Teacher’s Handbook (1-5-2007)
PURPOSE
The purpose
of this Handbook is to provide teachers, who volunteer for helping
OPERATIONAL GUIDELINES
The Academic Program Directors’
responsibilities:
1. Hire teachers.
·
The
term of each teacher is one school year.
·
Each
teacher will be evaluated by the Program Director at the end of the academic
year.
·
A
renewal will be sent to each teacher at least one month prior to the start of
the new school year.
·
The
Academic Program Directors will base on the following criteria to determine
whether to hire additional teachers and/or invite current teachers to return
for the following year.
1) School “needs”: based on the enrollment.
2) Each teacher’s classroom
performance: based on the Academic Director’s weekly observation and review
from the students and parents.
3) Post-evaluation: based on student’s
performance
2. Establish teaching guidelines and
standards.
3. Arrange teaching material.
4. Student placement (based partly on
teacher’s input) a teacher should only recommend placement for his/her own
student(s). When students or parents ask for a teacher’s input in regarding to
placement, the teacher’s input needs to be based on the best interest of the
student.
5. Conduct the team meetings.
6. Ensure the smooth operation of every
class.
7. Adult conversation in 3rd period is
handled by E-track as the continuation of E-track activity.
8. Serve as liaisons between students,
parents, teachers and our school.
The
Academic Program Directors report to the Principal. All important decisions have to be approved
by the Principal.
Class Roster
1. The School will provide the class
roster for teachers prior to the start of each semester.
2. Each teacher will make class roll
call to verify the accuracy of the students’ roster in the first three weeks as
there will be reassigned students and new students who are not included in the
original class roster.
3. In the third week, each teacher will
return the revised student roster to his/her Program Director who will in turn
to collect all class rosters and give them back to Registration.
4.
Once
the School Register revised the class roster, an updated copy will be provided
to both Program Directors and teachers.
Teachers have the obligation to take attendance for each class. The
teacher shall report to his/her Program Director if a student continues to miss
classes unless the student presents a written statement from the parent to indicate
the excuse.
Conduct Class Activity
1.
The
school operates on Sundays according to the calendar of the major Public
Schools majority of our families attend and the operating hours are 2 to 4:50
p.m. unless otherwise notified.
2.
The
School will provide each teacher an operational calendar prior to the start of
the semester.
3.
Each
teacher shall arrive his/her classroom no latter than 10 minutes prior to the
start of the class period to supervise the student arrival.
4.
There
are three-class period in each week and each class period is 50 minutes in
length. The first two periods are designated for Chinese language and culture
learning and the third period is designated for enrichment class. There are two
10 minutes breaks in between those periods. The on-duty parents will ring the
bells to indicate the start and end of each class period.
5.
Teachers
shall not dismiss the class earlier than the designated ending time.
6. If a teacher cannot teach the class
for a particular Sunday, he/she shall notify the Program Director ASAP and
he/she can either find a substitute teacher by him/herself or ask the Program
Director to assign a substitute teacher.
7.
Teachers
shall not make any remark to students that might be considered offensive. Teachers
shall not make statements regarding the student’s background, personality
traits, race, religion, appearance, etc.
In general, teachers shall not make any discriminatory statements toward
race, sex, religion, age, appearance, etc.
8.
Teacher may assign, alternate or to have a student
elected “Class Helper”
9.
Teachers
may find or with the help of the Academic Program Director to find a suitable “Room
Parent” to assist maintaining class order.
10. The teacher shall report to his/her
Program Director if there is a serious student behavior issue.
11. Each teacher is required to provide
a course syllabus, preferably electronically, to the Academic Program Director
within three weeks after the start of the semester.
12. A teacher can find a volunteer
Teaching Assistant when needed.
13. A teacher can request the Academic
Director to split a class or to hire a Teaching Assistant when the class
doubles the average class size.
14. A student report card is highly
recommended for language classes. A good report card shall have the class
average grade, an individual student’s grade and the comments from the teacher.
Try to avoid list all students’ grades in the same report card. Individual grades are personal
information. The teacher shall work with
the Academic Program Director on the report card. A teacher can design and create
his/her own format, but shall consult with the Program Director before
releasing it to parent and student.
