HERO Hour
Purpose of HERO Hour: The main purpose of HERO Hour is to provide academic support for students who need extra time and help to either understand a current standard being taught or just need extra time to get caught up on missing assignments.
Another purpose of HERO Hour is to provide a menu of enrichment activities for students who are caught up on their school work and who do not have any D or F grades. We acknowledge that using HERO Hour to get homework done so it doesn’t have to be taken home is a benefit of HERO hour, it is not the purpose of HERO hour.
Time: HERO Hour is between 1st and 2nd hour (after Advisory). It has been after the 5th hour but research shows kids perform better and learn better in the morning. By the late afternoon, HERO was less effective and students were tired and behavior issues became more prevalent.
Procedure: Students use an online program called “Minga” to schedule their HERO request each day in Advisory. Advisory is a ten minute period between 1st hour and HERO hour that students use to sign up for their next day's HERO activity and to check their current HERO Hour assignment to see if it was changed from the day before. Sometimes a student’s HERO Hour choice can be changed by a teacher if the teacher needs to reteach a concept, the student’s grade has dropped, or if they are missing work.
Attendance and Accountability: When the bell rings to end ADVISORY period and start HERO Hour, students have 4 minutes (the same time as passing time between all classes) to get to their HERO assignment. ADVISORY class is the same roster as 1st hour and roll is taken in Advisory and then compared to the roll taken in HERO hour using the Minga. If the student was marked present in ADVISORY, but marked absent in HERO Hour, they will be marked truant in ADVISORY unless they have a valid reason for not attending their assigned or chosen HERO assignment. ADVISORY is used for accountability in HERO hour as far as attendance goes and is used by students to sign up for HERO offerings.
Teachers and staff are in the halls during HERO Hour and can help students look up their assignments in case they get confused or forget where to go.
Keys to Success in HERO Hour:
- Every day during ADVISORY students should look at their current day's HERO assignment to see if it changed from when they signed up (or were assigned by a teacher) the day before.
- Students should sign up for tomorrow’s HERO Hour.
- Students should go where their assignment says to go because that is where their name will appear on a roll sheet.
- Work hard during HERO hour so they can learn a concept they are struggling with or missed because of an absence, get caught up, or enjoy a fun activity because they are caught up and have zero D’s or F’s on their grade.
