Dear Parent or Guardian and student,
Your child is enrolled in my AP Biology, Chemistry, or Anatomy & Physiology
class for the school year of 2007-2008. I am looking forward to a
year of learning. I would like to share some information with you
about my classroom philosophy, goals, rules and expectations. My goal
is to provide your child with a safe and challenging learning
experience. Science education should be a progression, building upon
the previous year with more complex concepts. I hope to integrate
knowledge of those concepts into the big picture of scientific
processes. So, if you hear your child say this is the hardest class I
have ever had, good, it should be harder than the one before. As the
task becomes more difficult we learn to meet new challenges. We learn
to be better at time management, to organize our materials and
resources, and to dig a little deeper to achieve our goals.
I believe that destiny is a matter of choice not chance. In order to
succeed it takes hard work, discipline, and desire. I believe that
the student must take an active role in the learning process. They
should be ready to participate in class, listen to instruction, and
do work not assigned by the teacher to achieve an A in a course. My
responsibility is to provide students with the opportunity to learn
on a daily basis in all my classes and I will do that.
My classroom rules are very simple and are common rules of courtesy.
Some of my classroom rules include listening when others speak, being
on time to class, speaking once you are recognized by the teacher,
use yes, no or yes ma'am or no ma'am when speaking to an older
person, being honest in all aspects of your actions, no inappropriate
language and always doing your best. Inappropriate behavior in a
laboratory could endanger your child and other students and therefore
will not be tolerated. Any discipline problems in lab will result in
loss of lab privileges and the grade of zero will be given for each
lab missed due to inappropriate behavior, this includes not wearing
safety goggles at all times. Students are not allowed to leave the
classroom during class unless it is a true emergency. I do not accept
any late work or give extra credit assignments.
Please use Powerschool to monitor your child's progress on a weekly
basis. I grade papers
and return them as soon as possible. A schedule
of when report cards are issued is published in the PTSA newsletter, please keep
these dates
in mind. If a student is not doing well here are some study tips:
1) read and outline the current chapter
2) complete all review questions within the chapter and the questions
at the end of the chapter
3) have a study partner and find out what was covered when absent
(don't fall behind)
4) pay close attention and ask questions in class
5) complete ALL assignments - one zero will lower you grade
6) always be prepared for a quiz on any assigned material
I use a point system to average grades. To calculate a student's
grade take the number of points achieved by that student and divide
by the total possible points multiplied by 100.
Student A 350/450 x 100= 78
I hope you and your child have a great school year.