Title: Grade 9 Course Selection Information Session
1Grade 9 Course Selection Information Session
- Tuesday April 4th, 2006
- 800 PM 900 PM
2Session Agenda
- Collingwood Statement of Aims Course Selection
- Big Picture Issues For Grade 8 9 Students
Course Selection - Master Schedule for Middle School
- Core Academics
- Selecting the Right Section
- Honours vs Regular Sections
- Accelerated Sections
- Criteria and Agreement for Honours / Accelerated
- Fine Arts and Third Language Electives
- External Courses
- Summer School
- Passport to Education
- Procedure for Course Selection
- Worksheet
- Not on list?
- How to use the online course selection through
the Parent Portal - Questions?
3Collingwood Statement of Aims
- The Collingwood Statement of Aims clearly
establishes the fundamental expectations for
student course selection and achievement - Collingwood School aims to graduate students
whose achievements are excellent, who are
inspired by learning, who appreciate the
contribution made to a fulfilling life by
scholarship, by the arts, by athletics and by
service, and who understand the rights,
obligations and responsibilities of living in a
free, democratic society. - The school aims to achieve these outcomes by
educating its students in an environment of
physical and psychological safety where they are
taught, nurtured and mentored by people
passionate about learning and teaching, who lead
their profession in knowledge, expertise and
integrity. The school welcomes all students and
families who support these aims and who conduct
themselves in accordance with its stated
community standards. - Board of Governors, May 22, 1998
- Simply put, students who attend Collingwood
School will beenrolled in courses and internal
co-curricular teams/clubs thatinvolve them in
all four strands arts, athletics,
service,academics. - It is important, that parents, students and
teachers support thefull intent of this mission
statement
4Big Picture Issues
- Grade 9 Transition Issues
- Answerable to 10 Teachers on an individual basis.
- 8 Block Master Schedule Each course has 3
classes per week - Explore 9 (Mandartoy)
- Year End Exams (count 20 of grade)
- Key Issue
- Be judicious in selecting the course load that
meetsyour childs capacity as a learner,
rememberingalways that, as adolescents, they
would ratherbe out jumping in puddles!
5 8 Block Master Schedule
MIDDLE SCHOOL TIMETABLE
6Impact onCourse Selection
- In terms of course selection, the explicit
expectation is that all students will enrol in a
Physical Education, Math, English, Science,
Social Studies, Second Language, Performing or
Visual Arts course each and every year from
grades 6-10. -
- This also involves any requisite Career and
Personal Planning curriculum prescribed by the
Ministry of Education (including Planning 10) - In grade 11-12, the only expectation that changes
is theswitch of mandatory Physical Education for
mandatoryAthletics. In these grades there is
also more latitudefor elective specialization. -
- Courses taken externally are not substitutes for
ourinternal curriculum requirements.
7When do I need to be thinking about university?
- In grade 9 we will start to look at what you need
to do in order to get into the various
universities around the world. - The process is ongoing and will be built on each
year from grade 9 to 12! - There will be meetings set upfor both parents
and studentsafter Christmas
8Core Academics Gr. 8 9
- Students must choose one section from each of the
following subjects (regular, honours,
accelerated) - 1) Math (9 R - by sets. 9Acc)
- 2) English (9R, 9H)
- 3) Science (9R no honours)
- 4) Social Studies (9R, 9H)
- 5) French (9R, 9H, 9A)
- 6) Physical Education
9Regular vs Honours Sections
- Honours courses are very different from regular
stream courses in terms of the expected level of
performance, pacing, teaching strategies, higher
level analytical, critical and creative thinking,
assessment and evaluation. - Students and parents accept any real or perceived
risks upon enrolment in honours courses. - Canadian Universities look only at top four core
academics for entry. (early entry based on grade
11) - U.S. Universities look at everything to grade
9in some cases. - There are no honours courses in grade 12but we
do have AP.
10Accelerated Sections
- An Accelerated section of a course is
essentially the curriculum from the next grade
level - example Math 9 Accelerated goes into the
curriculum from Principles of Math 10. - The advantage of accelerated sections comes with
early completion of Grade 12 Provincial Exams. - example Principles of Math 11
Acceleratedwrites the June Provincial Exam in
Grade 11.Students can then take AP Calculus in
Grade 12or Calculus 12
11Selecting Honours / Accelerated?
- Select H / A section in course selection. This
is a request to be considered. - This does NOT mean you are in
- List will be given to HODS at end of May
- Class will be chosen
- You will be notified
- If you do not get in, you will be putin the
regular section.
12 The Criteria?
- Criteria will be marks, teacher recommendation,
and performance in the course (effort mark, class
motivation) - Performance in the current course is
critical.these are not sections to see if you
can manage the course or to motivate you. - There are strict limits in thesecourses (we will
not put more than22 in any of them)
13Honours Accelerated Agreement
- Student and family accept all perceived risks.
- It is possible to work harder, do more and get a
lower mark than a student in the regular course. - At the grade 9 level there is nobonus on GPA or
awards fortaking enriched course.
14Fine Arts Third Language Electives
- Students choose from the following elective
combinations - a) Two fine arts electives (one is compulsory)
- b) One fine arts elective and one third language
- elective
- Fine Arts Electives
- Visual Art, Choir, Drama, Dance, Band, Honours
Band (Senior Wind Ensemble), Multimedia 9 - Third Language Electives Spanish Latin
- NOTE Students cannot take both Drama andDance
in the same year.
