Hello and welcome to a new school year. The new school year brings new faces and I'd like to tell you a little more about myself. This year, 2021-22 is my fourteenth-year teaching. I have taught all grades Kindergarten through eighth except Second. My absolute favorite thing to teach is Language Arts and I am quite excited I get to focus all of my energy in this area this year. 

I am an East-Coaster; my family is originally from New York, but we moved to Pennsylvania in 1998, so that is my home. My husband and I moved to Alaska in 2016 because we just got sick of talking about it and decided to make it happen! We lived in Fairbanks for a while and moved down to the Mat-Su valley fouryears ago.  Though the winters are rough, I wouldn't trade the scenery and activities for anything in the world.

I have two fur babies rescued from the pound: Brewski and Rae. I am POSITIVE you'll hear so much about them from our students...

My door is always open- please don't hesitate to call or email me for ANY reason. The only way we can ensure your students' success is through cooperation. 

Amanda Williams

Houston Jr/Sr High

Language Arts Syllabus

2020-2021

(907)892-9487

Dear Parents/Guardians:

My name is Amanda Williams and I am the Language Arts teacher for sixth grade at Houston Junior Senior High School. This is my fourteenth-year teaching and my third at Houston. I LOVE reading and can usually conquer at least three novels a week and hope to bring and share this passion of the written word with all my students and their families.

                This year we get to be Pioneers in Education with a blended model of both in-school and online curriculum available. It is going to be exciting navigating new waters. Our focus in sixth grade is primarily on Elements of Literature with a specific focus on plot, character development and setting. We also focus on strategies including, but not limited to, prediction, questioning and summarizing. I will be working very hard this year on Grammar and Writing. This will include sentence composition, complete answer construction, text dependent analysis, parts of speech, conventions and usage; narrative and expository writing and finally: spelling and vocabulary.

                Below I have included some FAQs I hope you find helpful when beginning this journey!

Q:  Where do I go to find my work?

A:  All online work will be assigned in the Google Classroom that students will log into on

the first day we meet in class.

Q:  How do I login?  Who do I contact for help if I cannot login?

A:  Students username is their initials and student ID and a password that they choose. 

Students struggling to login to the Chromebook, Google Classroom, or Apex

can contact me via email or by phone:  Amanda.williams@matsuk12.us  907-892-9487

Q:  When/how often do I have to log in?

A:  It is a good idea to log in every day: Monday through Friday.   Should we shift to remote learning, I will post assignments in pieces with pacing suggestions for the week.

New assignments will get posted on Sunday afternoon/evening, but students are not expected to start work until Monday.  Students can work ahead of the pacing if they wish.

Q:  What if I need help with my work?

A:  4C's time is a great time to go visit with teachers to ask about missing work, get help with completing an assignment and just staying on top of your to-do list.

Q:  Grades and Student Feedback

A:  Synergy is where all grades earned will be posted.  Synergy will reflect your grades for everything: classwork, citizenship, tests, and assignments.

Q:  How will late work be handled?

A:  Late work is not accepted. Of course, there are certain allowances, but, late work is not accepted. Students will have ample class time allotted to complete assignments and homework is very rarely given.