Welcome students and parents to English with Mrs. Meeks! It is great to be back in the classroom with all of you, and I can't wait to see what the 2021-2022 school year brings. Whatever it is, we will get through it together. As your teacher my goal is to help all my students develop and establish a responsible voice in writing, discussion, and presentation - all skills that today's workforce value.

A LITTLE ABOUT ME

This is my third year at Elsinore High, but I only got to be on campus for seven months. This is my 19th year as a teacher, and I have a range of experience teaching English 9-12, from Academy specific and Honors to Reading Intervention and Academic Language Development. I even had the pleasure of teaching Spanish I/ II and ELD in addition to serving on my schools' leadership teams as a Department Chair, Instruction Specialist, and Teacher Mentor. I started my teaching adventure in a traditional classroom setting and later served almost a decade in Hawaii's project-based and team teaching schools. Our new Pearson curriculum: My Perspectives is a happy medium I know all students will benefit from.

Outside of teaching, I love to travel, write, and read, especially when I can visit places I have read about. I have had the pleasure of taking students to England and Spain, and I can't wait to see how I can serve the Elsinore community! I have served as a club advisor in many areas including: Spirit, Fine Arts, Creative Media, Spanish Language, and Latino Culture. I am looking forward to building supportive relationships with the students, families, and staff here at EHS. In other news, I earned my B.A. in English/Teacher Preparation from San Jose State University in 2003, and my Single Subject Teaching Credential in English from SJSU in 2005. Like any learner advocate, I continue to take and provide professional development, and I have earned my MA in Education in June of 2021 focusing on struggling readers, English Language Learners and Social Emotional Learning.

Continuing with CANVAS

ALL agendas, assignments, and up to date information for my English 9 and 10 courses will continue to be communicated through CANVAS. You can access Canvas through CLEVER , logging in directly to Canvas (its app), or using the "Resources" tab on the school webpage. For final grades and attendance information, please check Infinite Campus. For regular postings of accurate grades in real time please see your CANVAS grade.

COMMUNICATION

Please note, communication is one of my top five classroom expectations, so please do not hesitate to contact me. please email me at [email protected] I will also have designated OFFICE/CONFERENCE hours after school BOTH in  person and via Zoom if necessary (please email to set up a time) from 2:30-3:30PM. The link will be made available on my Canvas Homepage.

Be SUCCESSFUL

Keeping up with daily check-ins, progress, active participation, and Friday "Delivery Days" are important to student success. Students will have the length of a unit to turn in work for major assignments to improve scores and make-up assignments. For example, out first unit, The Short Story, starts on August, 25th and ends on Oct. 1st, so students have until Oct. 1st to improve grades in that unit before modules are unpublished and we move to the next unit. Please encourage you student to establish a routine both at school and at home. Please see our class page for a copy of the course syllabus.This information is also available on the CANVAS Homepage. Also be sure to regularly access our online grade book via Infinite Campus. Grades from Canvas will sync regularly to IC.

Lastly, parents and students, you can add and change email preferences in your student Canvas SETTINGS to ensure communication being sent from Canvas. Student default email is their OFFICE 365 account. Note: You can also download the Canvas APP. Parent also have the ability to link to the student's Canvas account as an Observer.

I look forward to getting to know all of you through the wonderful year ahead of us!