Welcome to Spanish 1!
(with Sra. Odom)
You are receiving this because you are listed as the ELA or parent/guardian of a student that I am currently teaching in Spanish 1 this spring. Please read this entire welcome flyer and let me know if you have any questions (see contact info. below). This course was just opened from the waitlist, so all students will need to work quickly to make up the missed week (last week). Fortunately, most of the assignments were Getting Started assignments that are super quick and easy (but, graded and extremely important, nonetheless).
If you feel that you have received this message in error, please let me know and I'll remove you from my listserv. I got this email address and your contact information from the NCVPS Registration System. If it's not up-to-date and/or there are additional contacts/information, please let me know.
What can you do to help your student/s succeed?
- Remind them to read the course announcements DAILY (called the Learning Block Forum). This is their lifeline to the course and contains critical information and instruction.
- Make sure that you and they are familiar with the Spanish Dept. Guidelines. A link is posted to these in the announcements and they are available under "Start Here!" module/section.
- Make sure that they have printed off the "Schedule of Assignments" under "Start Here!" module/section. (It can also be found here.) This document has every assignment on it and when it is due. The students should use this as a check-off list to keep track of what they have done and what they have left to do. It's critical that assignments are completed in the order listed on (or ahead of) time.
- Make sure that they complete *ALL* assignments, to the best of their ability and on time. The Moodle Spanish courses are set up as "conditional" where *all* assignments are open/available, but can't be accessed until completing the previous activity/assignment (with certain scores being required for certain assignments). This means that students may work as quickly as they'd like, but they must complete the prior assignments before moving forward. Any assignments that are not completed will earn a zero. Again, this is why the "Schedule of Assignments" is so important. It keeps them on track, completing work, in order, and on (or ahead of) time.
- Remind them to take their time to read through and learn the material and not to rush. There should always be a focus on quality. Students may redo any assignment that isn't a quiz, test/final project or auto-graded assignment (with one attempt).
- Remind them to go ahead and mark their calendars to schedule when they will attend additional their "Required Synchronous Sessions". While students are required to attend one session per module/unit (for a total of 10). They are more than welcome and encouraged to attend more! These are live sessions with me and/or other teachers to go over the unit's topics, assignments, present/discuss the material in detail, complete formative practice, ask/answer questions etc.
- Encourage them to ask questions, seek help, and communicate with me as much as possible. Communication is critical in an online class. BB IM is the quickest/best way to communicate with me when I'm online and texting is the quickest/best way to communicate with me when I'm not online. However, they can also send me Moodle messages, text me, email me, Twitter me, or call me.
- Remind them that the use of external sources (such as online translators, native speakers, other students, etc.) to translate verb conjugations, phrases or sentences is forbidden and considered cheating. Everything that the students need should be in the course and he/she should use the material from the course for his/her answers. If he/she wants to know how to say something, he/she should ask me. The only approved reference is www.wordreference.com and this can only be used for a vocabulary word in isolation, not translating word-for-word, verb conjugation or for sentence structure. Please make sure that you and they know all of the details of the academic honesty policy and the consequences of not following them, as stated in the Spanish Dept. Guidelines (link above).
- Ask them how they are doing and have them show you their grades in the course. Grades (and feedback) are always available under "Grades" in the left-hand sidebar. Specific feedback is provided for assignments, so make sure that they check over completed assignments to learn from any mistakes. If your student/s and/or you have questions/concerns on any of the grades/feedback, please let me know.
- ELAs are responsible for checking and reporting grades to the students/parents on a biweekly basis after NCVPS grade reports have been sent to the schools (on a biweekly basis). For a schedule of those reports, click here.
- Feel free to contact me via email (at teryn.odom@ncpublicshools.gov) anytime and by phone/text (at 704.336.9168) before 9 pm. It's easier for me to email, Moodle message and text because I take care of my toddler and newborn at home as well (and it gets loud and crazy in my house!). :-) But if you need to talk via phone, I still can... just have to find a good time (usually when my husband gets home) when someone can watch them. To schedule/set up an appointment, complete a Doodle request on my Doodle page here.
Next Getting Started Required Synchronous Session
Monday, Jan 13, 2014, 08:00 PM
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Grading, Rubrics & Feedback
Grading Rubrics:
Below, are the grading rubrics that will be used to evaluate your performance/proficiency throughout the course. You should refer to these often, so that you know at what proficiency level you are performing and what you need to do to move to the next level.
- Writing Rubric
- Speaking Rubric (original text production)
- Speaking Rubric (reproduction of existing text/speech)
- Listening & Reading Rubric
- Rubric - Required Synchronous Session
- Rubric - Actividad Cultural
- Rubric - Proyecto(s) Final(es)
- Rubric - eLinguaFolio
- Rubric - Culture Cafe Extra Credit
Proficiency Levels and Examples:
Often students have misconceptions on what they will learn/be able to do by the end of the course. For world language, please note that you will not be fluent after one or two levels. It takes time to develop and increase in proficiency.
- Click here to see the overarching grid of proficiency levels and outcomes.
- Click here to see samples of Novice level speakers
- Click here to see samples of Novice level writers
- Click here to see samples of Intermediate level speakers
- Click here to see samples of Intermediate level writers
- Click here to see samples of Advanced level speakers
- Click here to see samples of Advanced level writers
- (Click here to see samples of all levels of Listening)
- (Click here to see samples of all levels of Reading)
Requesting Resets
You may need to request resets for students. In order to make this process quicker/easier, I have created a Google Form for you to complete any time a student in one of my sections (1, 2 or 3) needs a reset. Please create a shortcut to this link or bookmark, as you will use it throughout the semester. If you ever need to check on the status of a reset, please do so by clicking here.
Students who need help
About Me
Email: teryn.odom@ncpublicschools.gov
Website: www.freewebs.com/srabivens
Location: Raleigh, NC, United States
Phone: 704.336.9168
Twitter: @sraodom