This is Leadership

 

Welcome to 2022 - 2023

Attention Parents and Students!! Regular updates will occur on our Google Classroom pages (NOT this page!) Students have been sent invitations to join via their school email.

Be sure you are able to access it (bookmark it!) and check it every evening. On many evenings it will not have changed from the day before. BUT, on the evenings when there is new information, students will be responsible for it. (And typically it will involve my giving students information that will benefit them immensely - usually the next day (like for a Terrible Ten). This discipline is critical for success in my Leadership Class) When there are assignments, instructions will be posted. Slides will be posted by request for the benefit of folks who have missed class.

Please get in the habit of checking Skyward frequently; we update it weekly with test scores AND community service hours properly submitted IN OUR CLASSROOM (not to the front office!). There is never a reason for any student or parent to be surprised at the end of a grading period.

Attitude is Everything!

Syllabus

Leadership Class for Freshmen

Legacy High School

Mr. Yoakum 2022 – 2023

 

Materials: You will need a LOOSE LEAF notebook (DO NOT bring spiral bound or composition books to my classroom) and more than one pen (black or blue ink only) with you at your seat EVERY DAY.  All writing done for/in class will be in ink. Any overnight assignments must be typed and printed using MLA format EXCEPT for the inordinately long and space consuming header. You will just reverse your name in the upper right hand corner and begin your paper – NO TITLE IS NEEDED (Most assignments are only one page papers and I do not want to waste the space – I should get your topic when I begin reading.). Writing Assignments are graded based PRIMARILY on effort, and then on the quality and content of the writing. Minimal effort will ALWAYS result in a grade of 65 or lower.

Term Grades are assembled as follow:

10% participation/attitude – Outstanding attitude and participation will automatically boost your grade. Conversely, poor participation or attendance could result in the reduction of your grade by an entire letter grade.

15% Community Service Volunteer Hours – Timely and appropriate submission of the appropriate number of volunteer hours will also boost your grade, while late, or non submission of the requisite number of community service hours will result in a prorated deduction to your grade.

75% Terrible Ten grades – each week (unit) you are likely to have a quiz grade. I call my quizzes Terrible Tens. This is the heart and soul of your leadership grade. Your average on these quizzes will make or break your success. If you do not miss any Terrible Tens during a quarter, I automatically drop your lowest Terrible Ten grade, further boosting your average (don’t miss my class!).

*Parents and Students are urged to check Skyward regularly for grade/service hours updates.

NO ONE NEEDS TO BE SURPRISED AT THE END OF A GRADING PERIOD

Grading Scale:

100%-90%=A

89%-80%=B

79%-70%=C

69%-60%=D

59% or below=F

Missed Work:

If you are absent (don't miss my class!), it is your responsibility to make up any work missed.  For each day that you are absent and excused, you will have one day to make up the missed work.  For example, if you miss two days of school, you have two days to work on and turn in the missing work.  *Extenuating circumstances may be considered. 

Freshman Leadership Class

The Leadership class at Legacy consists of eclectic curricular materials related to leadership and self-development. Its primary aim is to inspire, direct and support the students in the development of a strong personal character and a lifestyle of responsibility. Students will be learning a variety of quotes and concepts each week that will encourage them in 'themed' areas of growth.  By year's end they will have encountered an entire litany of leadership-oriented maxims and pearls.  Students will also have been led through a variety of self-discovery and learning exercises designed to help them chart a course for success.

We use a variety of sources, with our freshmen section borrowing widely from The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Steven Covey (actually we use a dumbed-down, cartooned version written by his son, Sean). We have recently begun introducing some of the fine leadership materials written by Jon GordonThe Energy Bus and The No Complaining Rule. In recent months I have enjoyed becoming acquainted with Bob Goff (Love Does and Everybody Always), and some work by Andy Andrews. In the second semester we use some of Dr. Phil's Life Laws (again we do his son's dumbed-down version, Life Strategies for Teens). In addition to the many and varied textual materials I secure for class, we use a variety of video materials (typically shorter clips, although we do feature a few full length movies with exceptional Leadership themes.) to demonstrate important leadership fundamentals in entertaining ways.

Because our classes consist virtually entirely of classroom presentations, it will be critical to their success that they take accurate notes and maintain a quality notebook (loose leaf!!! - don't buy composition books or spiral bound notebooks for your kids)IT WILL ALSO BE CRUCIAL THAT THEY NOT MISS CLASS, as the class sessions themselves are not reproducible. When they do miss, they will still be held responsible for getting the notes they may have missed from a classmate.

