Freshmen Orientation Williamsburg Jr./Sr. High School

Mrs. Carrie Loose, School Counselor Mr. Travis R. Lee, High School Principal Freshmen OrientationWilliamsburg Jr./Sr. High School August 19th, 2013

WHS – Home of the BLUE PIRATES AGENDA • Welcome • Credits • Graduation Portfolio • Academic Advisors • Student Assistance Program (SAP) • GACTC • Agricultural Program • Dual Enrollment • Keystone Exams • PA Core (Common Core State Standards) • E-Alert System • School Mission • Q & A

WHS – Home of the BLUE PIRATES Credits • 26 Credits for graduation • 4 English • 4 Mathematics • 4 Science • 4 Social Students • 2 Arts and Humanities • 2.6 Health/Physical Education • 5.4 Electives

WHS – Home of the BLUE PIRATES Credits • 26 Credits for graduation (GACTC) • 4 English • 4 Mathematics • 3 Science • 3 Social Students • 2 Arts and Humanities • 2.6 Health/Physical Education • 7.4 Electives

WHS – Home of the BLUE PIRATES Credits • Credits for Grade Promotion • 6 Credits – Sophomore • 13 Credits – Junior • 19 Credits – Senior Welcome

WHS – Home of the BLUE PIRATES Graduation Portfolio • Career Paper – Grade 10 • Letter of Interest for Employment – Grade 11 • Resume – Grade 11 • Interview – Grade 12 • 2 Completed Applications – Advisors

WHS – Home of the BLUE PIRATES Graduation Portfolio • 3 Letters of Reference • 20 Community Service Hours • See guidelines • Presentations? • Electronic Submission? • Grade level service projects?

WHS – Home of the BLUE PIRATES Academic Advisors • Academic Advisors serve students by helping them record and keep graduation requirements and to give guidance about various school issues • Students will have the same advisor from 9th grade until graduation

WHS – Home of the BLUE PIRATES Academic Advisors • Homeroom teachers • Olweus Bullying Prevention Program Team Meetings • Mid-point progress reports and report cards • May help students with electronic graduation projects in the future

WHS – Home of the BLUE PIRATES Academic Advisors • Advisors for the Class of 2017 • Mr. Mike Farrell • Mrs. Cathy Mock

WHS – Home of the BLUE PIRATES Student Assistance Program (SAP) • SAP is utilized to help students that may be struggling with school or dealing with social and/or emotional issues • Confidential process • Used on an as-needed basis that gives students the varied level of supports that they need

WHS – Home of the BLUE PIRATES Student Assistance Program (SAP) • Referrals may come from: • Parent, student, teacher, self • Referrals followed-up with a phone call home and parent permission letter

WHS – Home of the BLUE PIRATES Greater Altoona Career and Technology Center (GACTC) • GACTC provides nearly 30 programs and certifications for technical employment and opportunities • See Student Handbook for programs • Fall presentation at WHS by GACTC school counselor • Fall 9th grade tour of GACTC • GACTC open house for parents • Applications due before Winter Break

WHS – Home of the BLUE PIRATES Agricultural Program • Many agricultural classes available • Delaware Valley articulation agreement • FFA

WHS – Home of the BLUE PIRATES Dual Enrollment • College courses available beginning with the junior year • On-Campus • Allegany College of Maryland • Penn Highlands • Mount Aloysius

WHS – Home of the BLUE PIRATES Dual Enrollment • College courses available beginning with the junior year • Off-campus • Juniata College • PSU – Altoona • Must maintain a 93% (“A”) average • Must have credits aligned to graduate and be in good standing

WHS – Home of the BLUE PIRATES Keystone Exams • End of course assessments for Career and College-Readiness Skills • Proficiency in Algebra I, Literature, and Biology are graduation requirements for the class of 2017 • Multiple opportunities to remediate skills and re-take exams • Project-Based Assessments • http://www.pdesas.org/module/assessment/Keystone.aspx • http://www.pdesas.org/module/assessment/About.aspx • http://www.pdesas.org/module/assessment/Graduation.aspx

WHS – Home of the BLUE PIRATES PA Core • New standards for learning expectations • Standards, Anchors, and Eligible Content • Standards inform the curriculum, but are not the curriculum • “Teaching to the test” • “PA Core” – “PA Common Core” – “Common Core State Standards” • FACT SHEET hand-out

WHS – Home of the BLUE PIRATES Common Core • Why the Common Core? • Video clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxefsLG2eps&list=UUF0pa3nE3aZAfBMT8

WHS – Home of the BLUE PIRATES Common Core • College and Career readiness expectations • Rigorous content and applications • Stress conceptual understanding as well as procedural skills • Organized around Mathematics/ELA principles • Focus and Coherence • Designed around research-based learning progressions whenever possible

WHS – Home of the BLUE PIRATES Common Core

WHS – Home of the BLUE PIRATES Rigor • Text Complexity • Lexile score ranges • Depth of Knowledge • Webb’s DOK, Bloom’s Taxonomy • Habits of Mind • ELA, Math • Assessments • PSSAs, Keystone Exams, PBAs

WHS – Home of the BLUE PIRATES Habits of Mind • ELA – Capacities of a Literate Individual (7) • They demonstrate independence • They build strong content knowledge • They respond to the varying demands of audience, task, purpose, and discipline • They comprehend as well as critique

WHS – Home of the BLUE PIRATES Habits of Mind • ELA – Capacities of a Literate Individual (7) • They value evidence • They use technology and digital media strategically and capably • They come to understand other perspectives and cultures

WHS – Home of the BLUE PIRATES Habits of Mind • Standards for Mathematical Practice (8) • Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them • Reason abstractly and quantitatively • Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others • Model with mathematics

WHS – Home of the BLUE PIRATES Habits of Mind • Standards for Mathematical Practice (8) • Use appropriate tools strategically • Attend to precision • Look for and make use of structure • Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning

WHS – Home of the BLUE PIRATES Common Core • Something to Think About . . . • Sir Ken Robinson: Changing Paradigms • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U

WHS – Home of the BLUE PIRATES Emergency Alerts • E-Alert System • Email alert • Text message alert • Facebook • District Website

WHS – Home of the BLUE PIRATES WCSD Mission Statement “All students will be given the opportunity to succeed in a changing world and become positive contributors to society.”

WHS – Home of the BLUE PIRATES Questions?

Freshmen Orientation Williamsburg Jr./Sr. High School