United States and Virginia History First Colonial High School – US/VA History Class Expectations 2016 - 2017 TEACHER: Mr. Adam Patrick Henry SCHOOL PHONE: (757) 648-5300 extension 77459 E-MAIL: [email protected] WEBSITES: fchs-henry.wikispaces.com and Google Classroom

Course Description: Virginia and United States History (SO 2360) - One United States History credit, one year, Grade 11. This course examines the political, economic, geographic, and social development of our state and the nation from the Age of Discovery to the present. Emphasis is placed on identifying the effects of the following: economic and technological change, increasing interdependence of the United States and its world relationships, the role of conflicting viewpoints and reform, the relationship between cultural arts and attitudes and values, and the development of American democracy and culture. Emphasis is also placed on developing a sense of historical time and chronology, expository writing skills, and research techniques. Primary sources of information are used to advance critical thinking and to provide personal and vivid accounts of people, events, and time periods.

Course Objectives: All of the Social Studies SOL’s for Virginia are included in the Virginia Beach City Public Schools’ Secondary Social Studies curriculum which can be found at the school system’s webpage: http://www.vbschools.com/.

Textbook: The American Vision (Glencoe) will be the required textbook. A class set of textbooks will be provided when necessary. Students may access the online version of the textbook at home or in the school – or any other public venue with access to the internet. PDF files of the textbook will be posted at fchs-henry.wikispaces.com. If necessary, a physical copy of the text may be provided to your student.

Required Materials: Students will be required to keep an orderly note book, and a 1-inch, three-ring binder will be adequate for this purpose. Students are expected to bring any all necessary academic resources with them to class, including the aforementioned notebooks, pens, pencils, and paper. From time to time, various other school supplies may be required for class participation. These instances will be announced well in advance and consideration concerning the cost of materials will be taken into account.

Donated Materials: I accept the following as DONATIONS for our classroom as these are NOT required of any student: colored pencils, glue sticks, post-it notes, tissues, Germ-X, and Lysol wipes. Thanks for helping in this regard.

Grade Calculation: All teachers at First Colonial High School use the Total Points method for calculating grades. More important assignments are "weighted" more heavily simply by carrying more points. For example a homework assignment may be worth 10 or 25 points, where a test may be worth 100 or 200 points. To calculate the grade one would add all of the points that were earned, then add all the points that were offered. The earned points gets divided by the offered points and that total is multiplied by 100 to get the overall grade. This is VBCPS grading scale:

Range Letter Grade Points 93-100 A 4.0 90-92 A- 3.7 87-89 B+ 3.3 83-86 B 3.0 80-82 B- 2.7 77-79 C+ 2.3 73-76 C 2.0 70-72 C- 1.7 67-69 D+ 1.3 64-66 D 1.0 Below 64 E 0.0 Google Classroom: All teachers at First Colonial HS will use Google Classroom as their online learning platform. Google Classroom will not only serve as a class webpage, but also as a vehicle for teachers to distribute and collect assignments, communicate with students, and stay organized. Teachers can quickly see who has or hasn't completed the work, and provide direct, real-time feedback and grades right in Classroom. Grades will still be recorded in Synergy and available for review in both the Student and Parent Portal. Google Classroom is very similar to Edmodo, which many teachers and students have been using for several years. Classroom is a web-based platform that integrates your Google Apps for Education (GAFE) account with all your Google Apps services, including Google Docs, Google Slides, Google Sheets and Google Calendar.

Parent Summaries from Google Classroom: Google Classroom has made parent/guardian summaries available as of August 17, 2016. Teachers can invite parents/guardians to sign up for e-mail summaries to keep up with their students. Parents/guardians can choose how often to get a summary—daily or weekly—and can unsubscribe at any time. Summaries include a student’s missing or upcoming work as well as new announcements and questions posted by teachers in the class stream. More information to come.

***VBCPS is working on the invitation process for parents to receive class summaries. Once that process is finalized we will provide parents with directions of how to sign up.

Student E-Mail Accounts: All students must use their Office 365 email account provided by VBSchools to correspond with teachers and staff. Students MUST check office 365 (school email) daily and follow the VBCPS E-Mail guidelines. Students must check this e-mail account daily as all Google Classroom notifications will automatically be sent to their provided school email account. Students log in with their network credentials at this link: https://login.microsoftonline.com/

Students MUST log into Chrome with VBStudents credentials at home and at school in order to access Google Classroom and Google Apps for Education.

First Colonial High School Honor Code: The First Colonial High School Honor Code will be strictly adhered to in this course. It states, “I assume the responsibility of my own actions and I promise to uphold the honor code of First Colonial High School by neither giving nor receiving help of any kind on any quiz, test, exam, or other assignment that I am asked to do on my own.” Violations of the school honor code may lead to academic penalties and disciplinary referrals.

Classroom Rules: Students are expected to conduct themselves in such a way as to engender a positive learning environment for all students. Kindness, patience, and tolerance of others are necessary to promote goodwill and to insure that everyone is able to participate in class without anxiety. Ridicule and bullying will not be tolerated.

Parent Portal is a great way to find out what we did in class, what homework was assigned, upcoming due dates, as well as current grades for your child. Grades will be updated within five days of the due date, except in the case of extended assignments which will be entered as quickly as possible considering the length and the complexity of the task.

Homework: Homework will be assigned frequently to reinforce or extend the lessons in class. In general, these assignments should not take students more than 30 minutes to complete. While some students will benefit from taking extra time to reinforce reading skills, homework should not become a source of turmoil and frustration in your homes. Should your student spend more than 30 minutes of earnest effort on an assignment, or if family obligations prevent him or her from completing the activity, simply sign the sheet for your son or daughter. No explanation is necessary. Homework will not count more than ten-percent of student’s final grade.

Make –up work: Make-up work will be accepted for an excused absence. It is the student’s responsibility to obtain any missed work. Students must complete the work within the number of days absent; thus, if a student is absent on A-Day, he/she has until the following A-Day to make up the assignment. If they should miss three days of class, then they have three days to submit the make-up assignments. In the event of an extended illness or absence, special arrangements may need to be discussed. Make-up tests and quizzes must be made up as soon as possible by appointment with your teacher. Most of the classwork and homework activities we complete can be found at fchs-henry.wikispaces.com or via our Google Classroom pages. In the event that this website changes students will be notified in a timely manner. Late assignments: In accordance with Virginia Beach City Public Schools grading guidelines, late work will be accepted and will not be penalized. Students who fail to hand in their work in a timely manner are responsible for making up their assignments and submitting their work. Throughout the school year, academic activities will be posted electronically to fchs-henry.wikispaces.com or to the Google Classroom pages for each class. It is the student’s responsibility to obtain and complete any work they have failed to submit. In the unlikely event that a graded assignment is not able to be posted electronically, paper copies will be available to students who seek to make up their work. Students who fail to submit assignments in a timely manner may be assigned academic detention in order to complete missing work.

Help Sessions: I will be available for extra help or tutoring sessions by appointment after school throughout the school year. Students should arrange for their own transportation with their parents approval at least one day prior to the date of the tutoring session. Activity buses are available for student transportation at irregular intervals.

Conferences: Conferences will be scheduled as needed and may be requested by contacting the Guidance Department. Contact can also be made through e-mail, which I check frequently throughout the day.

I look forward to our studies of United States History this year, and I encourage parents to take an active role in the learning process! Please do not hesitate to contact me if there is any way that I may be of service.

Best,

Adam Patrick Henry United States and Virginia History, Grade 11 First Colonial High School