Class Parents-Teacher Conference
1. Each language teacher shall conduct
one meeting with the class parents each semester. The parents-teacher conference should be held
in the third class period. The purpose of the conference is to communicate with
the parents regarding to the course objectives, syllabus, class order, “Room
Parent” requests, and other housekeeping matters. Each teacher shall notify the
Program Director of the planned date.
2. Each Program Director will
coordinate to find a classroom to host the conference based on the required
date.
3. The language teachers are expected
to attend the school-wide PTO meeting which is normally held at the third
period on the second-to-last Sunday of each semester. All teachers &
parents will learn the progress of our school operations.
Support Yearbook Design
1.
Each
year the school will publish a Yearbook which displays the students’ learning
progress and achievement. The Secretary will coordinate the production of the
yearbook. He/she will notify each teacher the timeline of the production. In
general, the timeline starts in mid-February through early-April. The Secretary
will collect all the documents and produce the Yearbook for end of school year
distribution.
2.
Each
language teacher shall have the freedom of designing the content of the
Yearbook for his/her class (e.g., student homework, assay writing, book review,
etc.).
3.
Student’s
input and participation in designing the yearbook is welcome.
Some
enrichment classes (e.g., drawing, Arts & crafts) can select student’s
product for the inclusion in the yearbook.
Teaching material
1. Each Academic track has its selected
teaching material and the textbooks will be used as the teaching guideline. Each
track will decide and establish its own teaching/learning timeline.
2. Each teacher shall, at his/her
discretion, supply with additional material as teaching aids. If there is a
requirement to purchase the material, the teacher shall consult with his/her
Program Director before purchasing the material.
3. Each teacher shall inform all
students that the first set of textbook and homework of each volume are free
(e.g., included in the tuition). Any subsequent replacement will require
students to pay. The replacement charge is cost plus shipping.
Teaching Method Suggestions
Teaching is
an art. Classroom is a stage. The
teacher is the Conductor/Facilitator. Students are actors/actress. Students’ families and friends are the audiences. We recommend the “Open Door” teaching policy.
Please welcome the families and friends of your students to observe your class.
Please encourage them to be involved in their child’s learning.
Teachers
need to keep the students interested in coming and learning. Please focus on
teaching material that they can use in their daily life. It is important that
the teacher knows each student’s learning needs. Since every student is
different, pre-evaluation, differentiation, customization and post-evaluation
are highly recommended. Supplemental teaching or reading material is
encouraged. Proper games, plays, debates, brochures, picture books and other
related activities are essential when learning a foreign language.
There are
many ways to measure the teaching-learning end results. Based on the nature of
our school, it is recommended that the class host a “Final Presentation” at the
end of each semester (or end of the school year) so that students can present
what they have learned to their families and friends. Each class can decide the format of this
activity. Since teaching is the best way
of learning, teachers can encourage their students to teach their families and
friends what they’ve learned at the Final Presentation.
For
enrichment programs, some (e.g., martial arts & folk dances) can be
performed in front of the parents and students at the year-end closing
ceremony;
Class Awards
The teacher
of each language class can have an allowance of $5 per student per school year
for awarding students with learning improvement, scholastic excellence, and
other type of learning award. Teacher can arrange the awards and submit receipt
to school Treasurer for reimbursement.
The School
has two types of school-wide awards: The scholastic excellence award and
perfect attendance award. The scholastic excellence award guideline is one
award per every 5 students and exception can be made with the approval of
Program Director. The perfect attendance award has no limit as long as the
student meets the attendance requirements. Those awards are normally handed out
at the school year closing ceremony.
The Board
of Director also establishes two additional awards: The Student Achievement
Award and the Community Service Award.
Student
Achievement Award – each teacher, parent and staff can nominate a student for
this award. The nominated students must meet the minimum qualification defined
by the Award Committee. The Committee will open the nomination, normally in the
second semester, to all eligible students and the Committee will conduct a test
consisting of oral and written tests in order to select the candidates. The
Committee will recommend to the Board for approval of final winners.
Community
Services Award – this award is intended to encourage high school students to
volunteer their time to qualified community services defined by the Committee.
Teachers, staff and Board can nominate a student as a candidate; the Committee
will evaluate and select the finalist for Board to approve. The awards will be
handed out at the school year closing ceremony.