Introduction Day - Class Recap

The start of a year long journey together! This is the road to Monument Valley, on the Arizona/Utah border, during the summer of 2014.

Hello everyone,

Thank you for doing your homework and visiting the blog! As I said in class, I think this is a really helpful resource for students, staff, and parents to be able to follow along with what is happening. After every class, I will write up a recap and post it. Most of the time, your only homework will be to read over the blog and be prepared for what is coming next in class. With that, let's get started!

Soundtrack: "Changes" by 2Pac. I always choose this song to start off a new class with, because I like the idea of our room being somewhat different from your other experiences in high school. This song also has all sorts of lyrics that relate to American Studies, like the line:

"And although it seems heaven-sent
We ain't ready to see a black president."

Check out the full lyrics here.

AGENDA 9/6/19:
Introductions/Attendance
Syllabus/Grades
Letter to Class/Mr. Fritz
The Blog
Create Ground Rules
News Briefs

Homework: Share syllabus and website with parents. Bring binder. Next news brief: Rajvir.

Introductions/Attendance: At the start of class, I introduced myself and how the agenda on the whiteboard works. I am absolutely delighted to be your teacher at Westview this year!

I took attendance and tried to ask everyone how they wanted me to address them. I did look up any student preferred names/nicknames in StudentVUE before, so let me know if you would prefer to go by something else. It will take me some time, but eventually, I will know everyone's names, I promise!

Syllabus/Grades: I know that this is not the most exciting content in class. I wanted to make sure to go over some of the real key points to the syllabus (like where I am, how to contact me, how your grade is decided, and the need to bring a binder to class). Here is an electronic copy of the syllabus and rubrics:

Google Drive: Westview American Studies Syllabus

Global Studies: Westview American Studies Grading Rubrics

If you or your parents have any questions about any of this, please let me know!

Letter to Class/Mr. Fritz: After the syllabus talk was done, I passed out a letter that I wrote to the class, explaining all about who I am and what sort of expectations I have. Hopefully, most of it was interesting information! I like passing these out and signing them all individually. To me, it represents that I really am interested in everyone in my class.

After reading the letter aloud, I asked everyone to write back to me in a similar sort of fashion. I gave a bunch of possible questions to answer as prompts and about 30 minutes or so to complete the assignment. I LOVE reading these and writing back to everyone! Thank you for your effort - I can't wait to learn a little bit more about who you are!

The Blog: As part of the syllabus, I introduced this website: the class blog! This is seriously so important for your success in this class. If you are staying up to date on here, reviewing what happened in class to get ready for the next meeting, and asking questions if you need help, I guarantee that you will be more successful than if you do not.

Create Ground Rules: Ahh, yes. Your class was great with this usually awkward process! The rules that you came up with and agreed to as an entire class are:

• Respect Others – Treat Them the Way You Want to Be Treated
• Be Responsible
• Participate to Your Best Ability
• Be Safe
• Try to Have Fun

I will be working to make sure everyone, including myself, is following the ground rules! Thank you for participating in this exercise. I will post these in the room and on the top right of the blog.

News Briefs: This is the current event style assignment that everyone will do at least once. Basically, all I want is for someone (I will assign it) to bring in a print out (or email me) of a current news article (within the last two weeks) that is a story about something inside the United States (since this is an American Studies class). We will talk for about 5-10 minutes at the start of class about whatever article this is and whatever else is going on with students - just as a way to help make class relevant and interesting to you and what is going on every day in the country.

Rajvir kindly volunteered to do the first news brief. :-)

Thank you for reading! See you next class!