Letters

Most recent first.

First Parent email August 14, 2009

Dear Parent and Guardian

Please let me take a minute of your time and welcome you and your student to the new school term.

My name is Scott McCloud and I will be your student's Junior English/Language Arts teacher. Below you will find some information about our class. We use room 5-111 next to the computer lab by the Media Center. To find my room, go up the ramp by the auditorium and straight through the double/double doors at the sophomore locker section.

Here is my contact Information: My phone number at school is 316.284.6280 extension 2511 My email address is samccloud@gmail.com (Please use my gmail account for all email!) My home phone is 316.284.2556 and I am related to every McCloud in the Newton phonebook!

Class Supplies

Students will need a three-ring binder to store graded work. It does not have to be new or fancy, use one from last year. They do not have to bring it to class, but should keep it in their seminar, their locker or at home to store graded work. They will use this notebook during finals to review and have for test helps.

A thin college-ruled notebook for a response journal. Simple is better than fancy. I will show each student several options for re-using and recycling and making a journal. Instead of buying a new one, students can make their own with loose notebook paper and binder clips or duct tape.

Any student that wants to donate supplies to the class will receive a break on any assignment that we can negotiate. Requested supplies are color pencils, tissues, loose college ruled notebook paper, and cheap pens in original packages. All of these supplies cannot cost more than $1 or I won't accept it. Please help me help them to save their money!

Class Anchor

You will probably see and hear about the anchor. I have a large wooden anchor in my class that each student will sign his or her name to as a pledge. There will be buttons and t-shirts with the class pledge as prizes and rewards. The class pledge is "Fake it till you make it," or FITUMI. FITUMI is about trying to do something and working at a goal as if they are already good enough. I reward effort more than brilliance. So if a student says that they cannot do something, my first response is to "fake it," or "pretend" that they know how to do something, and pretty soon they will know how. Of course, my job is to teach them how to do new things, and I want them to ask for help; but I am going to try to motivate kids to not give up without trying to do something new or different.

A few things about me as a person outside of the classroom.

I like to birdwatch, canoe, cook, ride bicycles, and garden. I organize and work with several community organizations in Newton if any of you are interested.

Newton Photo-walks on Saturday Mornings Newton Bicycle rides on Thursday nights Newton Poetry/Performance on Tuesday nights St. Matthew's Community Garden Poetry readings at Drubers and sometimes at Pages

If you are on Facebook, all of these activities are organized there. Please feel free to add me as a friend and/or join those groups. My Social Media rule is that students can follow me/follow you on Twitter. The link is on the class web site (see link below for wiki), However, students can Facebook with me only after they graduate from High School.

I sponsor and co sponsor several clubs, including Chess Club, Writers Anonymous, Key Club (Kiwanis), book club and am the Junior Class Sponsor Chairman.

We use a Technology Rich Classroom that includes cameras, wireless tablets, MP3 players, cell phones, projectors, and laptops as needed. Almost all of the assigned readings in the textbook are available on the Internet at [].

I am asking each student to maintain a school only gmail/Google account this year. If your student already has a gmail account, they can talk to me about using it. They will also need to use the same username to request membership in the class wiki at []. Please email me if you have concerns.

If you have a gmail account, please request of your student, and I will require that your students add you as collaborators to all of the Google documents so that you can see, comment, and work with all of the documents, spreadsheets, presentations and surveys that we will create using Google documents. Students do not have to have expensive Microsoft Office tools on a computer outside of school to be successful in this class. Google documents are available to any internet user from any internet connected computer. They can construct documents, spreadsheets, presentations and questionnaires.

I can assure you that everything I assign in class that uses Google, the Internet, the wiki and such can be done with the computers at school during their seminar. If a student chooses to not use the computers at school to finish assignments begun in class, then he or she may need to go to the Newton Public Library to use the computers there if needed.

Students will be expected to use Internet and maybe their mobile phones throughout the school year to complete assignments. However, students will always have alternatives to using these types of technologies without any negative consequences to their grade. I guarantee that we can work something out for students that do not use the internets, mobile phones, digital cameras and video capture devices.

Please take some time to navigate around in the class wiki, or web site, at [] Please feel free to review all of the assignments, schedules, expectations, rubrics, and other useful stuff that your students and I construct. As a parent or loved one, you can join the wiki and add to the discussions, give your opinion, see what the assignments are and when they are due.

I am piloting another site for student-parent-teacher- community interaction and it is at []. Not much is there yet, but I hope it is fun and useful.

State Assessment Information:

Some good news is that your student does not have to take the State Writing Assessment this year.

Another bit of good news is that they get two tries for the State Reading Assessment, one in November and one in March. The other good news is that if your student do not meet standard in November, her or she will be worked with individually during seminar to study for the last chance in March.

I have a couple of quirky rules for my classrooms.

Insults are fiercely penalized. Water in non-disposable/refillable water bottles is the only food/drink allowed. Backpacks are strongly discouraged. I want the students to leave them in their lockers. I will not make them carry heavy books.

Thank you for your time. Scott McCloud