Mr. Lilja’s Five Classroom Rules for Success

1.  We are positive thinkers.

2.  We don’t give excuses.

3.  We are respectful to the teacher and our classmates.

4. We work hard and try our best.

5.  We actively participate in class.

Class Materials
All students should bring a composition notebook and a one-inch, 3-ring binder by the second week of class.  These materials will stay in the classroom and together we will work on organizational skills for success.  Both the 3-ring binder and composition notebook will serve as a portfolio of student work and achievement.  See Mr. Lilja if you are having trouble purchasing supplies.

Grading Categories
The ELD Reading Course Grade is comprised of the elements listed below.  Grades will be posted on both Canvas and in PowerSchool frequently throughout the semester.  Students will receive a progress report halfway through the semester.  If you need help accessing your current grade, please let Mr. Lilja know.

• 25%  Class Participation
• 45%  Classwork
• 10%  Unit Projects
• 20%  Quizzes and Assessments
  
  

Grading Scale

• 100-90%              A
• 89-80%                B
• 79-70%                C
• 69-60%                D
• 59% - below        F

Discipline

Students are always expected to behave in a respectful manner to the teacher and to each other.  If a discipline problem occurs the following steps will be taken (in this order)

1.      Verbal warning/Redirection*

2.      Student/teacher conference*

3.      Parent/Guardian contact (Phone call home)/warning*

4.      Administration referral

*These can occur all at the same time, simultaneously.

Scholar Dollars and Auctions

Two aspects of class that students have historically enjoyed the most are “scholar dollars” and auctions.  Each class period scholar dollars will be awarded for a variety of positive classroom behaviors including: answering tough questions, assuming the role of the teacher, winning review games, working quietly, etc.  Every few weeks we will hold an auction where students can bid on prizes including: chips, drinks, choice of class music, homework passes, mystery prizes, etc.

Make-up Work

If you are absent, it is your responsibility to make up the missed classwork when you return.  Mr. Lilja will place all missed assignments with your name on them in the absent folder.  You will have one week from your return to make up the missed work.  Electronic assignments on Canvas can be submitted during your absence or within one week of your return.

Lesson Framework

All ELD Reading courses throughout the Guilford County Schools District employ the 3Ls Framework for instruction.  This approach places Learning grade-level content at the center of the educational experience for students while integrating Language and Literacy development in a seamless manner.  Each lesson flow consists of six main elements:

1. Framed Motivation – an engaging prompt (picture, quote, video, etc.) accompanied by a linguistic frame to engage students in the topic of the flow
2. Word Play – usually three, academic Tier 2 vocabulary words, which are found in the text excerpt, are introduced in an interesting way to help in memory recall
3. Reading Closely – a shared literacy event between the teacher and student using a variety of text dependent questions to look for details, examine the author’s craft, and encourage students to draw connections and examine relationships within the text
4. Juicy Sentence – deconstructing and reconstructing a complex sentence in an effort to introduce and explain unfamiliar phrases, grammatical structures, and literary devices
5. Differentiated Tasks – a variety of tasks (word level, sentence level, text excerpt level, extension, etc.) which are designed to both meet the learners where they are and engage them in activities which provide a productive struggle
6. Closure – time at the end of the lesson flow will be reserved to allow students the opportunity to demonstrate their learning and concept understanding

Course Content

All ELD Reading course content will be grade level appropriate and aligned to the Academic Standards of the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction and the ELD Standards Framework provided by WIDA.  Students will work on receiving and generating academic English from a wide variety of topics which will include the academic disciplines of ELA, Science, and Social Studies.

Example ELD Can Do Descriptors from WIDA