Are you newly enrolled here at NCA......and stressing out???
FEAR NOT BRAVE STUDENT!!
YOU HAVE COME TO THE RIGHT PLACE!!!
Read the message below carefully!
TAKE THE TIME TO READ EVERYTHING BELOW CAREFULLY! YOU WON'T REGRET IT!
Ok.....so it's your first day.....you've logged in....and Pearson Online is proudly showing you that you have 142 Lessons Overdue. So.....you gently close your laptop....take a sip of your Lipton Iced Tea, and promptly hide in the closet. Right????
NO NO NO! Don't hide! You don't ACTUALLY have 142 Overdue Lessons!
On your first day....the SYSTEM is going to "assign" you every lesson all the way back to the beginning of the year.....BUT.....your TEACHERS are going to drop most of those lessons FOR you........but...we can't do it until your first day. So.....chill.....write EACH of your teachers a WEBMAIL saying it is your first day, and we will take care of that monstrous list for you. How do you write a webmail, you ask??? Well.....on the RIGHT side of your Connexus Homepage, there is a list of your teachers. Click the little mail icon by their name there, and it will open a "webmail" box that you can type in. :-)
OK....FIRST CRISIS AVERTED. Now what?
So, you've written those webmails.....so now.....it's time to fire up that XBOX and play a lil' Call of Duty while you wait for a response right??
NO NO NO! Don't do that!!!
You've got some groundwork to do. It's time to familiarize yourself with your classes and ALL the resources at your disposal. There is a MINIMUM TWO WEEK learning curve to know what to click and when to click it......so if you are feeling lost and confused, you AREN'T Alone! Here are some things you can do to get started on your first day!!!
1. Make sure your STUDENT ORIENTATION is complete. It's on your Pearson Home Page on your TO-DO list. This will give you a basic run down of how your day should look.
2. Check your TO-DO list. This will tell you ALL of the lessons your are expected to do on a given day. You can START doing them even if your teacher hasn't dropped lessons yet! They will still count towards your complete and your grade if you complete them.....so you won't be doing them for nothing. In general, you need to complete 6-8 lesson PER DAY. Even if your "Overdue" list says you have 100+ lessons overdue.....just start doing the lessons on your TO-DO list anyways. As long as you are completing a TOTAL of 6 to 8 lessons each day....you're good. Nobody is expecting you to power through 2 months of work. When your teacher gets around to dropping those overdue lessons for you.....your TO-DO list will hop you forward to the proper lesson.
3. Get your supplies ready - Get your notebooks, pencils, software, and water bottles ready. Take notes as you go through those lessons in a notebook for each class. Many of your lessons will have a short "quick check" you need to complete before moving on to the next lesson. This will be a link somewhere in the lesson window. In Biology, it is a little red "assessment" button on the left side of the lesson window. After you have gone through the lesson....and are ready...click it, and take the 5 question quick check. NOTE: The quick check link may look a little different from class to class.....so just look around for a link that says "Assessment" or "Quick Check". Once you have taken the Quick Check or Quiz......you need to mark the lesson COMPLETE using the little check box in the UPPER RIGHT of the lesson window. Then....it will allow you to move to the next lesson. (The lessons needs to be completed in order). If you try to mark the lesson complete before you complete the quick check, you will get an error message of some kind......so look around for that "Quick Check" link. Note....not EVERY single lesson has a quick check....so if you can't find a link for one...try just marking the lesson complete. If there IS a quick check, you'll get that error message, and then you can go back and look for the link.
4. PAUSE - If you are doing STEP 2 on a daily basis........EVERYDAY.....you are 80% of the way there. GOOD JOB!!!
5. Each of your teachers has a customized website where special policies and instructions for THAT CLASS are located. Below is a link to the NCA STAFF Directory. Find your teachers / classes websites....and BOOKMARK THEM. Take some time to watch your teachers special introductory videos, and click around their websites. Put their contact information into your phones, or write them down somewhere near your work area.
NCA STAFF DIRECTORY
6. This is ALL you need to concentrate on for your FIRST COUPLE OF WEEKS. There are other things you will figure out as you progress.....and I don't want to overwhelm you with information here. Just trust yourself...click around....and try things. Keep in mind....you can ALWAYS call / text / or webmail ANY of your teachers with questions......so if you get stuck on something.....DON'T WAIT....JUST ASK!!! We don't want you to get stuck behind something that could be fixed with a quick call or text.
WELCOME TO NEVADA CONNECTIONS ACADEMY! WE ARE HERE FOR YOU....SO PLEASE CONTACT US ANYTIME!!! I've posted my Introductory Video to Biology Below for your convenience!