English Teacher - 7th Grade Orange Team
bryon.vaught@pulaski.kyschools.us
"Do or do not. There is no try." -Yoda
Southern Middle School

Hello students and parents! We have reached the end of the first nine week grading period. Hopefully the grades did not come as a surprise to many of my students (and subsequently their parents) as I have been very transparent with my grading system and the grades you have turned in.

Many students were affected by a single 'zero' grade, which significantly drops your average. As I took assignmnents up until the day grades were posted, I tried to give students every opportunity to turn in late or missing work. This will NOT be the case from here on out. When students fail to turn in work and provide me with a pink slip (ask your child about them!) I will allow them an extra week at most to turn work in.

Also I saw many grades drop an entire letter grade by either doing poorly on AR tests or in some cases not taking them at all. For the AR grade, which counts as a test grade, I averaged their two highest scores together. In many instances, if students only took one test, regardless of having a high score, when divided by two, it was an automatic failing grade.

As I explained to students at the first of the year, I strongly believe that teachers do not 'give grades'. Students EARN their grades and are entirely responsible for them. Students are responsible for retrieving their missed work due to absences from the absent work folders on the back of the room door.

Thank you for all your help parents, and if I can answer any questions feel free to contact me.

Mr. Vaught

PS. Book orders will go out on Friday, October 23rd. Every book your child purchases earns points and books for our classroom. There are some incredible deals on many of the books in this catalog, including the entire set of BONE graphic novels for only $45 and the MAUS collections.


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