RSS Feed for the Wiki

The Café

clehmann — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 22:45:36 -0400

The Café

The Café is a gateway to the school and it is the first space that visitors and guests see. It was designed to give the students a warm and inviting place to gather and eat. As such, students should respect the café and keep it clean. This means conducting oneself in an appropriate manner and caring for this very visible part of the school environment by doing such things as throwing away trash.

Hours of operation

clehmann — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 18:02:54 -0400

Hours of operation

The school building is open from 7:30 am to 5:30 pm Monday-Friday. The first class starts at 8:15 am every morning, and school ends at 3:05 pm on Tuesdays and Fridays, 3:30 pm on Wednesdays and 3:50 pm on Mondays and Thursdays.

Academic Policies

clehmann — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 23:39:26 -0400

Computer Access

SLA course work is largely computer-based. Teacher's, however, make sure that students are able to complete assignments on paper if necessary. If a student has a broken laptop or otherwise does not have access to a computer they are still responsible for all classwork.

Students who do not have access to the internet at home can download assignments at school before going home and upload them when they return to school the next day.

Plagiarism and Academic Integrity

Students are expected to maintain academic honesty and integrity at all times. Plagiarism policies will be set by classroom teachers and will be carefully explained so that plagiarism can be avoided and students can shine through completing original work.

Graduation Standards

clehmann — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 14:59:44 -0400

English	4 Credits
History*	4 Credits
Science*	3 Credits
Math*	3 Credits
World Language	2 Credits
Arts and Humanities	2 Credits
Physical Education	1 Credit
Health	.5 Credit
Electives	4 Credits

* The total number of credits must meet or exceed 23.5 credits.

* One elective must be in math or science, so that the total number of math and science credits total a minimum of seven.

* One History credit must be in African-American History.

* All students at SLA must complete the Wednesdays @ The Franklin course in the 9th grade.

* All students at SLA must complete their ILPs in 10th and 11th grades.

* All students at SLA must complete their four year advisories.

* All students at SLA must complete a Capstone project.

(For more information on the School District of Philadelphia graduation policies, please see the SDP Promotion and Graduation pages.)

Appearance Guidelines

clehmann — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 22:40:36 -0400

Appearance Guidelines

SLA students must dress respectfully and the school uniform is a white lab coat. Students are expected to purchase their lab coat on the first day of school. Lab coats will be worn during the school day. While students can put personal touches on their lab coats, we ask that they respect the uniform and the school community, and are appropriate in their consideration of decorations. Students can always speak to a faculty member to gauge whether a certain personal touch is appropriate. Students who inappropriately adorn their coats may need to purchase a new one. Students are expected to be dressed respectfully, simply, neatly, and modestly in clothing suitable for school.

Student Handbook

clehmann — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 16:59:08 -0400

Science Leadership Academy

Student/Parent Handbook

A Note to the Parents and Guardians

The purpose of this handbook is to inform parents and students about the practical aspects of life at the Science Leadership Academy (SLA). In addition, there are many people at SLA who are prepared to help make the high school experience as powerful and enriching an experience as possible for students and their families. We look forward to getting to know you and your children. Additional information about the school can be found on our website: http://www.scienceleadership.org, and if you have any more questions after reading this document, please feel free to call the school at 215-979-5620.

Table of Contents:

Mission Statement

School Information

Hours of operation

Class Schedule

Transportation

Absentee Policy

Leaving the Building

Weather emergencies

Marking Periods

Code of Conduct

Classroom Policies

Appearance Guidelines

Chewing Gum

The Café

Personal Electronic Devices

Acceptable Use Policy

Plagiarism and Academic Integrity

Contact Info

Marking Periods

clehmann — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 21:40:47 -0400

Marking Periods

SLA follows the School District of Philadelphia high school calendar for marking periods. Please note: SLA students may remain in classes on days when other School District of Philadelphia schools have an early dismissal for staff development afternoons. (See Class Schedule) Please refer to the SLA calendar for more information.

Weather emergencies

clehmann — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 21:39:54 -0400

Weather emergencies

SLA is a School District of Philadelphia school and operates the same as other Philadelphia public and charter schools do. Please listen to your local news stations, or go online to www.kyw1060.com or www.phila.k12.pa.us to check for school closings due to inclement weather or weather emergencies.

SLA’s school code is 2650.

Leaving the Building

clehmann — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 18:12:20 -0400

Leaving the Building

Students may leave the building during the school day only with permission obtained from Principal Chris Lehmann. A student seeking permission to leave the campus during the school day should bring a note from home signed by her or his parent/guardian stating the reason for the request.

If students know that they will be missing a class due to an unavoidable absence, they need to let their teachers know one day ahead of time. Students are responsible for making up any work from classes missed.

Students are reminded that they are officially present in school each morning when they swipe in on ScholarChip and are obligated to stay in the building from that point forward. On Wednesday afternoons, 9th grade students must stay in the building before being escorted to the Franklin Institute.

Transportation

clehmann — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 18:10:59 -0400

Transportation

The following buses and trains stop near the building at 55 N. 22nd Street: SEPTA Routes 7, 33, 38, 48 and Green Line trolleys. SEPTA Regional Rail lines stop at Suburban and 30th Street Stations. SLA students who live two miles away are eligible for a free SEPTA pass through the School District of Philadelphia transportation policy.

Class Schedule

clehmann — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 18:03:32 -0400

Class Schedule

SLA’s class schedule is rather unique. Classes meet for 65 minutes four times a week at different times during the day. Classes meet during the letter bands, for example a student might have English during A Band. The class period schedule is as follows:

	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
8:15 - 9:20	A	E	D	C	B
9:25 -10:30	B	A	E	D	C
10:35 - 11:40	X	Y	A	X	Y
11:40 - 12:45	Y	X	B	Y	X
12:50 - 1:55	C	B	Lunch 12:50 - 1:20	E	D
2:00 - 3:05	D	C	TFI / ILP	A	E
3:10 - 3:50	Adv		TFI / ILP	Adv

All 9th Graders take The Franklin Institute Course from 1:30 - 3:45 on Wednesdays. All 10th - 12th Graders are involved in their Independent Learning Plan / Internships from 1:30 - 3:45 on Wednesdays.

Teachers are in Faculty Workshops from 1:45 - 3:15 every Wednesday.

Please note: SLA students may remain in classes, have activities at the Franklin Institute or have Independent Learning Program obligations on days when other School District of Philadelphia schools have an early dismissal for staff development afternoons. Please refer to the SLA calendar for more information.

SLA Contact Information for Faculty and Staff

clehmann — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 23:51:12 -0400

SLA Contact Information for Faculty and Staff

Main Office	215-979-5620
Principal: Chris Lehmann	clehmann [at] scienceleadership.org
Secretary: Diane LoGiudice	dlogiudice [at] scienceleadership.org
Development Coordinator: Jon Amsterdam	jamsterdam [at] scienceleadership.org
Counselor: Karina Hirschfied	khirschfield [at] scienceleadership.org
Systems Administrator: Wilfredo Sanchez	wsanchez [at] scienceleadership.org
Librarian / Music: Paul Scaer	pscaer [at] scienceleadership.org

Biochemistry: Tim Best	tbest [at] scienceleadership.org
Physics: Rosalind Echols	rechols [at] scienceleadership.org
Biochemistry / History: Gamal Sherif	gsherif [at] scienceleadership.org
Biochemistry / Engineering: Matt VanKouwenberg	mvank [at] scienceleadership.org

Mathematics: Brad Latimer	blatimer [at] scienceleadership.org
Mathematics: Sunil Reddy	sreddy [at] scienceleadership.org
Mathematics: Kenneth Rochester	krochester [at] scienceleadership.org
Mathematics: Caitlin Thompson	cthompson [at] scienceleadership.org

English: Zac Chase	zchase [at] scienceleadership.org
English / Drama: Matt Kay	mkay [at] scienceleadership.org
English: Larissa Pahomov	lpahomov [at] scienceleadership.org

Social Studies: Matt Baird	mbaird [at] scienceleadership.org
Social Studies / English: Josh Block	jblock [at] scienceleadership.org
Social Studies: Diana Laufenberg	dlaufenberg [at] scienceleadership.org

Spanish: Mark Bey	mbey [at] scienceleadership.org
Spanish: Jillian Gierke	jgierke [at] scienceleadership.org
Spanish: Melanie Manuel	mmanuel [at] scienceleadership.org

Health / Physical Education: Pia Martin	pmartin [at] scienceleadership.org
Special Education: Anissa Weinraub	aweinraub [at] scienceleadership.org
Technology Coordinator / Art: Marcie Hull	mhull [at] scienceleadership.org

Assessment at SLA

clehmann — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 23:29:55 -0400

Assessment at SLA
Students at SLA are assessed through a variety of means with a focus on project-based learning and our five core values of inquiry, research, collaboration, presentation, and reflection. Our students do not take the School District of Philadelphia benchmark exams; rather, they complete projects in every subject that are assessed based on the SLA rubric (see below). The descriptions in the empty boxes are filled in according to the subject and project nature. We are working with the School District of Philadelphia to ensure that grades from the SLA Benchmark projects will be entered into SchoolNet at the end of every marking period.

SLA Rubric	Exceeds Expectations 20-19	Meets Expectations 18-16	Approaches Expectations 15-13	Does Not Meet Expectations 12-1
Design - Does student plan and structure the project thoughtfully and purposefully?
Knowledge - Does student demonstrate the understanding of ideas through inquiry, research, analysis, or experience?
Application - Does student use a variety of skills and strategies to apply knowledge to the problem or project?
Process - Does student take the necessary steps to fully realize the project goals?
Presentation - Does student effectively communicate the central ideas of the project?

Advisory

clehmann — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 23:25:58 -0400

Advisory

The purpose of the Advisory class at SLA is to provide academic support to students and to foster a sense of community within the school. Advisory is a safe-haven for students founded on confidentiality and mutual respect. It provides a place for student to express themselves about issues that are important to them, including transitioning from middle school into high school, managing homework expectations, peer pressure, conflict resolution with teachers, and more.

Parents/guardians should view the advisor as their first link to the school. They should email/phone the advisor about matters such as extended absences and/or special issues, or to check on a student’s progress.

Parents/guardians and their child meet with their child’s advisor once a semester to review the student’s academic and social progress, and to discuss the student’s achievements and challenges. Whenever possible, students are paired with an advisor for their entire high school career. Therefore, advisors have the advantage of looking at a student’s academic and social adjustment to high school holistically and across disciplines. As students advance to the junior and senior years, Advisory discussions also deal with course choices and college-preparation issues and activities. Advisory meets Tuesdays and Fridays from 2:55-3:40pm.

SLA Portal

clehmann — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 23:24:14 -0400

SLA Portal

SLA’s website includes a portal that gives students access to many of the web-based communication and publication tools including Moodle and Drupal -- our on-line course software, email, wikis and blogs. It enables teachers and students to create online spaces for each course, allowing them to communicate about assignments, school events, and more. Parents and guardians can check student assignments by entering their child’s SDP ID number on the parent page at http://www.scienceleadership.org/parent. In addition, parents will receive frequent emails from the school via our parent list-serv. We will subscribe all requested email addresses the first week of school. If you do not receive the parent emails, contact SLA Systems Administrator Wilfredo Sanchez at wsanchez@scienceleadership.org.

Acceptable Use Policy

clehmann — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 23:00:00 -0400

Acceptable Use Policy

From the unique SLA website, which allows students to publish original work and interface with peers, teachers, and the larger world, to the laptop students are issued through the School District of Philadelphia, SLA students have access to unique learning opportunities. However, with this privilege comes great responsibility. Please refer to the SLA Laptop User Guidelines (Add AUP Here) for more information on SLA’S acceptable use policy.

Students will receive a laptop for school use. We strongly encourage the purchase of insurance available through the School District of Philadelphia for student laptop computers. The cost is $XX. A notice has been sent home about laptop insurance.

Personal Electronic Devices

clehmann — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 22:46:38 -0400

Personal Electronic Devices

At SLA, we are proud to be a 21st century school and we promote responsible and thoughtful use of personal electronic devices. However, cell phones, iPods, PDA’s and other items should not interfere with the learning process. Teachers reserve the right to confiscate a student’s device if it is interfering with class. The first time a student’s personal electronic device appears to be a nuisance, it will be taken away and returned to the student at the end of the school day. Parents/guardians will need to come to the school to collect their child’s personal electronic device the second time it is confiscated.

Chewing Gum

clehmann — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 22:41:41 -0400

Chewing Gum

Students are not permitted to chew gum on school grounds or at The Franklin Institute.

Classroom Policies

clehmann — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 21:59:25 -0400

Classroom Policies

Parents/guardians should be aware that while there are universal guidelines at SLA, teachers may have different classroom procedures regarding hats, food, etc… We expect all students to respect those guidelines. Students who cannot abide by the classroom policies and, therefore, are asked to leave class more than once in a school year will have to have their parents come in and follow them through several class periods so that parents can observe student behavior.

Code of Conduct

clehmann — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 21:49:00 -0400

Code of Conduct

At SLA, we have come together to try to further each other’s knowledge, wisdom and abilities. To do that, we all need to feel safe, valued and respected. To that end, we offer the following three guidelines for student behavior:

Respect and care about yourself.
Respect and care about the community and its members.
Respect and care that this is a place of learning

All other specific guidelines for behavior stem from these simple statements.

Disciplinary actions for students who violate any or all of these codes of conduct range from parent conferences, to loss of privileges, to suspension and/or expulsion from SLA. Students and families should be familiar with the School District of Philadelphia’s Code of Conduct that can be found at www.phila.k12.pa.us.

Absentee Policy

clehmann — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 18:11:45 -0400

Absentee Policy

On any day that a student is going to be absent due to illness or any other reason, the parent/guardian should telephone the SLA secretary, Diane LoGiudice at 215-979-5620 by 8:30am.

After an absence from any contagious or communicable disease, a note from the family physician or release from the Board of Health should be delivered to the school Nurse or school Secretary. In the case of all absences, students are encouraged to stay current on their school-work using the SLA website to receive assignments and take part in classes.

Faculty Resources

clehmann — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 13:56:15 -0400

School 2.0

English

History

Science

Math

Spanish

Other

Site Users

admin — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 07:55:45 -0400

The site comes with the following test users in the following roles:

With the exception of the admin user, all usernames and passwords are identical.

Site Roles

admin — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 08:34:36 -0400

The following roles have been created to give an overview of how roles can be used to create different levels of access, and a different look and feel to the site.

anonymous user -- this role refers to people who visit the site, but are not site members (people who have not signed up for an account)
audio -- users in this role can create podcasts
authenticated user -- the default role for all site members. Users in this role have a blog, and can store bookmarks, create groups, create image galleries, and portfolio artifacts.
instructor -- instructors have all the rights of students, but can create courses and assignments.
maintainer -- site maintainers have full rights over editing all site content.
siteadmin -- the siteadmin has full administrative rights over the entire site. This role should be used sparingly.
student -- this is a placeholder role. For added security, all rights can be removed from the authenticated user role and assigned to the student role. For an organization who is limiting site membership, this configuration means that even if someone managed to create an account on the site, they would have no rights until an admin assigned them into a role.
wiki -- users in this role can create wiki pages, and can revert revisions.

It's also worth noting that this site uses a generic school paradigm -- it contains a student and instructor role, and instructors create assignments within courses. However, if those roles aren't used, the hierarchy is effectively flattened.

Logging In

admin — Sat, 17 Mar 2007 08:34:20 -0400

When a user logs in, they are taken to the "My Work" section of the site. This site gives a snapshot of a user's work.

The initial "My Work" view includes all of the content a user has posted. If a user is a member of any groups, they are presented with a list of their groups. Clicking on a group's name allows them to filter on the content from that specific group.

Tab Overview

My Files -- this tab is each user's personal file repository. As users attach files to posts, or create image galleries, they show up in this area. The file repository is created automatically as a user works in the site.
My Comments -- this tab shows all of a user's comments on other people's posts.
My Bookmarks -- this tab displays all of the bookmarks stored by a user.
My Podcasts -- all podcasts created by a particular user
My Wiki Pages -- all wiki pages created by a particular user
My Portfolio Artifacts -- all portfolio artifacts created by a particular user
My Groups -- this tab shows all activity within a user's groups.Using this view, a user can see all the new posts within their different groups. They can also filter content on a group by group basis

It's also worth noting that the ability to create different types of content can be controlled on a user by user basis, so a site admin can limit the ability to podcast, or create wiki pages, or bookmarks, etc, to specific users within the site.

View Content By User

admin — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 08:04:23 -0400

To view content from individual users -- and to get an RSS feed of a specific user's content -- you have a couple options.

For a user's blog posts: append "blog/username" to the end of the site's url.

For all of a user's content: append "allfrom/username" to the end of the site's url.

Creating Courses

admin — Sat, 17 Mar 2007 17:07:52 -0400

If you are creating a course, you can add specific content to your course home page.

You do this by selecting the correct view in the "Highlighted Content" section:

Select one, or several, of the highlighted views. You can select as many or as few as you like. At the risk of stating the obvious, the "group_assignments" view will show all assignments for a specific group; "group_wiki" will show all the wiki pages for a different group, etc. The one view that bears a little further explanation is the "group_blog_question" view; we set this up to show some of the potential for different uses here. If any user in the group creates a blog post that they tag with the term question, it will appear in "Highlighted Content" section. To see an example of this, go to the English 11 course and look at the "Questions" section.

We have prefaced all the names of the group-specific views with the word "group"; however, we recognize that this is no substitute for a UI that only presents the relevant choices. We're working on it, but, obviously, it's not done yet.

And there's one last step. Just below highlighted content, you will see a field named "arguments."

To make this work, first click the link below the argument field to disable the rich-text editor. Then, enter in the text %nid --

This final step ensures that only group-specific content will appear on the home page.

Obviously, these instructions are daunting/offputting to non-technical users, or people new to Drupal. Ideally, this type of course creation screen will only be seen by users who have been trained in how to use it, or who are willing to experiment. As people experiment with a site, and become more familiar with the functionality, they will (hopefully) start to experiment with different types of functionality.

Getting Started

admin — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 13:16:15 -0400

What a user sees when they log in

Creating Content

Creating Groups and specifically some documentation on embedding views into the group home page

What else?

English 11 Wiki Page

admin — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 05:44:30 -0400

This wiki page will certainly get things rolling.

Ariel is editing this.

Edit by hank

Hank's edit post upgrade

This is wiki-rific!

English 11

Main Page

admin — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 17:32:08 -0500

This is the main page of the site wiki.

New content added.

Added alias.

edit by hank -- will this show in revisions?