1. Welcome to Curriculum Night! Ms. Keicher’s 7 th & 8 th grade Language Arts

2. Let me introduce myself! I attended Northern Illinois University I have a 4 yr. old Chocolate Lab, Seamus I taught English and Social Studies at a private school This is my 2nd year at Traughber

3. Thank you for introducing your children to me! If you haven’t done the parent survey, you can still go to my website to complete it: http://www.sd308.org/Page/13028 or find me on the teacher page of Traughber’s website and click on the beginning of the year tab. The link to the survey is embedded in the letter.

4. Communication:  Email is easiest: jkeicher@sd308.org  Phone –may take a day to respond  Watch for my email updates  Also check out my website for my online plan book, link to the Springboard online materials, and other helpful resources

5. Student logins User Name: MOST are first initial and full last name (jkeicher) but some include numerals at the end Passwords: TR-student id# (TR-123456)

6. Grading Fewer weighted grades in the book this year. We will “unpack” each major assessment before we begin the unit and track our work on the necessary skills – no surprises. Practice work & Formative Assessments will be tracked but not weighted.

7. Progress Tracking

8. Retakes/Redoing Work Most assessments may be retaken o Retake form on website o All unit work and Additional Practice must be completed before retake o Retake must be completed within 1 week of receiving graded assessment Redone work receives full credit No extra credit will be offered

9. Final Thoughts “The man who does not read has no advantage over the man who cannot read.” ― Mark Twain “The object of teaching a child is to enable him to get along without his teacher.” - Elbert Hubbard Children have more need of models than of critics. - Joubert