Ware Academy Spanish 2017-2018 Course Expectations cfulton@wareacademy.org In class, students should be ready and willing to do the following: Take notes and write down examples from the board. In your 1.5 inch white binders you will need: (4) divider tabs and reinforced lose leaf paper to take notes. The tabs should be as follows 1) Vocabulary 2) Handouts/Class work 3) Notes 4) Test/quizzes. I will also hand out Review sheets for assessments and these should go in tab number 4 as well. We will be organizing our binders at the end of every unit. Since Spanish does not have a text book the binder will serve as a resource for each student to use while studying and doing their Dialogue Rubrics.* please look for more information on Dialogue Rubrics on the page attached.6 th, 7 th and 8 th grades only. Pay attention and participate in class discussions and video sessions. Be prepared to take notes put on the board and during Video sessions. Listen to other classmates ideas and respond respectfully Work hard to grasp concepts that may be challenging and NEVER be afraid to ask as many questions as you need. Help classmates Work together in groups and/or pairs Complete all tasks given Participate in ALL activities and class work Test, quiz and project due dates will be posted at the beginning of each Unit on the dry erase circles on the chalk board in class. Please note that dates are an approximation as there may be some changes due to inclement weather/unforeseen circumstances. Each class has a separate dry erase circle. Students will put dates into their agendas during this class period. Please make sure to check these often. The Remind App will be used as follows: Test, quiz and project dates will be sent through Remind at the beginning of each Unit. A master Vocabulary list will be attached. Project requirements such as materials or food prep items
Field trip notices If your student is falling behind or needs extra help you may use the Remind App or feel free to email me. I will send pictures of tests and quizzes if a parent requests them. I will not communicate homework reminders through this App. You can sign up for the Remind app with the attached form or you can go to my website and click on the link for your corresponding class. Corrected quizzes will be used as study guides for unit test. Please make sure to keep these in your binder under the 4 th tab. * please see Test/Quiz correction policy on page attached. Make sure to get all material that you have missed because of absences. This is the students responsibility. He/she will have 5 days to turn it in from the date of return to school. After the 5 days 10 points will be taken off per day late as per the student handbook. If you have missed a test/quiz you have until the next Friday or class period (according to your grade level) to make it up. You can make it up on these days: 5 th through 8 th grade on Fridays 2:30 to 3:15 Lower school can take missed test/quizzes during the next class period. It is the students responsibility to make sure they make up all missed material and tests/quizzes. Make mistakes and learn from them Ask questions Have fun Try new things and above all have an open mind At home, students should be ready and willing to do the following: Complete homework This means: If I see a class twice a week I expect: Vocabulary to be reviewed twice a week for 5 minutes each night. You can do this on Quizlet, draw pictures, make sentences, have someone call out the words to you or whatever way is easier. If I see a class three times a week I expect: the same thing but three times a week for 5 minutes each night.
If I see a class 4 times a week I expect: the same thing but four times a week for 5 minutes each night. If I see a class 5 times a week I expect: the same thing but five times a week for 5 minutes each night. Students will occasionally have homework for class work that was not finished in class or for Dialogue Rubrics. Homework is not the same as Projects. Projects will come with a Rubric and a start and end date. Projects are not considered homework as they carry a quiz or test grade. Study for tests and quizzes If you have any sort of questions or need extra help, please do not hesitate to ask. I am here to make your language learning experience as easy and as enjoyable as possible. Search notes and go online for help if needed. We use spanishdict.com quite a bit in class (this is 100% free to use, and it also has a very handy app for your tablet or smart phone) this website will help you with definitions, verb tense and conjugation. You may NOT use Google translate or any other form of online/web translation service for ANY reason in Spanish class. Be open minded to new cultures and activities we go over in class. There are 21 Spanish speaking countries and I would like you to have fun and learn about the differences and similarities that we share. Consistency is the name of the game. Practice a little every day and have fun. Check my website often. Here you will find syllabi, vocabulary sheets for the current unit, worksheets that we are working on in class, videos and songs pertaining to the unit, and general class information. You can find my website here: https://www.wareacademy.org/about-ware/faculty-and-staff/fulton-cristina/ This class room expectation sheet will count as homework. This is an easy first 100% in the grade book.
