Speaking Notes for 8th Grade Parent Workshop
Orientation to Registration
Welcome Parents and Students of the Graduating Class of ____. I am ______one of the four counselors here at ______High School. This evening is going to serve as an Orientation to Registering for your Fall Freshman classes. There are many things that you will need to know about entering high school. Tonight, however, we are going to focus on the registration process and giving you important information to help you select the most appropriate courses. In August we will conduct another Orientation to High School in General and at that time you will learn all about the many factors that help to make a smooth transition from middle school to high school.
I would like at this time to introduce to you the rest of the members of our counseling department…….
At this time the Principal welcomes everyone and introduces her Admin. Staff and then introduces the video)
PLAY THE VIDEO -----HS IS YOU
Slide #2 The first date is the date we will be visiting each classroom and going through the course selections and factors that students need to know to properly register. We will be able to answer individual questions at that time.
The second date is the date the forms are due back to their counselors and will be picked up that morning
Slide #3 We plan to review the following information on those days and with you tonight:
Career Cluster and Pathway Choices
Freshman Required Courses
Elective courses available to Freshman
Requirements for Graduation
AP/College Credits/Edge Credits
Slide #4 The left hand column is a listing of all 6 clusters that students may choose from:
Business Marketing
Human Services
Health
Science Natural Resources
Engineering Technology
Fine Arts & Humanities
The right hand column shows the two pathway choices:
The professional pathway is to be selected by any students planning to go to college for 4 years or beyond.
The skilled pathway is to be selected by any students planning to go to a community college, technical school or any other post-secondary education program that is less than a bachelor degree seeking program.
Slide #5 We require 5 classes to be taken in the Freshman year
English 9 or honors
Physical Science 9 or honors
World History or honors
Health
Math
The math choices include our math block, Algebra I or Geometry if you have had Algebra I in the 8th grade.
All honors classes require the signature of your current teacher for that subject in order for us to register you for an honors course. We encourage honors level courses for professional pathway students as they are considered college prep courses.
The math block will allow students to take 2 periods of math for both semesters. This is for skilled pathway students primarily and for students who are not ready to pass Algebra I. They will receive a math support credit the first semester and Algebra I for second semester. For skilled pathway students the support class can be counted toward graduation.
Slide #6 We suggest the following elective courses for Freshman
Foreign Language
Fine Art
Keyboarding
Any Career Major Courses – courses associate with your career clusters
They are a lot of other Electives as well:
Young Adult Fiction
Creative Writing
Sociology
Intro. To Business & Marketing
Travel WV
Fundamentals of Drafting
Tech Education I
Infant Development
Parent/Child Development
Nutritional Foods
Fashion Design
Housing Design
Agriculture & Natural Resources
Junior ROTC
Slide #7 There more electives for Freshman that require an audition:
Dance Team
Show Choir
Women’s Choir
Chamber Choir
Jazz Band
Steel Drums
It is important to note that if you are interested in being in the Marching Band then you must agree to attend one week of band camp which is typically held the first week of August.
It is also important to note that if you are interested in taking Junior ROTC that the students are required to wear their uniform to school every Tuesday and they also are asked to attend some after school practices and events.
Slide #8 I now want to give you an overview of our graduation requirements for your class, please note they are determined by your pathway selection:
For those in the Professional Pathway you will need to take:
4 English courses
4 science courses with 3 of them being lab sciences
4 Social Studies
1 Fine Art
1 Health
1 Physical Education
2 Foreign Language of the same language
You will need a total of 24 credits
For those in the Skilled Pathway you will need to take:
4 English courses
3 science courses and they do not have to be labs
4 Social Studies
1 Fine Art
1 Health
1 Physical Education
No Foreign Language requirement
You also will need a total of 24 credits
Slide# 9 This slide breaks down the Science choices for each pathway in the order it is suggested they be taken.
For the professional pathway you will take:
Physical Science 9 or honors
Advance Biology or honors
Advance Chemistry or honors
And then any of the others listed
For the skilled pathway you will take:
Physical Science 9
Conceptual Biology
Conceptual Chemistry and then you are finished but you can go on to take any of the others listed if you want to as your electives.
Slide #10 Social Studies choices are the same for both pathways with the exception that we offer replacement AP classes for the professional pathway. Students may take AP History in place of US History II and AP Government in place of Civics. The courses are listed in the order in which they are taken.
Slide#11 The Math choices are broken down by pathway choices.
If you are in the professional pathway then you need to follow the sequence on the left hand side and complete 4 total maths, with one being higher than Algebra II.
If you are in the skilled pathway then you need to follow the sequence on right hand side and complete a total of 4 maths with one being higher than Algebra I.
Slide #12 The choices are available to meet the Fine Art credit include
Art I, Band I, Dance I, Chorus I, Theatre I, and Music Appreciation.
Again we highly recommend taking a Fine Art in 9th grade and getting it out of the way.
Slide #13 We offer three Foreign Languages here at Martinsburg.
They are: Spanish, French, and Latin
If you took Spanish I in 8th grade then you need to register for Spanish II in 9th grade. We do not recommend that you wait to take the second year.
If you are a professional pathway student then we recommend that you register for a Foreign Language next year and get started on that 2 year requirement.
Slide #14 There are some factors to consider as you plan the courses to take your Freshman and Sophomore years.
If you are interested in attending the technical school your Junior and Senior year then you need to complete your Fine Art, Health, PE and foreign languages by the end of your 10th grade year.
` The NCAA Clearinghouse has certain requirements for establishing eligibility to play a sport in college. If you are interested in playing a college sport there are certain courses you are required to take in high school and their website will give you that information. You also must maintain a certain grade point average and obtain certain scores on the college entrance exams.
You also need to make sure that you take the required courses for Promise Scholarship eligibility. Again you can go to the Promise website and look at a list of those courses required.
Lastly, you might want to consider taking summer school. We offer all required courses in summer school as well as some electives. Incoming 9th graders will sometimes choose summer school when they want an opening in the school year for another elective. Please check with your counselor about the appropriateness of taking a summer school class for you. Applications for summer school will be available in April at the middle schools.
Slide #15The Registration forms have been given to you tonight and they will also be handed out again to each student when we visit the middle schools along with a Program of Studies book to be able to look up course descriptions and other information.
The forms require parent signatures before they are returned to us.
Remember that we require your current teacher to sign off on any honors level courses that you are requesting to take.
I need to warn you that we do not change elective choices, so make sure you carefully pick your 2 electives and your 2 alternative choices because we will not allow you to change them after you have been registered.
The only changes that we will make, after you receive your schedule, is for computer errors that are made.
Slide #16 In conclusion, I want to thank you for coming tonight and I hope that this presentation has been helpful in orienting you to our registration process.
We realize that this is a lot of information so we do encourage you to contact us and ask us questions as we are here to assist you and your student in making a smooth transition to high school.
Slide #17 This last slide we will leave up for a while……….if you go to the martinsburg high website and click on the Guidance Link you can find all of the guidance staff on our link with our email addresses and alphabet split listed. Don’t hesitate to find your students counselor and email us with any questions you have about registering for high school.
Also, as we dismiss this evening all of the counselors will be down front here and available to answer questions.
Again, thank you for coming this evening and we will see you again in August.