BEHAVIOR EXPECTATIONS Students in middle school math will have the opportunity daily to explore math concepts, solve rigorous problems, practice skills, participate in small group and whole group discussion, and document their experiences in an interactive notebook.
In order to be successful, students must meet three expectations: #1: Be Respectful Show respect to the teacher, peers, and classroom space by listening when others are speaking, monitoring your noise level, occupying the space assigned to you for each activity, speaking with kind intentions and taking care of the classroom supplies and materials. #2: Be Responsible Come to class on time, prepared with all required materials (including homework) and ready to be an active learner. #3: Be Brave Ask questions. Work to be an aggressive problem solver and strive to diligently persevere in learning new ideas and skills. When mistakes happen, respect them, inspect them, dissect them and correct them.
In the event that students are not successful at meeting these expectations they will experience the following consequences depending on the severity of the issue and the how long/often the behavior occurred:
First Offense: Warning (Verbal or Signal)
If behavior continues: Conference between teacher and student, potential parent notification
For continued behavior or more serious issues: Lunch Detention & Student Calls Home
If the issue is still unresolved: Parent Conference
At any time Mrs. Mattravers may contact the administration to help support students who are dealing with more serious offenses.
GRADING POLICIES & PROCEDURES
Rationale: The emphasis of middle school math is on learning the content, skills, and processes necessary to DO math. Often our concern over grades limits our ability to take risks, try new things, and learn from our mistakes. Research shows that one of the strongest indicators of student success in math is self-efficacy, or a student’s belief in his/her own ability to improve. Because of this, all students will have the opportunity to work towards mastery of grade level standards.
Grades will be assigned from the following sources:
Notebook: Each week students will complete tasks in their interactive math notebooks. Periodically the notebooks will be collected and graded based on a 4-point rubric that addresses content, completeness, organization and evidence of student thinking/reflection. (Weighted at 10% of the overall grade.)
Weekly Assignments: Students will have daily practice activities that correspond with the day’s lesson; these activities are used in subsequent lessons and are strictly practice. They are not recorded for a grade. Students will also have a weekly assignment that will be assigned on Wednesday and due the following Wednesday. These assignments will be collected and scored for accuracy (number correct out of total). (Weighted at 20% of the overall grade.)
Quizzes & Exams: Students will generally take a quiz each week. Each quiz will contain a minimum of three standards, with multiple opportunities to demonstrate proficiency on each standard. Students will earn a separate score for each standard based on a 4-point scale. Students will keep track of their proficiency level for each standard on a record sheet in their interactive math notebooks. All quizzes may be re-taken to earn a higher proficiency score; the improved scores will replace the original scores once students demonstrate a higher proficiency level. Each standard will be assessed multiple times; once a student demonstrates mastery (level 4) on a standard two separate times, the student no longer needs to be assessed on that standard and will receive a level 5 in the gradebook as a final score. By the end of the quarter all standard scores will be based on the 5-point scale. (Weighted at 70% of the overall grade.)
Late Work In accordance with school policy, late work will be accepted up to 5 days beyond the due date for 75% of the grade earned.
Grading Scale In accordance with school policy, grades will be assigned on the following scale:
94-100% A 90-93% A- 87-89% B+ 84-86% B 80-83% B- 77-79% C+ 74-76% C 70-73% C- 67-69% D+ 64-66% D 60-63% D- 0-59% F
If you ever have questions about how your student is doing in my class after checking Powerschool, please do not hesitate to contact me by phone or email.
Absences When a student is absent, another student in their group collects the day’s assignments and completes the “While You Were Out” form. The form is attached to the day’s paperwork and stored in the absent bin according to class period and day of the week. It is the absent student’s responsibility to check the bin immediately upon return to collect any notes and assignments and submit the work within two days for each absence.