Grade 7 – Syllabus

 Students are required to follow all of the rules and guidelines defined by the school, such as:

• Students must treat each other and their teachers with mutual respect – including taking turns when speaking and listening when others are talking.
• Hazing, teasing, name-calling, sexism, or racism is not allowed.
• Vandalism, profanity, and violence is not tolerated.
• Gum is not allowed.
• Learning cannot take place without daily participation.

Student Outcomes

• With the class structured around collaboration and group work, communication and participation are key to success.
• Students will develop and use high level communication to discuss and learn mathematics.
• Students will fully embrace the new Common Core Standards and new ways of teaching – Engage with their learning, rather than traditional direct instruction.

Students will work with their peers in class as they explore new concepts and develop new skills. They will rely on their peers just as their peers will rely on them, so not participating hurts everyone.
A math binder and a pencil will be REQUIRED every day.

Web Content

The majority of the content for this class, including lessons, outline, course calendar, and additional resources are available online for both students and parents. If a student will be absent, it is their responsibility to complete the lesson assigned to that day (students will be familiarized with website during class).

Text Book

There is a standard set of classroom textbooks that are available to students (and parents!) that can be used as reinforcement to the learning taking place in the classroom, however, the standards addressed by this text vary from the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) that are now in use. Because of this, content of this class will be compiled from a wide range of sources but will use the framework created by EngageNY (engageny.org). New York State has been working with CCSS for several years now and have developed a full featured and free to use (Creative Commons) resource.

I use ClassDojo in my classes to track behavior and participation (both positive and negative). It works best when students, parents, and the teacher work together, and therefore, both parents and students will be able to log in and review student progress. At the beginning of the year, parent access cards will be sent home that MUST BE SIGNED BY A PARENT AND RETURNED.

Student evaluation is mainly based upon their mastery of the content – have they learned the material or not – and therefore an emphasis is placed on assessments. Students will be evaluated through both summative assessments throughout the lessons and formative assessments at both the middle and the end of learning segments. Combined with this, completing assigned warm ups, problem sets, and exit tickets are a component of the overall grade. Lastly, participation is key and is also included in a student’s grade. I am always available to students and parents for discussing grades

A 90% Mastery of content. Proficient to advanced level on most standards.

B 80% Proficient level understanding of most standards.

C 68% Basic level understanding of standards. Approaching proficiency.

D 51% Below Basic level understanding of standards but moving toward Basic.

F / Incomplete. Less than half of work completed and/or failure to show understanding.

 

Grade Weights

Assessments 60%

(Including Exit tickets, and informal assessments)

Classwork 30%

Participation and Citizenship 10%