Academic Expectations
Students are ultimately responsible and accountable for their learning and behavioral outcomes.
Students are expected to:
Attributes of excellent learners:
Students are expected to display the following attributes of lifelong learners :
Student help:
There are several ways students can seek help in the middle school :
MS~HS Library : students can get academic help, do research, work quietly, catch up with assignments, etc in the MS/HS library.
Subject Specific Help : middle school teachers are always available to help students after school (unless coaching). It is up to the student to seek help when they don't understand.
Tutors : the school can provide tutors to help students with their academic work.
*Please note I am not allowed to tutor my own students.
Counsellors : students can visit the middle school counsellor at any time for guidance as needed.
Please note : in grade 7, core teachers have to take care of 80+ students. As such, it is difficult to know what is going on in every students' school and home life. With the help of parents and with students taking more responsibility for their learning, together we can work towards providing the appropriate care and attention for all middle school students.
Home-Learning:
Homework is now officially called Home-Learning. Research has shown that meaningful home-learning improves academic performance. Home-learning is for practice. It is never be given to students just to keep them busy. However, home-learning is compulsory.
Home-learning should clarify, reinforce or prepare students for learning. It is to enable students to extend the day’s learning outside of the classroom, which is one of the best ways to move information from working memory into long-term memory.
The aim of grade 7 science home-learning is to call for higher level thinking :
It is also recognised that sleep, exercise, personal down-time, and time for families are also an important part of a child's education.
Behaviour:
The science laboratory is different to other classrooms: there are gas outlets, razor-sharp scalpels, dangerous chemicals, expensive scientific instruments (e.g. microscopes), poisonous snakes (just joking), etc.
We cannot have boys running around the lab, messing around, throwing objects, fighting on the floor, taking things out of the lab, not following instructions, etc - all of which have happened in the past!
If anything happens to one of your sons, the responsibility falls on the science teacher. As such, lab safety and procedures are taken VERY seriously.
Students are graded (Scientific Method ~ 5%) on their performance in the science laboratory!
Students who put others at risk will be dealt with under eh middle school behaviour policy.
They will also spend the rest of the year watching science rather than doing science!
Students are expected to:
- Come to school to learn and to support the learning of others.
- Show high levels of engagement, collaboration and cooperation.
- Have high expectations of behavior and their attitudes towards learning and others.
- Contribute to a positive learning environment.
- Produce work that is to the best of his ability.
Attributes of excellent learners:
Students are expected to display the following attributes of lifelong learners :
- Respect: paying attention to and following teacher directions carefully; listening to others and accepting differences of opinion; treating others and personal and communal belongings with care.
- Readiness: motivation, self-belief, curiosity, self-efficacy.
- Resourcefulness: learning from others, learning creatively in different ways, flexibility, applying learning.
- Resilience: keep going, never give up, learning under stress, managing feelings about learning and teachers, peers and resources.
- Responsibility: maximizing own self-awareness, empathy towards other learners, understanding of how self and others learn, making best use of opportunities for collaborative learning.
- Reflectiveness: looking back, improving learning and performing, and practicing.
Student help:
There are several ways students can seek help in the middle school :
MS~HS Library : students can get academic help, do research, work quietly, catch up with assignments, etc in the MS/HS library.
Subject Specific Help : middle school teachers are always available to help students after school (unless coaching). It is up to the student to seek help when they don't understand.
Tutors : the school can provide tutors to help students with their academic work.
*Please note I am not allowed to tutor my own students.
Counsellors : students can visit the middle school counsellor at any time for guidance as needed.
Please note : in grade 7, core teachers have to take care of 80+ students. As such, it is difficult to know what is going on in every students' school and home life. With the help of parents and with students taking more responsibility for their learning, together we can work towards providing the appropriate care and attention for all middle school students.
Home-Learning:
Homework is now officially called Home-Learning. Research has shown that meaningful home-learning improves academic performance. Home-learning is for practice. It is never be given to students just to keep them busy. However, home-learning is compulsory.
Home-learning should clarify, reinforce or prepare students for learning. It is to enable students to extend the day’s learning outside of the classroom, which is one of the best ways to move information from working memory into long-term memory.
The aim of grade 7 science home-learning is to call for higher level thinking :
- comprehension,
- application,
- analysis,
- synthesis,and
- evaluation.
It is also recognised that sleep, exercise, personal down-time, and time for families are also an important part of a child's education.
Behaviour:
The science laboratory is different to other classrooms: there are gas outlets, razor-sharp scalpels, dangerous chemicals, expensive scientific instruments (e.g. microscopes), poisonous snakes (just joking), etc.
We cannot have boys running around the lab, messing around, throwing objects, fighting on the floor, taking things out of the lab, not following instructions, etc - all of which have happened in the past!
If anything happens to one of your sons, the responsibility falls on the science teacher. As such, lab safety and procedures are taken VERY seriously.
Students are graded (Scientific Method ~ 5%) on their performance in the science laboratory!
Students who put others at risk will be dealt with under eh middle school behaviour policy.
They will also spend the rest of the year watching science rather than doing science!