The following information will be sent home with all high school choir students on the first day of school. It is to be signed by the student and parent, and returned to Mrs. Kock by Tues. Aug. 25:
HS CHOIR EXPECTATIONS
GRADING POLICY
The school’s standard grading scale will be used to determine your letter grade. (90/80/70/60)
Grades will be figured as follows:
Quarter Semester
Participation in class = 75% Quarter Grades = 50% each
Concert Attendance = 25%
(or make-up work)
Due to our limited class time of only 2 days per week, and the complications of my Tuesday/Thursday schedule vs. your time in Atlantic classes, voice lessons will not be required as part of your quarterly grade except as make-up work for missing a concert. We will need to work something out for lesson time for those involved in small group contest when that season gets closer.
ANY ABSENCES FROM CONCERTS MUST BE MADE UP!
Concerts are like tests. If you missed a math test, you would have to make it up. I cannot recreate a concert setting for you to make up lost points. Therefore, the following policy was generated so as not to punish those who encounter emergency situations:
Excused absences (such as illness) will result in the requirement of 2 voice lessons. These lessons must be completed by the end of the quarter in which the concert occurred.
Unexcused absences will result in the requirement of a 750-word report on a classical composer (in your own words, bibliography included). This written work must be completed within 2 calendar weeks of the concert date, or you will not receive any make-up points for missing the concert.
Weekly academic eligibility lists will not apply in graded music situations. Concerts are graded, so regardless of your academic eligibility, you will be expected to participate. (If you failed math, we wouldn’t restrict you from taking your science test.) The only two exceptions to this policy are small group contest and the state’s Academic Scholarship Rule. Small group contest is voluntary and extra credit. Therefore, you must be academically eligible to participate. The Scholarship Rule applies to those failing any course at semester. Those students must sit out of all activities, including music, x number of days, according to the state. See Mr. Binns if you’d like more details on the state policy.
EXTRA CREDIT
Any extra credit will be added to the Participation portion of your grade, not to Concert Attendance.
Extra credit is given for the following:
2 points for each voice lesson taken, whether with Mrs. Kock or another vocal instructor (Mr. Kearney, for example, or a private teacher)
1 point per performance if member of a church choir, or if you perform as special music in a service (bring in a bulletin from the service)
5 points if you perform in a cantata or community choir
2 points for attendance, 5 points for helping, at elementary concert
1 point per outside concert attended (for example, a Tim McGraw concert or another school’s musical) with one paragraph summary telling me when, where, who, and what you thought of it.
HS CHOIR LETTERS & AWARDS
All members of choir will letter at the end of the year unless:
A. you have an excused absence from a concert and do not complete the make-up work; (Making up an excused absence will not affect letters or awards. In other words, do the make-up work for an excused concert absence and you’ll be fine.)
or B. you have an unexcused concert absence, regardless of completion of the make-up work.
Top-of-the-class (9th, 10th, etc.) choir awards will be given based on a point system Mrs. Kock has established. The point system rewards participation – the more active you are in choir activities, the more points you earn. If you would like more detailed information about the system, see Mrs. Kock.
A High School Choir Calendar is attached to this form. Please include all required dates on your home, work, and personal calendars. Let employers know these dates now so that you’re sure not to be scheduled to work these days. “I didn’t know about the concert” will not be an accepted excuse for missing it, given this advance notice.
**Please sign and return this portion to Mrs. Kock by Tues. Aug. 25**
Your signature below does not signify your agreement with any of the above policies. Your signature below simply signifies that you have read the above policies and are aware that they exist.
Thank you!! Mrs. Kock
__________________________ _____________________________
Parent/guardian Student
