Frequently Asked Questions: This page contains answers to common
questions of students and parents.
- What materials should I bring to class every day?
- What are the post-it notes for?
- What is included in 'final copy quality?'
- What happens if I don't do my homework?
- Why do I have to do the work if I got a zero on it for being late?
- I forgot go bring home the assignment.
- I missed class and need to catch up. What do I do?
- I keep forgetting what the homework is.
- I'm supposed to get my Agenda signed, but I couldn't find the teacher.
- I am having trouble with the work. What should I do?
- In a group project, one person isn't doing their share of the work.
- The printer on my computer doesn't work, or my whole computer doesn't work.
- What is your policy about late work?
- Can I do extra credit?
- Why won't you let students go to their lockers to get homework they forgot?
- How do you grade group work?
What materials should I bring to class every day?
. 3-ring binder or durable folder and plenty of looseleaf paper
. blue/black pen
. book you are reading
. Agenda (assignment book)
. Check white board outside door for other materials needed
What are the post-it notes for?
Use the post-it notes to mark passages in your book that interest
you OR new vocabulary words OR passages that would make good
quotes for an essay. Write yourself a reminder on the post-it
that describes what it's for, asks a question, or just has a ???
(meaning 'I don't understand') so you remember why you put it
there.
What is included in 'final copy quality?'
Neatly typed/computer printed.
Double spaced.
Title.
Edited and spell-checked.
One-inch margins on all four sides
Multiple pages are stapled together
St Bernard Header: Name Date
Homeroom (ex: 7A)
Language Arts
Title of your work
What happens if I don't do my homework?
If homework is not handed in on the due date, the grade is an
automatic zero. However, you still have to hand in the
homework. Hand it in the next day. (Family emergencies and
illness are reasons for extensions on due dates.)
Why do I have to do the work if I got a zero on it for being late?
Homework provides you with an opportunity to practice what you
have learned in class; this is practice you need. It also shows
the teacher how well you have learned what we are working on; I
need to see how well you are learning.
Doesn't it make sense to just do the homework, hand it in on
time, and get credit for the work?
I forgot go bring home the assignment.
Many of the graphic organizers and long-term assignments are
posted on this web page.
Call a friend from class. Phone numbers are in the SBMS
Directory all families receive early in the year.
I missed class and need to catch up. What do I do?
Talk with classmates, and talk with the teacher. If you missed a
quiz, it is your responsibility to arrange to make it up. If you
don't make up a quiz or test within 5 school days, your grade for
that quiz will be a zero.
I keep forgetting what the homework is.
First, write your assignments in your Agenda. If you're not
sure you're getting it right, ask the teacher to initial it at
the end of class.
Second, find yourself a homework buddy, somebody you can ask
about assignments.
I'm supposed to get my Agenda signed, but I couldn't find the teacher.
Be sure to write your assignment in your Agenda DURING CLASS when
the teacher says, "Get out your Agenda," and bring it to the
teacher by the end of class.
I am having trouble with the work. What should I do?
Ask the teacher for extra help before school, or after school.
Stick your head in the door, or, better still, ask the teacher at
the end of class when you can come for extra help.
In a group project, one person isn't doing their share of the work.
Even when students are working in a group, Mrs. Lo still assigns
individual grades. That way, a lazy person can't coast on other
people's work, and a hard-working student isn't penalized when
others slack off.
But if somebody is fooling around instead of helping, let the
teacher know.
The printer on my computer doesn't work, or my whole computer doesn't work.
1. There are computers students may use in the SBS Library, both
before and after school.
2. If your printer isn't working, you may handwrite the work (and
then type the work on a computer at school), or you can save the
work onto a flash drive and bring it to school to print. It is
YOUR responsibility to get it printed at school BEFORE CLASS.
(Note, if your word processing software is not Word, be sure to
save the file as a Word document.)
You may also email the work as an attachment to the email, or
copy the work into an e-mail message and e-mail it to Mrs. Lo; be
sure you use the correct email address and that you email the
work the night before it's due so she receives it before class.
It's not your mom's job to email it - it's your job. Mrs. Lo's
email address is on the board and also on all assignments sheets.
For other ideas, see No Printer? on the Home Page of this website.
