Grades: Check Powerschool link on the Laguna Middle
School website please, http://lams.slcusd.org/
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Spelling lists and vocabluary exercises
Essay Structure and Procedures handout-- the handout that will change your life!
Research Presentation
Gradesheet
The next KBAR log is due 11/20/09. A new log will be due every two weeks after this date. I do not accept late KBAR reading logs. Extra logs are kept in the room by the door, but please be responsible for using the one I give on each due date (SAVE PAPER, TREES, TIME, ENERGY).
Your grade-- I use Powerschool now, so the Laguna site shows what's in the computer. I update the computer "book" every two to three weeks. Track your performance by considering your returned work-- how students did it for hundreds of years before web sites! Check Powerschool every so often; see if your record of your performances matches mine. Better yet, don't pay much attention to your grade; focus instead on the learning and go after the assignments with enthusiasm. I guarantee your grade will be in the top ranks if you do. Email me with specific questions or concerns.
What can you do to raise your grade?
1. Keep up during class time; take advantage
of every minute because ideas written about and discussed in class are
the same ones I'm looking for in essays and exams. TAKE NOTES. Writing
information and ideas forces you to test your understanding; if you can't
write it, you have a signal showing when and where to ask the teacher and/or
classmates to clarify the material. Be honest in your effort to understand,
then feel free to slow me down in complicated discussions where needed.
Enter the room ready to absorb as much as possible. Note-taking is one
important tool that helps you do this. Careful homework, obviously, helps,
too.
2. Improve the work. Look over your mini essays and add detail to your responses; extract key quotes from the literature that might strengthen your essays. Digging through the mini essay prompts, your responses, and the literature will improve your familiarity with the key concepts I'll be looking for in essays and exams.
3. Make up the work. Check the postings and turn in any outstanding work. All assignments EXCEPT KBARs are eligible for half credit up to the final week of each semester.
*Please don't ask me for extra credit. It is available throughout the year, but will not serve to bail you out. Some assignments early in the first semester will be 100% "extra credit." They will be announced as such. If you are interested in extra credit, take advantage of these opportunities as they crop up. They are not offered later. Exceed my expectations on ANY assignment at ANY point in the year, and you will receive extra credit-- read the prompts carefully and GO BIG! (But remember, quantity does not translate to quality; in fact, it often hurts).
Diversions/fun: