As we did after Spring Break last school year, we will be beginning the school year remotely through Google Classroom. I will be sending invitations for all of my students to join my Google Classroom. In addition, I will be asking all of my parents to be giving me their contact e-mail address, so that I may send all of you invitations as well. In the Spring, many students simply told their parents they were doing assignments when this was not always the case. In order for this remote learning section of our school year to be successful we will need to work together to hold our students accountable for completing online assignments, and attending online ZOOM class meetings. It is my hope that this beginning to our school year online, while less than ideal, will still get us off to the strong start that we are hoping for, so that when we transition back into a more traditional face-to-face classroom situation, we will hit the ground running. To make this a better educational experience, These are additional rules that I will be implementing while we are online.
- Choose a quiet space, free from distractions, to set yourself up for class. Turn off cell phones, TVs, etc. Exit other applications on your computer prior to entering the classroom.
- Come to class early.
- Dress appropriately. Remember this is still a classroom setting.
- Use your full name when you sign into the classroom.
- When you enter the classroom, make sure to enable both audio and video. You can click “Start Video” and “Join Audio” in the bottom menu. For audio connection, you can choose to connect via the computer or dial-in on your phone.
- Mute your microphone during the lesson to avoid disturbing the class with any background noise.
- Be respectful.
- Participate. When you have a question or comment, use the “Raise your Hand” button that can be found in the window that pops up when you click on Participants in the bottom menu. Wait to be acknowledged by the teacher before unmuting yourself to speak. You can also use the keyboard shortcut Option+Y on a Mac or Alt+Y on a PC to raise your hand.
- Use the chat responsibly. It is meant to facilitate conversation around the lesson topic, not for sideline discussions.
- When your class is over, leave the classroom by closing the window.
- Students MUST log into my Google Classroom EVERY DAY and complete the day's assignment, and turn it in in order to be counted present. Failure to do this can adversely affect our school's Federal funding, as well as causing you to fall farther and farther behind. On some days, assignments are maybe just a simple question that you will either answer in the chat or a Google Doc, while others may require a little more time and effort. I generally give the assignments for each day for all of my classes in the morning, and give a time for the assignment to be turned in by 7:00 or 8:00 PM, which gives students some flexibility in completing and turning them in.
- NO PLAGIARISM!!! Copying and pasting material from the Internet is cheating, and it will NOT be tolerated. I will catch you. I will give zeroes. And I will contact parents and Administration if it occurs.
- Do not simply click on an assignment and then not do the assignment. It registers on Google Classroom as turned in, which creates extra work for me to have to go in and confirm whether the assignment was actually done.
- Each Class has an assigned schedule for ZOOM meetings two times per week. You MUST make every effort to attend these ZOOM meetings. All ZOOM meetings are recorded, and attendance at the ZOOM meeting counts for that day for my class .Since each class period has designated days and times that are for that period alone, do not try to say you did not attend my ZOOM meeting because you were in another ZOOM meeting for another class. It simply wouldn't happen.
- Assignments turned in late carry a double penalty. By not turning in an assignment on time, you accumulate an absence for that day, PLUS you lose 10 points for every day the assignment is late. If you have some kind of family or health issue, parents please contact me and let me know, and I will be willing to discuss accommodating your student.
- When submitting an answer on a Google Doc, you must follow my formatting, which is Times New Roman font, 12 pt. sizing, Left justified, and double-spaced. Answers also need to be in complete sentences using proper grammar and punctuation.
- For students who are struggling, I will always devote a portion on the 2nd ZOOM meeting for each week for a kind of virtual tutoring session. Message me if you are needing help.
- Do not ask me for extra credit work if you still have assignments that you have not done. Catch up with all outstanding assignments, and then we can discuss extra credit.
- Use only the Google Classroom code that I send to your School Google Account. Do NOT use a code one of your friends has if they are in a different class period. You are supposed to be in the same Google Classroom as the Period you have on your Schedule. This should easily be spotted at the top of the Google Classroom page. If you somehow do not follow this direction and still end up in the wrong Google Classroom, you must let me know, drop from the wrong Google Classroom, and join the correct one with the correct code.