Expectations and Policies - CiS - Mr Gelston's One Room Schoolhouse

Goals

The ultimate goal of Ms. Kat’s Gifted Computer Science Lab is for each student to master his/her studies in Computer Science.
The first step in meeting our goal is to create a pleasant and relaxed environment so that learning can happen comfortably.
Mastery is defined as the student’s ability to build a computer scientist’s toolbox of his/her own, which includes learning basic syntax of a language, computational thinking, leveraging algorithms for a purpose, and the ability to test one’s assumptions through good coding.
A topic is never abandoned for good due to time restraints or impatience. Topics can be set aside and revisited later, but never forgotten.

Ms. Kat considers herself to be a partner to the parent. Parents are considered to be the Primary Educator for overall education issues and Ms. Kat is the Computer Science teacher who works in partnership with the parent.
Parents are encouraged to engage with Ms. Kat to discuss issues and strategies for success. Regular meetings can be set and impromptu discussions are probable.

Ms. Kat uses K-12 Computer Science Framework, https://k12cs.org/, as a tool to help parents meet their children’s computer science needs.
Course content stresses innovation, initiative, discovery, rule making, and problem solving.
Developing creative problem solving skills is addressed through multiple games and practice questions while discussing strategy as used in Mathematics.

Students meet twice a week for two one-hour sessions.
For private lessons, class attendance must be canceled 48 hours prior to the start of class or else the class will be charged as planned.
If a child is sick, Ms. Kat will use her discretion on charging for the class.
If students are not online within 10 minutes of the official start of class, the session will be closed down and the family will be charged for the class.
Repeated cancellations and lateness may cause forfeiture of balance and loss of spot with Ms. Kat.

Different websites are used for several purposes: practice from class, study with support at home, and proof of learning.
It is appropriate for students to work with their families to learn a topic. After having initial practice, the student should go back on their own and redo the topics until they reach Mastery.
Some websites are more sensitive than others to C.O.P.P.A. and will require a parent to be present at all times during the practice session with the student.

As a regular student of Ms. Kat’ Gifted Computer Science Lab, Ms. Kat will download shared documents from the day’s class. These files are available to you as a shared folder on Google Drive. It is a good habit to download the files yourself at the end of class in case Ms. Kat is unable to download the folder.
A Learning Portfolio will be created to demonstrate proof of learning.

Ms. Kat shares documents using Google Drive.
You need to have a google account to access Google Drive.
Both billing and class downloads are stored in Google Drive.
Ms. Kat maintains a private mailing list on Google Groups for families to receive announcements and to share thoughts as a group.

For current students, Ms. Kat requires that there be a balance at the end of the school year to hold a spot for the following fall.
New students signing up for the fall need to pre-purchase classes in order to hold a spot for the fall.