English 7, Blue Team Mr. Koondel and Ms. Brobmann (Periods 7 & 8)

1. Room 265: Periods 1, 2, 7, 8, 9 Extra Help: 7:30-8 AM Monday-Friday Periods 3, 4, 5, 6 Spelling Test Retakes at 8 AM Every Day Michael_Koondel@ManhassetSchools.org English 7, Blue TeamMr. Koondel and Ms. Brobmann (Periods 7 & 8)

3. English 7, Blue Team Homework Policy: All homework is due by 3:08 on the date assigned or points will be deducted for lateness. Exams: Reading and writing skills will be assessed weekly, and all essays may be revised for extra credit. Reading extra help is always offered at 7:40 a.m. (in room 265) on the day of all Outside Reading quizzes. There will be no 7th grade English midterm or final exam, but a midterm project will be assigned during the second quarter, and a culminating MLA research paper will be assigned during the fourth quarter. The 7th grade NYS English Language Arts assessment will be administered in April. Grades: Students are encouraged to keep current and accurate grade pages in the "Assessments" section of their English binders or in their planners. Individual assignment grades (other than pass/fail or checked work) will appear as fractions: the denominator indicating the total number of points possible for a given assessment, and the numerator indicating the total number of points scored. The final year grade will be an average of grades for each marking quarter, and all quarter/year grades will appear as alpha scores. Enrichment: Students are strongly encouraged at any time during the school year to improve their grades by designing (with the help of parents and/or the English teacher) an independent study, extra credit project or projects. Project suggestions include, but are not limited to, outside readings, Indian Ink articles, writing portfolios, contests, essays, short stories, poems, narratives, and journals. Students may earn up to 20 points of extra credit per marking quarter.

4. English 7, Blue Team Secondary School Testing Policy: Students may receive no more than three assessments per school day. Tests, quizzes, and long-term assignments will be posted in advance on the Assignments Calendar page of my teacher page on the district website. English classes will assess students on odd days, only. Spelling and Vocabulary Lists: Students will study ten spelling and vocabulary words per week and are strongly encouraged to retake each list as many times as is necessary until a score of 100% is achieved. Spelling retakes for all lists in a given marking quarter are offered every morning at 8 am in this classroom (265), and the only deadline is the end of the marking quarter. Students may retake one spelling list per day, and only the highest score is counted. Since weekly spelling and vocabulary lists are not conventional, terminal assessments, the odd-day testing policy (above) is not applicable. Peer Responder Mentor Program: Students have the opportunity to participate in the Peer Responder Mentor Program, which is an optional resource for students to work collaboratively throughout the school year with an assigned Peer Responder Mentor. The goal of the program is to provide enrichment, remediation, and transition support to Middle School students in all subject areas with an emphasis on the essential skills of organization, task analysis and completion, time management, exam preparation, and written expression. Students and PR Mentors will schedule mutually convenient appointments as necessary before, during, and/or after school.

7. English 7, Blue Team “Mr. Koondel, what can I do at home to help my child in English?” • 1. Be sure to request a current grade page by email weekly, biweekly, or monthly. Review current grades with your child regularly and set goals for improvement. 2. Consult Mr. Koondel’s on-line Assignments Calendar for pending assignments, projects, and assessments. 3. Read and discuss weekly literature and non-fiction homework assignments with your kids. 4. Finished with today’s homework? Students are more successful when parents review the quality of completed assignments and consistently hold students accountable to parents’ expectations before assignments are submitted and graded. 5. No homework tonight? Really? How about creating an enrichment assignment? Spelling list retake? Study for upcoming tests or quizzes? Reading homework? Long-term assignments? 6. Students benefit greatly when attendance is consistent and parents help with time-management and general organization (lockers, book bags, binders, planners, paper, pens, and other essential daily materials).

8. Assessment Feedback • Strong feedback is considered to be one of the ten most impactful instructional strategies in current educational research. • The English department strives to provide timely, specific, and insightful feedback on student performance. We utilize a variety of research-based techniques to provide this level of feedback to our students, and we constantly seek to refine our practice. • If a student wishes for clarification on the feedback received, we encourage the student to make an appointment with his or her teacher within two weeks of the assessment’s return. This will ensure that the student has time to apply this feedback to his or her future performance.

9. Thank you for attending tonight’sOpen House!