Interventions & Strategies

Course Description

Interventions & Strategies is a course designed to help you be successful in high school. This may be the most important class you take during your time in high school because I will teach you skills and mindsets that will help you succeed in school and life. We will have assignments and discussions to explore these skills and mindsets, which include organizational skills, study skills, social skills, growth mindset, grit, and effort. In addition, I will monitor your grades and we will conference on a weekly basis to discuss ways to get the most out of your time in this and other classes. I feel strongly that Interventions & Strategies is important because it is a class designed specifically for and about you.

Course Objectives

  • We will learn the skills and mindsets necessary to be successful in school.
  • We will understand how we are in control of how successful we can be in school and life.
  • We will be able to use the skills and mindsets we learn to be successful in school and accumulate credits toward graduation.
  • We will utilize our time and resources effectively in order to study and complete school work.

Course Expectations

I have a few simple expectations that I expect all of us to follow. They can be divided into three categories: Effort, Attitude, and Behavior.

Effort Expectations

  • Use your time to complete in-class work and work for other classes.
  • If you do not have work to do, study.
  • At the end of class, have something to show for your work.

Attitude Expectations

  • Have a positive attitude.
  • Be kind to yourself and others.
  • Participate in class.
  • Have a growth mindset.
  • Be persistent. Do not give up when things are difficult.

Behavior Expectations

  • Treat people well.
  • Listen to the teacher.
  • Follow the teacher’s instructions.

Course Materials

I will provide a folder for you to use in class. You are expected to use the folder to keep this syllabus, your weekly performance rubric, and other class materials you will receive. You are expected to bring assignments from other courses to work on, as well as any books or materials you need to complete them. You are expected to bring a pen or pencil to class every day. However, I will have pens, pencils, and a variety of textbooks and other materials for you to use in our classroom should you need them. In our classroom I expect all of us to respect all property and treat things as if they are our own.

Grading Policy

Because this is a unique class, our grading will be different than other courses at East High School. Instead of an A-F grading scale, we will use a Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory scale. If your grade is 70% or above, it is Satisfactory. If your grade is below 70%, it is Unsatisfactory. This scale is summarized below:

70% and above = Satisfactory (S)

69% and below = Unsatisfactory (U)

When you finish the semester with a grade of Satisfactory, you will receive 5 credits toward graduation. If you finish the semester with a grade of Unsatisfactory, you will not receive credit for the class.

Course Assessment

Every day we will be assessed in class. We will be graded on the three categories of our Course Expectations, which are aligned with our Course Objectives. The three categories on which we will be graded are Effort, Attitude, and Behavior. We will use a weekly performance rubric to track how we do in class each day. Each day we will be scored on all three categories. There are four scores we can earn which indicate the level at which we met our expectations, and each corresponds to a percent of a point. The scores are as follows:

Not Yet Met Expectations

(50%)

Close to Meeting Expectations

(70%)

Met Expectations

(90%)

Exceeded Expectations

(100%)

Because each category is worth a point, and there are three categories, we can earn up to 3 points each day. There will be no other grades recorded in this class in order to avoid counting something twice. For example, if a student does not do an in-class assignment, the student will not earn a full point in the Effort category, and will likely not earn a full point in the Behavior category. If the assignment were to be entered into the grade book, the student would not receive full points for it, and would in effect be punished twice. Therefore we will rely on our rubric to be our way to measure our progress and communicate how we do in class to each other and parent(s)/guardian(s).

Weekly Schedule

We will typically follow this schedule every week:

Monday skill/mindset lesson and work time
Tuesday grade conferences and work time
Wednesday Midweek Motivation (skill/mindset activity) and work time
Thursday work time
Friday reflection and work time

Electronics Policy

Cell phones and other devices can be great learning tools. However, there are times in this class when the use of such devices is inappropriate. In general, if I am teaching a lesson, or if we are doing an activity, discussion, or in-class assignment, cell phone use is prohibited during that time. And, generally, cell phone use is allowed when it is work time, as long as it is being used in a way that enhances your learning. To clarify when cell phones are allowed and prohibited, we will have a traffic light system, where a green light means you may use your phone freely, a yellow light means you may use your phone only for educational purposes, and a red light means your phone must be off and put away. If your phone is being used during a prohibited time, I will give you one reminder, and if it continues, I will put your phone in a brown paper bag, staple the bag shut, and return the bag and phone to you, and you may not open the bag until the end of class.

Classroom Community

We will strive every day to do our part to create a positive classroom community. We are all expected to treat each other with respect, and show kindness, acceptance, and understanding to one another. We all have the fundamental right to learn and participate in class freely without fear of feeling judged or ridiculed.

Everyone makes mistakes; it is part of being human. Because nobody is perfect, we must show grace to our classmates when they make a mistake. Mistakes are learning opportunities, and it is our job to reflect on our mistakes and learn from them and become better through the experience.

When we make mistakes and poor choices that affect other people, we must sincerely apologize to the people we have affected, and ask what we can do to make the situation right and fix any damage we have done.

We will try our best to solve any problems we have in our class ourselves. Classmates may discuss and work out problems on their own, I may conference with students, or we may hold a whole-class meeting to solve the problem.

We have the power to make our community fun, engaging, and positive, but we can also make it miserable, boring, and negative. The choices we make every day will determine what kind of classroom we have this semester.