"Preparing our students for their future, not our past." ~ Daniel Pink
Welcome students and parents! I am really excited for the new year to begin and look forward to getting to know each and every one of you. This year, I promise, there will not only be a lot of learning being accomplished, but there will also be a lot of fun as we get to know each other. Please take a moment to read this page. It gives a brief summary on what is expected this year, as well as a way to get to know me better. If you have any questions or concerns during the school year, please do not hesitate to contact me.
What to Expect this Year
At the end of 7th grade students are expected to show growth in their learning and it is our responsibility to make sure all students grow. At the beginning of the year the students take a pre-test that covers what they will be learning this year in World Studies. At the end of the year, students will take the final test. From these two tests, I will be able to determine how much each student's understanding of World History has grown. We cover a lot of ground this year in history. We begin the year with Ancient Greece and finish right after Columbus lands in the Americas--that is roughly 2000 years of history in 180 days. So, get ready to hop in Doc's Delorean or the Tardis to discover the past.
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Thanks to Mrs. Carlin and a few grants, I currently have 9 Chromebooks, in addition to my 4 classroom computers. I hope to gain five more Chromebooks this year and will continue to add to that number until I have a classroom set of Chromebooks. Until I reach my goal, I highly encourage students to bring in their own devices. I prefer laptops and tablets over smartphones due to limited screen size; however, I will allow any device to be used in my classroom, as long as it is used educationally. Therefore, if you have a laptop, tablet, smartphone--bring it in!
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Throughout the school year students will be expected to create an electronic portfolio that displays, not only the content they learned in World Studies, but also the work they produced in their other classes. This will be a yearlong project and hopefully students will understand the benefit of their portfolio and add to it each year. The learning goals of the electronic portfolios: 1. To show student growth 2. To help students reflect on their learning 3. To celebrate student success 4. To help students gain familiarity with using different sources of technology
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Students will be expected to use a variety of media to display their work. My classroom is, pretty much, paperless. Very rarely, students will turn in anything that is a hard copy. Gone are the poster boards! Away with printing out essays and turning them in to me. Students share everything with me via Google Drive or their electronic portfolios. Since, everything is digital in my classroom and I am no expert when it comes to EVERY media creator on the internet, I expect students to empower themselves and discover/teach themselves media they find on the internet. Of course, I will help them troubleshoot but I want them to take the initiative and discover new ways to demonstrate their learning in my classroom. Why write an essay when you can create a digital story on the topic? Why do a PowerPoint when you can create a mini-movie on the content? The internet is your oyster, you have the ability and freedom to create anything and discover everything.
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Each month students will be responsible for bringing in a current event from the area of the world we are learning about at that time. For example, when we are learning about Ancient Greece, students will be asked to bring in an article that focuses on Greece. The learning goal is for students to understand not only the history of a place but also understand what is currently going on with that area and how it connects to their life.
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Throughout this year students will be filling their very own time capsule. Each month, students will be asked to bring in an item to put in the time capsule that reflects on their past and present life experiences. My goal as a teacher is to help students understand that their history is important and the time capsules are a way for the students to record their history. The time capsules will be "sealed" at the end of 7th grade and students will be asked to pick them up when they are seniors.
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Success in my classroom depends on attitude. Students that exhibit a positive attitude will always succeed in my classroom. There will be times when students do not get the grade they expected on an assignment. If students are willing, they can revise and resubmit any assignment they did not do so well on. During the year, students will feel overwhelmed with their workload. I will work with them and set up new deadlines specifically for that student. I am willing to work with every student to make sure they are successful. However, I need the students to be willing to put the effort into their work and to be positive towards their education.
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Fun Facts about Mrs. Walters
I grew up 20 minutes from Michigan State University and have always been a Spartan. I graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in Education in 2008 and later got my Masters in Literacy Education from MSU also. I love being a Spartan and enjoy the friendly rivalry when MSU and OSU compete against one another. Go Green!
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I have two children, Camryn and Leo. Camryn is going to be 15 and will be a freshman this year at Avon High School. Leo is going to be 10 and will be entering the 4th grade. You would think with the 5 year age difference they would get along--nope, they fight constantly. The only thing these two have in common is their birthday--they were both born on September 25th.
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My Favorite TV Shows
What I like to do...
"Dance like there is no one watching..."
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