be able to access computers from the public library. If your child does not have a library card, a form can be sent home with your child in order to obtain one. The card must be returned to the public library not the school. Please note that you or another guardian must be present in order for your child to be issued a public library card.

Every student has the right to a free and unbiased education and to express themselves through literature and other various ways. No matter your child's independent reading and writing level, it is my intention to raise that level. I believe in these things, because an education is the only thing that a child can possess that can never be taken from them. An education is the only thing in your child's life that is all their own, and their thoughts and their ideas form the basis of their education. Reading can be an escape from their everyday world, and writing is an expression of who they are.

This website has been designed to help your children, my students, understand the three areas of language arts. If your student is having difficulty or what they need cannot be found on this page, please contact me. My contact information is on the left side of the page.

Inclusion and What It Means for Your Child

More and more, we are moving closer toward an inclusive classroom environment. Inclusion benefits all students in the classroom, even students who excel beyond the levels of their peers. Because I will be implementing collaborative learning and peer tutoring opportunities, students at a higher level than their peers will gain a more in-depth cognitive understanding of the materials covered in this class. Likewise, both their peers and I will teach students with learning difficulties, which will help them gain an understanding of the material. Therefore, inclusion provides a richer learning environment for all students present. I am not your child's teacher, but a part of their learning team.

Rules & Procedures

Your child will be expected to adhere to the rules and procedures set up in the classroom. I have five rules that your child will be expected to follow:

No speaking during the instruction portion of the class. During this time directions and expectations will be discussed. It is for the student's benefit that this rule must be followed. If a student expects to master the content, they must pay attention to instruction. If the instruction includes a discussion portion, your child must raise their hand to join in the discussion. Blurting out the answers can quickly get out of hand, and control of the classroom can be lost.
Respect your neighbor. Respect yourself. Respect is reciprocal. Your child is expected to use appropriate language in the classroom. They will not be allowed to taunt or bully their classmates. I will not tolerate insults, profanity, racial slurs, etc. in my classroom. Your child expects to be treated with respect; therefore, I expect them to treat others with respect. This also means during group presentations and group project development, your child will be expected to work in a manner that is appropriate for the project assigned.
Academic integrity is expected at all times in this course. Unless work is the result of a group project, your child will not be allowed to look on to their neighbors' papers to find answers. Your student is expected to do their own work and not have someone else do their work for them. When writing a paper, your child will cite their sources. The technology we have available to us helps us determine whether or not a thought or idea is an independent thought or idea, or if the thought or idea was taken from someone else's work.
Agreed upon class rule. The students will come up with and agree upon this rule for the class period, and you will be provided with this additional rule at a later time.
Agreed upon class rule. The students will come up with and agree upon this rule for the class period, and you will be provided with this additional rule at a later time.

As previously stated, your child will be expected to follow the rules set up for this class.

The first infraction will result in a mark in the discipline book, and your child will be redirected.
The second infraction will result another mark in the discipline book, your child will be redirected and verbally warned.
The third infraction will result in another mark in the discipline book, your child will be redirected, verbally warned, and an e-mail / phone call will be made to you or another guardian.
The fourth infraction will result in another mark in the discipline book, and your child will be sent to the principal's office for further disciplinary action.

This procedure will be followed for all of the five classroom rules except academic integrity.

For the first infraction, a zero will be recorded for the assignment with the possibility to redo the assignment on their own after school. However, the student will not receive above a 60 on the assignment.
For the second infraction, a zero will be recorded with no possibility to redo the assignment for a higher grade.
For the third infraction, a zero will be recorded with no possibility to redo the assignment for a higher grade. Also, you will receive an e-mail / phone call informing you of the problem.
For the fourth infraction, a zero will be recorded with no possibility to redo the assignment for a higher grade, you will be contacted via e-mail / phone call, and your child will be sent to the principal's office for further disciplinary action.

Other instances that void the above five step discipline procedure include but are not limited to:

Acts of violence
Violent out-bursts
Endangering the safety of self or others
Fighting and/or bullying

It is my goal to provide your child and the children of other parents with a safe environment in which they can learn. Therefore, I will provide ample opportunity for rewarding my students with a variety of awards for positive behavior. The reward system will be a class wide reward system in which the students will be given a mark for every day that there are fewer than two infractions for the entire class period (this does not include academic integrity infractions). After the class receives ten marks, a reward will be discussed and agreed upon by the class. This will help your children learn to work together as a team and remember to monitor and manage their own behavior. Thus, ensuring them success in the future.

Cell Phone Policy

We all know that a teenager's cell phone is their best friend, and we do not want your child to lose their best friend even if it is temporary. Therefore, your child must adhere to the cell-phone rules set up by the school district during my class period. In order to remove the temptation from your child, they will be assigned a number at the first of the semester. This number is marked on a slot on a shelf in the classroom. Your child will be required to place their cell phone in the slot for the class period. They will be reminded to pick up their cell phone at the end of the class period every day. If your child's cell phone is not in its slot and goes off during the class period, or your child is texting during the class period, then it is a disruption to the learning of themselves and others. Therefore, the phone will be taken up. If the phone is in its slot and goes off, your child will be asked to turn the phone off or to silent, but the phone will not be taken up and disciplinary action will not be taken.

With that said, we may use their cell phones for collaborative learning projects. Therefore, your child may be allowed to text or call only the classmates from this class period during the class period. If this is the case, no disciplinary action will be taken for the use of the cell phone.

Your child will be responsible for keeping up with their own cell phone. I will not be held responsible for lost or stolen cell phones during the class period.

Click on the links to the below to get to the required section. If what you need assistance which is not covered in this website, please contact me. My contact information is below: