April 3 and 12, 2008
Dear Carmody Middle School Elective 7th & 8th Grade Parents and Students:
Now's The Time!
Regardless of "Spring Fever," Dr. Data has opened up many innovative opportunities for improving ones grades ASAP. With the end of the grading period coming up on April 18th, it is time to exercise these options soon if you or your child have expectations of a higher grade! Consider the following creative options listed below.
- Curriculum with all assignments for both the 7th and 8th grade computer classes at Carmody are posted on the Internet with 24/7 availability so all missing work can be done any where in the world if your child has access to the Internet. Just go to: http://www.kuzmich.com/carmody/Curriculum_Preview99.html and both 7th and 8th curriculums are accessible.
Does your child need extra help? Dr. Data is now available five days a week between 2:20 p.m. and 3 p.m. daily for extra help and makeup except whenever there are faculty meetings on Wednesday occasionally. Just be sure your child makes an appointment with me and has a ride home after school if it is on a Wednesday or Friday when there are no activity buses.
There are also manly unlimited extra-credit available to improve everybody’s grades. I bet you wish you had a teacher like me when you were in school. Below are some examples of both unique and creative extra-credit activities that are now available that go far beyond busy work.
- For example, each unit of instruction on the Internet has extra-credit assignment available plus Dr. Data will give 5 extra-credit points in the grade book for every level of a computer grade that students creates in Klik & Play. And unlimited extra credit for as many levels as they an create. In May, we will actually have a unit of instruction dealing with the creation of computer grades which is a very creative process. It is not necessarily simple and does require lots of computer “chops” but over time, it is very straightforward as the students really get into it. And for interested students, I suggest that they download a free version of Klik & Play for their use at home from http://www.clickteam.com/webftp/files/6/10/KPSchool.exe for free.
More information about Klik & Play is available at http://www.kuzmich.com/carmody/Final_Two_Weeks_Syllabus.html#Designing.
- Dr. Data is also now sponsoring additional extra-credit opportunities for both 7th and 8th grade classes with special projects on their computers for Carmody faculty members. When student finish their daily and/or weekly work, students can be assigned to undertake special assignments for Carmody staff and to be rewarded extra-credit . Most of the seventeen projects deal with multimedia applications including graphics and layout, such as newsletters, banners, flyers, PowerPoint slideshows, web pages, and much more. For more details, go to http://www.kuzmich.com/carmody/Projects.html for actual samples of work done by our students for Carmody's faculty. Not only a great way to provide valuable services to our faculty, but talented students who participate in these extra-credit projects can also apply to be a student assistants next semester specializing in creative computer generated projects for Carmody. With practice, both 7th and 8th grade computer students will gain confidence and real-work experience using computers as they contribute to the Carmody environment.
And I already have some qualified 7th grader students who will be doing award certificates for our faculty for Carmody staff as well for extra-credit. If your 7th or 8th grade child would benefit from such experiences, please e-mail Dr. Data about this matter as several faculty members already have projects to be done ASAP! Already several award certificates designed by 7th graders are now posted at: http://www.kuzmich.com/carmody/Projects.html for your perusal.
- Believe it or not: many, many, many students have still never brought back their mid-term progress reports signed by their parent(s) which was due last Friday. Although it is worth 100 points, the truth is that it can raise your child's a minimum of 20% (2 letter grades) points of the total composite grade!!!! Why? The midterm is now the only grade in the category designated as "Attitude" which is worth 20% of the composite grade. And bingo when the progress report is submitted, the 20% (2 letter grades) of the composite is raised immediately!!!! And when missing, 20% of the composite is lowered by 2 letter grades!! If your child lost the progress report, simply print out a progress report from Carmody's Parent Portal and sign it and your child's grade goes 20%. URL for Carmody's Parent Portal is:
https://campus.jeffco.k12.co.us/campus/portal/jeffco_IC.jsp Deadline for returning a signed progress report is Friday, April 18th.
And better yet, any and all extra-credit will also be calculated only when the electronic grade book has at least one attitude grade (the midterm will be the first) and your child's grade will even go up higher. And with all of the other extra-credit options, success in Dr. Data's classes is truly a no-brainer for those that are willing participate in these innovative actities.
Hope this helps stimulate interests in the academic economy for the second grading period in not only improving your child's grades but in using computers more creatively. I believe you will agree that this is a rather positive manner of surviving the annual "Spring Fever" syndrome. Good luck!!!
Till next time,
Dr. Data