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Lindsey Ringstaff » Class Syllabus

Class Syllabus

6th Grade Math Course Syllabus


Contact Information:


Course Outline:

  • Unit 1: Equivalent Forms of Fractions, Decimals, and Percents
  • Unit 2: Operations with Positive Rational Numbers
  • Unit 3: Ordering Fractions, Decimals, and Integers
  • Unit 4: Operations with Integers
  • Unit 5: Proportional Reasoning with Ratios and Rates
  • Unit 6: Equivalent Expressions and One-Variable Equations
  • Unit 7: One-Variable Inequalities
  • Unit 8: Algebraic Representations or Two-Variable Relationships
  • Unit 9: Geometry and Measurement
  • Unit 10: Data Analysis
  • Unit 11: Personal Financial Literacy
  • STAAR Review
  • Unit 12: Essential Understanding of Proportionality
  • Unit 13: Essential Understanding of Equations

Grading Policy:

Grades

  • Minimum of 6 daily grades (50% weight)
  • Minimum of 2 test grades (50% weight)

Homework:

  • In general, I will not assign extra homework throughout the week.
  • If students do not complete assigned work during class time, it is expected that students complete assignment as homework and bring back the next school day. 

Classroom Expectations:

  • All electronic devices are NOT allowed in class.
  • Be prepared for class every day with all supplies needed and in assigned seat when the tardy bell rings to promptly begin activities for the day.
  • Be positive, polite, and respectful to all staff, all students, and yourself for best learning environment.

Teacher Webpage Information:

 




Absent/Late Work

  • If a student is absent, that student is responsible for completing his/her make-up work (one make-up day is allowed for each day the student is absent).
  • All make-up work will be available in the absent/extra copy hanging folders on the classroom wall or on Google Classroom. Remember:  It is the student’s sole responsibility to make up any work that is owed. All reteaching is available via video recording on google classroom only.
  • If a student knows he/she is going to be absent, please ask for any make up work before leaving for that absence OR check Google Classroom.
  • All assignments MUST BE turned in to me in person only. If looking on google classroom at missing work, student must print off and physically turn in to me.
  • Assignments are considered a zero if submitted after 5 days. However, the student IS still responsible for getting the assignment turned in to keep himself/herself from having further consequences.

DISTRICT POLICY

Late Work

Teachers are encouraged to work with students and families when assignments are not completed by due dates. The grade penalties listed below are the maximum permissible, but teachers may work in conjunction with campus administration to make other reasonable arrangements for the completion of work, especially in extenuating circumstances.

  • Late assignments may receive a maximum of 10 percent deducted per late day. One day is defined as one school-calendar day.
  • Teachers may record “zeros” as placeholders while awaiting completed latework. Although not required, best practice is to communicate to parents this planned gradebook practice at the beginning of the year to avoid misunderstandings.
  • After the fifth day late, the assignment may be recorded as a zero if the teacher has attempted to use school day homeroom time and/or provided at least one before/after school option.
  • Must email and/or call the parent before the zero becomes permanent; it is recommended that students are made aware prior to parent contact to encourage work submission.

Grading Categories

  1. Major Assignments:  Major assignments may include formal tests, projects, compositions, presentations, or performance assessments. Generally, major assignments evaluate multiple learning standards as the culmination of multiple days of instruction and practice. (On-level is 50% and Honors is 60%)
  2. Minor Assignments: Minor assignment grades represent daily and/or weekly work of students.  Minor assignments are usually formative in nature, and must include multiple forms of evidence. For example, the category average may not consist solely of reading logs or solely of pop-quizzes. Teachers should work collaboratively within teams and with campus leaders to ensure that a variety of student work accurately reflects progress towards mastery of the TEKS. (On-level is 50% and Honors is 40%)
  3. Other Daily Work (optional): This optional category may be used by a course-specific teacher team in grades 6 – 12 to represent the efforts that may be specific to a content area (such as daily skills checks, reading logs, etc.) This category is a small percentage of the overall six-weeks grade, but can serve as a valuable way to communicate students’ completion of daily practices and routines that support mastery of the standards. (On-level and Honors 5%-15%)

