Draper Elementary began implementing a new program this week to help ensure the success of each student. ZAP (Zeros Aren't Permitted) encourages students to take more responsibility for their schoolwork and time allocated to them during the day to complete their assigned work. We are noticing too many students are "OK" not doing their work or even turning their work in.
Our job as educators is not only teaching our students, but to help make sure they are learning the necessary information. We often ask ourselves three questions: (1) Did my students learn the objective? (2) How will we know when they have learned it? and (3) What do we do if they have not learned it? If students are not able to show a teacher that they understand the information being taught, then we are not willing to allow a student to choose not to do their work.
We are not asking that all students complete 100% of all assignments, but we are raising the expectation that all students need to be responsible and participate in the learning process. One of our school rules is "Be Responsible" and we feel this program will help support our students understand that this is a team effort by all. Part of that learning process is to complete assignments with a satisfactory level of proficiency.
Th ZAP program is new to Draper Elementary but not new to educational buildings around the valley. Crescent View Middle and other schools use a similar program and have seen increased awareness of students participating in the learning process. Students’ individual levels of understanding have also shown improvement because of the program.
Here is an outline of how our ZAP program will work:
· Throughout the week teachers will assign work for students to complete. If a student fails to turn in the assignment OR turns in an assignment with minimal completion then the teacher will have the opportunity to ZAP them.
· Teachers /Office staff will notify parents by Thursday that their child will be ZAPPED if the work is not completed and turned in by Friday morning. This will give them Thursday evening to try to complete any outstanding assignments. If they do finish it to a satisfactory level, they may be excused from attending ZAP.
· ZAP will run on Friday’s or Short Days other than Friday. Ms. Briten, our certified teacher and PE specialist, will be overseeing the Friday ZAP lunch period.
· A student will come to lunch with their ZAPPED work. They will check in with Ms. Briten in the gym and then go pick up their lunch with a front of the line pass. Once they have their lunch they will return to the gym to work on their assignments during their lunch schedule. If students fail to return to the gym within 5 minutes we will call their names over the PA system. After 7 minutes, they are considered delinquent. If a student skips, they must automatically attend ZAP the following week.
· Students will attend ZAP for their entire lunch period on Fridays. If they complete their work before then, they will be asked to read. Our hope is that students will see that when they try most can complete their work fairly quickly.
We assume this will be more relevant to our upper grades (3-5) but know that at times all grades may want to participate in this opportunity. We hope that our students will understand that “Being Responsible” is a life skill that they need to start using now.
If you have any questions about this program, feel free to call me @ 801-826-8275.
Thanks,
Ms. Kenna Sorensen, Principal
