The Writing & Tutoring Center is a useful resource when you need help with any course. The writing instructors are most helpful for English essays, but there are peer tutors for most courses. Peer tutors are fellow OHSers who have already taken and succeeded in the course.

To book an appointment, visit the WTC's website. If you don't already have an account, you can click the "Register for an account button" at the top.

Once in, you can toggle between the writing instructor schedule and the peer tutors schedule. To make an appointment, click an empty rectangle and fill in the information. (ALL TIMES ARE IN PACIFIC TIME! You must book at least 24 hours in advance.) To join the session, open up the appointment booking (the easiest way is to click the dropdown by "My Appointments") and click the red "Start or Join Consultation" button.

After the session, you can always return to the same room to access the notes that you and your tutor made. You will also receive an email with a summary of the visit (written by your tutor) and an email with the Link to a feedback form.

You are required to download the AC desktop app. It works much better than the browser version. For more info, visit the OHS Tech Page.

Worried about getting a tardy if class isn't open yet? The best way is to ask your fellow classmates in the class chat. In order to be marked as tardy, you must be at least 30 seconds late.

Interested in learning how to use all of AC's tools as a host? We may offer upcoming events focused on teaching you how to harness its powers.

Adobe Connect

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Canvas

Here are a few tips to get you started:

Canvas is in your local time zone.

You can drag and drop courses around your dashboard.

Every teacher organizes their Canvas page differently, so it's worthwhile to spend some time acquainting yourself with its format before school picks up (and asking your teacher questions).

Usually, if you click on "Modules," then you will see a list of modules that pertain to different weeks. Make sure to keep track of what week you're in. You can also look at "Assignments" for bigger stuff like essays or quizzes. Most teachers enable the "Grades" tab, where you can see all your feedback and grades for the course. Join your class using the "Adobe Connect" button. This should also provide you with the most accurate info about when your class meets.

To log in to PowerSchool, click here. Log in using "Student Sign In" (requires SUNetID + password). You will immediately see a list of your courses with your current grades, absences, and tardies. Clicking on different items in the sidebar reveals different things.

"Grade History" allows you to see past grades in previous years.

"Attendance History" offers a closer look at all your attendance for the semester.

"My Schedule" has both a Week View and Matrix View, but it can sometimes be inaccurate.

"Next Year Schedule" is mainly relevant after you've selected the next year's courses.

"Student Services" provides the contact info of counselors/advisors.

"School Information" has basic info about OHS.

PowerSchool

Accommodations

The information below is a summary. For complete information, including more detail and a list of important contacts, please visit our blog post here.

Accommodation process steps:

Requesting an Accommodation—Submit an Accommodation Request form in PowerSchool or speak with your counselor to request an accommodation. Clearly describe your disability (in medial terminology), what your symptoms are, how often they occur, and how they affect you at school.
Constructing an Accommodation—After receiving your disability documentation, the Director of Student Affairs will work with you and your family to determine the best accommodations for you. During this process, consider how your disability/symptoms affect your ability to participate in classes and complete homework and exams.
Distribution and Uses of an Accommodation—You and your family are responsible for distributing your accommodation information to your instructors. Provide instructors with enough information that they can clearly understand how your disability will affect you in their courses. CC your counselor on all such communications; they can assist if you ever need help, such as requesting an exam reschedule close to the due date because of your disability. Don’t feel hesitant to use your accommodation when you need it—it’s there for you because of a documented need, and it’s absolutely okay to use whatever accommodations you have been granted.
Adjustment and Renewal of Accommodation—You can renew your accommodation (and request adjustments to it) at the beginning of the school year by submitting an Accommodation Request form. If you feel that you need an adjustment to your accommodation mid-year, you and your family should contact the Director of Student Affairs and update your counselor and instructors.

At OHS, you will most likely have some form of official midterm and final exam(s) every semester. To figure out the dates, visit the assessment calendar. While finals take place during a set week in December, midterms range from late September to early November.

Some of your tests will be on Proctorio (online proctoring), while others will require an official in-person proctor. How do you find/register proctors? Your parent must go to the OHS Gateway and fill out the Proctor Registration form. It is a good idea to reach out to your local libraries or community colleges to see if they can provide proctoring services. You may also want to consider proctoring companies. If there are outstanding circumstances (e.g., you live in a remote area with no nearby proctors), you are allowed to use a parent proctor.

Proctors & Exams

Proctorio

For some exams you take at OHS, you may need to install the browser extension, Proctorio. This link will most likely be provided by the instructor for you to install Proctorio: https://getproctorio.com/

This website contains more information on how to install Proctorio: https://proctorio.com/support/setup

Upon starting (or before starting) the quiz, make sure you don't have any tabs, files, or any other windows open besides the one used for taking the quiz.

