News: For Parents
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Please stay tuned into both the Justice High School News feeds
and the news coming directly from FCPS.
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Latest Addition: News Article on creating a
good digital learning environment at home
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NEW: FCPS Digital Help and Tech Support for Parents
1. FCPS Help Sheet / Directions
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2. If you need help with your laptop
Student Portal/Parental Portal to Request Tech Support
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3. Tips for Online Learning
Online learning tips and tricks
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4. If English is not your language
Parent Info Phone Lines -- in 8 Languages
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5. Phone a Friend -- Telephone Help Desk
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To support families who are working with their children during virtual learning, Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) is launching a new Parent Technology Help Desk, effective today, Monday, August 24. The help desk can be reached at 833-921-3277 (833-921-FCPS) and will be answered by staff members between 7 a.m. and 11 p.m., seven days a week.
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Reading is one thing, Writing is too. Too, not two.
Just one thing because they go well together.
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Reading and writing sound like two different skills, but
they serve the same purpose.
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In order to write better, students need to read good literature.
It is by reading that students pick up good habits, understand
various ways of presenting content, and broaden their writing skills.
Then, when given the chance to write their own words, students can
draw on the experiences they have had of reading good writing so
they can write better. It's simple:
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We learn to speak by listening to what others say.
We learn to write by reading what others have said.
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Of course, it also takes a lot of practice to learn how to write well. That's one of our school's main things to emphasize this year. It's called "Recursive Writing" -- that's the process of getting your ideas down on paper, and then fiddling with them until they fit together just right. The process I use for recursive writing is neatly outlined in the "RTS Cheat Sheets," a kind of handy all-purpose Student Handbook or class textbook. Here, students have access to simple checklists they can use to walk through each step from brainstorming to writing, to revising, editing, and proofing.
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After all, there's no room for "One and Done" when it comes to writing well. Instead we remind students of the Golden Rule:
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Writing is never done, it's just due.
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NOTE: There's more about Recursive Writing in these sections,
and you may view the RTS Cheat Sheets here.
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Finding a Voice
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It's funny how thing cycle back again. According to this video one of my students sent me, the biggest thing employers are looking for in new hires is the ability to think clearly, express themselves well, and understand what makes a goof argument and what makes a bad one. Check out the video clip here ... (Please note: I have no connection to the site or its owner).
As I have explained to our students, in Aristotle's day the first three things a student would have to master before choosing a larger area of academic study was the Tridium: Logic, Rhetoric, Dialectic -- how to think clearly, how to communicate effectively, and how to negotiate well. Along with this sense of mastery, I believe students need to learn some of the magic of English. Why Magic? J. K. Rowling explained in her book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows:
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“Words are, in my not-so-humble opinion, our most inexhaustible source of magic,
capable of both inflicting injury, and remedying it.”
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This year I want our kids to learn how to master reading and writing, and to unleash the magic within their souls. Words allow people to unleash the passions they feel within -- whether in a love poem or a protest slogan, a rap song, a rant, or a rational argument. It all comes about through words. But those words can only be heard once a student finds and decides to use their own voice.
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Isn't it about time that people could be encouraged to stand up and speak out? I can hardly wait to hear what the students have to say (even if I won't always agree with them).
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