Welcome to Spanish 2 Spring 2016!
with Sra. Odom
You are receiving this because you are listed as the student, ELA, or parent/guardian of a student that I am currently teaching in Spanish II this spring. I'm excited for this upcoming semester and the opportunity to work with you/your student to help him/her grow more proficient in the Spanish language, improve his/her cultural competence and global understanding!
**Please read this entire welcome flyer and let me know if you have any questions (see contact info. below).**
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 that too.
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, in the Learning Block, in their Moodle messages and in their email. (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, in order, to the best of their ability and on time. Any assignments that are not completed will earn a zero. Assignments will show as "-"/0s until they are completed. 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 Live Classes". Here is the link to the Spanish 2 Course Calendar, where they are listed; this calendar is in the course in the right-hand sidebar and in the RLC section too. While students are required to attend a total of 10 (Getting Started, Unit 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and Final) during the fall/spring. There are at least ten different options for each RLC. They are more than welcome and encouraged to attend more! These are live classes with me and/or other Spanish 2 teachers to go over the unit's major topics, assignments, present/discuss the material in detail, practice, ask/answer questions etc., just as you would in a regular classroom. They will take notes during the session to upload to the assignment page, as well as answer a few questions for full credit.
- 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. I've asked students to set up biweekly BBIM chats with me to discuss their work. They can also send me Moodle messages, text me, email me, Tweet me, or call me. This spring will be super busy, so phone calls will most likely have to be scheduled via my calendar at https://doodle.com/sraodom or set up via email.
- Remind them that the use of external sources (such as online translators, native speakers, other students, etc.) 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. Moreover, ask them what they are learning and why they are learning it. If they can't answer these questions in detail, please let me know, as they may need extra help. 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 weekly basis). For a schedule of those reports and the NCVPS academic calendar overall, 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'm interning as a principal this fall, in addition to working online and taking care of my two sons (4 & 2) 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 text me to see if I'm around/available or schedule schedule/set up an appointment on my Doodle page here.
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)
Students who need help
About Me
Email: teryn.odom@ncpublicschools.gov
Location: Pinehurst, NC, United States
Phone: 704.336.9168
Twitter: @sraodom