Mr. Clay’s Eastern Hemisphere Class
Rules and Procedures
Welcome to my Eastern Hemisphere class. I am very excited to be your teacher this year. I promise to do the best that I can at teaching you, treating you with fairness, and showing you with respect. Hopefully, I will be able to earn your trust. But to do these things, I will need your cooperation in this class. By following these simple rules and procedures, you will have a very successful year.
Rules (The 5 Class Rules)
Be Ready
1. Do your very best. This involves anything from homework, to class work, to tests, to bringing all of your supplies to class. People will expect you to do your very best throughout the rest of your life, especially when you get a job. If you practice doing your best now, it will be easier later on in life.
Be Respectful
2. Respect others. Basically, treat others as human beings should be treated. Be as kind and friendly as you can be to someone else and their things.
3. Speak life to others. Be an encouragement to others around you with the things you say and do to others, instead of choosing to put others down.
Be Responsible
4. Stay in the boundaries. The boundaries, which are listed below, are there to help keep you and your classmates on track for a successful year.
5. Follow all school rules. These will be located in the front of your handbook and online at sms.desotocountyschools.org. These rules are designed to provide structure, to teach you responsibility, and to keep you safe.
Boundaries
1. Whenever we take notes in class, whether from the projector or the board, it is very important that you take notes, listen carefully, avoid talking or noises, and ask questions you may have related to the topic.
2. Whenever we do debates, review games, class-building activities, etc., everyone is expected to participate in them. Hopefully, doing these things will make the class experience more enjoyable, as well as create a more united and friendly class culture. Remember to use quiet inside voices so as not to disturb the classes around you.
3. When and if we are working on a project in class, I will probably have you work in pairs or in groups. I will allow you to talk very quietly with your partner or group, as long as you stay on task.
4. When you are working on bell work and/or independent classwork, you are to do it on your own in your desk without bothering your other classmates. If you get stuck after trying, you may ask me for help.
5. Whenever I give specific permission to use your personal electronics (smart phone, tablet, etc.) usually to do research or to work on a project, it is to be used only for that purpose and nothing else. Otherwise, you will have to turn it in.
Procedures
1. Before you enter my class, make sure to take care of all of your business, using the bathroom, getting a drink of water, talking with your friends, etc. Once you enter my class, there is no going back out. Be quick about it, too. That is your time. When you finish your business in the hallway, wait outside my classroom along the lockers so that the class before you (if there is one) has a chance to leave. Avoid standing by my doorway.
2. If you feel that you are going to be late for my class by going to the restroom, please make sure that you ask me first before you enter my classroom. More than likely, I will say “yes,” unless you make a habit of this very often. Take your stuff with you, too.
3. If for some reason you have to use the restroom during class time, you will only be allowed to go ONCE A MONTH WITH YOUR HANDBOOK. I will have to sign and date it. If you don’t have your handbook, you won’t be allowed to go. The only exception is if you have a doctor’s note with a medical reason. Your handbook is your hall pass for any reason that you have to leave class (to the nurse, to the counselor, to the library, etc.). The first handbook is free; a new one, however, costs $5.00.
4. When you do enter my class, immediately go to your desk (unless you need to sharpen your pencil, get a tissue, use some hand sanitizer, etc.) and begin working on your bell work quietly. Bell work is for a grade; you will only have about 4 minutes to complete it. Even when you are finished, remain quiet. Keep all of your bell work on the same page if possible, in order to save paper. It will also be less for you to keep up with and less for me to keep up with. Turn it all in quickly and quietly with your name on it at the end of the week. Feel free to use my stapler on my bookshelf if you need to staple multiple sheets of paper together.
5. If you missed the bell work because you were absent from school, write the word “absent” and the date that you were absent so that I don’t take points away. Make up work will be hung on the bulletin board. Check the bulletin board first before asking me about make up work.
6. If and when we work on interactive notebooks, the first two students that complete their bell work will be allowed to pass out the notebooks for the class quietly. Make sure to place your notebook back in the appropriate place at the end of class. You may take it home with you, but take good care to bring it back the next day and to not lose it. If you lose it, you will have to get the necessary make up articles, worksheets, etc. Interactive notebook supplies (glue sticks, scissors, colored pencils, etc.) need to be returned to the appropriate containers before you leave the classroom.
7. Make sure you raise your hand and wait for me to respond if you have a question or an answer to a question about the topic we are talking about. It would be rude to blurt out in the middle of class.
8. When I need to get everyone’s attention, I will raise my hand and/or say, “High five.” I expect you to stop whatever you are doing, raise your hand, and look my way.
9. If and when we work in groups/pairs, I will stack a green cup and a red cup and place it in the group. If the green cup is on top, the group is on task and talking quietly. If the red cup is on top, the group is not on task or the group is talking too loudly. If you play with the cups, it will automatically go to red. The group can earn their way back to green. If it stays on red until the end of class, the group will have to stay behind after class to talk with me.
10. At the end of class, I dismiss you, not the bell. I may be in the middle of something, and you would miss it if you got up and left. The bell is to tell me that I need to wrap it up. I promise to be respectful of your time, and I will not hold you in my class very long.
11. If we were to leave the room as a class for any reason (fire drill, going to lunch, etc.), it is very important that we stay together and remain as quiet as possible so as not to disturb any other classes that may still be going on. Also, it would be hard to hear any necessary instructions if you were talking or listening to someone talking.
12. If you have any food from another class, please finish it or put it away before coming into my room. I will allow you to drink water in my room, but everything else is not allowed. If you do make a mess, you will stay behind to clean it up, even if the bell rings. If I pass out candy or food, you have my permission to eat it.
13. I am ok with you chewing gum in my classroom. However, if I see it (blowing bubbles, etc.) or hear it (making popping noises, etc.), you will be asked to spit it out in the trash can. You will not be allowed to chew gum in my class for the remainder of the class period.
14. When you turn in an assignment that gets graded (bell work, answer sheets to a test, homework, etc.), place it in your pocket in the back of the room. Make sure that your name is on your work. Five points will be subtracted from your work if you leave your name off of your assignment. If you forgot to turn something in or were absent the day that something was due, please turn it into the box on my desk labeled LATE WORK GOES HERE. When it’s time to collect your graded assignments a couple of days later, grab your graded work out of your pocket and return to your desk quickly and quietly.
15. Fidget spinners and/or other distracting items/toys are to be put away before you enter my classroom, unless you have an IEP. They will be taken up and returned to you at the end of the school day if they are being used without permission.
16. When taking a test, write only on the answer sheet (unless I have given you specific permission to write on the test). Remain quiet during and after the test. If you are talking or making noises that is disturbing to others, I will take 20 points off of your test grade each incident. The test gets turned into the box on my desk labeled TESTS GO HERE. The answer sheet gets turned into your pocket in the back of the room.
Consequences
Depending on each situation, here are the steps outlining how I will handle them.
1. Talk with the student, helping them find different appropriate behavior choices.
2. Keep a behavior log of a student’s behavior and/or give a writing assignment. (When I write your name in my behavior log book, I will call your parent(s)/guardian, unless you improve your behavior; after the third time of me writing your name in the book, I will call your parent(s)/guardian, no matter what).
3. Inform the parent(s)/guardian about the student’s behavior.
4. Set up a parent conference to work on a behavior plan for inappropriate behavior.
5. Send a student to the office with a referral, especially if it is about a major school rule broken.
Rewards
1. Candy
2. Good student Shout Out to the principal
3. Good phone call home