15External Courses
- Some students take courses at Summer School, or
by correspondence - To do this, you must coordinate this with your
Grade Counselor (Gr 9 Ms. Bremner) - Courses taken externally will go on a student
transcript but will not countin any
considerations forCollingwood (ex awards,
entranceinto Honours or Accelerated)
16Summer School ?
- If your marks in a core academic (Math, Science,
Social Studies, English) is at or below 55 then
you should be looking into this. - See your teacher for more information
- Summer School course information comes out in mid
April - Registration both remedial and full courses
usually starts in early May - Please refer to the External Course policy on the
website for clarification on how we handle these
courses - Grade 7 students should see Mr. Hughes
tocoordinate this.
17Passport to Education ?
- A Ministry Program for Grades 10-12
- Must be a Canadian citizen or landed immigrant
- Grade 10 250 Grade 11 225 Grade 12 275
- The MOE tells us how many stamps we get, then we
decide how toallocate them. - 67 is based on marks, 33 percent is based upon
other criteria. - We are currently looking at our criteria for our
33. For this year it will be 100 on grades -
the criteria will change for next yearand will
be published! - We send the Passport and stamp to award
winnersonly in August. - NOTE This is no longer a grade 9 program (if
you haveolder brothers or sisters)
18Procedures For Students
- Go to Collingwood Home Page link to Online
Course Selection Book - Research the courses through the course
descriptions. - Download and print out the worksheet.
- Make an appointment with your advisor/homeroom
teacher to review your program of study. - Speak to the teachers of any honours or special
sections you may wish to sign up for. - Sit down at home for your parents to sign. You
canonly do course selection from within
theParent Portals. - Courses must be selected in onlinecourse
selection by Monday April 24, 2006
19- This is a worksheet only
- Course selection should be entered online using
the Parent Portal (course selection is not
available through the Student Portals).
Selections entered through the Parent Portal are
considered to have parent approval - Please see the Grade 8 counselor if you have
any questions - The deadline for course selections to be
entered is Monday April 24th. - Check the boxes of the courses you wish to take
after consulting with your Advisor, teachers
and your parents. - Entry into Honours or Accelerated Sections is
criteria driven with strict limits on
enrolment. Students should check with their
teacher before selecting an Accelerated or
Honours section. Teacher approval will be given
after course selection is complete. Final
placement in these courses will be subject to
HOD/Dean of Academics approval. - Math will be offered as sets in a similar
manner to the grade 7 program. Math 8
Accelerated remains a separate course.
20- Pre Selected Courses
- PE 9
- Science 9
- Select 1 of each subject area
- English 9
- English 9 Honours
- --------------------------------------------------
- Social Studies 9
- Social Studies 9 Honours
- --------------------------------------------------
- Mathematics 9
- Mathematics 9 Accelerated
- --------------------------------------------------
- French 9
- French 9 Honours
- French 9 Accelerated
- Spanish 9
- --------------------------------------------------
---
21- Select 1 of the following
- Visual Art 9
- Drama 9
- Dance 9
- Choir 9
- Band 9
- Select 1 of following (not same as C, do not
select Drama and Dance) - Visual Art 9
- Drama 9
- Dance 9
- Choir 9
- Band 9
- Spanish 9
- Latin 9
22- At this point you will have 8 courses
- PE 9
- Science 9
- English 9 (R / H)
- Social Studies 9 (R / H)
- Mathematics 9 (R / A)
- French 8 (R / H / A), or Spanish 9
- One of Visual Art 9, Drama 9, Dance 9, Choir
9,Band 9 - One of Visual Art 9, Drama 9, Dance 9, Choir
9,Band 9, Spanish 9, Latin 9 (cannot duplicate
andcannot have both Drama and Dance)
23If you are taking something out of the ordinary
- For example, you are going into grade 9 but for
some reason you are going to take Math 10 - See your counselor (Ms. Bremner)
- TAKE YOUR WORKSHEET with you!
- Better yet, take your parents with you!
- NOTE Mr. Hughes has to enter thistype of
course for you into thecourse selection portal.
24How to use the Online Course Selection Process
25Online Course Selection
Parent Portal Student Name
Select ALL to see all courses
Course Selections
26Online Course Selection
Click in the box to select your courses!
Press ACCEPT when you are done
27Online Course Selection
If you click on Selected Courses Only you can
see what you have selected
Do not worry about Total Credits (we do not use
it)
28Online Course Selection
Course Selection DOES NOT show up in the Student
Portal It is only available through theParent
Portal
29Any Problems?
- See either
- your advisor
- Or
- Ms. Bremner
30When is this due
- Your courses should be selected and finalized by
Monday April 24th, 2006 - If you want to check if your courses have been
entered, log off and then log back onif the
check marksare in the boxes, then yourchoices
are in the system.
31Take this seriously
- I have the power to make your life difficult
- If you mess around with this, you will not get
any future considerations from my officeie
coursechanges etc. will not happenas I will
select your coursesfor you!
32The Process
- April is course selection month
- May is timetable planning month
- June is honours selection month
- Mail out of course enrolment withreport cards in
early July - Formal timetable sheets with roomand teacher
assignments inSeptember
33Parents Meeting?
- Tonight 800 PM 900 PM in the Lecture Theatre
- Get your parents to this meeting!
34Questions?
- Questions?
- Questions?
- Questions?