3. Always keep a printed copy of your work, so that if you have
a problem with your computer, you can still do your work.
What is your policy about late work?
Mrs. Lo's Late Work Policy:
1. If you miss school, its your job to find out what you
missed. That means ask your classmates and your teachers what
you missed. Start by looking at the homework board in every
classroom. If your parents called your absence in to the office
each day that you were absent, information about homework will be
waiting for you when you return to school. (848-1271
x 248)
2. You must hand late work in, not just show it to Mrs. Lo,
to receive credit. She does not buy but I showed it to you
excuses.
3. You must hand it to Mrs. Lo, not leave it somewhere on
her desk. But I left it on your desk, given the large number of
papers on the desk, is not an excuse that will be accepted.
4. Do not ask about work that is more than 2 weeks old.
Mrs. Lo will not accept, But we talked about it, when it is so
far in the past that nobody can remember what you talked about
any more. Mrs. Lo posts to Edline at least weekly, so come talk
about any possible errors you see right away, not weeks later.
5. Its your job to make up tests as soon as you return from
an absence. Make up work within a week of an absence if you want
it to be accepted. After that, the opportunity to make up your
work is gone. (Exceptions are made for lengthy illness.)
6. If you were in school on the day something was due, but
missed class for some reason, you must turn the work in by the
end of the day to receive credit.
7. For assignments of 50 points or more, late work will be
marked down 20% to 50%; after a week, the assignment will be a
zero grade. For assignments of less than 50 points, late work is
always zero. Since SBMS policy allows for zero grades for all
late work, this is very generous.
8. Work is due at the start of class. No
exceptions.
9. But my mom was supposed to email it to you... Getting the
work in on time is the student's responsibility. Email the work
the night before to assure it is received before the start of
school. I'll bend the rules once for a late parent email, since
I understand parents often have to go through considerable effort
to get their child's work emailed to me from work; after
that, the work is late. Otherwise, the child learns that the
responsibility for getting in their homework is mom's - the wrong
lesson.
Can I do extra credit?
Do not expect the magic grade fairy to come up with
something quick to bring your grade up a few days before the end
of the marking period.
The following extra essay is only available to students who
are failing or close to failing. Any late work and the optional
extra essay are due to Mrs. Lo in school by the Friday of the
week before the end of the marking period. Your one choice is
the optional extra essay.
Sometimes Mrs. Lo posts a specific assignment for the extra
credit essay.
If that is posted, that is the only assignment she will accept
for that
quarter. This will be handed out in class, and also emailed to
parents via
Edline. Otherwise, the assignment is as directed below.
The optional extra essay is a literary essay, not a book report,
or a report
about facts.
This means you evaluate some literary aspect of what you
read how
the author used authors craft, how a character changed, what the
authors
message is, how this book compares to another book, for example.
You may
not simply rework an earlier essay you wrote.
If you write a plot summary or mostly facts from what you
read, you
will not receive credit, since thats not a literary essay. Ask
for help if
you need it; dont just throw it together and hope for the best.
There are graphic organizers galore on Mrs. Los website;
use one.
Expect to put effort into your essay. If Mrs. Lo finds
more than 5
errors (such as spelling, punctuation, capitalization,
paragraphing,
grammar) on any page, she will stop reading and not grade the
essay. You
will not get a chance to do it over.
The extra essay, which can earn up to 100 points, will
replace a
poorly done 100 point assignment, or a not-done 100-point
assignment. It
will not be scattered across several lower-point assignments.
You may do only one extra essay per quarter.
Due by the Friday of the week before the end of the
marking period.
No exceptions.
Why won't you let students go to their lockers to get homework they forgot?
Students can waste a lot of class time returning to their lockers
to find homework they should have brought to class. They disrupt
this class, take away from teaching time, and distract students
in other classrooms. We are lenient at the start of the school
year when students are learning routines. After that, we expect
them to come to class prepared.
How do you grade group work?
I don't believe in group grades, as they inevitably mean most of
the work is being done by only a few of the group members. Thus,
in almost all cases, students working in groups are still
evaluated individually. This is fair both to those students who
work hard, and to those who hope somebody else will do their work
for them.