Do not hit the stop sharing button! This may cause the quiz to end abruptly without giving you a chance to finish.

There is also a formatting button in Proctorio which will allow you to increase/decrease indent for tabbing.

If you run into any further difficulties, please email your instructor.

Almost every OHSer is a master procrastinator. How can you fix that?

One method is structured procrastination, which involves procrastinating on some things by completing other tasks. Another way is to employ a technique like the Pomodoro method, which will make your studying more effective and forces you to study for a set period of time.

It also may be helpful to learn how to use planners such as Google Sheets or Notion. Here is a sample planner in Google Sheets, which you can use to have a central place to look at all your upcoming assignments (or to write down smaller tasks that will lead to the completion of such assignments).

Some students find studying together a great way to hold themselves accountable. You can find a study buddy or join a study group circle based on your timezone.

Procrastination

Asking for help

Feel free to reach out to the Board of SASS for help finding resources and navigating OHS's academics. You can fill out our anonymous form or reach out to us at boardofsass2024@gmail.com.

Another valuable resource is instructor office hours, which are held in a separate Zoom or AC room. They are a great chance to get one-on-one time. Many instructors have their regular office hours listed on their home page or in the syllabus. (Sometimes they require appointments.) If these times don't work for you, they are often willing to schedule floating office hours with you. Simply send them an email with some availabilities and explain why you would like to meet. (They are required to respond to all emails within 24 hours.) But make sure that you plan in advance so that you can meet before the assignment is due.

Student teaching assistants and peer tutors are also extremely helpful. You can book appointments with them in the WTC, but teaching assistants also host weekly office hours. (They may announce these in the Pronto class chat, and their hours may be on the course canvas homepage.)

This section is especially helpful for new students who may have some confusions. The following is a list of common things that new students don't know.

1. Even if you have back-to-back classes (or back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back), teachers are supposed to give you a 5 minute break between them. (That doesn't always happen – some teachers let you go 15 minutes early, and others always end up going 10 minutes over. But if class is taking too long, feel free to let them know.)

2. No matter what your PowerSchool schedule says, homerooms always meet on Monday or Tuesday, unless they are clubs (which meet on Fridays).

3. After a Monday holiday, some T/Th classes meet, while others don't. (Sometimes the teachers don't want the M/W sections to fall behind, so they may cancel class.)

4. How do you get a tardy or an absence? You are marked tardy if you are >30 sec late and absent if >15 min. If your other class is running long, joining through the browser could save you. You can also be marked functionally absent (FA) by your teacher if you don't participate (especially for higher-level English classes) or have a nonfunctional mic/cam. Your parents can apply for extension-eligible absences (EAs), but they still count as absences. You can't miss more than 1/5 of the class meetings per semester.

OHS Oddities

Study Tips

Ultimately, what works best for one student may not be the best approach for another. But there are a couple common resources that OHSers use.

Quizlet - Easy to use and free, Quilt is a great way to study stuff like bio terms or new vocab.

Handwritten notes/flashcards - This helps you memorize a lot of things on the first pass through the text, even if it takes many more hours. Plus, you can always refer back to them when studying for an exam.

Practice problems - Practice, practice, practice.... It always works! (But we know you're all overachievers, so make sure you set reasonable limits on how many hours you'll spend doing extra unassigned problems.)

Start early - Procrastination is hard! But in general, starting early on assignments or exam prep is the key to stress-free success.

Check out the OHS Family Portal for more info!

You can schedule appointments with

academic advisors
counselors
college counselors (juniors + seniors)

Counseling

College

If you are a junior or senior, you should have access to Naviance. Naviance is the central hub for all college application-related stuff. You can also check out useful information about colleges, such as the test scores of applicants from your school who were accepted/rejected.

Remember that there are thousands of colleges and universities in the United States alone, so it is critical to spend some time thinking about which ones would be a good fit for you.

For college essays, feel free to receive feedback in the WTC from the writing instructors.

Many of OHS's clubs offer extracurricular opportunities for students. To see a full list of clubs, visit the Canvas page. (Don't forget that there are also countless unofficial Pronto circles that you can join, although they don't have an explicit list.)

Clubs like the Quiz Bowl Club or the Science Bowl Club allow you to participate in in-person (and sometimes online) tournaments. On the other hand, clubs like Student Government encourage extracurricular involvement within the school.

Extracurriculars

Study Buddies

The study buddies program is an initiative created by the Board of SASS to provide each OHS student with individualized academic support. To learn more about the program and to sign up, click here.

Participants in the program will also be offered the opportunity to participate in special events catered to study buddy pairs.