Expectations for teacher, parent, and student for the year 2017-2018 Steele ELA 8th Grade Expectations for teacher, parent, and student for the year 2017-2018

Remind TCMS uses the Remind App to keep parents updated on events. Events include school events, classroom events, projects, upcoming testing, and classwork due. Alpha, as a team, has a joint Remind. On iphone: open web browser and go to rmd.at/tchsalpha OR Text @tcmsalpha to 81010 on your phone. Please do this now.

Attendance – be here! We have some exciting news to share with all of TCMS! Every year we focus on student attendance, but this year we have some extra special incentives. Here is our plan. Perfect attendance will still be rewarded with a LARGE candy bar at the end of each nine weeks. We will bag them up by homeroom and give them to the teacher for a small celebration in the classrooms. Many teachers told us that some kids don’t want to be noticed for coming to school. We listened and made the above adjustments. Students that miss no more than TWO days in a nine week period will enter a drawing for a pair of Beats headphones. Students with 0, 1, or 2 absences in a quarter are eligible. Students can enter their name each nine weeks. That gives them four chances at the big prize. The exciting part is that we will have 8 pairs of Beats. A girl and a boy from each grade will be selected from the pot. Winners will be selected the last day of school. Must be present to win! :-)

Supplies for this class Composition notebook for interactive notebook (9-3/4 X 7-1/2) College-ruled paper (you are an 8th grader now) Pencils (bring to class EVERY day) Blue or black pens- ONLY!!!!! 2-1/2" binder with seven(7)dividers (grammar, 5- a-days, figurative language, novel unit, prefixes/suffixes, daily paragraph editing, and vocabulary). We have a lot to do! Colored pencils Scissors and glue stick Poster board (1 per 9-week period for book project)

***Homeroom class (optional but these will be needed during the year when cold/flu season hits the school) 1. tissue 2. hand sanitizer  3. Copy paper

Book projects We will go to the library every two(2) weeks. Students will get a novel approved by Mrs. Steele based on their Lexile score. Each student will record the novel in his/her reading folder and Mrs. Steele will sign it. Student MUST do the book project on that book only!! Any deviation will result in a zero. Book project grades are an EXAM grade. A zero will bring a student down at least one to two letter grades. Parents: Please check with your child DAILY to see how they are progressing on the book project. Book project guidelines, rubrics, and due dates are on my TCMS website-please check it. Book projects are NOT optional!

Grades Parents: Please sign into the Infinite Campus parent portal (directions are on the TCMS website). This allows you to check your student’s grades daily. If your student has a zero in ELA or reading, it is because they did NOT turn in the assignment. Please speak to them. I have already requested the work, so please address this issue with your student. If your student is absent, it is his/her responsibility to come to me to ask about missed work. Students have five(5) days to make up missed work.

Classroom Conduct In ELA, I have three(3) different subjects to teach in the same time that other teachers teach one. The three subjects are: reading, writing, and grammar. I teach from bell to bell and will not be interrupted with discipline issues. Each time I have to handle discipline issues, it takes anywhere from five to ten minutes to resolve-that steals instruction time from other students. This is not allowed.

Leave the excuses at the door Leave the excuses at the door. Work is not optional and neither is kindness. Treat me and your fellow students with respect! ALL rules in the handbook apply-read over them. If you didn’t do your homework, just admit it. If you didn’t understand the assignment, ask for help. If you didn’t study for the test, accept the grade and resolve to do better (with my help, if needed) next time. If you refuse to follow my rules, accept the consequences. This is MY classroom, and I am here to teach, to inspire, and to help you grow-I do not play favorites and I do not need or want an 8th grader as a friend.

Reasons for my rules and requirements ELA teachers are responsible for two of the five testing areas of the Georgia Milestones. That is twice that of other teachers. Strict adherence to the rules and requirements allows me to teach your student properly and have them ready for these two tests. When you believe my rules are a little excessive, just know this: Our Alpha team reading scores passing rate was twice that of the state last year. Many factors contributed to this and the lack of distractions along with the following of rules certainly enhanced the classroom experience.