Well…we made it to the last week of school for the 19-20 school year. What a way to end it, right!?
I don’t want to get all wordy and write something so long that you’re not going to read anyway. But I do want to say a few things. Please make sure you read all of the way through.
This has been a struggle…for you, for your families, for us, for me. We have all done our best to try and make it through the best way we know. Never in my lifetime did I think that we would face what we have these last few months. While we may not have seen eye to eye on things, I’m proud of you for making it through. I said in the beginning that we are in this together, and we are. Trying to keep things as “normal” in a not-so-normal situation was definitely a challenge.
That being said, this is the last week. You will NOT have to complete journal entries for this week in the normal manner. THERE WILL BE TWO (2) THINGS THAT YOU WILL NEED TO COMPLETE BY WEDNESDAY, JUNE, 10 FOR ME:
- End of the year/semester wrap up: You will need to write one more thing for me. I want you to complete an end of the year/semester write up. I usually ask my students at the end of the year to provide me an evaluation/insight in how the semester in class went for you. You will set it up the same way that you did for all of the journal entries.
- You are going to start a new Google doc
- Click on the top left where it says Untitled Document. Click on that one time and change it to “Last Name First Name ID End of the Year Wrap Up”. (This is the only acceptable title. Anything else will not be accepted).
- In the document itself, at the top left, where the cursor is (not in the header), you are going to type: 8-6-2020 or 8 June 2020.
- Press enter once.
- You will begin your write up. Begin paragraphs with a tab, and then a capital letter. Use complete sentences, and proper punctuation.
- Begin with an introduction
- Answer all of the questions below and add whatever else you would like.
- CHECK YOUR SPELLING AND PROOFREAD YOUR WORK!! (Tools menu – Spelling & Grammar – Spelling and Grammar Check)
- Put your name and ID number in the footer on the left side (Insert menu- Headers & Footers – Footer).
- Select the line where you typed the date.
- Click on Format menu – Paragraph Styles – Heading 1 – Apply ‘Heading 1’
- When you finish the write up, share it with me (click on the share button in the top right and then enter in my email address: ferrisy@dearbornschools.org) so that I receive it.
- What worked well, and why?
- What would you do differently, and why?
- What do you think of the class, and why? (This about being in the class and things we did prior to the shut down).
- Is there anything that you would want me to consider doing differently for future reference, and why? (Think about being in the class and things we did prior to the shut down for this one)
- Your overall experience of the remote/online learning. Would you want to do it again? Would you prefer to be in class 100%? Would you prefer to have online 100%? Would you want a split schedule (some days online, some days in school)? Explain why for each of your choices.
- You can include criticism, just don’t be rude. Not everything is positive, but you can always take a negative and make suggestions with it.
2.WEEKLY CHECK IN: ON WEDNESDAY, send me an email letting me know you’re checking in. Please compose the email correctly:
- Subject line: Check in 6-10-2020
- Greeting: Dear Ms. Ferris,
- Paragraph/sentence letting me know you’re checking in and anything else you wanted to say.
- Closing (Sincerely,)
- Your Name (first and last)
GRADES:
I’ve been getting a lot of emails about grades and the gradebook. Yes, I know that your grades may look like they are “not moving.” They are moving. Unfortunately, they aren’t moving as much as they would be if the assignments were being completed in class because the point values would be more. Your percentage is moving, while the grade may not.
The district plan for this shut down is graded differently than what the normal grading scale would look like, so at the end of all this, I have to enter grades in manually.
As I explained at the start of all this, the grade before the shut down is the starting point.
- If you were passing before the shut down, and doing MOST/ALL of the required work throughout the shut down, you will receive a G on your report card for the final grade (this gives you credit for the class without it affecting your GPA in a negative way). You will NOT see this in the gradebook as I will have to go in manually and enter the letters.
- If you were failing before the shutdown:
- and you were doing MOST/ALL of the required work and check ins during this shut down, you will also receive a G on your report card for the final grade, instead of the E.
- and you did minimum/NO required work and check ins during this shut down, I will review each student’s work and determine if you will receive credit (G) or no credit (N). (This would be a good time to make sure you do the assignment I posted today to make sure that you at least did SOMETHING) since there is no make up work that can be done for this class.
- An “E” in the gradebook doesn’t necessarily mean that you will fail computer applications. There are a lot of factors to consider. Make sure you do the assignment posted for this week if you’re not sure and worried!!
Credit means that you will not be behind credits for graduation and you WILL NOT have to repeat the class (which is good but not because you didn’t get all of the fun, useful information that should be taught in computer applications!)
No credit means that you will have to take the class during summer school or in the upcoming school year(s) to make up for it.
Please do not email me and ask me what your grade is, or if you’re passing or failing. As I have stated above, make sure you do the assignment posted for this week if you are worried and not sure. Do it well, do it completely, and do it like your grade depended on it, right!?!?
PARENT SURVEY
Lastly, here is a survey that your PARENTS need to take (not you) regarding different situations that may happen in the fall.
For translation assistance, parents may call 313-580-2532 Monday June 8th through Friday June 12th 8:30a.m. through 4:30p.m.
School ReOpen Committee Parent Survey #1 https://forms.gle/DNx3eN8hcRpXsfSs5
