Supports and Incentives
Freshman Academy is a bridge from the eighth grade to the tenth grade. The support mechanisms are the core of the Academy. Through these, students are given concrete ways to make the transition from middle school to the academic and behavioral expectations at Jordan, and their parents and guardians are given the opportunity to become or remain involved in their children’s education.
All ninth-grade students are provided with an academic planner to support them in organizing vital information. By allowing a few minutes a week for students to enter and read information in their planners, teachers can help students create good work habits that will benefit them their entire lives. Parents, guardians, teachers, and counselors can assist students by encouraging them to use their planners to record information, including the following:
- homework and project due dates for all classes, not just those in the Academy,
- quiz, test, exam, and presentation dates,
- beginnings and ends of marking periods,
- changes from health to P.E. class and vice versa,
- reminders to bring special materials when needed,
- reminders of unusual class schedules and/or class meeting places,
- locker combinations (entered in a secure manner),
- field trips,
- medical and dental appointments,
- school holidays,
- days of personal importance, and
- dates of tryouts, auditions, athletic competitions and arts performances.
Note: Some student planners have a place for Social Security Number information. In these days of identity theft, it is widely regarded as a bad idea to make that information available to those who don’t need it. It is wiser and safer to suggest that students memorize their Social Security Numbers and/or school identification numbers.
Study hall is a way of making it easier for students to seek a teacher’s help if they want it. Students are certain of at least one afternoon per week when a teacher will be in his or her room and they can ask for assistance. Study hall also provides four afternoons a week during which students are aware that they have a quiet, structured environment in which they can do their work before it is due.
When necessary, study hall provides natural consequences for students who do not turn in assignments on time but who want to be eligible to earn partial credit for late assignments.
If a student is assigned to study hall, it is a good idea to give him or her a written reminder. After a time, some students will not need this, but having a stack of slips can be handy. See the sample study hall assignment sheet in the Appendices on page.
Teachers are under no compulsion to arrange for numerous reschedulings of study hall because of a student’s job or participation in sports, fine and performing arts, clubs, or drivers’ education classes. Nor are teachers required to offer the option of lunch detentions or other alternatives to study hall in order for students to have another chance to earn partial credit on late assignments. Students who are involved in other activities would be well advised to do their homework and turn it in on time.