Principles

Our first rule of the road is, "Engage, Enthuse, Enjoy". We have found that when our students do, they will. Please make a habit of asking your student about what they discussed in Leadership class each day. This is probably the most intelligent way in which you can help them assimilate the lecture content. They should be ready to respond intelligently (and hopefully passionately). Over the years I have noticed an amazing correlation: ALL students who engage enthusiastically in class achieve A's (without exception). Over the course of my academic career I have found that this principle holds true in any academic endeavor.

Secondly, we teach an important principle; Who's responsible? I AM! We want our students to assume the responsibility for their work, for being prepared every day and not making excuses. We will not let them throw you under the bus when it comes to things that are due. We hold the students responsible for themselves. (It's in the Legacy Creed - which they'll all be required to memorize)

Procedural Requirement

It is important that students have 1 inch or smaller LOOSE LEAF NOTEBOOKS AND PAPER and pens available to them everydayPlease do not purchase spiral bound notebooks as they provide an inordinate amount of litter on the classroom floor and I will not allow their use.

Keys to getting good grades

I am always striving to reward students for what they have learned, so our weekly quizzes are usually crammed with opportunities to receive generous extra points (or portions thereof). However, your student will need to actually take careful notes and prepare (I give them 10 minutes in class before the quiz each week but it'd be a great idea if they actually studied the night before) in order to perform optimally. If you notice consistent poor performance on the weekly quizzes, the 'Terrible Ten's (the basis for the vast majority of their grade), it is time for a conversation with your student about how they're missing out. (Hint: Ask them to show you their notes - this is typically an amazing indicator). It is important that students not miss these quizzes. Because of the way the Terrible Tens are administered (using the slides from class, with verbal prompts from the teacher), there is no making up a Terrible Ten that students miss. When a student does miss a Terrible Ten there is no actual penalty, there is just no grade averaged in. At the end of each quarter I drop the lowest Terrible Ten score for students who have not missed any Terrible Tens.

I seldom give overnight homework assignments (once or twice/term), but usually require real investment during each class period. There should be plenty of thinking and applying that is less objectively gradable as they leave the classroom. In most such cases, effort is considered heavily.

THIS YEAR I WILL REQUIRE ALL HOMEWORK WRITTEN ASSIGNMENTS TO BE TYPED/PRINTED ACCORDING TO MLA STANDARDS as they are for English classes (minus the humongous heading formatting that wastes a lot of space). Students failing to print them out and choosing to email them to me (not a good option) will be charged $1 per page for me to print them.

Community Service Hours

The Legacy High School required community service hours are attached to the Leadership class. Each quarter, each student is required to complete 1/4 of the annual requirement. There is no longer any grace period for completing them. Those failing to do so in timely fashion will lose class credit on a prorated basis proportional to the amount of unearned hours.

Students are expected to take the responsibility for obtaining the documentation materials and turning them in on a timely basis (always due the Monday prior to the end of each quarter). Forms are available from, and returnable exclusively to, my classroom assistant. We will be posting the documented and submitted hours on a weekly basis on the Skyward (grade book) site for each student, so as to be readily reviewable by students and parents alike at all times during the quarter.

Freshmen are required to render 36 hours (9 per quarter) of community service for the year. Sophomores are required to render 40 hours (10 per quarter) of community service for the year. Juniors are required to render 44.hours (11 per quarter) of community service for the year. Seniors are required to render 48 hours (12 per quarter) of community service for the year.

Work done for the family business (or where the family is employed) is not considered community service. Our vision is to get our scholars involved in giving back to their community, so we'd like to encourage them to volunteer at a non-profit. Church volunteerism is great, but only hours rendered in a church ministry offered to, and accessed by the general public will be counted (i.e. not Sunday School classes, nursery, youth group, etc. as those only benefit church members - this was dictated by OCPS). Other places to explore include: Health Central Hospital, Health Central Park, the Orange County Library, Little League, Matthew's Hope, DO-GOOD FARMS, Bekemyer Farms, animal shelters, Habitat for Humanity, or tutoring younger children or otherwise assisting teachers at your own school, etc. In each case it is important that the agency be a NON-PROFIT entity.

Contact or Conferencing

Although I have a full time job outside of Legacy, I will do my best to respond to any contacts or the need for conferencing. Feel free to email me through the school system. You may also feel free to call or text me on my cell phone 407 758-3570. If you're texting me for the first time, please identify yourself in the body of the text. If I don't manage to take your call it is because I'm a) in the classroom or a church service, b) in counseling or prayer with someone, or c) the phone number is unfamiliar and I hate robo-calls. Otherwise I almost always take my calls.

Photo of Mike Yoakum

Mike Yoakum

HS Leadership

  • www.hopecharter.org/sites/mike-yoakum/ (opens in new window)

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