Syllabus

Responsibility and Participation:

Science and learning are very active; therefore, participation is extremely important for your success. Students are expected to be responsible and participate positively in all classroom activities, discussions, labs, work time and lectures. This means staying on task, following directions, respecting and working cooperatively with others and actively seeking additional help as needed. Actively participating in class has the added benefit of reducing the amount of homework a student would need to complete. Active participation is imperative for our class community; therefore, engaging in activities that detract from this process, including, but not limited to, doing work for other classes, using cell phones and iPods, engaging in non-class related internet activities, deliberately distracting others from the course goal, etc., will not be tolerated.

Course Work:

Work and effort on assignments are essential for success in achieving mastery on the learning outcomes. Class work, homework, lab questions, and readings are used to reinforce what has been taught in class. Assignments are due at the beginning of class on their due date. Assignments that are submitted late will be accepted and scored until the end of the unit as designated by the unit exam. The score for late work will be the minimum score for that grade range. For example, if late work earned a B+, it will be marked as a B-. Assignments will not be accepted after the unit exam.

Students will have the opportunity for individual feedback and practice through homework that is collected as well as quizzes. Students will demonstrate their level of learning through a combination of long-term projects and unit exams. The scores earned on these assessments will contribute to the final course grade.

Minimal Proficiency on Assessments:

Projects and exams are not designed to solely measure a student’s ability to restate facts, but rather are designed for students to consider connections among concepts and problem solve. Every test will include a case study for students to demonstrate their ability to transfer learned material to new situations. Students must earn a minimum of 60% on these assessments to demonstrate minimal performance. Students who score below 60% on an assessment must retake it. Additionally, all students are allowed to retake assessments regardless of the grade earned on the first attempt. Any student wanting a retake will have to follow the retake procedures outlined in class.

Qualifications for Reassessing Exams (retakes):

Students who fail to demonstrate minimal proficiency on their first attempt (or any student who wishes to attempt to raise their score) must follow the procedure that is outlined on the retake form handed out in class.

For students who completed the required formative (daily) work on time (provided that a good faith effort was evident on those items), the most recent exam score will be the score recorded: a higher score on the reassessment will result in the higher score being recorded; a lower score on the reassessment will result in the lower score being recorded.

For students who did not complete all required formative (daily) work on time, had missing formative work, or did not complete using good faith effort, the maximum score that can be earned on the retake is 75%. Again, the most recent exam score is the one recorded.

Each exam has one retake opportunity.

Projects:

Due to the long term nature of assessment projects, students will NOT be allowed to retake projects. However, I will make every effort to allow a student to finish a project that doesn’t meet minimal proficiency. So, for instance, if you skipped one part of a project and didn’t earn minimal proficiency, you will be encouraged to complete that section.

Does retesting prepare students for life outside of high school?

It is not the mission of OHS to prepare only college-bound students to succeed, but rather, to help all students as they enter their adult life. Some students truly have difficulty learning, and when given ample opportunity, eventually can learn. But if you are a student preparing for college, I suggest that you make a concerted effort to do well on the assessments the first time around – colleges and universities don’t usually allow retakes (although you may retake an entire course at any time). Use appropriate study strategies and don’t allow yourself to fall into a situation where retesting becomes a crutch – you only cheat yourself if you allow this to happen.

Grade Composition

Daily work (Pogils, Labs, etc) 10%

Semester Exam 20%

Please remember that if you have an IE for any assessment you may be jeopardizing your final grade in the class.

General Classroom Behavior:

• Come to class ready to learn and bring all materials.
• Take responsibility for your own learning.
• Respect all people and their property.
• No food in the classroom. Water is allowed at the desks, but not at lab stations.
• You will need a writing utensil each and every day in this class. I will NOT be providing you with writing utensils…ever. Be prepared.
• All cell phones and iPods (or other music/media devices) should be turned off and never used during class time.

Behavioral Expectations & Attendance:

The format of this course requires that all students are engaged and focused in class. This means that all students are in attendance, are prompt, and participate in the daily learning environment, including their role as presenters and collaborators. Such participation allows me to check often for individual understanding of concepts.

Classroom discourse allows the class to negotiate the meaning of science concepts and to understand the concepts being learned. This requires students to question and challenge presented solutions and to extend and clarify student understanding. Everyone is learning from everyone else. My role as teacher is to facilitate and steer discussions in such a way that students can make valid judgments of the science concepts we study and to bring closure to discussions as needed.

District policy dictates that we will be assessing students' learning skills in the following areas:

• timely and consistent homework completion,
• cooperation with students and staff, and
• active engagement in classroom learning.

Required projects

(Assessments contributing to final grade)

Each student must complete the portfolio.

• Portfolio—a compilation of your semester including all notes, handouts, labs, papers, and pertinent information. Due: see hard copy

Each student must choose one of the following options to be completed by See hard copy of syllabus

• Malady paper—write a 2000 word paper on a human condition (see list provided by teacher) of your choice. You should thoroughly research your chosen topic in order to write an informational paper. Mrs. Leider has an additional handout for details on paper contents and associated deadlines.
• Volunteer work/Job shadowing—work in any profession dealing with anatomy/physiology (not limited to humans) for a minimum of 12 complete (documented) hours. As part of your time there, conduct an interview to garner information regarding this career. You are responsible for selecting the person and setting up the job shadow/interview—you must have this secured by ____________—and provide me with EVIDENCE that you have set it up.
• Book Study--See hard copy of syllabus for details. All students who choose this option will be responsible for obtaining a copy via the library, bookstore, etc. In addition, there are required entry deadlines for the discussion group so you will have to keep up according to the discussion schedule.