Welcome to Mrs. Howe's Homepage!

Name:                            Susan E. Howe

Courses taught '07-'08:  Spanish 1-2

Clark Phone #:                818-248-8324 x1234

Email:                             SHowe@GUSD.net

AIM Screen Name:         ILoveGiraffesCMH     

This is my 32nd year teaching and I love what I do.  I have taught at Toll Middle School, Hoover High School and Clark Magnet.  I have taught summer school at Glendale High and Crescenta Valley as well.

I went to Occcidental College, where I received my BA and my MAT (masters in teaching mathematics).  I am currently attending Cal State LA where I am working on an MS (masters in science) and a school counseling credential.

I love to scrapbook and spent time with my dogs, Manny (named after Barry Manilow) and Iona.

I have three grown children:  Jessica (age 25) who teaches Special Education students at Hoover High [where she graduated from], Mindy (age 22) who also graduated from Hoover and attends Los Angeles City College (LACC) and Daniel (age 21) who graduated from Burroughs High in Burbank and attends also attend LACC.

I believe that education is a very important thing.  In addition to teaching my subject material I attempt to teach my students organizational skills, study skills, and general skills necessary to survive in the higher level education as well as in the work force.  Since parents are not always readily able to help in the subjects that I teach, I make myself readily available for my students.  I am usually available before school, snack, lunch, Enrichment and after school on some days.  Students can also contact me by email or send me a message in the evening using AIM. 

I am available for extra help before school, after school, during snack, during lunch and during Enrichment.  This gives the students many opportunities to get extra help, even if it is a quick question.  If a student rides the bus, they can still get help during the day.  They can also make arrangements ahead of time for somebody to pick them up and I can help them after school.

There is homework EVERY SINGLE NIGHT......whether we had class that day or not (because of the block schedule)!  Students are never expected to wait until the night before class and complete all the homework.  They are usually assigned homework in two different sections (in my math classes) and are expected to go home that night, complete one section, (ask questions the next day) then complete the second section the following night.  In Spanish, even if there is not a written assignment, students should spend a minimum of 15 minutes studying their vocabulary, the grammar for the chapter and their notes.

I have already mentioned all of the items below in all of my classes.  However, I am including it here in SchoolRack for the benefit of the parents and in case any of the students were not clear as to the new rules in second semester.

 1.   I will no longer be giving participation points.  This will effect the students in two ways.  First of all, it will not "pad" their grades by giving them extra points for coming to class completely prepared and following all the classroom rules.  Secondly, those students that continue to break classroom rules by chewing gum, arriving late, etc. will now lose points from their actual grade.  Five points will be deducted for each infraction.  Infractions include those mentioned above as well as: not bringing the textbook to class; not having the textbook covered; not completing the workbook assignment; breaking any other rule listed in the Class Rules for Spanish.

 2.  I will no longer be collecting every assignment.  Last semester their was rampant cheating on the homework.  Many people just copied off of their friends paper and turned in the work as their own.  I will not tolerate that behavior, so I am putting less emphasis on the homework and more on the tests and quizzes.  The same amount of homework will be assigned (usually 2-3 worksheets per chapter), but I will not be collecting each paper.  I will be collecting random papers, so the students never know which paper will be collected.  Therefore, they need to come fully prepared to class each day that we meet.

3.  I will accept final drafts for 10 points for the compositions no later than 2 days after the rough drafts are due.  After the second day, the maximum number of possible points per composition will be 9.  If I find that a student as copied compositions from another student, or has used a translator (be it machine or human) I will give a zero out of 60 points for that set of compositions.