Dialogue Rubrics Dear 6 th, 7 th and 8 th Grade Parents, I wanted to give you a bit more information on what a Dialogue Rubric is and how it works in Spanish class. Ware Academy Spanish has been using them since 2012 with Ms. Williams. They really are a fantastic way of evaluating how a student has absorbed the material during the unit. In Spanish class we have a three ring binder (usually white for upper school) that is separated into 4 sections. Section one is for our Master Vocabulary list. This list contains of all of the words that we will be learning during the unit. In lower school this list consists of only words but the higher in grade you go, and certainly once crossing into Upper School, the list consists of phrases and grammar formulas (ex. Ir + a+ infinitive to refer to the progressive form). We go over our list at the beginning of the Unit together as a class. Highlight verbs and words and/or formulas that are new or that need more attention. Section two is for the notes that we take in class. New grammar and grammar formulas, focus on spelling, pronunciation and culture go in this section. Section three is classroom hand outs and any other form of printable material that I have handed out in class. These are for practicing, getting acquainted with the culture lesson of the unit and certainly as a reference for study. Section four is for Test and Quizzes. This section is very important because all of our old quizzes and test should be easily available for the student to use as a study guide and as a REFERENCE guide. Test and Quiz REVIEW sheets should also go in this section. That finally brings me to the Dialogue Rubric - This is an informal assessment of how well the student has absorbed all of the material that we have covered for the Unit. The students generally have a class period to do this is, but there will be times that we do not have time to finish or that this needs to be taken home. The Dialogue Rubric IS NOT an assignment where I am looking for perfect grammar or perfect writing ; on the contrary, I am looking for the mistakes that are most commonly made so that those mistakes don t become a problem as we progress onto the next unit. The Dialogue Rubric is meant to be short. I am not asking the students for a paragraph or an essay style of writing. It is meant to be a dialogue between two or more people consisting of no more than 12 exchanges and no less than 8. So in a nutshell, I want your student to use his/her vocabulary list, notes and handouts to type up a very short conversation of what we learned in class. ( typed, Calibri font, 12 point) Let me give you an example:
Joe: Good morning Chris. How are you today? Chris: I am good Joe. The weather is very nice today. Joe: Yes! I am going to go swimming this afternoon. Would you like to go with me? Chris: Yes! I would love to go swimming with you. Where is the pool located? Joe: The pool is located behind the post office next to the movie theater. Chris: Oh yes! I have seen it before. See you this afternoon at 6:00? Joe: See you at 6:00 Chris: Goodbye Joe Joe: Goodbye Chris This is the typical conversation that I am looking for between friends or colleagues. This shows me that in this Unit they learned and/or retained about weather, leisurely activities and location. If your student is using Google translate I can 1.) Tell instantly because Google is using grammatical structures that are way more advanced than middle school Spanish. 2.) Most of the time Google translate gives you funny and silly translations because it takes words and translates them literally. And 3.) Your student is not using the knowledge that he/she has learned in class. I want students to use their binders and all of the wealth of information in them. I don t expect them to write something with which they are not familiar. Each Rubric has exactly what is expected in each conversation. I will attach a typical Rubric for you to see. I just want us (parents and teacher) to be on the same team and make Spanish fun, engaging and useful for the future. If you have any questions or would like to discuss this further, please feel free to contact me. I would be happy to help your child get caught up or explain in more depth. I usually have aftercare approx 3 days a week and they are more than welcome to stay on those days and get some extra help with me.
Opportunity to raise your Spanish Quiz or Test grade When a student takes a test or quiz in Spanish he/she has an opportunity to raise their grade. He/she will find a sheet (copied on bright colored paper) attached to the assessment. Opportunity to raise your Spanish Quiz or Test grade: 1. Type your name and date at the top of the page along with the title, Spanish Quiz/Test Corrections. 2. If you are in 6 th -8 th grade type the question number and the complete question as it appears on the quiz or test along with the correct answer (not just the letter for multiple choice). If you are in 4 th and 5 th grade you may neatly write out the complete question with the correct answer to the question as it appears on the quiz or test. 3. Attach your original quiz to your printed out corrections page. 4. You will not receive any points if your test is not signed (when parent signature is required. C or below) 5. You may earn up to half credit for points taken off for each question you do corrections for. 6. Corrections are due to the Quiz/Test correction basket on my desk on or before Please make sure that students follow these directions. No points if directions are not followed.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Class Expectations 2017-2018 Turn in to Spanish teacher on Monday September 11, 2017 I have read through the Class Expectations with my student(s) Parent name and I understand the expectations in Spanish class. I have read the Dialogue Rubric explanation sheet attached I have read the Opportunity to raise your Spanish Quiz or Test grade sheet attached Student Name (please print) Parent Signature Date *this will count as 1 st HW assignment