Welcome to the Summer

2015 midterm

faculty meeting!

Summer Philosophy Reminders

•Enrichment for all students.•Most students are being exposed to a more rigorous academic environment.•Students are benefiting from the relationships they are building here.•However, we are supplementing not supplanting their schooling back home.

If a student completes her work and still earns a failing grade in the summer, it would mean:•The student gained little from their academic experience. •In a new and more challenging environment, the student showed no growth or improvement over the five weeks.

However, this does not mean:• Every student must get a 5 or 6.• Every student is engaged in classes the same way.• Some students can’t earn poor or even failing grades.

But always ask the question: “Has this student really earned a failing grade in our summer enrichment program?”

Andover Grading Scale 0 to 6Rough grading scale:

High Honors 6 100-93Honors 5 92-85Good 4 84-77Satisfactory 3 76-69Minimum Pass 2 68-60Failure 1 59-40Low Failure 0 39-0

Process of entering midterms

1) Go to the blackboard summer tab and find:

2) Once you click on Midterm Reports your entry page will look like this:

Your courses are listed in the yellow band on the top of the screen. The active course title appears in orange.

Click on create report to start comment.

Once you click on the Create Report :

We want every teacher to enter a sentence-long comment. “How would you explain the buttons you selected above?”

This should be Behavior not effort.

Also enter a grade estimate here.

Please note that reports cannot be modified once they have been submitted. Any changes must be submitted through the deans via email.

Reports are due by 3:00pm Friday July 17.

Summary of Midterm Comments for teachers:1) Use radio buttons.2) Write a sentence-long

comment on every student. 3) For students having

difficulty, talk about what they could do differently. [At the midterm mark every student should still have a way of passing a class]

4) Enter grade estimate for each student.

5) Reminder, Midterm Comments are not sent home and should not be given to students.

For the House Counselor Response:1) Go once again to midterm reports on blackboard.2) This time select dorm list

If you are exclusively a House Counselor, when you click on the Midterm Reports link, your entry page will be your Dorm List.

Your House Counseling page will look like this:

You will be unable to see reports or comments for a particular student until all instructors have submitted reports for that student.

It is very important to meet all the deadlines.

Click on a student’s name with the status of ALL SUBMITTED.

House counselors should click here once they have talked to the student about the midterm report.

When you click on the House Counselor Comment button:

Please use this space to write any comment you think deans should know about the conversation. You can also write about the student’s workload if you have concerns either too much or too little.

Summary House Counselor Response:• Look over midterms carefully in

preparation for your meeting with each advisee.

• After your meeting, you can write a sentence on how the advisee is doing in the progress report.

• Don’t use restriction or sending a student to a center as punishment, instead use them if you think this is the best way to support the student academically.

Summary House Counselor Response:• Remember that (MS)2 students

have help sessions in the evenings so the conversation should center on how to use those more effectively.

• Start setting up times now to meet with your advisees to go over midterms.

• Midterm comments are not sent home, and you should not share verbatim what the teacher wrote.

Please meet with every advisee to go over midterms by Monday, July 20.

Questions:• Talk with one of the deans

• Talk with Danica

• Talk with me

Campus Emergency ExerciseTo take place on Thursday July 23rd.All House Counselors should talk

about the exercise at Friday July 17th dorm meeting.

Teachers should remind students at the start of class on the 23rd.

Please take this seriously and not kidding around with students about the exercise.

Campus Emergency Exercise(cont.)

All classes must stop when the message is received and until the all clear talk about what to do. Try not to scare students.

Shelter in place◦Talk about how you would leave

building◦Barricade in room◦Deal with an intruder walking into

the classroom.

End of Summer:Period two exam of Friday July 31st

during normal class time.Period one exam on Saturday

August 1st during normal class time. Period two does not meet on Saturday.

On Saturday, after period one exam all students and faculty head to Chapel for closing ceremony.

Chapel ceremony will be short.

End of Summer Different (cont.)After Final Assembly all students

head to dorms for packing & cleanup.After students are done packing and

cleaning, they are free for lunch. That afternoon culminating events

◦Student Art Show◦Intensive film & animation films◦Other culminating events

Dance that evening in Paresky Commons.

End of Summer Different (cont.)(MS)2 graduation on Sunday morning in

Tang Theater. All are welcomed.

Information about student departure will be coming in a week from Chris. If students have questions they should contact Chris directly and parents should send any travel changes to summer@andover.edu.

All students are expected to be off campus by 3pm.

Final reminders:• If you have questions about the

midterm process, please do not hesitate to ask. The power point is posted online in the summer faculty organization.

• Second SAT test will take place tomorrow, Thursday July 16th.

• Reminder that downtown is not a place of study. Please remind students then need to be back on campus by 7:30pm.

The final faculty meeting:

• Last faculty meeting will be next Wednesday, June 22nd at 11:30am.

• The House counseling letters due on Monday, July 28 by 9am.

• If you are a house counselor, you will want to start writing house counseling letters on Word. Midterm conversations are a great time to get student info.

The final faculty meeting: (cont)

• Faculty Art show announcement.

• Reminder about faculty social this Saturday from 4:30 to 6pm at 234 Main St.

Additional Notes…

• If you have not done so already, please return your announced and unannounced fire drill forms to public safety.

• Please take a few moments over the next few days to do a homework audit with your students. How much time is it taking them to do work. As a reminder our policy for academic classes is 1:1 time in class to homework.

• Encourage kids to open windows at night and close them and pull down shades during the day.

Additional Notes(cont)…

• If student are asking about transportation at the end of the session, make sure their parents have emailed summer@andover.edu with any travel info changes.

• Remind kids to return carts from CVS if they use one.

• Mentors please meet in the Underwood room at the rise of this meeting.

Questions…