Syllabus+for+Social+Studies+2

American History 2 Syllabus Instructor: Mrs. Sarah Minnick Co-Teacher: Mr. Scott Anderson Phone/Text: SEE COURSE INFO BBIM: sminnick Office Hours: Fridays @ 2:00 via Cyber Cafe link =Course Overview= 1 credit, Grades 7-8– This course covers a time span from the early 1900’s to the 1970s. By the end of the course, students will have developed a broad understanding of contemporary American and Pennsylvania history by studying subjects such as WWI, the Great Depression, WWII, the Civil Rights Movement, the Vietnam War and how these latter events impact our world today. Students will complete activities including selected readings, videos, projects, writing assignments, and discussion boards.

=Course Materials= Students will primarily complete posted course work in a SCORM format, incorporating readings and videos necessary for explaining and applying information and concepts. Students will be creating projects using a variety of tools, some of which logins will necessary and sent out at the time of the project. These tools include, Glogster, Prezi, and/or Voki/Blabberize. =Course Schedule= Live classes will meet TBA. Students will be expected to complete posted course work throughout the week. =Policy= Please see our student handbook for detailed information about school policies, procedures, and expectations: []. All students are responsible for the information found in this handbook, which can also be accessed from the school website at any time. Attendance for live classes is not required, but it is strongly recommended that students attend live class on a regular basis to be part of interactive, live instruction. Student work must be their own original submission, and plagiarism/cheating will not be tolerated. If a student is doing this, parents will be contacted and the matter will be dealt with accordingly. Each quarter will be broken down into 3 PODs which will be 3-4 weeks in length. All work assigned within a POD is due at the end of that POD and cannot be turned in for grading after the end of the POD. Attached is a list of the POD dates, which are subject to change. If the dates of the PODs would change, students and families will be notified.

Work will be graded in a timely manner (within 3 days of submission, unless otherwise stated). POD grades will be converted from a 100 point scale to a 4.3 point scale at the end of every quarter. NOTE: This will not cause a student’s grade to go down; rather, it can only help the student’s grade. =Assessments= Students will be assessed throughout the SCORM lessons and expected to complete a pod benchmark exam, administered at the end of each pod. There will be opportunities for completion of projects at the end of a pod over an exam. These exams/projects cover the big ideas discovered over the course of a given pod to assess mastery of concepts and vocabulary. Students that are current 7th or 8th graders will be taking the PSSA tests in the spring of 2014. 7th graders will take the Reading and Math PSSA and 8th graders will take the Reading, Math, Science, and Writing. More information will be provided at a later time. =Additional Support= There are a number of powerful resources that will not necessarily be a part of every lesson, but can always be used as an available resource. Resources for remediation and enrichment will be listed within the week block in the course and at the end of the posted class presentations, which will also be posted for student access. I send out weekly agenda items that includes, but not limited to, assignment lists, class topics, and notices. These agenda items are also passed along to parents that request weekly contact of expectations. I also offer a FREE text reminder service to coincide with the weekly emails that is available for students and families to sign up. Information on this will be sent out the first week of school and included in all correspondence in the signature area of my emails. =Miscellaneous= We’ve learned through our classroom experience that a very important part of student learning is communication. We will communicate with your student through various methods, such as phone calls, emails, and BBIM (an instant messaging service provided by the school) to ensure that they are completing your work and to provide support. Students can also contact us through any of these forms and we will be sure to respond as soon as we can. We will also contact you to discuss and monitor progress throughout the year. To have your support at home is as important as the support that we provide to your child. It is IMPORTANT that you check your email EVERYDAY. We recommend at least twice a day, once in the morning and again before shutting down for the school day. We highly recommend that students and families establish a positive work environment in the home in which students are comfortable and one in which is conducive for learning. School time should be respected for students to focus on their academics. The use of an organizer and/or calendar to organize classes and assignments has proven successful for students to stay on top of these items. If you ever have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us at any point. We are sure that with your support and cooperation this can be a wonderful and productive year.