Parents

**It is my pleasure to have the opportunity to work with your student. If there is anything I can do to help your student, do not hesitate to contact me. The most expedient way to get a hold of me is to email me at tslater@jeffco.k12.co.us. You may also call my voicemail at 303-982-0626, however, it will probably take a little longer for me to respond.**

Below is a brief outline of my philosophy of education. I include this here in order to let you know what is most important to me, and what factors I take into consideration as I teach your student.
 * Philosophy**
 * Rigorous instruction and academic growth for all students
 * Instruction aligned with standards for reading and writing, and school district pacing guides
 * Develop independence, self awareness, and responsibility in academics and personal conduct
 * Incorporate as much use of technology into instruction as possible
 * Develop a lifelong desire to learn, and to continue to learn, both in the language arts and elsewhere during high school and beyond

Please see my course syllabus for a description of how your student's English class will be run.[|S1 Syllabus Comm Tech 11-12.docx]
 * Procedures, Grading, and Attendance**

For questions or concerns regarding your student's grade or attendance, please utilize [|Parent Portal]. If you have any concerns, or would like to discuss grades or attendance, please contact me.

For any questions regarding [|Wheat Ridge High School] policies or [|Jefferson County Public Schools] policies, please visit the corresponding websites linked here.

This course will also involve your student setting his or her own goals and plans for after graduation and preparing to pursue those goals. In order to make this as relevant as possible, I need students to begin considering their career goals now. If they already have a plan, that’s great and they’re ahead of the game, but if they don’t please encourage and help your student to start developing one. **It is my job in this course to help students plan for after graduation and to allow them to get to know more about their career field. Be proactive and let me know how I can help .** Plans and goals will change, but it is important to always have goals and to be taking deliberate steps in order to attain those goals.
 * Course Overview: ** This course will be different than other English/Language Arts classes that your student has taken in the past. Rather than focusing on academic writing and literature, speaking, reading, and writing instruction will focus on real-world applications. Group work/collaboration will be extremely important, as will developing presentation skills and professional communication skills.


 * Capstone Project: **All Senior English/Language Arts classes will be doing the Capstone Project this year at WRHS. This project is designed to demonstrate all the English/Language Arts skills (as well as other content area skills) you have been developing throughout your education up to this point and it will constitute the majority of our class time. Consider this project a final for all 12 years of your education. Keep in mind this is a year-long project and we will break it down into manageable steps along the way. The Capstone Project will involve the following: A research paper, an oral presentation in front of a panel of community judges, a portfolio, a product that you will produce relevant to your topic, and other assignments as I see fit.


 * Standards Addressed: **All work done in this course is in accordance with the Colorado State Standards for reading, writing, and communication. For a complete outline of the following standards, please visit this link from the Colorado Department of Education Website: []

Standard: 1. Oral Expression and Listening

 * Deliver organized and effective oral presentations for diverse audiences and varied purposes
 * Collaborate effectively as group members or leaders who listen actively and respectfully pose thoughtful questions, acknowledge the ideas of others, and contribute ideas to further the group's attainment of an objective

Standard: 2. Reading for All Purposes

 * Evaluate how an author uses words to create mental imagery, suggest mood, and set tone
 * Engage in a wide range of nonfiction and real-life reading experiences to solve problems, judge the quality of ideas, or complete daily tasks

Standard: 3. Writing and Composition

 * Effectively use content-specific language, style, tone, and text structure to compose or adapt writing for different audiences and purposes
 * Apply standard English conventions to effectively communicate with written language

Standard: 4. Research and Reasoning

 * Gather information from a variety of sources; analyze and evaluate the quality and relevance of the source; and use it to answer complex questions
 * Articulate the position of self and others using experiential and material logic