Minimum Number of Grades and Reporting Procedures

  • Teachers should enter at least one grade per week and there should be at least one major grade and two minor grades by progress reports.
  • Major grades: A minimum of 2 major assignment grades must be recorded per subject, per six-weeks. Students may not go longer than 4 weeks without a graded major assignment.  CBAs may be used as a major grade. Major assignments are subject to the Second-Chance Learning guidelines contained in this Regulation.
  • Minor grades: In academic core subjects: A minimum of 6 grades must be recorded, per subject, per six weeks. Students must not go longer than 2 weeks without a graded minor assignment. “Doubleweight” of assignments may occur only after the minimum number of grades has been met without the double-weight.
  • Regardless of the category of an assignment, no single assignment may comprise more than half of the major assignment category weight for a student’s report card grade. For example, a test cannot be recorded twice if it then comprises the entire major assignment category for that grading period.
  • Exceptions for minimum numbers of assignments in a six-weeks period may be approved per grade level subject by a campus principal when events such as State assessment or weather closures present barriers to timely, authentic grades.

Second-Chance Learning and Grading

Second attempts to demonstrate mastery are only required for major assignments. Teachers who choose to also offer second-chance options for minor assignments should take care to ensure that grades are still providing a realistic picture of learning to families.

  1. Whole-class Second-Chance Learning: If fewer than 70% of the students in a single on-level or honors preparation per teacher demonstrate mastery of the TEKS on a major assignment, this generally indicates that an evaluation was misaligned to the preceding instruction, or that the class experienced a major disruption to the learning environment.
  • If fewer than 70% of students demonstrate mastery, the teacher must provide an opportunity to the entire class for grade mitigation (curves, no-weighted questions, etc.) and will create a plan to spiral, review, orre-teach the standards from that major assignment. Plans are not required to be implemented immediately; teachers should consider the additional curriculum pacing and prerequisite skills to determine the best timeline for second-chance learning.
  • Grade mitigation could include re-tests or other assignments designed to replace the problematic original assignment.
  • Teachers may choose to apply this practice for the whole class anytime he/she is concerned with the level of mastery, even if 70% of students “pass” the assignment.
  • This practice does not apply to semester exams, benchmark tests, diagnostic assessments, or products resulting from an extended process such as research papers or projects.
  • Whole-class second-chance learning and grading opportunities must be provided during class time.
  1. Individual Second-Chance Learning: If at least 70% of the students in a single preparation per teacher demonstrate mastery of the TEKS on a major assignment, teachers reflect upon possible causes and plan solutions for the remaining students who did not demonstrate mastery.
  • The teacher should consider the student’s past academic history classroom behavior, work habits, and life circumstances to determine whether the failing grade is an accurate reflection of learning versus a reflection of different concerns.
  • In grades 6 – 12, re-teaching and/or retesting is not required when a student: Cheats, Refuses to complete and submit classwork or homework, Habitually fails major tests on the first attempt and does not take advantage of re-teaching opportunities, student-teacher conferences, and/or parent-teacher conferences. Parents must be notified that such a pattern has been identified and is jeopardizing future flexibility before second-chance opportunities are suspended, Has been provided with multiple graded checkpoints and reteaching / tutoring over the course of an extended product / project. In this case, the efforts made by the teacher have provided second-chance learning during the product creation.

Options for second-chance major assignments:

  • Students who score below a 70% on a major grade have one opportunity to retake a test or a suitable alternative to a test covering the same material after review / tutoring / re-teach of content.
  • Test corrections may be used as a re-evaluation method if the teacher also requires appropriate justification and/or demonstration of reflection on a prior misunderstanding.

Grading the second attempt:

  • A maximum grade of 70% may replace the original major assignment grade in the gradebook, unless an extenuating circumstance warrants replacement of the grade.

Setting for the second attempt:

  • Retakes or alternate evaluations may be offered during the class period, before/after school when transportation can be pre-arranged with the school or family, or during an advisory or other school-day timeframe.

I, ___________________________________, have read through this syllabus and understand the expectations that have been set for me. 



Student Signature _______________________________________     Date __________________



Parent Signature _______________________________________       Date ___________________