Follow these steps in sequential order for best results...

1- Come to class everyday; arrive on time; work when it's time to work [stay on task--use the Daily Routine (What Should I Be Doing?) poster for help]; and get along with others. Establish new friendships and maintain older ones. Record contact information of people who you think might help you remember HOW to answer homework questions correctly and WHY these answers would be correct. On your homework, HOW and WHY are always more important than what, the correct answer. Give your brain and communication organs the exercise they need to figure out correct answers using HOW and WHY on your own. Simply jotting down what someone else thinks is the correct answer and passing it off as your own only compounds your problems by delaying the identification of your need for additional help, destroying your most valuable possession (your integrity, which people judge by your reputation and actions), and instilling bad habits.

2- Check your Agenda every afternoon to make sure you have completed your homework assignments before going to sleep. Secure your completed assignments in their designated location(s) to be turned in so that they do not get lost. Present your 100% completed assignments on your desk within 7 seconds of sitting in your assigned seat. I will stamp your work on time when you demonstrate exercise of your brain and communication organs to apply HOW and WHY in deciphering correct answers on each and every question. When you're not sure whether or not a particular answer is correct, GUESS and explain why you think your answer is or is not correct to the side. Make corrections as you compare your answers to mine BEFORE we turn in assignments. (Note: you will probably only have time to make a few corrections when we go over assignments together--all the more reason to demonstrate your very best work on every question before going to sleep.)

3- Review your vocabulary every night for 3-7 minutes. You need to be able to explain how to correctly say and spell your target vocabulary and phrases in Spanish without a word bank. Recognizing written or spoken Spanish words and translating them to English is a good skill, but it's the opposite direction of our target higher order thinking skill to process ideas from English to Spanish, not Spanish to English. Remember to focus on the words and phrases that are not nouns and infinitives (Big $).

4- When I show you your graded assignments in class, keep the ones on which you score less than 80. Write "Corrections" across the top in large letters. DO NOT change your original answers. Highlight the letters, words and/or special characters that you think caused answers to be marked incorrectly. Rewrite your corrected answers on a separate sheet of paper and staple it to the back. Place your 2 stapled sheets in my hand after you complete your Journal Notes entry on the very next school day. DO NOT lay your paper on my desk.

5- Retake tests and quizzes in tutorials for a maximum score of 80% after studying again.

6- Use Spanish as much as possible. Communicate your ideas as clearly and precisely as possible in every medium of communication you use. Fear is your greatest enemy in learning. Conquer thine enemy! Never allow fear to stop you nor even cause you to hesitate in trying to use what you study. Apply every lesson to understand, connect, solve, explain and enjoy as many aspects of life as possible. ...Use it, or lose it.

7- Make your Spanish expertise available to all. Many consider teaching to being the highest orders of thinking and learning. Remember to coach and reteach the HOWs and WHYs. Synergy is not only beneficial for those with whom you come in contact, it is beneficial to you and an important habit for all of us to maintain.

We take great pride in replying to email within 24 hrs. The work hours I have to manage email are 8-8:30 MWF and 12:30-1:30 M-F. You will promptly recieve a sincere and professional reply within 24 hrs of reading your message.

It usually takes until the morning that grades are due to update Corrections, Late and Makeup work. Please turn in your completed assignments with the rest of the class as often as possible.

4-4:40 Mon & Wed

I do not turn away students who come to ask for help at other times unless I have something that requires my immediate attention. I will make appointments with you for morning tutorials, but sometimes traffic or delayed opening of my son's school impedes my ability to open the door by 8:05. If you come on a Tuesday or Thursday morning I will have to take you with me to morning duty and help you there.

Make sure you are using your class time wisely before you come to tutorials. It is not fair for me to reteach in tutorials that which you do not practice in class. Neither is it fair for me to divert attention from preparing lessons for those who do stay on task by participating and paying attention in class.

No, I do not. Please see Steps 2, 4 & 5 of "How do I raise my current 6-week average?" I do, however, have enrichment work available to my students on LDMS Library iPods. This work consists of about 15 audio lessons referred to me by the Defense Language Institute in Monterrey, CA. They take 25-40 minutes each to complete, and you may earn one bonus point on your current 6-weeks average per mastered lesson. These lessons are designed to master sequentially, without interruption, one per day. I highly recommend every student to master all of these enrichment lessons. When enough students master the 1st 15 lessons, we can order the next set.