Progress Reports, Reminders, and an Opportunity for Extra Credit!

The school year is speeding by and we’re nearly at mid-terms! Our mid-term grades are due on Friday, September 20, and progress reports can be picked up if you attend parent-teacher conferences. Conferences will be on a Tuesday and Wednesday evening, from 5 – 8 PM on September 24 and 25 at McCain Middle School. Our mid-terms are essentially to let you know how you’re doing halfway through this first quarter.

The quarter, however, will end before we know it! The official end of Quarter One is Friday, October 18, and teachers’ grades will be available on Family Link by the end of the day on Monday, October 21; that gives us the weekend to continue grading papers and putting grades onto the computer.

Remember that each week, on Friday, we have a test over spelling words OR Greek and Latin roots; make sure to study for these! In addition, Mugshots (DOL) are given at the beginning of each week and we do the first two sentences as a class on Monday, the last three sentences on Tuesday, and the paragraph—which is done independently—is due when you arrive to class on Wednesday. Parents, if you can take a moment to see that your child has his or her paragraph done on Tuesday night, this may help more students to actually complete their work. There is no reason for them to not get this done, yet some students’ grades are suffering because they aren’t doing the weekly paragraph. Every day in class, I remind students to do their work: The reminder is spoken, it’s written on the board, and I have even resorted to having the class read the day’s lessons on the board aloud to me. Therefore, they hear it, see it, and even say it…yet some students are still not getting their work done. If we had time and money, I’d have them sculpt each day’s work in clay, wear shirts that have lessons printed on them, and hire a plane to fly a banner over everyone’s house to remind them things like, “Hey, your mugshot paragraph is due tomorrow!” Unfortunately, we don’t have the luxury of doing these things and I’m not sure they’d make a difference anyhow. (Feel free to give me more zany suggestions in the comments section of the blog. It’s kind of depressing that I never have any comments but I have a bazillion page-views!) *Five points extra credit will go to the first student who correctly identifies what rhetorical device I just used in the previous sentence. Post the answer in the "comments" section below! Sign only your first name after your answer if you're logged in anonymously.*

Please, please, please know that every grade counts. If, at mid-term, your grade isn’t where you want it to be, know that you’ll still have time to bring that grade up. Remember, we have a big independent reading project due at the end of the quarter and if it’s not done when it’s due, grades will plummet. Paying attention to due dates of assignments and projects is critical. It’s also imperative that you always do the BEST that you can on each and every lesson. Speaking of assignments, make sure to figure out what mystery you’re going to read for your project and have it approved by me ASAP.

Finally, I don’t always have Internet access—particularly on weekends—so if you e-mail me at gott.the.teacher@gmail.com or directly at school at kogott@payetteschools.org, please know that I may not be able to reply until I’m back at McCain Middle School.

Thank you for checking the blog. Any feedback is welcome! Also, good luck on the extra credit question. I'll tack the bonus points on to the winner's next assignment.

Mrs. Gott