Atkins High School

   Learning is an active process.  Showing up for class is a start, but it is not enough to be successful.  To approach your learning potential, you need to take notes, ask and answer questions, complete all your work, and study the content.  I will communicate to you my expectations for the work you do.  At the beginning of each unit, you will receive a lesson summary sheet that includes the essential question, the activities, vocabulary, and summarizing assignment for each day.  The essential question should guide your learning and the summarizing assignment should give you a chance to practice and assess whether you learned it.  You will also be given rubrics for projects and lab notebooks/writeups.  I will be using that rubric to assign you points, so it would be wise to pay attention to it and evaluate your work before you turn it in.  When assignments are given with a due date, then you will be expected to turn it in on time.  Failure to do so will result in a loss of points, however, it is still expected that you turn it in.  It is the process of doing the assignment that you do not want to miss. Nothing can take the place of preparation and hard work.  This is what it takes to be successful in class, in school, and in most endeavors in life.  However, if you find that you need extra help, then I am generally available and willing to help you out after school.  You just need to ask.

 

Parents have the greatest influence on a student's success.  It is my hope that the parents of my students will be highly engaged with their student's learning.  That includes following their progress in PowerSchool's Parent Portal, encouraging and monitoring their study habits at home, and helping them with time management.  With the availability of the Parent Portal, parents no longer have to rely on progress reports to be generated by the teacher.  If they are following their child's progress, they should never be surprised by a final grade.  Parents are encouraged to contact me whenever they have questions or concerns and can expect me to respond.  

 

 

 

I follow the grading scale of the WSFCS.  However, each class may weigh each assignment differently.   In most classes, the categories of assignments are assessments, daily work, techniques, lab writeups, and projects.  Please read the course syllabus for more details on how grades are weighted. In general, I give letter grades to assignments rather than numeric grades, except on objective tests.

 

In addition to helping the student become competent in the curriculum standards, teachers are to help students develop skills that will increase their chances of success in life.  College admissions, job posting, and many others aspects of adulthood have hard deadlines that must be met to find success.  Therefore, I feel it is the responsibility of the school and teachers to help teach students in time management, planning, and responsibly meeting deadlines. When assignments are given, there will be an associated deadline for full credit.   For assignments turned in beyond the deadline, up to a letter grade will be deducted for each day late - up to a week. Beyond a week, a 50 is the highest grade that a student can expect to receive on the assignment. 

 

You must be present to win!  Six or more absences in a grading period will result in a failing grade unless time is made up or you receive a waiver.  You are in preparation for the workforce which demands that you be present to do your job.  Plus, these classes are lab classes and thus cannot be made up.  You must be here to complete the labs or come by and make them up.

 

The students are expected to come to class prepared, be respectful of what we are trying to accomplish and of others, and to give their best effort every day.  Those students failing to do this can expect the steps below.  Depending on its nature, however, an offense can escalate immediately to the last step if warranted.

We use computers a lot in these classes.  Misuse of computers (ie. inappropriate sites, Facebook, unauthorized videos/music/games) may result in an alternative assigment or failing grade.  The student may also lose access to the computer in the classroom or entire school for a specific period of time. 

The copy-and-pasting of computer text into your work is considered plagiarism and can be dealt with according to the school board policy which allows a failing grade to be given for the assignment and a discipline referral be written.

 

 Student Work Rubric