[Counselors] Transcript Homeroom Responses #1

Wed May 31 08:27:40 CDT 2023

Our school has an Advocacy class (pretty much like a homeroom). Ours is every day for 25 minutes. We do ICAP, college and career going culture projects and other large school things through Advocacy. Grade checks, calls to parents, work on missing assignments, etc. The teachers have the same kids all four years of high school.
There is talk now from the Superintendent and my principals of possibly making this a class that gets a grade. This is more to try to force the students to be more involved, not skip, be where they are supposed to be.
*Does anyone give credit for a course like this? *
*Looking for pros/cons. *
*My thoughts went to more a Pass or Fail but NO credit given at all but it goes on their report card and transcript. -Can we even do that?*

  *   We have this time worked into our school day also but we do not give credit or grades for it.  wnorton at latta.k12.ok.us<mailto:wnorton at latta.k12.ok.us>

  *   Good afternoon.

In our 9th grade Center, we separated our 9th graders into 2 groups.

The first group completed ICAP during the fall semester and Oklahoma History during the spring semester.  The second group did this in reverse. By doing this, we considered these 2 courses as a "core class" for the freshman students.

As they advance grade levels, students can complete assignments individually or in a smaller advisory settings.  I believe having the full course covers the graduation requirement for the State of Oklahoma.

I hope this helps.

Blessings and enjoy the balance of the day.

Dr. Sharri L. Coleman

Ninth Grade Counselor

Western Heights Ninth Grade Center

(405) 350-3417

  *   We did something similar with an Advisory class for about 3-4 years.  Our administration changed and it was phased out after last year. Theoretically it is a great idea but like many things, the nuances such as time frame, attitude, administrative, teacher and student buy-in will determine the effectiveness.  We had some classrooms that were great, others were just a holding place.  We had some teachers/students that felt it was worthwhile, others that didn't - so to avoid frustration don't expect 100%.   The college bound seniors were the ones that appreciated and utilized the time the most for scholarship and college preparation & applications.

*Planning: * The planning does take time but when we did it, I created and maintained a running google spreadsheet with shared access for advisory teachers as a calendar with linked activities for the teachers to facilitate so they did not have to plan, they just had to pull up the google sheet calendar on their newline (smartboard) and have students do the assigned activity, discussion, show the linked video, etc.   I had to plan a lot but I felt like the fact that I was able to get important information to them in a consistent manner was worth it.   I had activities planned by grade level.  In general, Mondays were about planning week an organization, Wednesdays were health and wellness focused and Fridays were for online jeopardy or something interactive and fun.  Tuesdays and Thursdays were ICAP related or homework catch up time.  Some teachers were better than others at facilitating, and there were a few that did not bother.  We would allow for time for StuCo or other clubactivities/meetings on certain days - which meant they were called out of class less.

*Time frame: * A minimum of 20 minutes is needed to be effective which shaves time off of other class periods in my opinion.  Any less and you will have incomplete activities and frustration.  If you have two lunch periods, it works well to separate them by grade level and stagger them before and after lunch.  I found having 9th /11th early lunch late advisory & 10th/12th early advisory late lunch worked well so I could have grade level specific activities for college rep visits or guest speakers do two groups by grade when they came to our school.  This also helped me rotate
through the classes more effectively.   If you have only one lunch, I felt like right after lunch or mid-morning was the best time option.

*Credit:  *We gave .25 elective credit and students were supposed to receive a weekly participation and/or activity grade.  An easy A if they want it but they could get a lower grade.

This past year we integrated ICAP into core classes by activity and it was much simpler for sure... But if you have the support needed, planning time, and buy-in, the advisory or advocacy class can be worth the time.

Good luck! jmoery at hps.k12.ok.us<mailto:jmoery at hps.k12.ok.us>

  *   WE had a class called Freshman Focus/ Sophomore Success/ Junior Journey/Senior Seminar for those purposes.  We gave a general elective credit for the course. So yes, we gave a grade.

awilson at millwoodps.org<mailto:awilson at millwoodps.org>

Sabrina Wood
Coordinator for Student Preparation for College Readiness
Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education
swood at osrhe.edu
665 Research Parkway, Suite 200
Oklahoma City, OK 73104
www.okhighered.org/student-prep
405.225.9257

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